Propheteering

Although there is an element of narcissism to my character, I haven't read my own entries that often. I was showing the blog to a person I work with and realised that it could actually be considered anti-Semitic, what with the flag and the God of the Jews ONLY bit. This is not an apology for that 'cause it's not anti-Semitic at all. I have no hatred for the sons of Ham Shem or Japheth, because of the energy required.

It takes a huge amount of effort to truly hate someone.

I think that’s why genuine hatred is actually quite terrifying to behold. Most of us, thankfully, are incapable of expressing hatred on a day-to-day basis. There are little refractions of hatred everywhere and we all show them off from time to time, usually driven by self-interest/gratification, but there is a difference between this type and genuine, all-consuming, hatred.

Luckily, I don't think I've ever experienced the latter except in relation to myself, adolescence is frightening. But yeah, actually that’s a good way to illustrate it, is there a person or thing you hate as much as you have ever hated yourself. Being our own best detractors, it is doubtful such a person exists. Cast your mind back to the depths of teenage angst, visualise yourself looking in the mirror… yeah, that’s hatred. Can you feel that way about another person?

“If you hate a person, you hate something in him that is part of yourself. What isn't part of ourselves doesn't disturb us.” Hermann Hesse.

But the other type, the 'little refractions' as someone once referred to them, are probably just as bad for you. It’s slow erosion rather than a quick excision. Generally I have no desire to do harm to others, I have even forgiven a fair few people who have harmed me and been forgiven by some I’ve harmed, and that’s without faith in God.

Would we, unfettered by faith, descend into anarchy and chaos? Personally I think not (and I insist I have not read Dawkins book, I just know he talks about similar concepts in it). It is probably blasphemous on a number of levels to say so, but prophets, are just clever men (I shall burn, no doubt). Men with some degree of insight into the human condition, whom, after observing suffering, have come up with rules to govern, perhaps override, the ‘survival of the fittest’ law so abundant in nature.

Thankfully this is explained by religious leaders better than by me. All major religions have a similar rule of reciprocity:

“Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself: I am the LORD." From the Leviticus (in both Torah and Old Testament, well it would be wouldn’t it!)

“What you do not wish upon yourself, extend not to others.” From Confucius,

“This is the sum of duty; do naught unto others what you would not have them do unto you.” From Mahabharata,

“Do unto others as you would have them do unto you” Jesus (who would have been well aware of the contents of The Torah.)

“None of you truly believes until he loves for his brother what he loves for himself” From Muhammad.

roughly in date order.

I’m not saying that this is truth, I’m not qualified, and neither are you. Besides, if you are a masochist…

And who would have expected:

"All human morality is contained in these words: make others as happy as you yourself would be, and never serve them more ill than you would yourself be served." From Donatien Alphonse François (go on, stick it into wikipedia), but I suppose he would have been uniquely qualified to make such an observation.

However, I do think that you can hurt yourself, with your general outlook on life. Yet do we truly need Buddhism, Christianity or Islam to provide the infrastructure for morality? Is it that important that you have someone else telling you what to think and do? I came up with this train of thought all by my little self. True enough, I have found many who echo this thinking since, but I’m not an academic who has learned all this from study. Yes, I know the New Testament fairly well and have a good knowledge of the historical development of religious belief systems, but mostly, I have simply observed my life (except the drunk bits).

My call to enlightenment, and therefore the start of my prophetic (pathetic) ministry, is thus:

“Should you forever live with your head in the sand, all that people will see is an arse.”

Mr. Pat