When the ego dissolves and one walks through life
truly cooperatively with others, true contentment and happiness can be
achieved; and if enough people in this world have their eyes opened to this
state of being, the oneness required to achieve the truly coherent action which
can bring us into a lasting, sustainable future may be attained.
Over four billion
years of evolution can’t be wrong…
As explained in https://jamescmorrow.blogspot.com/,
evolution offers man maximum happiness and fulfilment through doing all he can
to nurture and protect his fellow man and the environment within which he
lives. Achieving a oneness with others
and all life, and continually learning how to be more sensitive and better
attuned to the needs of others, the pleasure and immediacy of being with nature
is coupled with man’s uniquely sensitive and powerful mind, allowing him to
both experience the now, and remember, relive and learn from it.
The core of happiness and fulfilment is
interacting, experiencing, helping and learning.
Beautifully written James, yet I have rarely seen even two people agree on most things. I think man because of selfishness or as some would call it sin will always seek his own will over others, As Isaiah pointed out many hundreds of years ago, (Isaiah 53)
ReplyDelete6We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
each of us has turned to our own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.
7He was oppressed and afflicted,
yet he did not open his mouth;
he was led like a lamb to the slaughter,
and as a sheep before its shearers is silent,
so he did not open his mouth.
8By oppressiona and judgment he was taken away.
Yet who of his generation protested?
For he was cut off from the land of the living;
for the transgression of my people he was punished.b
9He was assigned a grave with the wicked,
and with the rich in his death,
though he had done no violence,
nor was any deceit in his mouth.
10Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer,
and though the Lord makesc his life an offering for sin,
he will see his offspring and prolong his days,
and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand.
11After he has suffered,
he will see the light of lifed and be satisfiede ;
by his knowledgef my righteous servant will justify many,
and he will bear their iniquities.
12Therefore I will give him a portion among the great,g
and he will divide the spoils with the strong,h
because he poured out his life unto death,
and was numbered with the transgressors.
For he bore the sin of many,
and made intercession for the transgressors.
In the light of this we see that mankind needs redemption, forgiveness and a new power within to love our brother and sister.
Thank you for your post.
What box? Nobody told me there was a box…
ReplyDeleteHi Andrew,
Over millennia, the wise ones have tried many times and many things to lead man along the path into enlightenment and a state of Grace; within which true contentment and happiness may be achieved by listening to the heart of nature – as already discussed within several posts in http://jamescmorrow.blogspot.co.uk/...
For those blessed with a natural talent, and who with the help of wise ones and using lessons and knowledge gathered over millennia have honed that ability over the years to best apply themselves to finding the way forward into a better future for all life, contemplation and expression of the new understanding and wisdom that they discover may be the best way that they might serve life and humanity and hence achieve true fulfilment and happiness.
Yet a state of bliss can be insular, failing to engage with the world; and whilst stepping back occasionally to see ‘outside the box’ is an exquisitely valuable thing for some in their quest to move mankind’s knowledge and wisdom forward and find a better way, for others following the advice of the wise ones and feeling outside the box may be the best way that they can express themselves and apply their abilities and knowledge in having their part to play and making the greatest contribution.
It is the responsibility of the wise ones and the knowledge and wisdom they hold to use and update the wisdom of the ancients in order to reveal and further hone the paths along which each must follow in his own way in order to achieve true happiness and fulfilment.
Of course; all philosophies of life are equal – it’s just that some are more equal than others… By the same token, some moral codes and societal frameworks are better than others; and whilst codes and frameworks can be continually improved, there is no defined absolute best moral code for all time – although the best practical codes tend to converge as they evolve.
One can always achieve better as society grows and wisdom, knowledge and understanding develop; and new science, culture, art and technology continually produce new questions and scenarios. The wisest ones of both ancient and more recent times have always stepped outside, and it is only by learning from them and using wisdom derived from new knowledge and understanding that we may progress.
What feels right can all too easily be coloured by history and fear and long-established cultural norms, but when short-term narrow group survival responses are replaced by ever broadening viewpoints and understanding, together we can do the right thing which may be the best that we can achieve given current knowledge.
