A Searching and Fearless Moral Inventory

I have read the Alcoholics Anonymous big book, and multiple other books on addiction.  I have read the entire Holy Bible and the Book or Mormon many times.  I have read the Bhagavad Gita, the writings of Confucius, and many books by other religious leaders and deep thinkers.  I have taken classes from a Zen master, spent hours doing Yoga, sat for long periods in contemplation and meditation, fasted for days, and prayed thousands of times. 

There is a unifying theme: Self discovery, meditation, reflection, inner peace, or in other words: an analysis of oneself.

As I study the "12 steps" I find Step 4 to be the most important, the most daunting, and the most meaningful for life in general. 

Step 4 does not say: "List all the bad things you've done."  It asks you to make a "searching and fearless moral inventory of yourself."  Figure out who you are.  What makes you tick? What failures have you had, and what led you there?  What resentments do you still hold?  Why are they still there after all this time?  What are your greatest strengths, your talents, your abilities?  What keeps you from excelling?

Step 4 isn't just about getting over an addiction, or repenting, or fixing past mistakes.  It's about self-discovery.  This is about answering the hardest question we've ever asked ourselves: "Who am I?" 

Writing out this fearless moral inventory will help you discover your true relationship with yourself, with God, and with others. You will find weaknesses. You will find strengths.  You will also find reasons for both.  You will find heartache and joy, but mostly you will find understanding. 

I began working on this four months ago.  I'm still not even close to finishing.

Today's Self-Contemplation: Why do I connect with certain fictional characters?

Why do I connect so well with Jean ValJean from Les Miserables?  Why did I write a 1400 word essay comparing ValJean to Tevye from the Fiddler on the Roof?  Why do connect with Tevye?

When I read the massive book about King Arthur (The Once and Future King) - why didn't I relate to Arthur, or Merlyn, or Pellinore or Galahad, but rather it was Lancelot who struck me to the bone as if our struggles were identical?

I'm beginning to see the themes:

Val Jean: I have done wrong, and cannot escape it. I want to do good, forever, for everyone. Even if I became as wealthy as a King, I honestly don't think I would spend it on myself - I'd use it to help other people. I can forgive myself, and I can forgive others - but I will not excuse myself or resent the law or accusers when I am in the wrong. When I am wrong, I deserve the punishment. Another person should never have to suffer in my place.
ValJean worked his whole life to love other people, to fulfill his promises, his duties. He found in the end that "To love another person is to see the face of God."

Lancelot: I have this strong desire inside me to be the best - at so many things. Not because I want to be better than others, but because I want to reach my potential. I want to be the best doctor. I want to be able to perform miracles - to be so pure that God could work through me.  But like Lancelot - I know I fall short. I don't even know if I want it for the right reasons. Like Lancelot, I repeatedly question my own motives. Do I want to do great deeds for God? for country? for right? or for my own glory? Lancelot's struggle is my own.  The struggle in the mind to be the best, but not compare myself with others. The struggle for perfection, but for the right reasons. The struggle to figure out what really matters in life and who God really wants me to be.

Tevye: The struggling man trying to maintain tradition and his religion while being accepting of others.  He must accept those who change his faith, who leave his faith, and who even go so far as to persecute and mock his faith. He tries to love all and accept all, but then says "how can I turn my back on my faith, my people? If I try and bend that far, I'll break."
Tevye's family and his religion are the most important things in his life, and he cannot live without them. Like him, I struggle to figure out how to be true to myself, my God, my family, yet be open, accepting, loving, and adaptable.

Hopefully this post was helpful to someone in some way.  Hopefully it leads you to a moment of self-reflection, and eventually, to a searching and fearless moral inventory of yourself.

Why aren't the Religious Right the Champions of the Poor?

I really don't understand.

If we follow the stereotypes, then the right wing - the Republicans, the Christians, the "religious right" often base their beliefs on the Bible.  They believe God is the ultimate authority, and it is their duty to enact laws and support policies in line with Biblical teachings.

(I know there are plenty of Christians and religious people who are democrats, but go with me on this for a second.)

Generally speaking - why do the religious right say that gay marriage and abortion are wrong.  "Because God said so in the Bible."

Okay.

I have been reading extensively in the scriptures recently and one things really struck me:

HOW IS IT POSSIBLE THAT THE RELIGIOUS RIGHT ARE NOT THE CHAMPIONS OF THE POOR?!?

I mean seriously?  There are hundreds of passages instructing man to care for the poor, look out for the interests of others, sell all they have and give it to the poor, etc...

A quick Google search showed list after list: List #1, List#2, List #3, List #4 etc...

Here are a few of my favorite:

Deuteronomy 15:11 - I command thee, saying, Thou shalt open thine hand wide unto thy brother, to thy poor, and to thy needy, in thy land.

Psalms 82:3,4 -Defend the poor and fatherless: do justice to the afflicted and needy.  Deliver the poor and needy.

Proverbs 14:31 - He that oppresseth the poor reproacheth his Maker: but he that honoureth him hath mercy on the poor.

Zechariah 7:10 - And oppress not the widow, nor the fatherless, the stranger, nor the poor.

Matthew 25:40 -  Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.

Mark 10:21 - Go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven.

