Thursday, September 14, 2006

Working The Equation


It is the nature of men and women to search for answers. The question that surfaces quickly here is ‘why would we wonder about things’ if it is not the natural order of our minds? If it were not natural to seek all the answers, it would be required that we learn this attribute. But we don’t teach our children to wonder, and we were not taught to wonder at an instinctual level. We do so because wonder occurs naturally.

Watch a child stare at a rainbow, and if you can’t explain it, you might want to run hide, because they will ask you all about the rainbow. In the question of that child we find naturally occurring wonder, a wonder that remains all of our lives.
But we change the aim of our wonder as adults. We wonder about the things I wrote about in my last post. My central point in the post was that we should never stop wondering and searching. If we stop searching and wondering and we say “it doesn’t matter’ we close the door to investigation and thought itself. In many cases perhaps we simply consider the work too rigorous.
So we stare solemnly at the reality of children dying before their time or madmen with guns angrily shooting down the innocent. We label the gunman insane, wonder no more, and move along like cattle to a barn, back into our warm stable of contentment, though still quite frightened by insane men in black trench coats. Maybe it will always be someone else gunned down; not me or mine.
I believe our world is composed of the Creator’s natural order. It is an order that responds to only good and knows no evil. Yes, I do believe this. And when I talk with others about this they always fire back, “But Seven, evil is all around you.”
I know this fact about evil too well. Should we blame evil and injustice on the Creator and his plan? If we accept this notion we are acknowledging a less than perfect God and a life filled with landmines for all generations that might come after us.
If we look at the science of math we see easily enough that a math problem can be worked incorrectly. If we work it incorrectly, is the ‘law of math’ at fault? No, because the law of math is perfect so far as mathematicians can observe. Solving it correctly is the art of correct application of the science. The science of math has no power over how we use it. We can use it correctly or incorrectly; however incorrect answers cannot be blamed on the order or rules of math.
This is much the way I think about the natural law of the Creator. Can we blame God for the children that die early in automobile collisions. We may try to blame God, but the fact is clear that man invented a machine of a few thousand pounds, composed of steel, rubber and glass and sent it propelling down a strip of concrete at high speed, with the child placed inside the machine. Is this the correct working of the problem? The automobile is convenient to our lives and so we convince ourselves that it must be God that has taken our child for reasons unknown to us. It might be too difficult to admit that our invented solution for moving people is not a correct solution in the eyes of natural law. But I think it is always much like this. It is simpler to blame God than to believe our answers are incorrect.
Many die in hurricanes each year, and we wring our hands and wonder why God is so angry with us. Then we vow to reconstruct our homes in the path of hurricanes to come, never questioning if we have worked the equation of natural law correctly. Nature is surely sending us a message that our choice of home location, or perhaps construction quality, is not in accordance with the Creator’s plan?
Inside both of these examples lie fragments of the maps I discussed. These thoughts represent a small part of my tattered and glued together fragments of map; the pieces I keep folded in my pocket. They are maps that point to a natural order that waits to be found, a fleeting yet powerful point of clarity. Creator has given us a natural order, constructed of complex outline, and he/she instructs us to seek IT. We are not only allowed, we are expected to find it, but we must strive and observe. It is an order that has rules and beauty of precision, much like math, filled with good and enormous possibility for personal expansion.
It is our opportunity to look at the equations before us and come to a point where we know the hidden and correct value on the other side of the equation. These will be breakthroughs on a spiritual plane that will be equal to our resolve and intent. We must continue to seek and not blame the Universe, but rather look for the answers in the laws laid before us for inspection.

Then one day we will not say to our children…”it doesn’t matter”…because we will know it always did matter, and only good will walk inside.

10 comments:

Unknown said...

7 - So much of what I was typing to comment again in your earlier post, I just read in this post. God did not mean for us to ingest chemicals into our body through the food and drink that we take. Nor did he expect for us to wrap ourselves inside a 2000 lb cage of metal and send it down asphalt roads at high rates of speed. We (mankind) chose through our actions to "leave the garden" and as we all know, their are conseqences to actions. Even my own children know that even when I've foregiven them for something they have done wrong, they still must face the consequences of their actions.

I just deleted what I was typing because you said most of what I was thinking in this wonderful post and in a way so much better than I could express.

Margie said...

Beautiful post!
Wise words full of truth!
I agree with all of them!
You surely have a wonderful way of expressing what you feel!
Thanks for this!

-Margie

Monogram Queen said...

Ah Seven so wise once again. I think mankind's main problem is Free Will ....

Jenn said...

