Shame on Human Race

 Shame is consciousness of guilt.  Guilt is inner acknowledgment of wrongdoing.  Shame is a personal thing, felt by individuals.  Shame arises when faced with proof of misconduct; shame is guilt exposed.  [A person feeling ashamed though his evil and guilt has not been discovered is evidence of  divine watchfulness.]

Proposition - every human being is ashamed sometime.  The way to prove this is by asking people, "have you ever felt ashamed?"  Then, keep track of the responses and do a statistical evaluation.  

If 90% or more of people answer above question in affirmative, it is proper to debit humanity as a whole as shameful.  Beside guilt and shame, there is also good and gladness in humankind.  Shame does not prevent good, but does limit good.  It's bad that we are not wholly good.  

What do you think about moral categories, good and evil?  Are they important and necessary?     

Daguerreotype, John Brown, American abolitionist, 1856

John Brown, radical Christian anti-slavery activist, raided U.S. arsenal, Harper's Ferry, Virginia, in October, 1859, taking control.  He was captured by Army Colonel Robert E. Lee and executed in December that year.  Was this man good or evil or a mix?  

Note

More on John Brown at VCU Social Welfare History Project.   

    

'Truth,' a Poem by Hazrat Inayat Khan

The face of truth is open,
The eyes of truth are bright,
The lips of truth are ever closed,
The head of truth is upright.

The breast of truth stands forward,
The gaze of truth is straight,
Truth has neither fear nor doubt,
Truth has patience to wait.

The words of truth are touching,
The voice of truth is deep,
The law of truth is simple:
All that you sow you reap.

The soul of truth is flaming,
The heart of truth is warm,
The mind of truth is clear,
And firm through rain or storm.

Facts are but its shadows,
Truth stands above all sin;
Great be the battle in life,
Truth in the end shall win.

The image of truth is Christ,
Wisdom's message its rod;
Sign of truth is the cross,
Soul of truth is God.

Life of truth is eternal,
Immortal is its past,
Power of truth will endure,
Truth shall hold to the last.

I discovered this poem in a Christian blog I follow, Rhemalogy.com, though there (https://rhemalogy.com/2025/06/01/the-truth/), it was attributed to boxer Muhammad Ali, understandable since Ali claimed he wrote it (see, https://youtu.be/jwmMd9zWmb8?si=OflKcD9Kb9vy7Lzx); however it's actually by Sufi mystic, Hazrat Inayat Khan (1882-1927).

The poem is bursting with beauty and insight.  Here is link to the poem in setting of Inayat Khan's variegated teaching - https://www.hazrat-inayat-khan.org/php/views.php?h1=1&h2=3&h3=0.

Perception

 Waters are moving, clouds moving

Things move

Rarely, things stay still

Or maybe, stillness an illusion

 

"Paolo"

 I was awakened from night's sleep at 8:52am, Monday, January 27 by a voice that said "Paolo," my name in Italian.  The voice was in my head, but for a split-second I thought it was external.  Also, I thought of my Dad, who called me by this name sometimes as I grew up.  Usually I was called 'Paul.'  The voice was soft and sweet, yet powerful.  I believe it was the voice of Jesus Christ, who knows me from the inside-out.  Hearing my name in slumber in that voice instantly startled me; I was amazed.  I was happy.  I looked at the clock, 8:52.  It's time to get up.  We have time to serve God.

Philip Larkin said -

Man hands on misery to man.

    It deepens like a coastal shelf.

Get out as early as you can, 

    And don’t have any kids yourself. 

(quoted in Wall Street Journal [July 6, 2024] 'Review,' p. C10)

-from Larkin poem, 'This Be The Verse'

Family Issues in Jesus' Sayings - Luke 12:13-15, Etcetera

Someone in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.”  Jesus replied, “Man, who appointed me a judge or an arbiter between you?”  Then he said to them, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.” (Lk 12:13ff NIV)

This passage also appears in Gospel of Thomas (saying 72), but without the warning to 'guard against greed.'  Instead, GTh has Jesus ask his disciples, "Amen, am I a divider?"  Also, GTh doesn't have prepositional phrase, "between (or "over") you," in Jesus' original response in Luke.  Additional witness of GTh to this interchange increases likelihood of its standing in the life of Jesus.  DeConick includes logion 72 in the "kernel" portion of GTh, which she dates "prior to" 50 A.D.(1)  Since this dialog is unparalleled in other NT gospels, it may have come to Luke via word of mouth.  Together, the two gospels point to early oral tradition as the medium which brought this encounter to them.  Luke 12:15, admonition contra avarice, may be supported as authentic teaching of Jesus of Nazareth on the basis of coherence with Mark 7:22 (greed or covetousness defiles) and similarity to Q saying at Matthew 6:25//Luke 12:22-23 ("life [psyche] is more than food").(2)

The interjection imploring Jesus to oversee a bequest mentions a "brother" (GTh "brothers"), which brings a family matter to the attention of Jesus.  It is not uncommon for disputes to arise concerning inheritances among surviving family members.  Laws, lawyers and courts help to settle such matters.  Provision for proper execution of estates is made in the Law of Moses (e.g., Num 27:8-11).  Though improper disposition of property could ruin a family and the assistance of a rabbi to counsel a family here is reasonable, Jesus deflects the request by exempting himself from such a role (i.e., "arbiter" or "divider").  Why?    

Jesus' strident refusal to become involved in an issue of fairness or justice for a family is akin to other gospel teachings on the requirements of God's kingdom.  

• A scribe came and said to him, teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.  Jesus said to him, foxes have holes and birds of the air, nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head (Mat 8:19f) 
• Another of his disciples said to him, Lord, allow me first to go and bury my father.  Jesus said to him, follow me and leave the dead to bury their dead (Mat 8:21f)
• Said another, I will follow you Lord, yet first allow me to bid farewell to those at my home.  Then Jesus said to him, None laying hand upon plow and looking backward is fit for the kingdom of God (Lk 9:61f)

Home and the details of family life are to be set aside in Jesus' mission of  leading people to God's kingdom.  

Jesus' own family, his mother and brothers, were looking for him and sent word to Jesus to come to them.  Jesus' response - "Who are my mother and my brothers?"  "Whoever does God's will is my brother and sister and mother" (Mk 3:31-35 NIV).  Jesus' own family relations "were strained" (3) because of his dedication and focus on God.                                  

Notes

1. April DeConick, The Original Gospel of Thomas in Translation (London: T & T Clark, 2007), pp. 8, 228      
2. The Jesus Seminar understood Lk 12:15, not as genuine saying of Jesus, but a "Lukan comment."  See Robert Funk and Roy Hoover, The Five Gospels (NY: Macmillan, 1993), p. 338 
3. Helen Bond, The Historical Jesus (London: Bloomsbury, 2012), p. 112.  Cf. Lk 2:41-52; Jn 7:1-9

Alienation

 People who don't know God are like people who don't know themselves.  People are alienated and don't realize.  The kingdom of God is within you!