Luke VS. My Brother

Saint Luke... Sorry I Ignored You In Church A Few Hours Ago

Well here we go again. We’ve circled back to the Bible. It’s beginning to seem like our awful IMP math program. I thought it was finally over *sigh*. It is late and Sunday night. I’ve just come back from church to write and read about what I was probably trying to ignore a few hours ago. So I was assigned the gospel of Saint Luke. Finally were getting to Jesus.

So the Gospels are essentially the story of Jesus told by many different people. Luke by the way of his writing I can tell must have been educated. He knew how to write. The writing is a clear translation. To this Gospel there are essentially two stories one being the story of Jesus and the other being John the Baptist. Basically Veggie Tales explained these scenes to me in a more understanding way. The problem with Veggies Tales is that they left a few things out. So Gabriel goes first to Zachariah saying that his wife Elizabeth is pregnant, and then he goes to Mary, who at the time mind you is betrothed to Joseph, and tells her she is pregnant. I don’t know about you but I would have loved to witness the conversation between Mary and Joseph.

Mary: Hey, um Jo.

Joseph: What happened Mary?

 Mary: I’m pregnant.

Joseph: What in the name of God are you talking about? We haven’t even done things yet! We were waiting until you were ready! Remember?

Mary: See an angel came to me last night and well…

Joseph: What?! Who’s is this guy?! He’s a goner!

Mary: No no no!!! its not like that Jo! He told me I was pregnant!

Joseph: Oh ok then that’s perfectly ok.

Well actually it went a little more like this…, “Mary, rejoicing, utters the prayer now known as the Magnificat: “My soul magnifies the Lord” (1:46). Then Veggie Tales pretty much sums up the rest. Jesus is born in a manger and all the kings come bearing gifts. I’ll leave Jesus’s life for the next post.

 

Welcome To My Happy Ending

 

Ending the eternal Tao... Wait wasn’t it eternal? I guess not. Finally the mind stretching is over. It was very fun to interpret and the amount of challenge for me was just right.

Finishing the Tao I came across my all-time favorite quote. I even put it on my face book status, “If I have a little sense. I will walk on the main road and my only fear will be straying from it.” (Fifty three). This is probably one of the best quotes I have found in this book. When I do my gymnastics my worst enemy is my fear. The fear of falling off the beam or having an accident on bar is far greater than my physical incapacities. My fear blocks me from doing what I most want to do. If I had a little sense my only fear would be to fear. Right now my only fear is Mr. Tangen’s grading system if I don’t get this in by Monday.

“Practice non-action. Work without doing.” (Sixty three), why can’t this be our class motto?

“A good soldier is not violent. A good fighter is not angry. A good winner is not vengeful. A good employer is humble.” (sixty eight). I couldn’t agree more with this quote. This is what people need to live by. This whole book I believe is the best advice I have heard. Maybe at church I haven’t interpreted the information as much, but this advice is the best.

I have really enjoyed his book a lot. It is my favorite that we have read in class. All the passages just seem to make sense and fit in to my everyday life.

I will end this with a quote, “Truthful words are not beautiful. Beautiful words are not truthful.” (Eighty one). One of the most powerful and directly truthful quotes I’ve heard.

My Only Weapon Is My Fear

A very good start to the next readings, “Do you think you can take over the universe and improve it? I do not believe it can be done. The universe is sacred. You cannot improve it. If you try to change it, you will ruin it. If you try to hold it, you will lose it.” (Twenty nine). This quote is mind candy. Isn’t our whole planet “Go Green!” modo all about changing the world? Don’t get me wrong I’m all for it but the irony here is making me ponder. I don’t completely agree with this quote. I think we need to make changes in the world to eliminate poverty and mass problems like global warming. If not we will just all kill ourselves because the world has survived much worse than global warming. The ones who will die are ourselves not the world. Now I do believe that the world as a whole cannot be improved but preserved in the sense of its natural beauty. I’m guessing this is what the Tao is trying to say because Asian religion is very much tied to piece and nature. I’m thinking the quote means not to try to make things easier and change things for ourselves. It means we should leave things in their natural state and not spray harmful pesticides all over the planets crops (sorry a little to much of my global studies teacher, Mr. O Conner, he really inspires).  Anyways this was a great ponder for me.

“Good weapons are an instrument of fear” (Thirty one). This I completely agree with. I believe most weapons are just to instill fear. Most people don’t have the courage to actually fire one at a living being. If they can get what they want by not actually having to use the weapon they will. Why? Because the human race is made up of one coward after another. Why do you think some of the biggest heads of companies are the biggest jerks? I believe a weapon of fear isn’t always an object. You can instill a wepon of fear by blackmailing but they will never actually do what they say they will because then they have no power to manipulate by. They simply want to instill fear with no action behind it.

Lastly, “When nothing is done, nothing is left undone” (Forty eight),except this blog post that I am doing on a Sunday night that shouldn’t have been left in non action until now. 

Ying Or Yang?

I’m starting to realize the Tao unlike Confucius isn’t a person. It’s like advice to take upon and have a god life. The Tao is beginning to have many similarities to Confucius. I’m guessing it may be from the ancestry. They are very much into respecting the elders although not quite o much as Confucius.

Something that did frustrate me was this, "Give up learning, and put an end to your trouble." (Twenty). Is he trying to say that we shouldn’t learn? I don’t get it, the whole book is about learning

"When wisdom and intelligence are born, The great pretense begins." (Eighteen). Isn’t this achieved by learning? How can you be wise if you don’t learn?

