Sunday, January 17, 2016

Turmoil Starts Right Here

Remember the Apple commercial during the 1984 Super Bowl game that kicked the Macintosh computer.  Everything seems so calm, so uniform, so routine, and yes, so colorless before one person in color came in and threw a hammer at the screen causing chaos.  Since then Apple computers have been changing the world.

Jesus too said that he "did not come to bring peace, but a sword." (Matt 10:34)  Yet, it is also written that the greatest sin of mankind is war.  And yet, at Christmas time many Christmas greetings read, "Peace on Earth."  Many Christian churches having a time during their worship service when congregants greet others with "Peace be with you."  The response may be "And also to you."

As we grow up we all hear from time to time, in school or at home, that we learn from our mistakes and not from our successes.  So we should attempt to make mistakes to learn more?  The dichotomy is confusing, frustrating and exasperating.  What are we to do?

We are to take our mistakes and our conflicts, learn from them - to try not to do that again - and do something that may not be a mistake or may not cause conflict.  Simple, huh?  But not in practice.  So we fight with our little brother, argue with our mother, disobey our teacher, shun those different then us and wonder why the nations of the world can't get along.

Agreeing with everything that everyone else says and doing everything like everyone else does it creates a very boring gray world.  Seems like we need to be different from one another, different in what we wear and what and how we eat and drink, the music and the art we enjoy, different in our languages and our communal mores, our religions or what we believe.  We don't have to agree; we should however listen and accept other's behaviors as those of others, not ourselves.  Heaven forbid that we might hear something or learn something that may influence us be a better human being.

Peace comes when each of us individually can live with ourselves as we have become and we hope others can find that same comfort.

I don't know when or even if I found peace, but I think I have.  I know I have problems.  Some people don't like to work with me and I prefer to not work with others, but I accept that because there's plenty of work to be done.  My body is deteriorating despite my exercising and physical work, but I accept that.  My mind isn't a sharp as it used to be but I hope I used it wisely when it was younger.

Jesus, and almost all great prophets, of all major religions, were at peace with themselves but seemed to cause turmoil all around themselves.  I relate to them only in that my inner peace surrounded by outer toil is not unique.  Sit back, rest your body; close your eyes or watch the rain; rest your soul.  Something greater than the flood and more mysterious than the sequoia tree grown from is minute seed is present.

May peace start here.