June 01, 2011

The Glorious Faith From Surrendering the Ultimate Reward

Some Australian aborigines hold that this, this world here and now, is Heaven.

Consider it a moment: Heaven is not perfect, but what has been, what is real, and what is possible. That suffering is here in Heaven but often within our power to alleviate, and that Heaven is not for us eternal and unchanging. 

What flows from this concept is powerful- active, optimistic and responsible beliefs: how precious are living souls, how immeasurably beautiful is the life of Earth in its messy impurity, how urgent our work, and our accretion of knowledge.  How much there is to do, and help, in whatever small measure of power becomes available.  How the attention to the specifics of our reality, and caring for them, is the direct regard of the ultimate creation.  How cultivation of kindness, and the marking, and in real ways making, of our world with our conscious experience of it, is a goal of living: the ceaseless maintenance of Heaven.

And this is exactly what is done in the songlines, the great treks across the Outback over ancient trails, making the world that is Heaven alive in the act of walking, being in it, singing it. 

What I find especially beautiful in this, is that there is no need of metaphysics; only that it is kind and useful to act as if Heaven is damn fine metaphor for how to regard Earth, and those who wish to take this as far as faith, have no need to demand it of others, as all of our actions would tend to complement each others'. 

What we surrender for this is a fantasy of eternal ecstatic pleasure after death.  That was always pretty ridiculous anyway, and as Twain noted, not possible even in our fondest concepts of Heaven.

4 Comments:

Blogger The Other Front said...

There is a zen story that touches on this:

A soldier named Nobushige came to Hakuin, and asked: "Is there really a paradise and a hell?"

"Who are you?" inquired Hakuin.

"I am a samurai," the warrior replied.

"You, a soldier!" exclaimed Hakuin. "What kind of ruler would have you as his guard? Your face looks like that of a beggar."

Nobushige became so angry that he began to draw his sword, but Hakuin continued: "So you have a sword! Your weapon is probably much too dull to cut off my head."

As Nobushige drew his sword Hakuin remarked: "Here open the gates of hell!"

At these words the samurai, perceiving the master's discipline, sheathed his sword and bowed.

"Here open the gates of paradise," said Hakuin.



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I haven't read it, but several people have recommended Buddhism Without Beliefs to me. It seems to be written in this spirit.

June 1, 2011 at 11:07 PM  
Blogger JAB said...

Great selection. That evokes this well.

I suspect that so much of our religiously and ideologically inspired horrors- you know the usual genocides, murders, destructive greed, and sadism- emanate from not from the idea of a vengeful God, but from the idea of a paradise which opens to us only in death.

June 2, 2011 at 9:38 AM  
Blogger Viceroy De Los Osos said...

For me, a bathtub full of chocolate pudding is Heaven. But that's just me.

June 2, 2011 at 2:59 PM  
Blogger The Other Front said...

This comment has been removed by the author.

June 3, 2011 at 1:21 AM  

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