One important thing to remember is that man’s nature is to explore and create new knowledge and understanding, and it is a vital part of any philosophy of life to ensure that wisdom is extracted and employed to ensure that the maximum value is obtained for mankind and all life from the accumulated knowledge and resultant technology of millennia.
Nothing is ever fixed, everything can change, and any way of life that cannot or does not embrace change when it is for good fails to live up to man’s responsibilities in this world and hence can only produce a desperate type of illusory and misplaced happiness… At the same time, it is vital that a long-term view is taken, and that change when applied is truly for good within a global perspective outside any vested interests or short-termism.
One must tread carefully: there is a vast difference between exploiting knowledge and technology to better understand the world and our place within it; exploring, developing and testing new knowledge and technology; and unleashing and applying it wholesale to the natural world within which we exist and for which we have an overarching responsibility to protect and nurture.
Just as there is a desire to have detailed absolute morals to follow which cover all eventualities for all time, many wish for a template of the perfect human and perfect life towards which they can strive. This naturally sets them up for a fall, as it is impossible to achieve perfection; yet the application of free will demands the ability to make decisions and hence make mistakes – anything less would be either a prison or an automaton.
ReplyDeleteIt could be surmised that the wisest of the wise at any point in time most closely approach perfection, and it is true that if they fully employ their wisdom and understanding within their lives it is possible that this may be achieved. However, a vital element for anyone to lead a better life is to follow their example as it applies within their own particular life and abilities, and to use it as a light along the path towards maximising the contribution they make to this world and hence the happiness and fulfilment that they achieve.
Living one’s life within the light of these examples is a process of alignment and convergence, which typically takes place gradually day by day. This is because the dream process integrates the experiences and knowledge gained during the day into one’s reality, altering one’s outlook, decisions and resultant behaviour towards others within the world and towards the world itself.
As one’s decisions and behaviour grow closer to those that would maximise one’s contribution to the world, one’s feeling of happiness and fulfilment increase - both indicating movement in the right direction and rewarding one’s resultant behaviour.
However, if one’s behaviour and experience of life is too far removed from the path towards happiness and fulfilment, excessive pleasure-seeking and addiction often forms a substitute that, unfortunately, never leads to or can lead to true happiness.
For some, all the pain and confusion that such a way of life often produces can lead to a crossroads in life at which everything can fall into place and a major transition in behaviour and happiness can occur over just a few days.
This life-changing experience is often accompanied by a feeling of elation and of a tremendous weight being lifted from one’s mind, but it is vitally important that the gradual, day by day path towards enlightenment is quickly established before an addiction to the elation and euphoria of the transition process develops and results in a search for a long-term high instead of long-term happiness and fulfilment.
Further: forgiving others and oneself for past wrongs forms a vital element in achieving true happiness and fulfilment. No life is perfect: the path of the wise is to learn from mistakes and try to do better in the future. That is, the perfect life might be an ideal, but all decision-making processes are liable to make mistakes at times.
One cannot change the past, but one can learn from it and use it to make a better future, and this is the central lesson that wise ones provide. For the Christian wisest of the wise, the attempt to give his people a new start so that they can leave behind the mistakes of the past and focus on the future forms a central tenet.
ReplyDeleteDown to Earth...
Of course; in the end, Jesus did what could be viewed as being the wrong thing in the wrong place at the wrong time – but I guess that that was, in some sense, the point…
ReplyDeleteOutside the Box
Whether blaming others or oneself for past mistakes, and feeling innocent or guilty, Jesus said and showed that no one was irredeemable and that labels of us and them meant nothing to him – we were all one in his eyes (in fact including all life – but more of that later).
His attempt to free man to live in the present and to separate the past from the future inevitably meant that the past, which could not be changed, had to be put behind us, and the focus had to be on the present and the future – with the intention being to learn from one’s past experiences and behaviour and make a better future.
It follows that those who have experienced more in life: whether through traumatic events; disabilities and illness; misfortune, or simply through having lived longer, may have much knowledge, empathy and understanding to contribute in making a better future for themselves and for all, and this may be combined with wisdom from past generations to build a better heritage for living and enjoying a full and fulfilling life.
