All nations before him are as nothing; and they are counted to him less than nothing, and vanity.We humans place so much emphasis on the particular nation, tribe, community or group we belong to. We act as if it is an inherent part of who we are. While there is no question that a nation exerts psychological, sociological and cultural influences, it is a human-made structure that is unrecognizable to the Way.
~ King James version ~
Nations are a human contrivance.
~ possible Taoist alternative ~
If you're interested in reading more from this experimental series, go to the Tao Bible Index page.
A lot of animals are territorial.
ReplyDeleteYes, but that's instinctual behavior. They don't draw arbitrary lines in the sand just for the hell of it. They don't attack other territories because of religious or cultural differences. The whole deal is altogether different. It's like comparing apples with hamburgers.
ReplyDeleteMaybe it's human instinct to create nations. Funny, we always attribute behavior we want to excuse to instinct, but say other behavior we don't like is arbitrary. Human nature is just human instinct. I think this is the meaning of the Cain and Abel story, to say nothing of Isaac and Ishmael; from brothers to nations...I think that's why communal, utopian social organizations generally fail. It's against human nature, human instinct.
ReplyDeleteJohn Lennon "imagined" it, but he was just a sanctimonious prig. (But I loved George...)
Of course, the real point here, where there is Biblical and Taoist congruence, is indeed that it's all nonsense in "heaven."
ReplyDeleteI submit that you still are trying to compare apples with oranges (or hamburger). Animals don't meet in council to delineate the boundaries of territory. They don't have patchwork territories either.
ReplyDeleteFor example, a puma doesn't have a large 300 square mile swath here and another 40 square mile swath several hours away plus a set of islands in a sea way over there.
The difference between animalistic and human-constructed territory is desire. Their territory comes from need of survival, ours comes from want. There IS a difference between the two.
Apples and oranges, they're all fruits. Sure animals don't meet in councils...they piss on trees.
ReplyDeleteDesire may be a human instinct; our efforts in these spiritual/philosophical pursuits are to figure out how to overcome it.