Part 2
Crisis of Individualism, Globalization from Below, A Revolution
(I took more freedom in my interpretations on this part and added in many of my own thoughts to this section of the overview of the book Jesus Today).
Crisis of Individualism
There is a growing crisis of individualism throughout the world but most strongly in western industrialized countries. We highly value the ideas of self-made, autonomous, and self-sufficiency. These ideas or values in themselves are not bad and even can contribute to our freedom and happiness. There seems to be a duality between being free and capable, but still realizing we play a part in the whole of something bigger than ourselves. For me it comes down to having the right relationship (where is the heart at behind the action) whether its with personal growth, self-sufficiency, autonomy or with our own spiritual journey each have the possibility of enhancing and enriching our lives and the lives of our brothers and sisters or the possibility of destroying or altering that right relationship in our lives and all those both near and far. Spiritually we are called to continuously grow inwardly and develop a deeper relationship and love for God. As Gandhi said, “The best way to find yourself, is to lose yourself in the service of others.” Yet, this is only the first part of the call.
The second part, is the call to action. In James 2:14-17 “What good is it my brothers and sisters, if someone says they have faith but does not have works? Can that faith save them? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, “go in peace be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.” We also have the responsibility, which should be a privilege, to seek to grow physically, intellectually, and emotionally to develop our God given abilities and talents to find our place or role(s) in making this world a more loving, compassionate, peaceful, and joyful place to live. In other words, bringing a little piece of heaven down on earth. In Luke 17:21 it says, “The kingdom of God is within you” we need to seek it and bring it forth here on earth. In Romans 12:4-6 “For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them.”
Some words of wisdom which sums up the essence of spiritual/personal growth inwardly and then putting it into action goes like this. “When I was a young man, I wanted to change the world. I found it was difficult to change the world, so I tried to change my nation. When I found I couldn’t change the nation, I began to focus on my town. I couldn’t change the town and as an older man, I tried to change my family. Now, as an old man, I realize the only thing I can change is myself, and suddenly I realized that if long ago I had changed myself, I could have had an impact on my family. My family and I could have made an impact on our town. Their impact could have changed the nation and I could indeed have changed the world.”
One of the biggest ways we can see this growing wrong relationship with individualism is through our destruction of the environment. We have brought the environment/planet to the edge of chaos through our selfish interests and shortsighted actions. We have known about global warming and the affects we are having on the natural order of the environment for many years, yet we lack the will to give up our selfish and unsustainable practices. We are surely on course to see the opposite of heaven on earth if we don’t change from within and make the necessary changes that are imperative for all 7 billion of us who call earth home.
Globalization from Below
Recent history and history in general, has proven that the enormity of human suffering has been extreme. The two world wars, racial and ethnic hatred in the U.S. with African Americans, Nazi Germany with Jewish population (others), South Africa system of apartheid, British colonization in India during Gandhi’s struggle, and the list could go on for far too long. In our recent history we have seen people challenge these different forms of inhumanity and have shown through various revolutions that there is power behind a message of truth and righteousness, and that the power of the ordinary many can make positive change against the destructive interests of the few. These movements/protest/revolutions have brought us things like an end to slavery, women’s rights, end of colonization (directly), reversal or greatly decreased levels of racism in places like Nazi Germany, South Africa, India, and the U.S. The thing about history is that we either forget our history and the lessons we learned, or should have learned, or we find new ways of creating misery and suffering.
Today, apart from the huge number of people who are dying from preventable disease, starvation, and AIDS, an issue that has been getting huge attention is the growing disparity between the haves and the have-nots. Just in our country alone the disparity between the wealthy and poor is incredible. According to a report in the Wall Street Journal, the richest 1 percent of families (14,000) have over 22 percent of the countries wealth while the bottom 90 percent over (133 million families) have just 4 percent. The same trend that has been happening in our country has also been happening all over the world. The global system we all, more or less, live in, has given rise to a wealthy powerful elite. Through these neo-liberal policies or globalization the system has rewarded policies which disregard the many for the gain of the few.
The system humanity currently lives in, Capitalism, has the need for continual growth and consumption, which is really a forced materialism, in order for the economy to function or “work”. Yet the basis or root of this foundation is completely irresponsible for our one planet earth with finite resources. An alarming stat from greenchange.org is that if every person on earth used the amount of resources that the average person in the United States does we would need 5 earths in order to meet the resource need. This shouldn’t be a comfortable fact for us to look at, but its necessary to understand the reality, to accept it, and decide to do something about it. A system of infinite growth with a finite planet. Lets think about that one...Not to mention all the spiritual implications of materialism.
