Once Again Into The Fray

NaNoWriMo - The siren call for the would be novelist.

Frater Bovious had participated in this worthy project in 2004 and 2005, but skipped 2006 due to work pressures.

This year the baton is handed to the Spiritual Advocate.

SA

Testing Uno Dos Tres

hmmm. this looks surprisingly like the editor in Blogger.

Dear Spiritual Advocate,

What is Faith?

Signed - Unsure

Dear Un,

Interesting that you sign as Unsure. One aspect of faith that receives little comment is that the connection between faith and belief is tenuous. Does this surprise you?

Faith is often incorrectly used as a synonym for belief. But, while you should be sure before believing (that 2 +2 = 4, as an example), being sure has nothing to do with being faithful. They are really two very different words. Fear not, that you are unsure. That is the state of man. (For which there is a rather sublime reason to be discussed Later.)

It is nearly impossible to talk about faith without introducing a religious aspect, and so I shan’t attempt such a feat. For most that read this, the religious aspect familiar since childhood will include some form of the Bible, and so I will use a parable from the Bible to illustrate Faith. Other belief systems will find the discussion useful, if they wish to follow along.

Most are familiar with the mustard seed story, though few think it through. Please think through with me, and let’s see where we come out: To paraphrase from Luke 17, 5 and 6, the disciples asked “Lord, increase our faith!” To which he replied “If you had faith the size of a mustard seed, you would say to this mulberry tree ‘Be uprooted and plant yourself in the sea’ and it would do so.”

This is very curious. A mustard seed is a small seed, and much has been made of the statement “size of a mustard seed” indicating, perhaps in contrast, that the disciples had almost no faith at all. Which is a strange response to the request for an increase in faith. Kind of like someone saying, “Hey, can you give me some money?” To which you reply, “You don’t have very much money now!” You can imagine the disciples saying, in Aramaic of course, “Well, duh. Why do you think I am asking for more? Who are you anyway with the inscrutable sayings? Yoda?”

Many focus exclusively on the idea of a mulberry tree flying through the air to take root in the ocean. From this you get the group of folks interested in telekinesis and other manifestations of 'mind over matter'. Or those that speak of miracles that you can have (for your personal fun and profit), if only you will believe. Which primarily becomes a vehicle by which charlatans bilk the elderly out of their Social Security checks.

Both miss the point.

The key concept to Faith may be found in the very next bit of parable, Luke 17, 7-10. Like so much in this world, if people would only read all the instructions before getting started on the project, the bicycle would be finished in time for Christmas morning.

The next section goes like this: “Who among you would say to your servant who had just come in from the field, ‘Come here immediately and take your place at table’? Would you not rather say to him, ‘Prepare something for me to eat. Put on your apron and wait on me while I eat and drink. You may eat and drink when I am finished’? Is he grateful to that servant because he did what was commanded?”

But wait, there’s more. Let’s examine this in light of when it was written, and in light of today’s customs.

Bear in mind, for most of human history, there have been servants, and there have been the served. It is not curious that this relationship was often used to illustrate certain truths about our relationship to God. Now, if you ask a child of today what they think of this; if you ask them, ‘would you say to your servant, come, eat at table’ they would reply, “Yes!” thinking this to be the desired ‘Christ-like’ answer. For we are taught as children that slavery is bad and no man is lord over another.

But the issue of legitimate authority is therefore ignored (as too complex to introduce, perhaps), and perhaps viewed as un-godly or un christlike. I’ll leave that for now, except to say that legitimate authority seems to be a necessary fact of existence.

So, ignoring for the moment that most of us equate any kind of subservience as inherently evil, what this part of the parable appears to say is that sometimes you’re just supposed to do what you are supposed to do, because that is how the world is made. Like, if you step off the roof of the house, you will fall to the ground, because that is how the world is made. And if you instead climb down the ladder, like you are supposed to do, you will most likely arrive on the ground intact.

Here is the key important part of that though. When you climb down that ladder, like you are supposed to do, and arrive intact, your friends and family do not organize a feast celebrating your valiant efforts to return to earth safely. It is no doubt important that you arrive back on the ground safe and sound, but no one expects to be roundly congratulated, have their photo taken, and be clapped on the back. Because, really, all you did is what you were supposed to do.

Chris Rock said during a monologue regarding parents and kids, “People say, ‘I take care of my kids!’”. He pauses and says, angrily, “What do you want? A cookie? You’re supposed to take care of your kids!”

There is often no immediate gratification in doing what you are supposed to do.

Going back to the mustard seed. What does the mustard seed do with all its vaunted faith?

It grows into a mustard tree, like it’s supposed to do.

Look back on your life, and look at all the things you were supposed to do, but didn’t. Whether it is study for an exam, or get to work on time, or visit your mom, or spend time with your kids. Look at all the times you exercised your free will and chose to do something instead of what you were supposed to do. Compare and contrast.

Free Will is both the gift and the test. For this simple reason: That is how we are made. Doing what we are supposed to do tends to be its own unheralded reward. Measured in the end by the sum of one’s life. Not by the accolades received along the way.

Faith is the Exercise of Free Will to do what you are supposed to do.

sa

And now for something completely different

With apologies to Monty Python.


You are Joey Ramone. You're a revolutionary person,
bound for greatness who always keeps a positive
attitude. People like and trust you, even if
they don't know why.


Which punk rock god are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

Dear Spiritual Advocate,

What's all this crap about a weekly column? It's been like a month since your last post.
- Unimpressed

Dear Unimpressed,

Impressed or not, matters not. Questions asked may be answered. Questions not asked may be answered in kind. But, I will answer your unasked question of "So why haven't you answered any questions lately?"

Because these pivotal geo-political times and the current political exercise underway in the USA require that the quill of Frater Bovious be given special attention. Ψ

Dear S.A.,
Is it inevitable that each individual "invent the wheel", or are any specifics of acquired knowledge & skills of progenitors transmitted to offspring at conception?
- Curious

Dear Curious, The key to answering your question relies on the very concept of "inventing the wheel."

Humans can invent the wheel.

Dogs cannot.

The mechanisms for survival of a species require, in the main, one or another approach. Either a species is static, responding only slowly to environmental changes, and all required info for continued survival of the species may be genetically transmitted; or a species is not static, and (beyond core minimal functions such as 'breathe') the ability to "invent the wheel" is the extent of what is genetically transmitted. Hence the lament "We only truly learn things the hard way."

Paradoxically, this inevitability provides for free will. Ψ