It was hot and humid, brightly lit by fluorescent lights and we were drinking tea.
In terms of status, his was higher than mine, and this is what he said…
He told me that the path to perfection lies in meditation on the soul. In order to reach enlightenment, meditation is the key.
The Buddhist monk and I waxed theologic as we talked about moral law, our versions of heaven and the state of man.
His advice was that in order to reach enlightenment, meditation is the key. When we meditate on our problems and desire nothing, we see our real issues and reach englightenment.
My question, “once a flower is broken off its stem, how does it restore itself?”
Interestingly, neither of us questioned the state of man’s heart. Only the solution.
“And He was saying, ‘That which proceeds out of the man, that is what defiles the man. For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed the evil thoughts, fornications, thefts, murders, adulteries, deeds of coveting and wickedness, as well as deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride and foolishness. All these evil things proceed from within and defile the man.” Mark 7:20 – 23
There is a mistaken belief in our country today that humans are inherently good, but the influence of bad actors cause them to do bad things.
Not their fault
We blame violent video games and movies.
We blame polarizing leaders, bullies, and inanimate objects.
We blame everything but the individual who committed the crime.
The obvious fallacy of this argument is that society is made up of individual humans.
The Collective Whole
Humans are the creators of these violent movies, games and inanimate objects. We are the bullies, we elect the politicians.
You see, it’s not what goes into the heart of man that defiles it –causes it to desire evil and perform heinous acts against others.
That is our nature. What we need is something that clean out the junk, perform heart surgery and repair the pieces broken by the evilness.
Restoring Flowers
In an interesting twist, Christianity offers the most reasonable solution here. Christianity believes that humans are made in the image of God, but have chosen selfishness over submission to God’s authority which leads to evil.
[KiwiClickToTweet tweet=”In submitting to God, you allow Him to restore you to your former beauty as made in His image. #Godislove” quote=”By choosing to resubmit to God, you allow Him to restore you to your former beauty as made in His image. “]A flower cannot pick itself up and repair itself. But a gardener can splint the flower back onto the branch. Jesus is the gardener, we are the flower.
