the good, the bad...
chapter 11 of the gita talks of the glory and the terror of lord krishna's form, as he reveals it to arjuna. a asked me yesterday: "what does this mean for us as living beings?" indeed a pertinent question to ask - for everything that we read and attempt to learn - what do these teachings mean to convey to us that we may incorporate in our lives in order to progress on our path of dharma?
all wisdom is entirely welcome, solicited even. here is my humble take on answering a's question - that the lord is (in) both the good and evil alike. and what does that mean? the way i see it is three-fold: first, this helps us learn to forgive the 'evil' around us by accepting that god exists in the evil as well as the good; second, when we encounter troubled times, we learn to accept that god is with us in that strife; and third, when we feel the 'evil' forces of anger, jealousy, etc., we need not give up hope of self-improvement, because god is with us in these emotions as well.
a's next question was, "what is the need to make the distinction between good and evil?" i see two sides to that answer: first, it is helpful to recognize the good and the evil within us, especially for those commencing on their spiritual journey, so they may learn to focus their energies on their 'higher' nature, and not on 'baser' emotions. for example, i find it is helpful to recognize anger, jealousy, etc. that i may learn to transform destructive energies into more constructive ones. second, if one is so spiritually evolved so as to no longer need the distinction (please allow me to escape lots of writing to explain what i mean here precisely), they need merely continue along their path with the knowledge that there is no good, nor evil, only maya.
the hardest question for me to answer was, "how do we know what is good and what is evil?" my best attempt involves a summoning of the inner consciousness. i cannot articulate my meaning here, but there exists an inner self that just knows. this inner compass can guide us in the 'right' direction, and it knows to differentiate between 'good' and 'evil'; between the 'higher' and 'lower' natures, if you will. the real task, then, is to bring out this inner self and make room for it to live, breathe, and voice its thoughts. if each of us can build a healthy communication channel whereby we can speak to our inner voice and hear its response, i am confident that we will find ourselves on our 'intended path'.
this is as far as a's and my conversation went, so now would be an appropriate stopping point. (otherwise, i might have gone on forever :).)
all wisdom is entirely welcome, solicited even. here is my humble take on answering a's question - that the lord is (in) both the good and evil alike. and what does that mean? the way i see it is three-fold: first, this helps us learn to forgive the 'evil' around us by accepting that god exists in the evil as well as the good; second, when we encounter troubled times, we learn to accept that god is with us in that strife; and third, when we feel the 'evil' forces of anger, jealousy, etc., we need not give up hope of self-improvement, because god is with us in these emotions as well.
a's next question was, "what is the need to make the distinction between good and evil?" i see two sides to that answer: first, it is helpful to recognize the good and the evil within us, especially for those commencing on their spiritual journey, so they may learn to focus their energies on their 'higher' nature, and not on 'baser' emotions. for example, i find it is helpful to recognize anger, jealousy, etc. that i may learn to transform destructive energies into more constructive ones. second, if one is so spiritually evolved so as to no longer need the distinction (please allow me to escape lots of writing to explain what i mean here precisely), they need merely continue along their path with the knowledge that there is no good, nor evil, only maya.
the hardest question for me to answer was, "how do we know what is good and what is evil?" my best attempt involves a summoning of the inner consciousness. i cannot articulate my meaning here, but there exists an inner self that just knows. this inner compass can guide us in the 'right' direction, and it knows to differentiate between 'good' and 'evil'; between the 'higher' and 'lower' natures, if you will. the real task, then, is to bring out this inner self and make room for it to live, breathe, and voice its thoughts. if each of us can build a healthy communication channel whereby we can speak to our inner voice and hear its response, i am confident that we will find ourselves on our 'intended path'.
this is as far as a's and my conversation went, so now would be an appropriate stopping point. (otherwise, i might have gone on forever :).)
2 comments:
clarification: i was not the a in this dialogue :)
if both a and 8&20 read the book club selection of the month, it might provide some illumination on some of these questions of making the distinction between good and bad :)
some other perspectives here - http://spiritualgleanings.blogspot.com/2008/03/good-vs-bad.html
http://spiritualgleanings.blogspot.com/2008_07_01_archive.html
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