Red Eyes

The Immediate Society

To me joy is something that cannot be described or measured. It can come to a person in any sort of way and what might bring joy to someone will bring sadness to another one. I am very sad to say that very few people have joy in their lives, and if they do then it is only for a short period of time. Very few people experience joy thought most of their lives. Krishna is able to explain joy in a very interesting way “The joy that is passionate at first seems like ambrosia when senses encounter sense objects, but in the end it is like poison.” (18, 38) The largest problem that I see with joy is not being able to obtain it but obtaining it. This might seem a little weird but when people really get depressed and have no joy at all is when they had it and lost it. It is that feeling of emptiness that comes to them on overpowers them towards the point where it is almost impossible to feel joy again.

The solution that most people find for this problem is to feel short bursts of joy but never experience the real thing. This will not let them down if they lose it and it will be much easier to regain it. It might seem like the perfect solution but it only leads to our monotonous way of life were we are never sad or happy. A good example for this is procrastination. When a student decides that he has enough time and that he will leave his work for later on he enjoys the time were he doesn’t work. The Gita is also able to describe all of this in a simple sentence “The joy arising from sleep, laziness, and negligence, self-deluding from beginning to end, is said to be darkly inert.” (18, 39) The student will feel the immediate joy of not having to work for a few days but then he loses it when the last day comes and he has to cram it all into one night. His grade will be reflected and he has also lost his joy. This is not a problem because it is very easy for him to get it again. Unfortunately we live in a society that demands immediate results and until we change that we will never feel true joy but only small manifestations of it.

Obama Rhetoric

Logos: "In reaffirming the greatness of our nation, we understand that greatness is never a given. It must be earned. Our journey has never been one of short-cuts or settling for less. It has not been the path for the faint-hearted — for those who prefer leisure over work, or seek only the pleasures of riches and fame. Rather, it has been the risk-takers, the doers, the makers of things — some celebrated but more often men and women obscure in their labor, who have carried us up the long, rugged path towards prosperity and freedom."

Ethos: “For they have forgotten what this country has already done; what free men and women can achieve when imagination is joined to common purpose, and necessity to courage.”

Pathos: "We remain a young nation, but in the words of Scripture, the time has come to set aside childish things. The time has come to reaffirm our enduring spirit; to choose our better history; to carry forward that precious gift, that noble idea, passed on from generation to generation: the God-given promise that all are equal, all are free, and all deserve a chance to pursue their full measure of happiness."

The Easy Way

Many people have very strong attachments to material things such as money or precious artifacts. What they don’t realize is how fast they can lose it all. The biggest problem is when they are used to having all the money and they lose it. Suddenly they feel as if their world has turned the other way and they don’t know what to do anymore. They feel lost and disoriented. The only way to avoid this is to have a detachment from material things. This will make you much stronger and stable.

Another problem which the Gita shows us is that of ignorance. Krishna is able to show us about the most important things in life with a few simple lines “The fruit of good conduct is pure and untainted they say, but suffering is the fruit of passion, ignorance the fruit of dark inertia.” (Gita 14.16) He is telling us that ignorance will lead no where but to more ignorance. It is as I had mentioned before a double loss. You start of by being ignorant and lazy and this will bring forth more off the dark inertia that is mentioned. Krishna believes that ignorance includes not knowing certain facts like the existence of god. This will lead the mind to deny possibilities and stay where it feels comfortable. It already has a set routine and if it stays on it will not learn anything but it will not lose anything. This is a mentality that has to change in order for new ideas to rise.

The Greed In Faith

Every time that I think about faith I come to the same conclusion. I believe that faith is based on greed. The bible mentions that if you have faith basically nothing is impossible and you will do well in whatever you decide to do “…Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.” (Mathew 17.20) It does not mention that you also have to work hard and make the right decisions. It only talks about the success that will come unto you because of faith.

