September 01, 2011
Manholes
I found it interesting that water pressure from street flooding can
actually lift manhole covers up and off of the holes that they cover. People
walking or driving cars are looking to avoid debris and obstacles that they can
see, but few think about falling into an unseen hole. Spiritually speaking I
can see many of us being similarly naive. Some of us may feel pretty confident
at resisting temptations, taking thoughts captive and fleeing from immorality.
However, nothing humbles us faster than standing firm over an uncovered
manhole.
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Gail;
-----Thoughts and feelings don’t just come to us. Nor do we just create them out of nothing. They are a product of who we are, which is what we’ve been thinking and feeling as a result of what we’ve thought and felt throughout our lives. The sub-conscious mind is vast and interconnected, often in strange ways, but almost always in ways so deep it is nearly impossible to comprehend. Yet, the same simple rule of being for the physical universe applies to the mental universe: every cause produces an effect, and every effect has a cause. Thoughts, feelings, and events are all countless links of endless chains of causes and effects. And the chains do not end within an individual heart or mind. The expressions he makes in either what he says or does become causes within the hearts and minds of others producing mental and emotional effects into chains there, too. It is impossible for us to ascribe complete and unambiguous responsibility in this world for anything.
-----Certainly, ultimate responsibility can usually be determined, although the sharing of it is usually denied. The individual hijackers of 911 were ultimately responsible for that mayhem. But then, Bill Clinton, in an effort to keep his own affairs in the dark constructed a communication firewall between the FBI and CIA which prevented the seizing of one computer that would have uncovered the whole plot before it happened. Merely because that link is far down many chains from the first flight into the towers does not dismiss its share of ultimate responsibility.
-----And what we do and say, sometimes in the slightest way and sometimes just once, can ultimately cause effects in other people which can run deep, like the slightest noise can bring down the greatest avalanche. And so, at the moment a person is greatly conflicted by two peaking and competing viewpoints or attitudes, a simple smile or frown might influence his choice between the two. And then, how ultimately responsible will be you for what he does consequential to that choice? We are far less pure and innocent than we think. Sometimes we are more heroic than we realize. Any one of our most mundane expressions can become a link to something major, good or bad.
-----I understand why the philosophical tendencies of the last few centuries have included despair. Of course, I don’t agree with everything I understand. Called forth by truth upon this depth of responsibility to which our every thought, feeling, and expression finds themselves chained is forgiveness and righteousness imputed, not condemnation and total destruction. It is why we are given the imperative to be seekers of the truth, and it is why Christ is given as the truth. The truth is, we have not the intellectual, emotional, or spiritual power to keep our foot out of the open manhole. But we do have the power to ask for and receive forgiveness. That in itself won’t replace any manhole covers, nor will it free us from the chains of cause and effect. But it will free us from the weight of their penalty so we can heroically smile more now, and blissfully smile forever afterward.
Love you all,
Steve Corey
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