In God's Name?

At this time of year, in a nominally Christian country, it is hard to escape the observations about commercialisation of Christmas. I suspect, however, that commercialisation of a religious festival is the least of our problems.

A timely reminder of the dangers of organised religion (as distinct from faith or spirituality) came my way today in the form of a 'special report' from the UK journal, The Economist. In a far-reaching and by no means antagonistic review of 'religion and public life', The Economist demonstrates the extent to which religion is used as 'justification' for violence.

Source: The Economist, November 1st, 2007

John Lennon's great song Imagine dreams of how life would be with"no countries" and "no religion, too", but is less clear that any sectarian 'cause' can bring the same results. And there can be 'godless religions' too - communism and nazism,for example, in the 20th century). It's the "I'm right" (or more likely "I need to be right" - some people find it very threatening to realise that they might not have a monopoly on 'truth') so "You must be wrong". Patriotism can easily become as bigoted as religious zeal - and, of course, when the two are merged the effects are compounded.

I find another, less well-known, song from around the same time, a much more powerful commentary, not limited to countries or religion - Abraham, Martin and John (written by Richard Holler; recorded by Dion):

Has anybody here seen my old friend Abraham?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
He freed a lot of people,
But it seems the good they die young.
You know, I just looked around and he's gone.

Anybody here seen my old friend John?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
He freed a lot of people,
But it seems the good they die young.
I just looked around and he's gone.

Anybody here seen my old friend Martin?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
He freed a lot of people,
But it seems the good they die young.
I just looked 'round and he's gone.

Didn't you love the things that they stood for?
Didn't they try to find some good for you and me?
And we'll be free
Some day soon, and it's a-gonna be one day ...

Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walk up over the hill,
With Abraham, Martin and John.

What is this life ...

...if full of care, we have no time to stand and stare (William Henry Davies, 1871 - 1940).

Do you ever think how crazy your life has become - how difficult it is to find time just to 'stand and stare'.

An old story relates that the Gods debated as to where to hide their wealth of wisdom and spiritual power. They finally settled on hiding it deep within Man himself. They knew he would look for it everywhere across the planet except there!

Thus, if you wish to make progress in anything - spiritual, material, or even financial - the place to start is to go within. This is where the Inner Genius lies, the Higher Self, the Power of God. Spend time with yourself in contemplation. Wait upon that inner voice. Do not bring your preconceptions with you. Allow what comes to be virgin-born.

How different this teaching is to that of the world; even of the spiritual authorities. The Church will tell you that spiritual growth comes through regular attendance, good works, holy communion and other outward forms. The business world will tell you to attend more seminars, read up on presentation techniques, and jump onto the latest trend.

However, the wise person knows that inner victory must always precede outer. There are no shortcuts. The way of silence is tougher. It takes time and patience. It is out of sorts with the ways of the world, which is precisely its power. You may not even know how to begin or what to expect. Just begin. Schedule regular time for it. All questions will be answered in time. By You!

Asoka Selvarajah

You don't have to become a Trappist monk to discover the value of silence. Just take a little time away from the distractions of 'too much to do' and 'too little time'. And while you're about it, give some thought to how much time you spend earning the money to pay for those things that appear to save you time - take that into account and it is little surprise that it is often actually quicker to travel by bicycle than to drive a car. And in the right environment (where you aren't surrounded by all those other people desperately trying to get from A to B with minimum observation or understanding of what lies between), you can experience some of that silence without having to worry about how much the next litre of petrol is going to cost you.

On the shoulders of giants

Albert Einstein wrote

From the standpoint of daily life, however, there is one thing we do know: That we are here for the sake of others... for the countless unknown souls with whose fate we are connected by a bond of sympathy. Many times a day, I realize how much my outer and inner life is built upon the labors of people, both living and dead, and how earnestly I must exert myself in order to give in return as much as I have received.

This is not original - in 1159, John of Salisbury wrote:

Bernard of Chartres used to say that we are like dwarfs on the shoulders of giants, so that we can see more than they, and things at a greater distance, not by virtue of any sharpness of sight on our part, or any physical distinction, but because we are carried high and raised up by their giant size.

Most often, this has been interpreted in almost a physical-determinist sense - that we benefit from the discoveries and recorded knowledge of those who have gone before.

Whilst this is true, perhaps there is more than this. Is it possible that what we, individually and collectively, do leaves behind traces that influence the present and the future. Rupert Sheldrake has developed a theory of morphic fields and morphic resonance, which leads to a vision of a living, developing universe with its own inherent memory - and has backed it up with scientific experiments. His books, including A New Science of Life and The Presence of the Past are well worth reading and should at least give food for thought that what we do has consequences that we will never be aware of.

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The unexamined life is not worth living (Socrates)

When the same quotation comes at you from multiple sources in the space of a couple of days, it's worth taking a closer look. When Socrates said that the unexamined life is not worth living, I doubt that he meant that we should spend our time agonising about everything that we do. I prefer to think that he meant that it is important actually to be aware of what we do and why we do it.

Thoreau put it rather differently, when he said that:

Happiness is like a butterfly; the more you chase it, the more it will elude you, but if you turn your attention to other things, it will come and sit softly on your shoulder.

If we insist on 'knowing' the answer to something, we will fail. But if we simply open ourselves to awareness from whatever source, the answer will often present itself. How often has any of us had that experience of finally 'giving up' on a problem only to have the solution come to us the next time we were relaxed and unworried - the proverbial 'it came to me in the shower'.

Of course, it is easier said than done - but when I wake in the night with a problem running out of control in my mind I can at least tell myself that the answer will come in its own good time, not at my bidding, so I might just as well go back to sleep or, failing that, do something completely different - like writing this blog. However, it isn't the middle of the night here at the moment.