Impossible to fake Truth

    

      The longer one dwells on the mystery of the Divine, the time will come when one will, like some boy staring hard and long into a murky pool,  start seeing things clearer, or start imagining non existent entities. Or one just gets tired and moves on.

    Is it so far out of reasonable conjecture, we humans having only limited mental faculties, to surmise that the entire Jesus Christ persona is more a concept than an actual flesh and blood, person? 

    Less a real life person who lived, walked, ate, did those miraculous acts so claimed and finally got killed on Calvary, to gloriously SAVE us lost, pathetic, denied-of-salvation Man?

   There is no cynicism intended, neither sarcasm, nor a lean toward atheism. And most definitely no intent to blaspheme.

   Just a wondering mind with an opinion.

  The concept of unselfish love, the so atypical idealism of  super-human sacrifice; the idealism of sharing not just what we do not want but what we treasure most with those we do not love. And the supreme ideal, the thought of which goes completely against our nature - the giving of one's life for others. All these character traits; that bode well for an ideal social, communal existence; these behavioral/self - denying characteristics that  will ensure the good of all future humans; are so alien to our normal human values. 

Could these fascination with the make-up of an Ideal Man/God find form and became personified/exemplified in a supernatural entity - Jesus Christ? 

Complete with angelic host proclaiming his earthly arrival, with the Star of Bethlehem? And over time, more attributes are evolved, developed and incorporated to flesh up the supernatural persona. Events are interpreted as miracles to lend credence to claims on Divinity, and were deftly woven into historical reality. The entire tale developed over the passing of time, embellished,  made perfect, and set down in written records from antiquity, to become utterly irrefutable? Coupled with many non- divine, human derived wisdom, the Book became one seeming divine tome.

The concept of a Divine being, who in a supreme act of Agape Love condescended  to the extremely unacceptable, despicable,  humiliating descent from on High, Divinity, to sink to the dark depth of sub-humans (us) who knew better yet unable to save ourselves because of our many undesirable self-annihilatory traits.

  

 Could all these be just our weak human longing for an ideal divine Being? One endowed with traits of Agape Love, with supernatural powers and in all other aspects superiorly a super human, to lend us poor weak humans a sense of purpose, divine support, and most of all to give hope to an otherwise meaningless existence?

Introspection would make one so conciuosly aware of how alien it is for any person other than a non living entity to possess traits Jesus did!

This  is NOT atheism, NOT cynicism. 

Call it whatever appropriate but should one attempt to describe the color of the rainbow to another who was never able to visually see, or to try describe a beautiful melody to one who never has hearing,  one  might get an idea of the shortcomings, the insurmountable difficulties, the utter impossibility of formulating a concept of the Christ persona, so ethereal,  so stretched over such a vastness of time, space, so completely vulnerable to contradictions to be able to even hint at factuality, that the only likelihood is -  IT IS THE TRUTH.

The harvest is plentiful but the HONEST workers few ....

                  

Though it seem "the harvest is plenty but the workers are few". (Luke 10: 2) there is actually an abundance of 'willing' workers. 

'Willing', with intent which they themselves are not aware of; or with ill-intent such as self enrichment, in monetary, power, self glory etc.

Many are attracted by glamor, free travel, excitement. Imagine going to foreign lands peopled by 'savages' to bring them The Word. To  bring Light to those in the darkness of Idolatry. 

Imagine the feeling of self empowerment, the ego boost, the 'fix' that would convulse the so-called missionary worker. 

There are many with reasons, & motives even they themselves are unaware of.

They think, believe, they are serving the Lord fully with contrite hearts and  with the right spirit, but contrary to what they think, believe; they have motives that are neither about service nor commitment to the building of our Lord's Kingdom. 

The photo we see here shows how this humble cobbler (? Philippines) very cleverly use a play of English to attract business. He is being clever, he is doing it to earn his living as a cobbler. He is simple AND thus HONEST.  He delivers what is said in his sign. 

The same though cannot be said for many who go forth to all corners of the world seemingly to bring the light of Christ. Thus it behoves one well should one intend to serve our Lord, that one does so with complete humility and humbleness in service to our Lord. No other considerations of self glory, monetary gains (especially), elevation of one's personal, social, or parochial stature, or other lesser motives should enter one's mind. 

Many believe they had been 'called' to the clergy. Like Samuel they thought or dreamed or hoped, they heard the Lord 'Call' them to serve Him!! 

Wow! I would gladly give an arm & both legs plus a kidney too, just to hear THAT CALL! 

For some who answered such calls, very sadly they are 'missed call'. Reasons they answered might include having most of their needs provided for by the Church and its parishioners. 

Simply put some are unable to get any other form of employment.

A free ride with benefits!

Even if one were to just provide simple clerical service or lead any Church groups, one should have the correct precepts about ones motivation to so serve.  It otherwise would bring discontent, disillusionment and worse; anger, resentment, bitterness and unbelief.

