Christ, Lao Tzu, and the Pharisees...a diary written in anger
Tue Mar 22, 2005 at 04:56:24 PM PDT
I am not a big diary person. I am barely an effective commentator to existing diaries. I am a hanger-on, getting high on the creative outrage and musings of others. However, tonight, I was so affably pissed off. I went to the toilet thinking, "We need to use their Christianity against them." However, on the way back in, I spotted a dusty book on the shelf...long-ago bought, and long-ago opened. It is the Tao of Jesus. Now, I presume to be much more of a Buddhist than anything, but I have roots in Christ. It's a part of my western society make-up. I thought, "I bet I can find some decent points in here."
Let me start with non-violence. Lao Tzu said, "Whoever assists the ruler with Tao, does not dominate the world by force of arms." Jesus said, "Put your sword back into its sheath, for all who take the sword will perish by the sword." (Mt 26:52) Now, I think we can equate this whole Schiavo debacle as being violent. Violence can be defined as abusive or unjust exercise of power. This is what the president and the congress have done. They have abused power. The Pharisees have been unjust; have been spoiled crybabies because they can score points from their "base."
Why can we not hit these Pharisees with their own professed ideology? It can work. When I was a young firebrand in university, wearing the kaffeya and carrying copies of the Revolutionary Worker, a sociology prof of mine said, "you'd have more success saying `blessed are the poor' with these rural folks than `throw off your chains.'" He's right...the message is the same. Those who sit and rule in judgment can't even properly interpret; theirs is obscenely twisted. Theirs is the true pornography.
Regarding Vacuous Superficiality (isn't that great?), Lao Tzu said, "The vulgar people are pompous and flashy, I alone look dull and dense. The vulgar are clever and showy, I alone am nebulous and in the dark." From Luke 11:39-42, Jesus said, "Oh you Pharisees! Although you cleanse the outside of the cup and the dish, inside you are filled with plunder and evil. You fools! Did not the maker of the outside also make the inside? But as to what is within, give alms, and behold, everything will be clean for you. Woe to you Pharisees! You pay the tithes of mint and of rue and of every garden herb, but you pay no attention to judgment and to love for God."
Roy Moore, Bill Frist, Tom Delay, George Bush...this is talking about you!!! These low beasts have no aptitude to understand nonrevenge, non-violence, nonjudgment. But they are prescribing it to all. It just burns me. Absolutely burns me.
And I had the misfortune of switching to MSNBC to see Scarborough Country advertising their latest episode on Faith in America. Put me out of my misery. How crass...that pompous windbag with his bevy of hypocritical fellow Pharisees...Ann Coulter, Michael Medved, et al. Obscene.
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