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Indifference, The Unacknowledged
Immorality
Personal messiahship,
that is, responsibility for others according to our ability to assume such, is
the basic message of the hero myth and the fundamental message of Jesus. Self
sacrifice for the good of others is not only humane; it is a necessary
component of a healthy spiritual life.
Jesus said as much when he stated:
When the son of man comes in his glory and all his Angels with
him, he will sit in state on his throne, with all the nations gathered before
him. He will separate men into two groups, as a shepherd separates the sheep
from the goats, and he will place the sheep on his right hand and the goats on
his left. Then the king will say to those on his right hand, "You have my
Father's blessings; come, enter and possess the kingdom that has been ready for
you since the world was made. For when I was hungry, you gave me food; when
thirsty, you gave me drink; when I was a stranger you took me into your home,
when naked you clothed me; when I was ill you came to my help, when in prison
you visited me." then the righteous will reply, "Lord, when was it
that we saw you hungry and fed you, or thirsty and gave you drink, a stranger
and took you home, or naked and clothed you? When did we see you ill or in
prison, and come to visit you? And the king will answer, "I tell you this: anything you did for one of my brothers here, however
humble, you did for me."
(Matthew 25:31-41)
Jesus went on in this statement to proclaim that
those who did not do these things were condemned to the fires of hell - and
that is INDIFFERENCE! Indifference becomes immoral when we ignore or neglect
the sufferings of others when we are in a position to help, aid, or eliminate
the cause of such suffering.
Too often, people consider sin as a breaking of
some law of God. What religion fails to recognize is that other people suffer
and hurt due to our human neglect, which responsibly theologically speaking, is
every bit as immoral as other harms we might inflict upon others.
There is no disputing the words of Jesus above,
and in that same chapter he declares that the entrance to heaven (defined here
as: spiritual fulfillment) is only achieved by going beyond the expected. It
was not enough for the ten virgins to take their lamps - it required that they
think about the situation and prepare beyond the minimum (Matthew 25: 1-13).
Returning the masters money safe and sound was not enough for the unwise
servant - the useless servant was banished from the masters
household because he did not utilize the coins to add to the masters wealth
(Matthew 25:14-30). The theology that Jesus was preaching here,
went far beyond the almost complacent theology of avoidance so common today.
Theological concepts often expressed today imply
that charity; compassion and concern are not expected to be part of God's
Kingdom. While it is true that churches are often advocating good works, they
most often emphasize that to be a good Christian only requires a minimum of
faith and compliance with religious duties. Religiously speaking these are
enough to make one moral in the eyes of God according to many religious belief
structures. Self-sacrifice, compassion, and (religious) humanism are reserved
for the saints and anointed.
But these ideals are like the "Ten
Virgins" or the "Unwise Servant" where each did the minimum
of what was expected, and in the parables of Jesus, this was insufficient to
enter the
Many of today's religious concepts are totally
alien to the theology of Jesus himself. The kingdom of God,
be it here or in another state of being, is not about the minimum or the average.
The
And Jesus is not alone in his ideals; the
concepts of self-sacrifice are present in the universal myths from the Odyssey,
to the legends of the
Of all the immorality that is preached and
emphasized, indifference is the greatest for it consumes our societies and
theology pays so little attention to it. Paul talks about the great virtues of
faith hope and love with the greatest being love, one might say that the
opposite of these are greed, hypocrisy and indifference - indifference being
our greatest antithesis of love.
The Psychiatrist and author Scott Peck tells us:
If
an act is not one of work or courage, then it is not an act of love. There are
no exceptions.
(The Roadless
Traveled, p120, ã 1978)
And in another work called "People of the
Lie", he tells us:
Evil
is also that which kills spirit. (p42, ã 1983)
These descriptions are applicable religiously as
well as psychologically. Indifference "kills the spirit"
because it makes us incapable of love, for how can one
reach out in love if they choose to ignore the plights of those who need it
most?
Human indifference, in terms of morality, takes
on three main forms. The first is ignorance, the second is denial, and the
third is projection.
Ignorance
is not of itself immoral nor does it necessarily lead to the immorality of
indifference. But too often, ignorance does become a problem because the
individual chooses to remain ignorant about so many of the problems of others
that they might be in a position to help solve. If we look to the archetypes of
myth, and the teachings of Jesus, we see that true morality requires a
commitment of body, mind and spirit. Religion often leads us down a path that
tells us that learning about the scripture, or the life Jesus, or church
teachings are what brings us closer to God. But what
would bring us closer than any of these things (all which take great effort),
would be an enlightenment about the needs of others, with an effort to do
something to address those needs in accordance with our means to do so.
Denial
is more serious because we are aware of those needs of others but choose to
ignore them for a variety of reasons. People often tell themselves that they
have problems far greater, or, they can't do anything about another's concern.
