We are all saddened, no not saddened, we are sick, no we are
not sick at what happened, actually there are no words that can describe what
we feel after what we learned what had happened Friday, December 14th in
Connecticut. I am still not sure about what I feel but I do know that I don’t
like what I feel. I do not feel the need for revenge and forgiveness is definitely
not among my feelings. I am having a hard time as many of you, are in coming to
grips with the feelings regarding this matter even though we may not know any
of the victims – or ever will for that matter. Knowing them is not the issue,
never getting to know them is the tragedy.
On the last night of Chanukah I watched with utter joy 13
children from about two years old to sixteen years old enjoy the holiday spirit
– playing together, running around together, eating together, singing prayers
together, and working games on the computer together with wonder in their eyes.
Laughing and just enjoying life as they know it. Utter glee in my heart, utter
joy in my eyes, utter love for the future that they represent and the future
that is theirs for taking. Unless someone, one of G-d’s children takes it from
them.
Why I am having doubts about there being an entity that we
can’t see, we claim to feel, we can’t hear (although some say that they have
heard that entity – we tend to put them in padded rooms), yet we extol His
power, the power of this entity. His power to do what? There is no power except
that which in in us. We have the power to do good, to educate ourselves, to
nurture and love our family, to make the road of life smoother for our children
and we have the power to do real evil. Just as it was done that Friday morning.
So, where does all this power lie?
We pray to a god. A good god, who knows? A bad god, who
knows? An ambivalent god, who knows? God loves us is the mantra. Just listen to
the rabbis, the priests, the mullahs, the pastors, the lay leaders all say that
there is a god that loves us. The Muslims
have a strange way to illustrate that love. The Mormons exclude other of the
G-d’s “children.” The Orthodox rabbis exclude the female sex of G-d’s children
– where is all this love from this god? Where is His protection, where are His
omniscient powers that allow Him to be where He is needed when He is needed? My
point being, as I was leaning towards a specific point in a previous blog,
there is no god like the one have come to accept. Not that G-d is dead. Remember
that from the 60s? We came down hard that group that declared G-d dead. They
may have been wrong because there has to have been a god that existed once to
have died. Or one that existed only in mythology.
That belief really screws up the liturgy. The Shema is no
longer a valid declaration. If there is no god then there is no “One.” As I
stated in my earlier blog, I love religion, the beauty, the pageantry, sights
and sounds if the services. There are some religions that do not celebrate the
beauty of the religion, but for the most part, the costumes, the large hats,
the robes, the small caps all play a part in delineating the beauty of the
presentation. Every religious service is three part opera and can be
entertaining and beautiful. Experiencing that play, like enjoying the Phantom
of the Opera or the Book of Mormon or Guys and Dolls, can leave you uplifted
and in high spirits when the curtain comes down. Is that not a religious
experience? There is no god in any of those performances – maybe the mention of
one, but that is it!
So where do we get comfort? Where so we turn in times like
now that so many people are grieving, hurting with so much pain that the 1 to
10 chart does not apply. There is nothing to measure the intensity of the pain.
Where do these people turn? They turn to each other for support. Giving to each
other in a time of need is a religious experience and a good deed. Your spirit transcends
the human experience. The god that we think we know is in some building down
the road – maybe. There are so many questions here regarding the existence of a
god that we have to ask if there are so many questions why bother asking. The
answer is simple; there really is no god that we have believed for so many millenniums.
Maybe at one time in our long history there was a G-d. But the idea of free
will expanded with the widening of the universe, it expanded with broadening of
our knowledge, with our experiences of the ages, with the acquiring of the
process of thought, the acquiring of skills regarding the human body, with
applied medicine, with the use of language, with the understanding of applied
and quantum physics, all made the devotion to that G-d of old, no longer
relevant.
So, we should comfort the families, friends, the neighbors –
anyone who has been touched by this senseless taking of precious life,
including ourselves. Absolutely! We cannot understand the enormity of this
event. “Why” doesn’t matter anymore because it just happened without a reason –
at least any reason known to mere mortals. The One that we would have turned to
for answers is longer available to us. He is busy protecting baseball players
coming up to bat! The G-d that talked to Moses, not there. The G-d that endowed
Jesus – not there.
When we look within we can extend our love and comfort out, letting
those hurting know that they are not alone, that is truly G-d like work.
That is my take, you decide!
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