Today, more sound advice from the Gospel of Mathew. To the ancient Greeks, a philosopher was a man who lived exactly as he taught. To Christ there is no Master among men on Earth, no Teacher, no Father, no Rabbi, but God. We strive to be humble and practise as we preach. We are all brothers. We must carry our own burdens and help others with theirs. We must be watchful of pride, of wanting praise, of placing more attention to our outer appearances than our inner well-being.
So simple. And yet, society seems no further than 2000 years ago. Being humble is out of fashion; we call it poor. In a capitalistic world of pathological consumerism humbleness is to be loathed. The supermen are exalted. The rich and powerful are to be emulated. It is no wonder that getting away from it all has such an attraction, from Buddha leaving land and royal title, Jesus' 40 days in the desert, and the many saints such as St. Anthony en St. Francis.
Is balance possible? No, me thinks. By choosing humbleness, one must give up the other. Can someone then be a little bit Christian? No again, me thinks. If we are to follow God's laws, which do we choose? Which are more important than others? In this manner we become very much like the Pharisees; we begin to play judge. If we say 'yes' to Christ then pruning down the wilderness of our lives and sticking to His path must become our priority, because like any priority it must have our full and constant attention.
Of course, choosing humbleness now will be a recipe for failure, instead if one watches the path step by step, humbleness will be the result. Observe my own behaviour, my reactions, my desires and impulses, and with awareness carry my own burden as well as helping the less fortunate to carry theirs, this i can start to do now. Know moderation first and when routine, unthinking patterns of desire and aversion are exposed, perhaps they will dissipate. But then, all that we need to do one can find in the new testament. The invitation to take up the challenge is given to each one of us. Christ seems to be saying, "Now that you know, what are you going to do about it?"
So simple. And yet, society seems no further than 2000 years ago. Being humble is out of fashion; we call it poor. In a capitalistic world of pathological consumerism humbleness is to be loathed. The supermen are exalted. The rich and powerful are to be emulated. It is no wonder that getting away from it all has such an attraction, from Buddha leaving land and royal title, Jesus' 40 days in the desert, and the many saints such as St. Anthony en St. Francis.
Is balance possible? No, me thinks. By choosing humbleness, one must give up the other. Can someone then be a little bit Christian? No again, me thinks. If we are to follow God's laws, which do we choose? Which are more important than others? In this manner we become very much like the Pharisees; we begin to play judge. If we say 'yes' to Christ then pruning down the wilderness of our lives and sticking to His path must become our priority, because like any priority it must have our full and constant attention.
Of course, choosing humbleness now will be a recipe for failure, instead if one watches the path step by step, humbleness will be the result. Observe my own behaviour, my reactions, my desires and impulses, and with awareness carry my own burden as well as helping the less fortunate to carry theirs, this i can start to do now. Know moderation first and when routine, unthinking patterns of desire and aversion are exposed, perhaps they will dissipate. But then, all that we need to do one can find in the new testament. The invitation to take up the challenge is given to each one of us. Christ seems to be saying, "Now that you know, what are you going to do about it?"
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