I keep looking at other people, wondering what they appear to be doing. Yes, I am a people-watcher. One of the truths that I have ascertained is that each of us is unique. We all have our idiosyncrasies and bad habits that tend to get on the nerves of people, even those whom we love and love us in return. Without these differences, we would live in a sterile world as automatons, devoid of any real challenges or for that matter interests.
We must discover the differences in people and cherish them; we must retain this uniqueness and develop avenues of encouragement for growth as individuals. However, this should not be done without considering the needs of the extended community. After all, we do cohabitate this planet called Earth.
We must encourage others to share in the beauty of our world as human beings, and as children of God. For it is only through Her benevolence that we can share in the concept of eternal life. I was raised as a Christian Scientist, a religion I left after spending a weekend at St. Albans Naval Hospital being discharge for a back injury, while my brother Marines were returning from Vietnam missing body parts. I could not understand how God could allow such tragedies to exist, and no one in my hometown church could give this young Marine a reasonable answer other than God works in mysterious ways. So I left Christian Science, much to the disappointment of my father.
With this in mind, I find myself studying the early Christian mystics, from the 1st and 2nd centuries, who populated civilization around the Mediterranean Sea. What I discovered is that the early Christians seem to be closer to the Word of God than many of us are today. They shared a more basic, simplistic understanding of what Jesus taught. And, my distant memory of the lessons learned in Sunday School at the Christian Science Church return to me with the same message. We are all God’s children and must act as if our lives depend on it. to
For some reason, I am beginning think that it does. The Great War (1914-1919) was the most devastating war in the history of mankind, due to the new weapons that could kill the enemy forces in masses. It was called the war to end all wars. Less than 20 years later, a new, more destructive war began, and World War II (1937-1945) set a new record in human devastation. We have been fortunate that we have only had what the historians call Brushfire Wars since then. Korea, Vietnam, and now the generation wars now occurring in the Middle East. Will we be so ignorant that we allow nuclear weapons to destroy human life on this planet? I worry that we can and will be.
We must begin in our local communities to convince our leadership to look at those we fight with a new respect; not one born on the battlefields, but respect born with the understanding that we all have the right to live in the world that God created.
God help us if we don’t.
Meditating to Heal 