The truth is that most of us are in constant denial because the social/economic
problems of the world bombard us everyday and consume so much of our attention.
That is why it is imperative that in this age of self-absorption, that theology
and the religions based upon it, affirm the spiritual need of contributing to
the needs of creation according to our ability to do so. It is imperative that
religions provide a balance for our self-consumed world by reminding us: that
to separate one's self from the community of creation is to separate one's self
from God and the loving experiences His diversity offers us.
Projection is the most serious problem we have
in our spiritual evolution. It involves everything from our indifference to our
refusal to accept personal responsibility for so many things, which ultimately
do become our responsibility. One of the most common projections is to lie the misfortune of an individual upon the individual. For
example, we might accuse a poor person of being poor because they are lazy, or
don't want to work. And while that sometimes may be somewhat true, it is more
likely that a poor person will remain poor and disadvantaged even if they
choose to work because there is an exploiting element in our free market
structure. Projection also takes the form of passing the buck - "I can't
do anything about that", or, "Someone else will take care of
that". And again, while such may be founded in truth, far too often it
becomes an excuse which excludes our involvement.
Our present religious attitudes feed the latter
example of projection. Our theological ideas have us dependent upon Jesus as
salvation, God as the solver of human problems through miracles, and prayer and
miracles as the end all of human misery. But it is noteworthy to point out that
so many of humanity's problems do not stem from God's natural order, but from
our human social/economic systems which God neither created
or ordained. Can anyone say that God makes people poor and hungry? Does
God start wars? Does God lie, steal and cheat? Did not God provide her
resources to all Her creation? Too often, religious
teachings have us looking to God to clean up the mess that was created by
humans and this projection is simply counterproductive.
Yet, Jesus taught differently. His idea of
"picking up our cross", each in our own way, is in direct
contradiction to the external salvation doctrines. It is a moral imperative in
his idea of the
The theology of Jesus was to build a living
In terms of the teachings of the Gospels, it is
an absolute failure of Christian Theology that so many people in this world
have insufficient food, clothing, and shelter - that so many people need
medicines, which are often deprived to those who cannot afford them - that rich
prosperous nations exploit Third World workers to produce greater profit-making
goods - that so many Christians can see a Divinity in Christ, but remain blind
to Jesus' humanity and the teaching and example of caring he set!
True religious and theological responsibility
need to go beyond soup kitchens, poor boxes, and clothing drives which so often
merely pacify one's conscience about peoples' needs. While these things help,
too often, they become a Band-Aid on a bleeding wound that needs major surgery.
They allow one to boast about their contributions, while the same human
failures continue from one generation to the next. The sheer need of people and
the suffering they endure, requires that any
responsible faith work toward offering concrete solutions to real social
problems. That it is the role of religion to encourage through its example and
teaching, that people can seek the Kingdom of God in the here and now - by
eliminating poverty, bigotry, oppression, exploitation, greed, hypocrisy,
inequality, and the indifference which feeds this evil creating a cancer in the
ideals of Jesus. Religion can only be about God when it is about people - when
it is about creation! Anything more leads to delusion and anything less leads
to hypocrisy.
It is the role of a responsible theology to
educate believers and make them aware of human misery in the community as well
as the world. It is not by understanding God's Nature, nor Her
Being, that will bring joy to the soul; rather, it is our awareness of what we
can contribute to the creation and the benefit of others that will accomplish
this. This is much more of a moral imperative than teaching and interpreting
scripture. A religion based upon such theological assumptions will work
together toward eliminating such problems that exist, according to their means
to do so. And if any church wants to be really responsible to the teachings of
Jesus, human need will be the priority of that church, surpassing belief,
worship or any sacred place or work!
Jesus told us, "What does it profit a
man if he should gain the whole world and suffer the loss of his soul?"
We might paraphrase that in today's religious world by asking, "Of what
value is all the theological knowledge ever written if it cannot effect the quality of human life in our world?" What
have we gained in solving the problems of human misery with two thousand years
of Christian theology? How can one possibly save their soul when so many of our
religious concepts have little to do with the most important aspect of saving
it?
In religious projection, we have literalized the Gospel of Jesus making him the savior
through the redemption by his blood. But the fact is: this is not what he
demonstrated, taught or said. What he showed and told us was to love one
another, to take care of one another, and to comfort one another. He showed us
how to do that and paid with his life. As we do these things for one another,
no matter how lowly our state, we are actually doing these things unto God. The
fundamental flaw of so much of the present Christian theology is that it places
salvation outside the individual; whereas Jesus taught:
He called the crowd and said to them, "Listen to me, and
understand this: a man is not defiled by what goes in to his mouth, but by what
comes out of it."
