'Father, forgive them. For they know not what they do.'
Couple of things...
Did God need to contemplate those words, sent from the incarnation of his nearly crucified son? And if he did, DID God forgive 'them'?. And if not or so, who were 'they'? The guys with the hammers and spikes? Their mothers and/or fathers? The Religious Elite? The Righteous? The wrongly righteous? Us, all of us?
And if they didn't know what they were doing (crucifying the Son of God), why didn't they? I mean, were they so afraid of someone who showed so little fear in the face of their fatally vengeful righteousness that they couldn't feel anything BUT fear, opposite Christ? Perhaps what 'they' didn't know, was that, by killing Christ, 'they' were putting THEMSELVES on the cross. I mean, maybe they were crucifying an opportunity to love something or someone they felt challenged them. A divine creation, like them, but different; sent or prayed for to aid them in their next step - toward an unconditional love for all creation, and a tolerance for all that comes in peace to thrive and share their particle of God's creation. A chance to do that which would have allowed them to better know their faith (not embrace or feed or give wages or lands or freedom to something or one), but share their love nonetheless, toward a thriving, peaceful particle of God's creation, that spoke discomfortingly to their egos of a oneness. If they could have tolerated and found some worth in that/him, maybe they might have been able to know why he was there? Why anything's there. To exercise love. Not acquiesce, but love - the experience of life. I figure Fear and the Devil would've needed to regroup in a big way. Hitler might have been born to very different parents into a very different country if, instead of pointing at Christ and blaming him, the religious 'elite' had taken a deep breath, gathered their faith and asked him a few heartfelt questions about his point of view and how he got it.
Fear the Devil, and he's won - He exists, more so than your faith in God. Fear God, and the Devil not only exists in you, you've just thrown him a three base hit. Practice loving the particles or sum totals of that which God puts before you (question everything that frightens you, with hope that your exploration will lead you both to God's reason for putting you together) and the Devil might soon tire of his scoreless home runs. He'll be playing toss and hit with himself, far from your hood.
When you point a scolding finger North do you ever get the feeling you've just created a resentful finger pointing South? If you want, next time that happens, take a step to the side, walk along the arm connected to that finger pointing back at you, and look closely at the face, then at the eyes. In them, you just might get a glimpse of things that resemble parts within you. Parts you don't particularly like. As well as some you'd be surprised you do! You might.... Or don't...
I think the Devil needs fear to exist. Love, to the Devil, is like air to a fish. And I don't think there's immunity - sometimes it rains - a lot - for everyone. It's like being under water. Question is, are you going to worry about the Devil taking you down? Or are you gonna take the opportunity to love the rain God's sending you, because, deep down, you're still not convinced you won't drown, and this is God's way of telling you you're ready to grow with some stronger weather? Or do you feel absolutely convinced you won't drown and everything else WILL, unless it does just what YOU'VE done with YOUR heart and do you need to be reminded of that? You can stand there and rail at the rain, try to reach up and push the cloud away, or you can watch the grass drink, open the rain barrel lid, pack up the car, climb a tree, build a boat out of one (big or small) .... , OR, if you know the rain's not going to kill you, you can walk over to the the person railing at the rain, listen to them until you think you've understood their grievance and wonder if you'd feel better if YOU did that. And then rail away or get back to your boat, or whatever YOUR response to the rain was - cause THEY might need to ponder THEIR reaction ...
It's all God, to this human. And if Christ's plea on our behalf was documented by a woman, she might have heard him say, 'Mother, forgive them...'. Regardless, I document what I feel and how I respond to what I feel. Not always in that order, but I'm working on it. And more often than not, the world around me tells me more about myself than I could ever imagine. Just like y'all in these posts. We can't help but share. Try not to for a few minutes. Every breath you take changes the world close to you. We CAN choose some of what and how we share. That's, I think, why we're here.
Fear, like our bodies, wants to be bigger and better. Love hovers patiently, everywhere, waiting to be used.
That's to Brian's request for a response to 'Beware ..'
The movie? Gee... I wonder if raindrops criticize each other on their way to the ocean? Or do they relish their singular contribution to the eternal cycle of experience as much as they anticipate their imminent little splash into the countless points of view, the morphing prisms, that travel beside them on their bewildering launch from the cloud that bore them? I say 'launch' because, to a raindrop (stay with me here if you want...or don't), the ocean is up/Heaven/Peace/Togetherness/God ... - irrefutable experience that, from my point of view, illustrates the idea that, ultimately, there is no separation. I see the film as a drop, coming into the pond of our notions of existence. One that feels warm to the me I am today.
Cheers.
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Dufresne-3
14 years ago
this is one of the best posts i've ever had the pleasure to read. not just on imdb, but anywhere. lots of great food for thought, but selfishly, i was most fascinated with the parts that i could relate to. i have a lot of goals and things to aim for as a human, which i never see others talking about. i'm ok with that, but it was really nice that apparently they cross someone else's mind too heh.
i can't say enough good things about that post, though.
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