Trey Smith
The WWJD motif has become very popular among many Christians. As they look at the state of the world today, it becomes a fun sport to try to figure out what their namesake would have supported or panned. As with all things religious, the answer to the big question depends on how each person views the Jewish carpenter.
Whenever I hear someone opining -- What would Jesus Do? -- my response is Who the HELL cares?
I take this position NOT because I don't view Jesus as anyone's savior. If you replaced the name Jesus with Lao Tzu, Chuang Tzu, Buddha, Gandhi or Martin Luther King, Jr., my response would be the same. Who the hell cares what any of these dead people might or might not have done? The more important question is: What are you or I going to do?
Anytime we look back to the lives of the dead, there is a lot of projection involved. We project our ideas of right and wrong into the thoughts and actions of the deceased. It's damn easy to do because we can't ring them up to ask if we have it correct or not. Since dead people don't talk, we can convince ourselves that the way we think they thought is indeed the way they thought!
How convenient that it almost always works out that way!
Of course, these dead people tended to have lived in a different time -- many lived hundreds and thousands of years ago. They knew nothing of IPads, AIDS, nuclear warfare or American Idol. Heck, a lot of them weren't aware that the earth isn't flat or that germs, not evil spirits, cause disease.
While it is certainly true that the basic human condition hasn't changed all that much, every generation and society must deal with new factors and variables that their predecessors could never have imagined possible. So, trying to figure out how Jesus or Chuang Tzu would have reacted to Occupy Wall Street or a toaster oven is an exercise both in wishful and magical thinking.
We are the ones alive now. We are the ones who have to deal with all the issues in our personal and collectives lives. So, it is really immaterial how any dead person might have dealt with any given situation or circumstance. If we ever hope to make a difference in our own lives, the seminal question remains: What am I going to do?
So why are you/we reading and interpreting the wisdom literature, the TTC, CT, Confucius, the Bible, Plato, Nietzsche, Marx, Gandhi, the fricking Dalai Lama?
ReplyDeleteAlthough I agree with you: it is very easy and convenient to project our own situation onto the ancient wisdom. But that is the point: we have points of reference and stuff to chew on.
When have I ever quoted the Dalai Lama?
ReplyDeleteIn my writings and thinking, I utilize the ancient texts, as you mention, for their points of reference. Most speak to the basic human condition, but the spin on contemporary events is mine alone. As anyone should note, my spin and you're spin don't always mesh.
As Scott writes, that's okay because all is well.
Sorry I never meant to suggest to imply yo were quoting the Dalai Lama, but lots of people do.
ReplyDeleteAnd as for "all is well." Fang pi!
Jesus would blog.
ReplyDeleteYes!
ReplyDeleteparable.blogspot.com
Looks like someone did start a blog using your suggestion,, baroness radon, though unfortunately it was abandoned. Which is why I don't start a blog; I would post a few times and then become busy with other things. And there would be a handful of entries floating around the internet indefinitely.
ReplyDelete