The story of the Good Samaritan alone ought to be enough!  There is a reason I left the Republican Party to be an independent.  How can the base of a party say that they are anchored in the Bible and God's teachings, yet ignore the poor.
The Christians should be the champions of the poor.  No one should be more charitable because Christians see it as their religious duty - they can't get into heaven without helping the poor!

I don't know where the disconnect happened, but it is disgraceful.  The poor and needy should know no greater ally than the Christians, the religious right.  Christians certainly aren't the only ones who  help the poor.  There are many religions and many good citizens across the nation and the world who feel and teach that duty.  But the fact that the political party representing the Christians and religious right should ever be seen as the enemy of the poor is truly an Epic Failure.

Similarities: Hindu and Mormon Scripture

I read the Bhagavad Gita some time ago, and wrote my impressions and favorite passages in a Previous Post.

 This last month I've been thinking about all the similarities between the Hindu Religion and the LDS (Mormon) religion. 

So I went back and found 10 themes or lessons in the Bhagavad Gita that have very similar messages in the Mormon canon of scripture.  With my limited understanding of Hindu, I have attempted to show the similarities I found:

1. How is Deity received when he appears amongst his followers, looking like them?

Gita 9:11 - “The foolish do not respect me in this human form, failing to know My supremely excellent form, that of the highest Lord of all creation.”

Krishna is the Lord of all creation, and is not respected when in human form.

John 1:10 -  “He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not.”

Isaiah 53:3 – “He was despised, and we esteemed him not.”

Christ created the world, and when he came in human form, he was rejected.

2. Man wants to see Deity, and asks to - but man cannot see Him with natural eyes.

Gita 11:4 - “O Lord, if You hold that it is possible for me to behold it, then, O Lord of Yoga, show me Your imperishable form.”

Ether 3:10 – “Lord, show thyself unto me.”

Gita 11:8 - “But you cannot view Me with these eyes of yours.  I am bestowing supernatural sight upon you – behold My divine Yoga.”

D&C 84:21,22 – “without the authority of the priesthood, the power of godliness is not manifest unto men in the flesh; for without this no man can see the face of God, even the Father, and live.”

3. When Deity is seen, he is brighter than any light we have seen or can imagine.

Gita 11:12 - “Were the radiance of a thousand suns to blaze forth at one go in the sky, it might approximate the magnificence of this exalted being.”

Sanjaya describes the radiance and glory of Lord Krishna

JSH 1:16-17 – “I saw a pillar of light exactly over my head, above the brightness of the sun…When the light rested upon me I saw two Personages, whose brightness and glory defy all description.

Joseph Smith describes the Radiance and Glory of God and Jesus Christ

4.  Deity can forgive man of all sins.

 

Gita 18:66 - “I shall release you from all sins, have no more fear.”

D&C 76:41 – “He came into the world, even Jesus, to be crucified for the world, and to bear the sins of the world, and to sanctify the world, and to cleanse it from all unrighteousness.”

5. Deity on occasion asks man to do very difficult things - like kill.

Gita 1:35 - “These I would not wish to kill though they have risen to kill us.”

Arjuna is commanded to kill his brethren, and he asks if they can be spared, if he can be saved the task of killing them.  Krishna explains why he must kill them.

1 Nephi 4:10 – “I was constrained by the Spirit that I should kill Laban; but I said in my heart: Never at any time have I shed the blood of man. And I shrunk and would that I might not slay him.”

Nephi is commanded to kill a fellow citizen of Jerusalem, Laban, and makes much the same request as Arjuna, until the Spirit of the Lord tells him why Nephi must kill Laban.

6. Deity is eternal, and Man is also eternal.

 

Gita 2:12 - “There was never a time when either I, or you, or these rulers of men did not exist.  Nor will there ever be a future when all of us will cease to exist.”

Krishna explains that Diety and man have always existed, and always will.

D&C 93:29 – “Man was also in the beginning with God.”

The Lord explains to Joseph Smith that Man was with God from the very beginning.

Abraham 3:22 – “Now the Lord had shown unto me, Abraham, the intelligences that were organized before the world was; and among all these there were many of the noble and great ones”

The Lord shows Abraham the souls of men before they came to earth.

7. Diet, exercise, and moderation are important.

Gita 6:17 - “He who is moderate in food and play, disciplined in his actions, and controlled in sleep or keeping awake achieves a yoga which destroys all pain.”

Krishna teaches moderation in food, play, and sleep in order to destroy pain.

D&C 89 – All men who avoid Strong Drink, Tobacco, and Hot Drinks and also use grains, fruits and meats jusdiciously “shall run and not be weary, and shall walk and not faint.”

 The Lord teaches Joseph Smith a law of health, and moderation in all things in order to gain indefatigable strength.

8. Very few people attempt to and will ever reach perfection.

Gita 7:3 - “Out of thousands of men, hardly one attempts to reach perfection."

Matthew 7:14 – “strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it. 

9. Deity asks us to remember him at all times.

Gita 8:7 - “Remember me at all times”

3 Nephi 18:7 – “If ye do always remember me ye shall have my Spirit to be with you.”

10. Man is what he believes.

Gita 17:3 – “Man is composed of his faith – as his faith is, so is he formed”

Proverbs 23:7 “For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he.”