What I want to say here is both simple and not-so-simple. It is simple to the spiritual self, but it goes against the "natural man." Only that doesn't sound right, for when I'm out in my garden, softness is the most natural thing in the word. Perhaps, I should say that it goes against "civilized man": man of society; man of progress; man of obstacle and overcome; man of arrival and importance; man of ego. I want to say it carefully, because it is a message that should be heard, even if only by a few, and people tend not to listen if they think they are being taught. We resist change.
But we need change. Not revolution, but evolution--a soft, weathering away of individual and cultural egos, so that light and divinity shines through.
This past Friday evening I experienced, what for me, was unbelievable pain. I had a second attack of epididymitis, which causes acute scrotal pain. I know pain is relative, and what for me was unbearable might be tolerable by someone else. But it was so strong, that at that moment, all I could think is cure me or kill me. My whole body and mind was terrorized by the pain centered in my scrotum. I didn't care about life, liberty or the pursuit of happiness. I didn't care about family. I didn't even care about myself. I just cared about ending the pain.
We tend to think of liberty as the most fundamental human right. But anyone who has experienced excruciating pain knows there can be no freedom while in the iron grasp of pain. Bodily ills are a vital part of mortality, and we will never be free from pain. Acute pain demands to be heard.
But maybe pain, like so many ills in this life, is not meant for the sufferer. Maybe pain is meant for the rest of us: those not hospitalized, not bed-ridden, not helpless.
I always had a problem with a world designed on pain: the eat or be eaten world of evolution, which is all around us, undeniable, if we use our eyes and intellect. Just a few days ago, I watched a black wasp drag a dead tarantula from one side of my garden to the other for about seventy feet. What clearly was the fortune of the wasp clearly was not good for the tarantula, who probably experienced great pain that the wasp might prosper.
What type of God would set up such a universe? No wonder people become atheist. Who can blame them? The evidence is there. No just God would devise such an eat or be eaten world.
That is the only rational conclusion when we see through temporal eyes. But, if spirits are eternal, as is progression, and becoming perfect is the ultimate goal--what better way to become fully divine than to lose yourself in the pain and affliction of others?
This was Christ's ultimate message. Lose your ego in the service of others. Ultimately, it is our only purpose here. And each of us knows it. It is embedded in our DNA. It would be the most natural thing in the world if Satan wasn't working on us through the ego. Kindness, gentleness, softness is who we are at our core, and it is what we are here to remember. The question is, can we give enough of the self away to recognize who we are?
And not just as individuals. As societies too. When Christ says, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me" (Mathew 19:21), it is not for the sake of the poor he requires this. He has already declared that the poor are blessed simply by their circumstance. The giving is for those that have. It is opportunity to soften the ego and become one with the "least of these."
We will be judged by this ability to be humble and giving--both as individuals and as societies. Healthcare is as much of a right as liberty. There can be no true happiness, no true joy, while locked in the grasp of pain. Perhaps individual spirits were giving enough in the preexistence to take on that mission. But our moral duty, both as individuals and as societies, now is to do everything we can to alleviate the suffering of others without worrying about costs or plausibility. That is to be in God's hands. Moral individuals, moral nations, will step up to heal the sick and afflicted without a second thought. Christ even provided the perfect example.
It baffles me that many of those who base their lives on Christ do not realize how providing healthcare is fundamental to being Christian. Christ was a walking hospital who gave healthcare free of charge to anyone in need. If we, as individuals and as a nation, follow his lead, nothing but prosperity can come from such openness.
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