Only a fool will agree a good dose of Cynicism is unwarranted in evaluating ourselves before we become '(?) willing workers in the harvest'.

"Humans are good only when they are unable to do any more harm"

Irrefutably TRUE Statements

* For crying out loud, I really don't know what's to become of   

   you: Your mother.

* You have been fired : Your HR manager.

* Sorry Sir, your credit is no good : Cashier at fancy Diner..

* I am afraid you lost : Match official.

* Art is in the eye of the beholder : Optometrist.

* Your cheque was returned due to insufficient funds : Your      

   friendly neighborhood banker.

* DNA test results indicate the child, is biologically yours :  

   Court assigned Laboratory Assistant.

* You can run but you can't hide : Commander of Seal 6        

   Team to Osama at Abbottabad. 

* Pay up or else : Your friendly neighborhood Loan Shark's  

   Enforcer.

* Dinner is served : Cook.

* The road ahead is impassable due to heavy snow storm:  

   Road Sign.

* I hereby sentence you to 12 years in the State Penitentiary: 

  Judge.

* Please fasten seat belts, we expect turbulence ahead : Pilot.

* Cash only : Black marketeers.

* I am the Law. Resistance is futile: Judge Dredd.

* It'll end with a huge Blast: Your friendly neighborhood  

   Terrorist..

The REAL reason 'Why I'm the guy in BLACK' ...

                                     

A man once sang a very noble sounding song :

It went: 

                Well, you wonder why I always dress in black

Why you never see bright colors on my back,

And why does my appearance 

seem to have a somber tone.

Well, there's a reason for the things that I have on.

I wear the black for the poor & the beaten down

Living in the hopeless side of town

I wear it for the sick & lonely old, 

for the reckless ones whose bad trip left them cold.

And I wear it for the thousands who have died 

Believing the Lord was on their side

I wear the black in mournin' 

for the lives that could have been, 

Each week we lose a hundred fine young men

And he went on :

I wear it for the prisoner

who has long paid for his crime

but is there because he's a victim of his times

 And he added:

Well, there's things that never will be right I know 

And things need changin' everywhere you go

And there were many other noble reasons before he concluded with:

'But I'll try to carry off a little darkness on my back

"Till things are brighter 

HE VOWED 

I'm the man in Black"

It is undeniable that other than when BLACK is the color of skin  -  it IS  a really very attractive color.

In fashion and in everything else BLACK never seems to go out  of style. 

However, noble, romantic and idealistic reasons aside: 

ONE of the many reasons I wear black is actually 

..... BLACK hides dirt from showing up :)

And BLACK clothes stay 'clean' looking longer, cuts down laundry bills.

And as an extra plus, 'BLACK' carries the added glamor of all the above noble reasons !

That's why I too will mostly dress in BLACK  ----- 

And 'til a 'DIRTIER' color comes along

 I too am the guy in BLACK

Johnny Cash - The Man in Black

If the Mountain won't come to you ...

          

       What would you do if the Mountain won’t come to you? 

Will you like Mohammad go to the Mountain? Or like most everybody else, would you tell the Mountain He can go “F” Himself and then carry on doing what you have been doing.

    

       Guess in most relationships there is a natural tendency to NOT make the first move. Waiting for the other to initiate the first act is and has always been the usual characteristics of people. For whatever its worth we will always not want to seem too eager or interested to renew, or start any relationship, be it with long lost friends and or families. Even with the simple and so convenient E-mailing we have at our convenience, we are rather hesitant to go to our friends and relatives. 

    

       You may call it a reluctance to intrude into somebody else’s status quo. I would call it plain disinterest to reacquaint. I would even call it a false arrogance of misplaced egotism.

If a person were a friend in the true spirit of friendship it IS ridiculous to wait for the other.

In other words, it is plain unfriendly to wait for the Mountain to come to you. 

     In certain cultures, elder clansmen generally do not condescend (note - "descend") to initiate contact with lower ranked clan persons.

Similarly in many uniformed groups as well as corporations, institutions etc. it is a norm the high-ups seldom if at all 'slum' with the rank & file.

Sadly we have this inherent sense of heightened self-worth which makes us reluctant to stoop, to even be perceived as having lowered our self (over) esteem especially by making the first move to those 'less worthy' beings.

           In the same line of thought, should the Maker of all these that we have here; everything that makes Life itself possible and good, were to take the same high ground and standing on protocol (or whatever you like to call it), refuses to initiate contact, we would still be unsaved, unloved and unredeemed.   

  

      Christ would not have come. (some indeed believe the Savior has still not come).

Thus if the Mountain won’t come to you, I urge you, please ...... Go to the Mountain! 

You lose nothing.

It was just an itch ...

It’s a disturbing thought, me a believer in the Ultimate Divine Creator, when sometime in my meandering mental excursions it occurred to me –

“Is it likely that our entire existence, the physical Universe with it’s unending,

incomprehensible grandeur, as well as every other natural processes; life, death, human endeavors, achievements and every other “living” activities, was a random act done by a very Supreme Being, one we call God"?