This is a problem because we do not live in a perfectly moral world and there will always be people who want to take advantage of others. They will then only have faith because of greed. They want the benefits that faith brings on to them with ought working for it. The Gita mentions faith in very similar way. It mentions that men are “Neutral to blame and praise, silent, content with his fate, unsheltered, firm in thought, the man of devotion is dear to me. Even more dear to me are devotees who cherish this elixir of sacred duty as I have taught it, intent on me in their faith.” (Gita. 12. 19, 20). You can also see how faith is rewarded and how it will lead you towards success. To me this is a very big problem to which I can only find one solution. This lays in true faith, and the hope that god or Krishna will be able to realize when there is honest and pure faith and when there is faith only for the reward. If this is true then greed will not work for the people that use it as a base in life and leave the reward unto true believers.

Lack of Discipline

One lesson that I have learned thought my entire life was to keep a steady balance. I remember very clearly that when I was about twelve years old my aunt decided to try a new diet. This diet consisted of only eating fruit. After some time she realized that she had lost a lot of weight and decided that she could now eat all that she wanted. Once again she gained the weight she had once lost. When I was reading the Gita I discovered that it mentioned exactly that “Gluttons have no discipline, nor the man who starves himself, nor he who sleeps excessively or suffers wakefulness.” (6-16) it once again showed me the importance of having a balance in life. It will not only be more healthy physically but emotionally as well and will make you a better person.

A few pages later I saw another message which caught my attention. It talked about double failures “Doomed by his double failure, is he not like a cloud split apart, unsettled, deluded on the path of infinite spirit?” (6-38) I was able to relate to this message very clearly because going back to my aunt I realize that by going on the diet she had to make a sacrifice. When she finished the diet and once again started eating she lost all of her progress. This is a double loss were she had to sacrifice something she liked for nothing. Just because of a lack of discipline and the will to complete her goal she lost all of her progress.

Changing Times

It is very interesting to see how society changes over time. You would believe that humanity would try to find a balance and maintain that balance but it is exactly the opposite. Hundreds of years ago shame was the worst thing that could happen to a man. As the Bhagavad Gita mentions “People will tell of your undying shame, and for a man of honor, shame is worse than death.” (Pg. 36). In those days shame meant that you could not fit in and you would not fit in with the society. That is why people preferred to die that to feel shame.

Today for a person to think of dying because of shame would be unthinkable. Our society has had a major change and shame is no longer important. There are other things which have replaced it like fitting in a group but almost none of these alternatives leads to death. You might believe that this is a good thing but it really is not. I believe that the society now ignores shame because a lot of people started feeling it and none of them killed themselves. This started filling up the world with people who have felt shame and if everybody feels it then the easiest thing to do is to forget it. Slowly the people who took it seriously died and it was no longer a big deal.

This is why it is very dangerous for the world to continue on this vicious circle that will eventually lead us to destruction. If the things that are taken seriously continues changing every time a mass amount of people get together against it then the world will lose its morals. For example if everybody started killing then people would view it as a normal thing. Since everybody would be punished our society decides that nobody should be punished. At a slow pace the things that were important to us will slowly start disappearing and we will live in a world that cannot control its morals and rejects the individuals that are not part of the group. This will lead to another problem which is fitting in. Since nobody wants to be left out, people will start changing to fit in. This will destroy personalities and create one false personality for every person which they have to follow.

Gospels

Thomas Wiesner

Mathew:

The Path to the Kingdom of God

Announced by Gabriel
To the Virgin Mary,
In Joseph’s dreams he would appear.

Wise men paid homage,
With all they could carry,
In a distant manger,
A star would appear near.

This child was born of the Heavenly God.

To walk upon men,
He was saved from Herod.
To fulfill prophecy and become minister,
Teach God’s will and
Common law administer.

Baptized by John,
He travelled distant lands.
Imparting teachings and healing the sick,
Performing miracles, without a trick.

Upon his Commandments a church now stands.
The “keys of the kingdom”,
In heaven and on lands.

Like a shepherd leading lost sheep,
He expects all to be kind, obedient and meek.
To follow the word of only one lord,
Honor no other and speak the true word.

Respect the Sabbath,
Heads low in prayer.
Your father and your mother,
Honor with love and care.

Do not kill or steal.
Speak falsely of others or desire their possessions.
Your neighbor’s wife you shall not covet,
And adultery is beyond confessions.

