Faith as Ethical Alchemy

The Bronx Zoo - New York City

Learning to Live Compassionately

The vase where this verbena’s dying

Was cracked by a lady’s fan’s soft blow.

It must have been the merest grazing:

We heard no sound.  The fissure grew.

The little wound spread while we slept,

Pried deep in the crystal, bit by bit.

A long, slow marching line, it crept

From spreading base to curving lip.

The water oozed out drop by drop,

Bled from the line we’d not seen etched.

The flowers drained out all their sap.

The vase is broken: do not touch.

The quick, sleek hand of one we love

Can tap us with a fan’s soft blow,

And we will break, as surely riven

As that cracked vase. And no one knows.

The world sees just the hard, curved surface

Of a vase a lady’s fan once grazed,

That slowly drips and bleeds with sadness.

Do not touch the broken vase.

~ The Broken Vase, By Sully Prudomme 

Translated by Robert Archambeau

The epistles of Paul, those actually attributed to him anyways, are filled with love for people.  He taught we can endure all manner of trial including being crucified as martyrs, have faith capable of moving mountains but if we lack charity, none of that matters.

Surprisingly, true religion is not about believing things.  It is said the Jewish rabbi, Hillel, an older contemporary of Jesus, was once approached by a group of pagans.  They said they would convert to Judaism if he could recite the entire Tora while balancing on one leg.  He responded with, “Do not do unto others what you would not have done unto you.  That is the Tora.  The rest is commentary.  Go and learn it.”  (Babylonian Talmud - Shabbat 31a)

Beyond the dogma, endless meetings, planning and herding the faithful, there is an underlying element in Mormonism, and many other religions for that matter, that often goes under appreciated; service.  I’m beginning to understand what religion tries to convey at its best.  It really doesn’t matter what you believe.  Religion is about doing things.  It’s about living in a compassionate way that changes you.  Instead of creeds and beliefs, Judaism and Islam place the emphasis on a collection of practices... like giving alms, prayer, fasting, worship.  These observances are designed to change our inner world.  Each is an opportunity to encounter God.

You also see this in the Gospels.  There is very little doctrine as we now know it.  Jesus isn’t going about giving dissertations on the Godhead, original sin, divinity, or other finer points of doctrine.  He’s going out visiting sinners, traitors, the nonbelieving and unclean... people beneath contempt.  He seemingly valued practice over ideas... much like Buddhism does today.

Religion is a form of ethical alchemy.  As we strive to behave in compassionate ways, it changes us.  Egotism and greed keep us from a knowledge of the divine.  It's not the believing of creeds or the undertaking various sacraments but compassion that allows us the perspective to apprehend the sacred.

The Buddha said that the practice of compassion can introduce us to Nirvana. Jesus said that on the last day, it's those who have visited people who are sick and naked, hungry and in prison, looked after them, who will enter the kingdom of God.  They are the ones who enter God's presence, not those who necessarily have the "correct" theology or the "right" sexual ethics.

So many different faith traditions have come to the conclusion that compassion is the test... it’s the key to exaltation.  I do not believe they all came to this same conclusion out of happenstance.  They came to it because it really does work.

We are at our most creative and wonderful when we are ready to give ourselves away... when we are in the service of others.  Equally, we are the most dangerous, the most unimaginative when we only seek ourselves and our own benefit.  It is in the service of others that we ultimately find ourselves.  When we find ourselves, we find God... not the other way around.

The Purpose of Life and Living

At The E-Center - West Valley City Utah

Enduring to the End

And the Dangers of the Obedience Test

Why are we here?  What is the purpose for all creation?  Actually, those fundamental questions can be answered simply; to learn.  But what are we here to learn?  Hmm... there are as many answers to that question as their are people, past, present, and future... and it takes a complete lifetime to answer it just for ourselves.

One thing I believe we all have in common is that our Eternal Father wants us to gain practical knowledge.  You know, the kind that helps us develop common sense... not just book smarts.  There is no sense in learning anything if we don’t understand what it means and how it effects us personally.

This type of practical knowledge requires active learning, that is to say, learning by doing.  Human beings are terrible messes but we are messes by design.  Getting messy, taking chances, and making mistakes are all required to uncover the secrets behind morality’s do’s and don’ts.  It’s the why’s and not the what’s that grant us wisdom.

Now, I am not saying we shouldn’t learn from other people’s mistakes when we can.  I’m just saying we all have our blind spots... those areas of our psyche where we just can’t look ourselves.  In those select situations, we can only see what’s real and right and what’s not through error and repentance.  That just defines us as human.

I know there are a lot of different ideas out there as to what the act of “repentance” really entails.  The etymology of the word only confounds the issue.  Conceptually, it’s actually astonishingly simple and quite contrary to what we have been lead to believe.  Repentance is the act of learning from our mistakes... no more, no less.  No deal making with God.  No expressions of guilt and remorse.  And certainly no periods of probation.  True repentance is a joyous realization and, in the very real sense, IS the very act of learning itself.

If we understand the principles of progression as outlined in the Plan of Salvation, we know the active learning process never ends until perfection is achieved and it is predicated on choice.

Choice is synonymous with free agency.  Now, this is really important... to have free agency, we must have real choice.  The choice between right and wrong... good and evil... eternal life and everlasting darkness aren’t real choices.  Who would chose wrong, evil, and everlasting darkness?

For proper and healthy learning, there must be viable options in which we may operate to work out our own salvation.  We must learn to live honestly, question openly, and repent candidly free from judgement or reprisal.  In essence, we must be allowed to repeatedly step beyond the comfortable and into the unknown to grow in wisdom and spirit knowing the only wrong choice is not choosing.

Good intentions aside, religious institutions always risk robbing us of our free agency in exchange for the “safe” harbor of orthodoxy.  They promise a pre-determined plan to exaltation; the hard work done, the trail blazed and paved, convenient road map provided.  Basically, all that is left for us to do is subscribe and follow... “enduring to the end” as if everything we need to know has been laid before us.  Our only dues for such a service is our obedience.

Like shopping the supermarket meat counter and calling it hunting, there is a disconnect.  The what’s become more important than the why’s.  Uniformity of thought and action become prized above the human tendency to question and explore.  Error and repentance take on a negative connotation.  The cycle of learning is broken.

God does not reward blind obedience.  Lower animal life can be trained to do all sorts of things.  As His offspring, He wants much more from us.  Life is not about obedience.  It isn’t about surrendering control of one’s life to the whims of anyone... oddly, not even God’s.  We all hate a Yes-Man.  God wants us to mature and think for ourselves.  He wants us to uncover the truths behind the commandments.  If we just learn the rules and live by them, we risk missing the whole point of living.

“What’s right for most people in most situations 

isn’t right for everyone in every situation!  

Real morality lies in following one’s own heart.”  

~ Portia Charney