In an instant of creativity the entire “creation” was formed.

Being a product of that ‘forming’ we will of course be unable to decipher how, when and what He did; though we have and will spend our entire existence trying to figure that.

My ‘peace’ was impinged with that it just might be “something” done, as an artist would, when feeling a great urge to do a piece, did a masterpiece, and having done it, left it hanging on a wall to take its natural course.

Just that… a random spurt of “creative fervor “ with no other preplanned destiny for what has been ‘made”!

All our piety, monoaethism, sacramental homage, faith diversity, inter-religious dissent/violence, obligatory worships, so-claimed irrefutable-from-God proclamations, pompous tradition-laden mega Masses, divine miraculous occurrences, etc would be nothing but just a load of unnecessary devotion to One who did  a random  “Creative” act, which to Him/Her/It has no other significance than to fulfill an urge. (not unlike scratching an itch).

And  we, imbued with human superEgo, thought: “Woow how important and crucial we were that a Divine One would hold us in such high esteem as to "CREATE" us for some grand purpose...and in HIS own image too!

Making us the "chosen people" !

Scared the sh*t out of me  - it did.

“The ‘Fine Prints” of life....

“The Fine Prints” of life -

Or what my Father tried to teach me.

Fine prints seldom draw anyone’s attention, only when lawyers or subpoena servers come knocking do they become apparent.

As the ‘sardine cans’ we call cities get increasingly compacted, over-crowded; and the scramble to bite the smaller and ever shrinking pudding of life’s sustenance gets more intense & ferocious, who has time to notice anything non-essential to survival? 

Who is ever concerned with that which does not bring the daily bacon, the daily bread, (or broad)? 

Besides Man’s sensual desires and (?boring) basic needs, there is the overwhelming need for self-affirmation -the desire to be acknowledged. Much like the mongrel leaving its (urinary) mark on the fire hydrant, the desire to be recognized and acknowledged is inherent in all. Thus flashy, fashion accessories like Gucci glasses, designer pumps, Jimmy Choo shoes, expensive wraps by (Arrrhhh) Toi, flashy cars, and the adopting of a lifestyle reflective of opulence; are sought with feverish intensity, as if these in themselves were life sustaining.  

To be first in the scramble to “LIVE”, to win the Race. (there is a winner?)

In attempting to shine in life, everyone end up looking like everyone else, and cities become filled with the nameless, faceless (?exploitable) dull masses of non-seeing, non-heeding people who refuse to pay heed to, not just those around but to themselves.

The Hong Kong Cantonese has a saying ‘Moh Gnan Tai” metaphorically i.e. ‘no one notices, cares or pays any attention”.

Eating, drinking, breathing and other more gratifying etceteras, keep alive and viable an organic being.

“Alive” though is not synonymous with “happy”.  

‘Happy’ is not about breathing and eating and breathing, (and the other more interesting sensually satisfying gratifications in the “etceteras”) alone.

And definitely pursuing “happiness and success” involves greater effort, in itself causes more stress thus making it harder to be happy, subsequently reduces achievement and success.

Simply, the satisfaction level of success and happiness one attains is inversely proportional to the intensity one puts in to achieve them. 

There is an aspect to ‘alive” that is generally unessential to a life of relative happiness and success. 

A ‘spot’ that’s unseen, difficult to comprehend or expressed.  

The ‘Inner Zone’ most do not notice in their busy, hurry-burry, chasing-elusive-dreams-of-success, lifestyle.

The focus on life when limited by the highly visible, and deemed crucial elements that everyone longs and desires after, results in the faceless, nameless, and ever seeking, insatiable throng who messes up the cities and generally just ‘do the needful’ – living life, creating life, debasing life and ultimately leaving life. 

The tragedy is when the mere acquisition in great abundance, of what is being sought after by everyone else, becomes considered success.

My Father tried teach me to be aware and immerse in that part of myself which I have yet to notice or pay heed to – the part which though unessential to living is vital for attaining all that life is about -

That part in “The ‘Fine Prints” of life.

A mathematical impossibility ...

Any christian,  would acknowledge that Jesus is 100% man  and 100% divine. 

Being fully (100%) Man and fully (100%) Divine  is  a mathematical indiction the Divine cannot be 'proven'.

If one were to attempt human based ways to 'find' the Divine, the only advice for the attempt is  'May "God" help you" :)

Look into a murky pond. Look long enough,  things either start to get clearer or things which are not there begin to 'appear'. 

Of course most won't even bother, with so many more important things to live for, to kill for, to thrill to, to keep up with, to beat down, to initiate,  to connect with, etc etc etc ad absurdum.

Who then has any time to bother looking into any murky pond let alone attempt to discern its entire content?

But we need to...


We are living in one.