In order to be taken seriously within his society, acknowledging but putting the (unchangeable) past behind us had to be translated into the religious language of the day as ‘forgiveness of sins’ – something which apparently only G-d could do via his representatives on Earth. Of course, Jesus knew that it was the people themselves who had to forgive themselves for their own particular ‘sins’ in order to move forward…
All You Need…
ReplyDeleteMan has freedom but has to take responsibility. Speaking of peace on Earth and loving your enemy as yourself might sound like some naïve dream, but all the commandments flow naturally from unfolding all the consequences and ramifications of true love, and the law too.
Through such law based upon responsible love, followers in the path of Jesus would find freedom, because they ‘obey’ the law because it acts as the best guide to what they should do based upon the accumulated wisdom of the wisest of the wise, rather than because society demands that they must obey it.
Yet the last thing that Jesus would have wanted was to have a religion set up in his name, because it is up to each and every one of us to find our own path towards love; and whilst there is only one love, there are many religions, which can so easily become tools for division.
That is; man didn’t need a new religion, but instead needed to separate religion and rites from love and law based upon love. It is right to treasure and keep your history and culture, but love and the laws that emanate from it must be overarching.
Therefore if the law does not follow directly from love, man must have the ability to change it, and it must also be able to evolve over time as more wisdom and knowledge is accumulated. It is thus the responsibility of the wise ones to continually update the law in the light of new knowledge and understanding.
ReplyDeleteHouse of Cards
In order to live successfully through love and ever-changing laws, man must learn how to evolve society toward better without collapse: rebuilding, restoring, adapting and enhancing it from inside, day by day. At times he will need scaffolding in order to shore it up and hold it together as he fixes the fabric, extends the foundations; but much can be saved, salvaged and renewed. All is never lost.
ReplyDeleteA Billion Shades of Grey
For the best of modern society is not that far removed from the best that is achievable given man’s current state of knowledge, but it is fragile: it depends upon man’s love for life, and his or her ability, when necessary, to see and be seen in black and white, and act together as one.
ReplyDeleteAll As One
A society cannot exist in isolation, however, and so man must reach out and adapt in order to achieve long-term sustainability for both his society and his environment and build a better future for all mankind and all life. He now knows that his love must be for all of life, and that the local environment is the whole world. He must now act: time is of the essence...
ReplyDeleteStorm before the Calm…
As society progressively moves from fear, war and division into peace, unity and freedom, man can more easily focus on how best he can develop and deploy his skills and knowledge. Whilst one must remain ever vigilant, the time for war will pass; peace for all will come.
ReplyDeleteReaching In
So what would be the right thing in the right place at the right time?
ReplyDeleteChrist’s Ache
Error man: error him…
ReplyDeleteDesiderius Erasmus
Decided to Erase Much…
There is a temptation to strip away in order to find the core or to start from scratch: yet one must never erase, instead one must adapt to make the future and learn all that one can from the past.
ReplyDeleteCognitive Illusions
In difficult times, many often see them and us rather than me and you – they construct imaginary walls in their minds and bay like wolves at the other. Blind to their wild delusions, they can be all too easily driven to depravity and utmost cruelty in a storm of rhetoric from passionate yet even more deluded leaders, spiralling out of control until all reason and humanity is seen as dangerous dissent and irrationality: good becomes evil, and evil good. All are swept along within this all too rapid downward spiral and, caught in a swiftly unfolding nightmare of extremism, the silent majority can all too soon become trapped and unable to speak out. World War Two, for example, was a titanic struggle against an immense force of people trapped within such depravity.
ReplyDeleteWish me luck; wish me luck; wish me luck
Error man: error him…
ReplyDeleteWWIII
It’s time for the silent majority to speak…
I hope they will and I hope they're heard x
Delete
DeleteImagine if the silent ones stood side by side for peace, freedom and equality
Delete…and if their leaders stood up?
ReplyDeleteDay of Days
In the end, something is more important than life itself…
ReplyDeleteNo Entrance
Is this the real life, is this just fantasy?
Charismatic Leaders can ignite the flame of desire for something different, something better, in the hearts of those who feel lost or that something is missing in their lives. In open air campaigns, holy places, halls or homes they can be enchanted: entranced, mesmerised, hypnotised into blindly accepting a whole new mind-set and abandoning all that they have previously believed, and once they are caught, the hidden more extreme ramifications of their new calling can be introduced.
