[lit-ideas] Re: Peace Mystics
- From: "Lawrence Helm" <lawrencehelm@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sun, 10 Feb 2008 10:42:08 -0800
Mike as usual is being funny, at least he made me laugh when he wrote
"Actually, Lawrence, all religions preach universal brotherhood. I can't
think of any that don't." I can't think of any that do, at least not in
the sense I take Mike to be advocating, that is, come as you are with all
your preconceptions and prejudices intact. If he means that everyone will
eventually think the same, then he is once again into mysticism, for human
nature doesn't provide much practical evidence that people want to think the
same.
I shall no doubt disappoint Mike once again by asserting a sort of
pragmatism in place of his desire that I embrace whatever it is that is
going to inspire all men to be brothers. Actually I once read a long
Chinese Novel called the Shui Hu Chuan which was given the title All Men Are
Brothers by its translator. In it a group of rebels fought against the army
of one of the dynasties (I can't recall which one), lost and then the novel
picks up their individual adventures as they individually fight their way
toward a mountain retreat. Once they assembled, history, not the novel,
tells us they have one last go at the empire and are killed to the last man.
Perhaps the Seven Samurai and The Magnificent Seven owed something to the
Shui Hu Chuan. The translator of the Shui Hu Chuan was an early Christian
Liberal who didn't believe Jesus was the son of God or in any of the other
Christian distinctive but wanted to continue as a missionary in China. She
was to some extent responsible for a major split in the Presbyterian Church.
She helped demonstrate that all men are not brothers.
Many people gloss over the inherent antagonisms we feel toward people who
don't share our views. Someone who thinks all men are brothers must have
in mind certain preconditions such as, "if only all men were as reasonable
as I am then all men would be brothers, or if all men received a sound
liberal education then one day all men will think as I do; then they will
all be brothers."
Let us look at the various religions and see what they say about "all men":
Hindu: There is nothing in the aspects of Hindu religion I am familiar
with to promote the idea that "all men will be brothers" in a practical
this-world sense. The individual souls, atman, will go through successive
episodes of reincarnation until they learn not to make mistakes at which
time they will be remerged with the Brahman. But no Hindu would say all men
when the final atman is re re-immersed in the Brahman will be brothers.
The Hindu belief is that this re-immersion process occurs when individual
distinctiveness is eradicated. A Hindu who has achieved this state, who
had eradicated his own individual distinctiveness is called a Bodhisatva.
Bodhisatvas while entitled to immediately rejoin the Brahman postpone that
bliss in order to help their more backward fellow men progress more swiftly.
Shinto: A nationalistic religion. All Japanese may be brothers, but not
you.
Eastern Orthodox: I have known a few and debated a few more and they seem
quite convinced that anyone who is not eastern orthodox is going straight to
hell. You can be their brother only if you become Eastern Orthodox.
Islam: This has been discussed at considerable length recently. They do
want Islam to cover the earth and after that time all men will be brothers
but all other views will have been eradicated.
Western Christianity: There are many subsets here which at the outset
argues against all men being brothers. Major Liberal denominations pursue
ecumenical enterprises in an attempt to find common ground, but they don't
do too terribly well and they only achieve progress when they abandon
strongly held beliefs. Perhaps there will be no oneness among them until
they have abandoned all their beliefs.
In the more conservative denominations there are no advocates for universal
brotherhood. In theory, any conservative Christian should believe that all
Christians are brothers, but in actual practice none of the denominations do
very well in that regard.
There is a Christian theological position that argues that all men will one
day be brothers on this earth. This is called the Postmillennial
Eschatological position. The traditional view holds that this state of
universal brotherhood will occur after the Holy Spirit has converted all men
to be Christians. Individuals have no obligation in achieving this
universal brotherhood beyond the Great Commission imposed by Mathew 28. A
recent variation on this Postmillennial theme does advocate some social
engineering. This position is called such names as "Christian
Reconstruction" and "Theonomy." However, they have made little progress
toward Universal Brotherhood because they can't agree on how to achieve it.
But enough of that. Notice that Mike agrees with my earlier analyses. He
urges once again that one embrace peace directly without the use of any
practical means. I continue to be interested in means.
I recently ran across a quote from Leo Strauss who described people who
either missed or were unwilling to grapple with the main points of argument
as becoming "confused by the 'blind scholastic pedantry' that exhausts
itself and its audience in the 'clarification of meanings' so that it never
meets the nonverbal issues."
Lawrence Helm
San Jacinto
From: lit-ideas-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:lit-ideas-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]
On Behalf Of Mike Geary
Sent: Saturday, February 09, 2008 9:45 AM
To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [lit-ideas] Re: Peace Mystics
LH:
>>The only agency I knew of that fulfilled Geary's desire for no borders
was Islamism. That is one of the tenets of Sayyid Qutb: no borders, just
one big Ummah. Qutb traces that tenet back to Mohammad. That is, when
Mohammad went about conquering and to conquer, he didn't make any borders.<<
Actually, Lawrence, all religions preach universal brotherhood. I can't
think of any that don't. I suggest you one day take up the study of
religion. I think you might be astonished. Some religions get silly by
insisting the only way to salvation is only through their doors, but you're
bright enough to separate the chaff from the grain. I personally don't
subscribe to any particular religion, but I do believe in the oneness of
existence. Work for peace, Lawrence, not war.
Technology and economics are fast eroding the very notion of nationality --
"Your old road is Rapidly agin'. / Please get out of the new one / If you
can't lend your hand / For the times they are a-changin'." I think Bing
Crosby said that.
Mike Geary
Memphis
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