I won’t digress into a tangent on this, but I think its extremely important to raise some questions for us to think about. I’m saying us, meaning people in the U.S., because we currently are the biggest player in this game or the worlds superpower if you will. This is our current situation and “with power comes great responsibility” we have, arguably, the greatest capability and responsibility to ignite some positive changes. I’m not trying to say the United States is the problem and other countries have it right. I have no doubt within this system whatever country has world power/dominance will take advantage of the system as we have. Here are some questions to think about...How do we, a small portion of the worlds population, have such a large control over the natural resources? What does this mean for the vast majority of the worlds population? What does this mean for our future as far as sustainability goes? How do our lifestyles/actions create a demand for the continuation of such disproportional resource allocation? How has the income inequality grown worldwide and what implications does this have for social interactions? Not simple questions to answer but the root causes to these answers all play a significant role in all our lives.
What is significant, and for me very encouraging, is the base/majority of people who have and are uniting to make their voices heard. The voices from the bottom or base have begun to protest throughout the world with numbers which have not been matched in history against the arrogance, selfish individualism, values and methodology of the system in our global environment. The voices from the bottom/base are beginning to be heard. Even though not all the people protesting are there for the same
reason(s), and sometimes the message is unclear. As I look out into the world we all live in, I am thankful there are so many who are trying to shed light on the truth of the state of our current world. I can’t, in good conscience, except it, they can’t except it, and when enough of us decide we can do better, way better...we will...together.
A Revolution
Jesus was not a reformer, he didn’t come to patch up the Judaism or the influential sects of the day (Pharisees, Sadducees, Essenes, 4th Philosophy). He came to turn things upside down for the established religion of the time, or rather, to show us and teach us what life could look like if we lived right side up. Here are some examples where Jesus’s teachings were completely subversive to the status quo of religious teachings. He spoke of turning the other cheek instead of revenge against ones enemies. He spoke of doing good and loving those who hate and curse you. He also taught that our limit of forgiveness should be almost endless for a heart that is sincere about admitting ones faults or failures.
Jesus was also quite controversial about what he had to say about the rich and the poor. An example is the story of the rich young man in Matthew 19:16-24 “Sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come follow me. When the young man heard this he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions. And Jesus said to his disciples, “Truly I say to you, only with difficulty will a rich person enter the kingdom of heaven. It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.” I interpret this passage as the difficulty of the rich to enter the kingdom of heaven, not based solely on the riches alone, but on having the wrong relationship with money. Allowing money to have control over us and not being able to relinquish our plentitude to the needs around us. It shows a hardness of heart to not be able to give joyfully in our excess to the needs of our brothers and sisters.
Another liberating teaching of Jesus was that of his uncompromising belief that all people were equal in their value. He showed this by treating tax collectors, beggars, crippled, and the most lowly and outcasted in the society with the same respect as the high officials and upper class. He also completely disregarded what people said about him (reputation) and was willing to do what was right regardless of the personal cost. Some examples of these controversial teachings in the bible are the stories of the good samaritan, prodigal son, laborers in the vineyard, and the woman caught in adultery.
Jesus’s spirituality was based on the Torah (Law) but he turned that upside down or right-side up as well. He did not reject the law but came and renewed it. Nolan says, “Jesus felt perfectly free to break the law whenever observance of it would do harm to people.” (pg. 55) Jesus saw many of these laws as human traditions that had been distorted from God’s original plan. He sought to free people from these distortions and showed them the radical freeness of a life lived in complete unison with God’s desired plan.
Jesus also made a connection with the kingdom of God and a new family. It wasn’t based upon a biological family but rather anyone “who does the will of God.” This can be seen in Mark 3:31-35 where Jesus says, “Who are my mother and my brother.” Jesus indeed was creating a new community/family based on those who showed love to one another, as is the reason so often these “family” members called each other brother and sister.
The last thing Jesus did was by far the most radical, shocking, and contradictory to expectations of the time. He was/is the messiah and instead of bringing forth the powerful “Rein of God” he preached and lived a message of service, pain and suffering, and ultimately death on the cross. Nothing could have been more contradictory to conventional beliefs. He showed us what life could be like without the distortions of such things as pride, jealousy, envy, lust, anger, and showed us that, “you were called to freedom brothers and sisters. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.” Galatians 5:13. “Even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for all.” Matthew 20: 28 So ultimately, Jesus’s revolution was one of fulfilling and showing us what living right side up looks like. “I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.” John 10:10
I´m not sure how to site this but I referred to the outline and information in this PDF document in helping me write this blog entry. http://www.smd6.co.za/docs/Jesus_Today.pdf
I have decided this will be my last blog about the book and am planning on adding more stories/activities and pictures from my experience in Bolivia. Via request.
