Who Can Understand It?

Jeremiah 17:5-10

9 The heart is devious above all else;

 it is perverse-

 who can understand it?

I’m starting to get tired of Jeremiah’s obsessive complaining, but he certainly has a point here. I can’t help but draw a parallel between his grief and anger at his own beloved people running after ‘false gods’ and risking everything because they are so willful, stubborn, and ignorant that they can’t understand what’s really important and what isn’t. I feel exactly the same way, watching politicians and government officials blatantly show their true colors. They don’t even attempt to pretend that they are not contemptuous, condescending, predatory and self-satisfied. Who can understand it? What is the compassionate response to one who sneers at goodwill, scoffs at kindness, sniggers at sympathy, and mocks the powerless? I really want to know. I tried to find some Buddhist suggestions on how we should bear ourselves towards those who behave like that, and I had a bit of an epiphany. The Buddhists are very clear that one should address those attitudes by working toward eliminating any ideas about “self.” They say that the self that acts like that is a false self, but they don’t really tackle the question of how to behave when you are the target of such behavior, or even if you are the observer of such behavior directed at someone else. The epiphany has to do with my vague intimation that my own “self” has an ineffable connection with all other “selves,” and that there is really no sense in making any distinctions between ‘this here self’ and ‘that there self’.

The Christian recommendations are more definite, but Christians are also a lot more hypocritical than Buddhists when it comes to following those recommendations: Jesus says to love your enemies, do good to those who hurt you; turn the other cheek; give extra to those who rob you; treat the outcast as your neighbor; and do not pass judgment unless you are willing to be condemned under the same standard. I think, in general, Buddhists do better at actually walking the walk. Christians are for some reason highly susceptible to the fault of self-righteous and judgmental arrogance. I wish I understood better why that is.

Worst of all are the folks who aren’t even concerned about God, who couldn’t care less about compassionate beliefs or ethical values, who are just purely rapaciously, insatiably, avidly egocentric. I can’t ignore them; I don’t want to reject them; I doubt that I could possibly influence them to change their ways; I hesitate to conceive of them as either friend or enemy. I can see their motives, I comprehend their priorities, but understand? No. It all looks like a terrible mistake to me, an abysmal failure; an absolute pit of wretched and hapless wickedness with no hope of reprieve. I makes me sad, and I confess, wearily discouraged.

Maybe it really does come down to the self, and the discipline of making no distinctions. I am recalled to the Rule of my community: To seek and serve Christ in all persons. Uh, and that would be right there in the Baptismal Covenant too. As far as the Buddheo-Christian slant goes, I would say that the Christ-self is our “true self” and our “original face,” and as far as how to relate to hurtful people, I guess I’ve found the answer…..to meet their true self with my true self……to speak to their Christ-self with the voice of my Christ-self without distinction, abstaining from blame.

 

Philippians 4:1-13

In any and all circumstances I have learned the secret of being well-fed and of going hungry, of having plenty and of being in need. 13 I can do all things through him who strengthens me.

(a different translation; RSV:  11 Not that I complain of want; for I have learned, in whatever state I am, to be content.  12 I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound; in any and all circumstances I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and want.  13 I can do all things in him who strengthens me.)

I like the second translation better, but in the first translation I was struck by the phrase ‘the secret of’. There is indeed ‘a trick to it.’ A sort of spiritual re-framing that changes the whole perspective. I wish I could describe my experience of it, but it seems to be tied to the practice of silence and mindfulness, and an awareness of the truly vast expanse of interior and eternal space within us all. That space is surely the Realm of God, the Kingdom of Heaven. At least, that’s what I think. In that domain lies the secret of being content regardless of our circumstances, the freedom to be at ease in whatever state we find ourselves.

John 12:27-36

35 Jesus said to them, "The light is with you for a little longer. Walk while you have the light, so that the darkness may not overtake you. If you walk in the darkness, you do not know where you are going. 36 While you have the light, believe in the light, so that you may become children of light."

I was troubled by the linear time frame, so I took the “time” to recast it in eternal terms. A ‘little longer’ is contained within eternity. I think Jesus is talking about paying attention to what is happening Now. He’s saying, you have the light now, so get on with it. Don’t worry about the time when you won’t have the light. You can bring the darkness on yourselves by refusing the present light, and dwelling in either the past or the future. The past and the future are a kind of illusion, and if you stay faithfully in the Now, you will be ‘children of light’, i.e. the light will be in you and of you, and the distinctions of “a little longer” and “while you have the light” will all fall away. In other words: stay in the Now, and you will never lose the Light.