Hey guys, Erika of Awakening from the Dream recently posted up an article in response to a comment I made about the inclusion of the principle of power in her philosophies:
http://awakeningfromthedream.blogspot.com/2008/10/love-truth-and-power-way-of-jedi.html
She brings up some excellent points in that article. The basic premise is that God has a path for everyone, and that by surrendering yourself from TRYING to do things, you gain the power of gods path.
It reminds me of a scene in Donnie Darko, when Donnie's teacher points out the inherent paradox in time travel, that going back would inherently change the universe you went back to... thus changing you going back.
Donnie replies that there would be no paradox if one was traveling back in time along God's path, because you going back in time would have been preordained.
It's a really cool idea. We don't have to do ANYTHING, just go with your gut, stop trying to accomplish things, and the world will work itself out. Everything is planned to work out right, but it's just that people's egos fuck it up. It's cool...I'm just not buying it.
To get this out of the way beforehand:
I love the idea of a holy spirit, I think that the concept of a holy spirit is a great way to look at the world. But, I don't subscribe to this idea as THE truth... I think that it is merely one way of looking at things which can help reveal one aspect of truth.
But that's not the reason I'm not buying this definition of power, This is:
People like Muhammad Yunus.
Martin Luther King Junior.
Mohandas Ghandi.
They HAVE done good in the world. Not by surrendering, but by ACTING, by sticking to goals, and working at them despite setbacks.
To believe that these people ruined God's plan by setting goals and sticking to them does not make sense to me... it's not true in my heart. These people show that good can be done by making plans, and taking responsiblity.
There's another reason why I won't accept the "let go and God will provide" definition of power, This:
September 11, 2001. A small group of people, decided that they would take the lives, of another group of people.
If I wanted to believe the "Just Let Go" definition of power, there could be only two explanations of why this occurred:
1. The terrorists were not following God's Path.
or
2. It was part of God's Plan.
Again, neither of these options sit well with my heart, because there is an implicit assumption in both of them: There's nothing I can do about it, and inherent in the second one... there's nothing I SHOULD do about it.
Not only does this not FEEL right, I know that there IS something I can do about it. Ask Muhammad Yunus:
Muhammad Yunus understands Power. He realizes the TRUE answer to why those people ran into that building, the answer that only someone who understands this principle can really give:
WE fucked up. Any time a human hurts another in such a big way, it's because WE as a human race failed.
Every second that I'm not doing my absolute BEST to make an impact on this world... I'm fucking up. And I don't believe that I'm going to be making the best impact without doing things like working towards a goal or having plans. Grameen Bank would not exist right now if Yunus had not done these things.
If he had not understood Power, he would have still lived a great life. He understands the principles of Truth and Love, he would have helped a great many people individually as he met with them on his journey, and do a lot of good for them... but only through the principle of Power did he realize that he had MORE of an obligation, to help as many people as he possibly could.
In the end, I just can't accept the "God's Path" definition of Power. Why would God give us Compassion and Love and Choice if the only way to fulfill them correctly was to Accept him? I side much more with Pavalina's defintion of Power: The ability to consciously and deliberately around you.
That means if there's something that you don't like about the world... you change it.
I'm looking forward to further dialogue with Erika about this issue.
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Posts
Hi Halffull,
ReplyDeleteThank you for your passionate entry. I fully agree with you that we do not stand by and let others suffer. It's going to take a bit for me to respond fully, so this is just a teaser for now.
I'm not saying we don't act. I'm saying we act from a surrendered space. That is right action. I don't sit at home and watch TV all day. ACIM says "If there are plans to make, you will be told of them. They may not be the plans you thought were needed, nor indeed the answers to the problems which you thought confronted you. But they are answers to another kind of question, which remains unanswered yet in need of answering until the Answer comes to you at last."
The only way I know to differentiate between my ego's plans and God's plans is by how I feel. When I'm quiet, and a voice comes out of nowhere prompting me (for example) to go see Jeffy's tour tonight, and I pull up in front of the hotel and get a front row parking space, I know I'm following the plan.
If I suffer or feel any pain at all, I know that I'm out of sync.
More soon, g'nite love :-)
Erika
www.awakeningfromthedream.blogspot.com