I want you to spend a day, even you have
done this before, humour me. Take that
day and be as pleasant and engaging as you can be. For me, many days I have to fake my way
through doing so. But do it. Pay attention to how people respond to
you. See how even those you don’t have
direct contact with respond to you. See
how difficult or easy it is to navigate your day. See how your mood is affected.
If
you pray, earnestly pray for those around you.
The ugly guy with the bad teeth sitting opposite you on sky train? Thank
God for him. The idiot that just cut you off as you are driving? Pray asking that he find peace so that he
doesn’t have to rush around. For the
cranky cashier? That his day gets
better.
And
if some total Nimrod, who was a mighty hunter, messes your day up? Simply start over. Don’t get campy with doing this. So for the guy that cuts you off so that he
can make the red light faster than you; don’t pray that his penis gets bigger
so that he doesn’t feel like he has to compensate. No. No. No.
When
those ugly memories of when the boss embarrassed you, or something hurtful that
has been said or done. Pass by them, try
not to dwell on them. Or pray for the
person at the centre of the memory.
But
for one day, as much as possible, be the most positive, friendly you that you
can be.
See
what happens.
One of the functions of each of these
dynamics of power, or as I referred to them this week, the dynamics of
influence, is that they elicit a response from you. If I come up to you and coerce you into doing
or acting a certain way, you will seek to do the same either to me or to others. Generally, you will try to outdo what has
been done to you, why? There has been lost
prestige, or hurt feelings, or an effort redress the damage done by the
violence visited upon you.
Thus,
when we are told, An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, I do not see a recipe
for justice. As Ghandi said, “An eye for
an eye, leaves everyone blind.”
I
see a limitation on vengeance. If your
neighbour has poked out one eye, then instead of wreaking havoc, you can poke
out the eye of the offender.
Luke 6:27 – 31 “But to
you who are listening I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you,
bless those who curse you, pray for those
who mistreat you. If
someone slaps you on one cheek, turn to them the other also. If someone takes
your coat, do not withhold your shirt from them. Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs
to you, do not demand it back. Do to others as you would have them do to you.
The trouble with the hunger for violence
that power over creates is that it is never satisfied. One cannot hurt another enough, embarrass
someone else enough, or make another person do enough things to sate that
appetite. And in the end all one does is
seek to take it out on someone else.
Thus,
we see many Christians becoming the antithesis of what, at least I believe,
Christians are called to be. This would
be the effect of believing one better behave or one is sent to hell. Yet, this doctrine is the one that I have
seen otherwise wonderful people become enraged over. When I suggest that our understanding of hell
is skewed, I have seen my fellow Christians become unhinged. How I dare I suggest that God does not want
us to go to hell, and our interpretation of whatever scripture we use to prove
out point is wrong?
"Kill them all, the Lord will
recognise His own." - Arnaud-Amaury, the
Cistercian abbot-commander of the Catholic forces of the siege at Beziers on
July 22, 1209. On that day approximately
7,000 people were killed because they were of the wrong religion.
It seems to me that Jesus had little
interest in the concept of power over.
His teachings, an extremism of love and grace, call for us to relate to
the world in ways opposite to what we see.
As I read scripture, I see a God with a deep desire not only to be
involved in his creation, but for us to be the caretakers of each other; not a
God just itching to send us all to hell.
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