But whilst their actions are carried out in reality, they are in a dream-like, hypnotic state, sustained by the novelty, focus and excitement of it all. They may ask others to answer the calling, they may witness extreme actions and ‘snap out of it’ or, caught in the moment and expectations of others, they may carry out extreme actions themselves and justify themselves in their own minds by burrowing deeper into the mythology of noble purpose that the leaders gather ‘round them.
…and the deeper that they become enmeshed, the more difficult and traumatic it is to come to their senses and escape, and the early naïve dream becomes an ever unfolding nightmare from which they become too afraid to awake. They may come to realise that they and many others are like automata, realising somebody else’s dreams; they are like a machine. …but how can you break the machine before it’s too late?
ReplyDeleteChange for Good
Charismatic, persuasive messages can be a positive force for change: for good over evil; love over hate; progress over regress; the future over the past. Strong, persuasive messages that there is a better way for all that critically depends upon changing society for good without throwing it all away must be quickly and carefully nurtured and fed into society. Messages of how to fight for a better, more sustainable and inclusive future for all, and why a multicultural, diverse society is the best way to achieve it are vital, because social diversity reflects the fact that each person is an individual. Coupled with biodiversity, this is the only way to achieve sustainable, healthy societies, living upon a sustainable planet.
Yet they can also exploit natural teenage rebellion against integrated parents, with naïve idealism producing a dichotomy between following what their parents want and clearly differentiating themselves through secret worlds shared through social media. The gulf between their family world and their hidden internal world makes their thoughts, beliefs and feelings profoundly plastic and malleable, and highly vulnerable to ever more extreme and exhilarating views and actions. Leading them to progressively isolate their true selves from their family and physical environment, and see things in simple black and white terms; the final step of leaving their family and friends behind and stepping into some new promised land can seem all too rational.
ReplyDeleteThe Chosen Ones
Certain human conditions, such as physical or psychological privation, stress or pain; or meditations and incantations which calm the mind and suppress the ‘inner voice,’ can lift one’s level of consciousness into a new state of heightened awareness which can be very addictive.
Awakening from a dream and seeing myriad others still sleeping can feel like being different; being special; being chosen; and just as mothers imprint on their chicks, leaders imprint good or bad messages of meaning and purpose on each newly awakened one. However, awakening is available to all, despite what each leader might say: it is only what each leader chooses to imprint them upon that differs. Therefore, from the leader’s viewpoint, it is very important that they manage the awakening process and immediately imprint each new member as desired upon awakening.
Yet, unlike religions and cults, Jesus for one showed how all could be awakened and freed to think and act for themselves. There was no them and us, no chosen and left behind: awakening was a natural process that could silently sweep across the Earth. Awakened to a higher state of consciousness, one can experience life much more deeply and fully, connecting more profoundly.
ReplyDeleteAm I Keeping You Up?
Did I wake you?
ReplyDeleteTo Be or not To Be Beyond Extremism…
First They Came
First they came for the Communists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Communist
Then they came for the Socialists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Socialist
Then they came for the trade unionists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a trade unionist
Then they came for the Jews
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Jew
Then they came for me
And there was no one left
To speak out for me.
www.hmd.org.uk
ReplyDeleteFashionable
If they come for everyone then soon there will be no-one left but clones of The One: but what if the one is the wrong one, and what use are clones when man is fashioned to think for himself?
ReplyDeleteStability in Flux
Biodiversity underpins the integrity and resilience of nature, and society too critically depends upon social diversity and renewal if it is not to decay and degrade over time through internal conflict and a failure to survive natural disasters intact.
ReplyDeleteLittle Luxury
Suffering can become a secret pleasure, whilst causing suffering can seem the ultimate good…
ReplyDeleteBeyond the Law
Unlike man, law is not a living, breathing thing; and whilst it can be based upon and embrace love, it can never fully encompass it. True love can be seen to be the spirit of man: that which breathes meaning and life into his heart in every waking moment, every single day. Through love, man embraces life and gathers together; sharing and giving, and daring to believe in the innate goodness of all men.