Pattie nailed it. It's that durned Free Will. What we choose to do with it can change the course of our life and those lives around us. Even choosing who we blame...or if we blame has much to do with how our life moves forward.

I was in a car accident when I was 6 months pregnant. I was driving on the highway and the car in the left lane lost control and somehow end up in front of me sideways. I could see it was going to happen. I had enough time to slam on the brakes but not enough time to avoid the accident.

The brakes were slammed instinctually...as was the prayer said. "Please let the baby live."

As I sat in my car - stuck because the front end was so crushed that the doors wouldn't open - it never crossed my mind to blame God or whatever higher power for the accident. Even when I didn't know my baby was alright. Even when the other driver left the scene.

I still wonder if it was the prayer or a technical malfunction that stopped the airbag from deploying. That, my doctor told me, is what saved my girl. I lean towards the prayer.

This is my long, round-about way of agreeing....it does matter. I know I've made choices in my life that allowed the accident to happen the way it did. And once more - reaffirmed my belief in good and wonderful things.

As for the other driver...the one that left the scene of an accident they caused...that involved a pregnant woman...without a thought for the survival of the other driver...they probably think it doesn't matter.

Seven said...

gkw,
There is a tendency in us all to think that commonplace solutions we are given in our lives are absolute. Then we stretch that tendency to include God in our soultions. Its a difficult concept to avoid for some, but vital to understanding, as you nicely express.

999,
So kind and supportive as always, and you are welcome.

Cakes,
The idea of free will is vital to the natural law of creation. But, it can be just as positive as negative; though perhaps more challenging to work the equation in the positive?

Jenn,
I think you are so right about the person that left this scene. This would be the opposite of a natural law we all understand on an intuitive level. Often fear and learned behavior surounding the fear of others produces that reaction. The equation however is certainly worked incorrectly! I think overcoming fear is critical to a succcessful emotional development and maturity...another one of my fragments of a map...:)

Leesa said...

I don't think I can say it any better than anyone else here. But, great post and great comments :)

Seven said...

leesa,
Howdy Miss Montana with a camera...been a while...:)

Anonymous said...

The concept of personal responsibility is something that I tried to instill in my children, long before professional training told me it was important. To me this is a way of life, not that I always succeed, but I do try. If one has this integrated into his/her life, in general, I think it is easier to accept responsibility in the relationship with the Supreme Being, as well.

When things went wrong in the life of my late husband, he had a tendency to rail against God, rather than acknowledge his own role and find a solution that lead to his ability to reach beyond his current operating level. Once it was over, he “made amends,” so to speak, yet he never took that one more step. In 31 years I was sadly unable to help him see that his part of the situation might be the problem, not a vengeful God.

It matters not that I am right or wrong (of course, I want to be right, but reality is that I’m simply not all the time), but that I find a way to make any circumstance in my life as good as it can be. Finding a way of living and relating to others in a happy, peaceful way is all important. And when I’m wrong, I want to acknowledge it and adjust my path. Only by altering my path in a positive way can I hope to understand more of my world, my relationship to the Creator. It does matter.

I have a quote I found in a fortune cooky or inside a Dove candy one time. I’ve tried to find the author but, although it is frequently quoted and written about, I don’t know who it is. The content, however, has been my guide for 15 or 20 years.

“You Can't Direct the Wind but You Can Adjust the Sails.” I read this to say that I can’t control others or the Supreme Being’s will, but I can do whatever in my power to be where He/She intends me to be. Yeah, I can.

Does it matter? You bet it does, it's my personal responsibility, and I hope my kids know that concept.

Steve said...

Seven, another heartfelt post. I like your idea of a set of rules that we as humans can use to be in harmony or to deviate from. I have a take on things that may or may not resonate with you or others. I like to think that it is our thoughts (followed by actions) that create things that happen in the world or to us or near us, etc. If enough of us here on earth think about tragedy all the time, it will inevitably manifest. It must as the law of manifestation. Whatever we are thinking and giving enough attention to, is a request to attract to ourselves. Like a prayer in the mind.? How can God be at fault? I cannot see it that way either, Seven. I believe that God sees no good nor evil, but answers prayers for all folks. We are magnets who can tune ourselves to attract whatever we ask for. Thanks for the post. :^)

Enemy of the Republic said...

I see evil as inevitable. We want to blame, but perhaps there is no blame. Instead of asking: Why is this happening or How can a loving God allow this--the question may be "what is my own relationship to evil and suffering"? Do I accept it and am I willing to embrace (not become it) or will I bury my head in the sand and just say I don't like it. Because it's with us, so what we do about it is the challenge.