(Matthew 15:10-11)
And:
Once, having been asked by the Pharisees when the
(Luke 17:20-21)
The metaphor of the first quote here is not
about food, it is that the external is not so
important as so many religions focus upon today, but rather, that what we feel
in the depths of our being will produce the outcome. The second quote is
clearer about spiritual fulfillment telling us that entry into the
If religion is to be responsible, and add
meaning to the reality of our world, it must stop feeding with its ideals the
indifference of their faithful. It must incorporate into its theology the
concept that we all contribute to one another's problems and the true
salvation, the true
These spiritual ideals contained in the hero
myths and the teachings of Jesus - are all supported by the natural order that
is a great testimony to the mind of the Creator. The wonderful miracle of the
diversity of creation is that it thrives on the interdependency of that
diversity. Every component of nature gives back something in return for what it
takes. The success of life itself depends upon a delicate balance of giving and
taking according to one's needs. All of creation serves its individual unique
purpose, why should man be any different? Unlike the bees, the birds, insects
or plants, we often have to make our own purpose, for this is the cost of
intellect and free will.
And in the human species, we so often loose
sight of the inequality, injustice, and intolerance that so often creates
hardship on others as well as the environment. There are many that take far
beyond their need while great masses live in human misery.
Jesus also addressed this issue, proclaiming:
Jesus Looked round at the disciples and said to them, "How
hard it will be for the wealthy to enter the
(Mark 10:23-25)*
*repeated in Matthew 19:23
The reason for this is that wealth often blinds
ones to the plights of others. But more importantly, it feeds our ability to
take in a manner, whereby, we could never give back enough to balance what
often goes so far beyond needs. In a sense, Jesus was saying that those who
have been given much are much more accountable to this ideal of personal
messiah ship. They have so much more to give and so many treasures in life that
they become blinded to their true responsibility in the
From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded;
and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.
(Luke 12:48)
And as if this were not bad enough, to often
wealth is accumulated at the expense or exploitation of someone or something
else.
The ideal expressed there is the essential
element in achieving spiritual growth: that our contribution is in direct
proportion to our ability to contribute; and, the more we as human beings have
bestowed upon us, the more we are expected to contribute.
And from a psychological standpoint, the
personal messiah ship ideal is a sound one. It calls for individuals to help
make life better for others, and in doing that, others
make life better for the individual.
Human beings can accomplish mighty feats when
they are focused collectively on any problem - modern technology is a shining
example of this. And while our minds have evolved, our spiritual understanding
is as naïve as that of our ancient ancestors. The rudimentary problems of
humanity are as existent today as they were thousands of years ago; despite,
the spiritual tools God has provided. Poverty, inequality, greed, indifference,
oppression, bigotry, hatred, conquest, persecution, lies and deceit are all
alive and well in the masses of humanity. Instead of seeing the value of being
motivated by love and self-sacrifice, we are faced with societies focused on
personal gain and wealth. In the majority of cases, human advancement is not
the goal, but how much can one make for their contribution. To often, our human
ideals are based upon "what does it get me"; instead of, "what
am I giving back for what I receive?
It is the psychology of this latter ideal that
makes the actual theology of Jesus so great a contribution to our world.
Christian theology with its redemptive doctrines, endless interpretations of
the scriptures, complex moral codes, worship of words, emphasis on faith and
its role in salvation: has led us down a road where we have lost sight of the
simple message of Jesus, as well as the other great masters who realized that
far too often human beings make unimportant things, important; and important
things get ignored. Jesus once again says it nicely:
This people pay me lip service, but their hearts are far from
me; their worship of me is in vain, FOR THEY TEACH AS DOCTRINES THE
COMMANDMENTS OF MEN.
(Matthew 15:9)
While responsible theology would move forward to
give relevant meaning to life, for ours as well as future, generations, it must
really return to the basic and the simple messages of the holy sages who have
gone before us. Bottom line is, seen as a whole the Bible is not a complex or
mysterious work at all; it is a book that tells us life is a struggle and we
need to do our part to ease that struggle for as many as we can. It tells us
that free will has a cost, and that love is what gives us our sharing in the
nature of God. Jesus demonstrated that until we transcend our human selfishness
we are doomed to be separated from God - no matter what we profess to believe!
We must always keep in mind that the priests of Jesus' time thought they were
doing God's work and were His handpicked servants. But Jesus says differently
in Matthew 23, in Luke 20: 45-47, in Mark 7:6-13, in Mark 20:45-47 and the
entire Gospel of John where spirituality is ultimately measured in one's
ability to express love!
What is ultimately immoral is that which offends
the spirit of God's love within us and at some level such is always relative.
But in our approach to be moral people, we can never forget or neglect the
concept that INACTION can be a greater immorality than any of our actions!
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