These words are Jesus
And Jesus is in these words.
He sacrificed his life for us;
Rising from the dead to lead us.

Let all who can, speak his words.
Baptized in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost;
Go forth as commanded by Him,
As all power is His in heaven and in earth.

Luke:

Luke tells the story of Jesus in a very different way. His language is clearer, simpler to understand. Luke was not one of the disciples. He was a physician who decided to investigate if the person who everybody seemed to call Jesus, and who everybody praised was really Jesus. Because of this, by reading his book, we have the most complete account of Jesus’ life. Unlike the other gospels, he decides to focus much more on the teachings of the work of Christ. He gives us so much detail about Jesus’ life that we are able to have a very clear and realistic picture of the life of Jesus. Through his gospel we can see how his message can basically be told by the words that Jesus said to Sachias, a tax collector who nobody liked. He shows us how Jesus has come to save that which is lost, all sinners.

Luke is able to trace Jesus back to Adam and Eve unlike Mathew who traced him back to David and Abraham. Luke has given a special attention to prayer and happiness. In this gospel you can also see that Jesus talks more about the Kingdom Of God than about himself. It is also very clear how Jesus teaches in short sayings and not long speeches. His gospel is also the only one which describes the annunciation of the birth of Christ to Mary.

The gospel of Luke contains many of Jesus’ miracles but there are a few which are only mentioned in his gospel. One of those few is the Good Samaritan “ And Jesus answering said, A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, which stripped him of his raiment, and wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead. And by chance there came down a certain priest that way: and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. And likewise a Levite, when he was at the place, came and looked on him, and passed by on the other side. But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was: and when he saw him, he had compassion on him, And went to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him. And on the morrow when he departed, he took out two pence, and gave them to the host, and said unto him, Take care of him; and whatsoever thou spendest more, when I come again, I will repay thee. Which now of these three, thinkest thou, was neighbour unto him that fell among the thieves? And he said, He that shewed mercy on him. Then said Jesus unto him, Go, and do thou likewise.” (Luke Ch. 10 verses 30-37)

Some other things which only appear in the gospel of Luke are John the Baptist's birth story, the census and travel to Bethlehem, the birth in a manger, and a story from Jesus' boyhood. Luke is definitely the one who told Jesus’ story with more simplicity and detail than any other gospel. He also pays more attention to women than the other gospels, like Mary, the mother of Jesus and Elizabeth, the mother of John the Baptist.

John:

John wants the readers of his gospel to believe that Jesus is the son of God and that there is life if you have faith in him. Through his gospel you realize that he is very much into Jesus. He also explains and interprets Jesus in a totally different way. He believes that Jesus has always been with God and that he is God incarnated in a human body. There are great differences between this and the other gospels.

Some differences in his gospel are that he says that Jesus identifies himself as the way or path all humans must follow. You can also notice the difference between how it is written and the other gospels. John writes extended speeches, whereas Mathew writes in a more poem like manner, and Luke writes in a more concise prose. John focuses much more on Jesus’ mission to bring wisdom to his disciples, as opposed to the other two which describe his life. We can also see that this is the only Gospel were Jesus talks about his life in depth. Most of his actions consist of miracles that Jesus performed over the years. For John, Jesus has become the main topic and not his teachings, like in the other gospels. We can also see a lot of attention on the persecution of the Jews. He constantly repeats how they hunted and persecuted the Jews.

One of the miracles that appear in John and not in the other gospels is that of the raising of Lazarus from the dead. In this story two women come before Jesus and ask him to cure a man named Lazarus. They say that they love him and Jesus makes him sleep. After some time, Jesus tells the apostles that he is dead. When the women come forth again to Jesus, he asks if they have faith in him. They say that they do. They went to the graveyard where he had laid for four days. Jesus told them to move away the rock and once again asked them if they had faith in him. He asked his father he revive Lazarus and so he did.

This is one of the miracles that appeared in the gospel of John and not in any of the others. John shows us a lot about Jesus’ personal life that we cannot find in any other gospel. He also mentions some miracles and events that we can only find in his gospel.