And I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible.We humans appear to be a vengeful species. When one of us commits a wrong, we crave for the offender to suffer from an external punishment. What could be better than to have an almighty deity as the one who metes it out!
~ King James version ~
When we do things that bring harm to our own persons and others, we punish ourselves.
~ possible Taoist alternative ~
From the Taoist perspective, the greatest punishments are internal. When we leave the path of the Way and fall out of balance with our nature, of being we create internal stress in the form of psychological tension and physical ill health. On the outside, we may be singing and dancing, but on the inside, there is a war going on and its a war we're sure to lose!
If you're interested in reading more from this experimental series, go to the Tao Bible Index page.
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