This quote reminds me of the nature parks, “A good walker leaves no tracks…” (Twenty seven). When you go to a nature reserve they tell you, leave nothing but your tracks. To me the irony in this is very interesting because I somewhat picture the tow in a sort of botanical garden.

I began to think about our daily life and our free will while reading this, “The heavy is the root of the light: the still is the master of unrest” (twenty six). When you begin to think of free will and what your life revolves on, your life revolves around the sun, the everlasting light. The sun sets you to sleep at night and wakes you up every morning. It is the master of the unrest.

Lastly, is this actually where the Ying Yang began? “Know the white, but keep the black!” (Twenty eight).

Reading A Book That Is Not The Book

So here I am beginning the Tao Te Ching. As I begin reading it I realize I am reading a book that is actually not the book and the title is actually not the title, “The Tao that can be told is not the eternal Tao. The name that can be named is not the eternal name” (one). Confused? Yeah well me to. So, I’m reading a Tao that isn’t a Tao and isn’t even called Tao. This is going to be fun.

In the second poem I found a lot of resemblance to the Bible. I found this quote to be extremely true, and have a lot of resemblance to the tree of knowledge, “Under heaven all can see beauty only because there is ugliness. All can know good as good only because there is evil.” (two). There are so many arguments to the tree of knowledge. How would we know it was bad to eat an apple from the tree of knowledge if the knowledge of good and bad was hidden in that apple? To be able to know good you must know evil. To be able to know beautiful you must know what ugly looks like. This is what the passage is trying to say. What supposedly released this knowledge was the tree. This also reminds me of ying and yang, a contrast. You must have a contrast to fully understand something.  The contrasts complement each other.

The last passage really stood out to me aswell. It was hard to interpret but I think ive been qable to see through it a bit, “Therefore the sage is guided by what he feels and not by what he sees.”(twelve). My interpretation actually comes from my own emotions. Sometimes you hear rumors and are lead to belive they are true, but you know deep down the truth of it all. This is why you should let you feelings take control, not what you see or hear.

We All Derive From Practice

"The Master said, 'Human beings can broaden the Way-it is not the Way that broadens human beings.'" (15.29)

I love this quote. I believe it is saying we can all choose our path in life but we have to find it. Our destiny will not find us. It is just like all of my friends complaining over boys. If I had a penny for every time I heard one of my friends say “I’m not pretty enough”, “Boys never come to me” I would be a millionaire. What they don’t understand is that they have to show an interest, or broaden the way, the things will change.

We have to find our own paths and broaden our way. This all starts with decisions. Let’s say you study hard and go to an Ivy League school, businesses will be begging for your services. That gives you an automatic wide open way. Now for the person that went to community college, let’s just say the path is a little narrower. It all starts with us making the decision to be the nerd or the cheerleading captain. We can choose to broaden our path in the future.

All of this leads to my next quote:

"The Master said, 'By nature people are similar, they diverge as the result of practice.'" (17.2)

Everyone is born the same (almost everyone). When you are a baby nothing else matters but to learn to walk and talk. As the days grow shorter we begin to develop talents, such as singing and dancing, sports, and intellectual development. As we begin hitting elementary there is a clear line between the intellectuals and the football players. In middle school the line zig zags a bit and plays survival of the fittest amongst the groups. By the time we hit high school the clicks are solid and once in a blue moon shifted around. Then we choose our professions amongst our talents. This is all a result of practicing our talents and there for diverging into groups because of them.

Another interpretation to this quote is that everyone is unique. Though almost physically the same we have different qualities and therefore hang with the people most similar to ourselves. That interpretation seemed rather flat to me though. I prefer my first one.

SOL's, Our Future Leaders...

"I am not someone who was born with knowledge. I simply love antiquity, and diligently look there for knowledge." (7.20)

This quote was very inspiring. It has to do with looking for knowledge and knowing that it isn’t just given to you. So many people look upon a stereotype for example: All Asians are smart. This is false you aren’t just born with knowledge it’s the will power to work that gets you there. So many people expect it to come easily. What they don’t know is that Asians aren’t just born being geniuses; they are actually under a lot of pressure from society and their family to succeed. They have the will power to work hard, something many people don’t have.

"The Master said, 'The common people can be made to follow it, but they cannot be made to understand it.'"

This leads to the next part of my interpretation. This I have a more modern interpretation to. You see I did my elementary schooling at a public school in northern Virginia. Every year instead of doing fun creative projects to help us learn it was all about the Standards Of Learning tests (SOL’s). We were all to follow the same boring curriculum to ace the test and help the teacher keep her job. But were we really learning? No. We were memorizing key questions on the test. We knew the answer to the founder of the Supreme Court but we hadn’t a clue to what in the world the Supreme Court was. These little gaps create the common people. The can be made to follow the system but in the end they have no clue as to what in the world the Supreme Court is.

This leads me to my last and final argument to my reading today. Book eleven I enjoyed more because they were a bunch of short stories. Something that stood out to me was when he talked about ambition. He says it is bad. I say it is the human race, no matter how saintly someone is they have ambition and greed because we are born into it. We crave it. I think it is rather hypocritical for him to say that because judging from the human race no one is immune to it. 

Kung Fucius

So reading the Confucius Analects brought back my child hood memories. The story is essentially the master teaching the student. This brought me right back to the mats and sweat of my Tae Kwon Do days. Master Chung was nuts. My cousin used to say in Korea he would abuse the kids by hitting them but when he moved to the US he realized it was against the law and converted to verbal abuse. Anyways I learned so much from him. He was my master I was his student. It was all essentially about leading a good life style like in the Analects. Goodness and might for right was what he taught. Now that I think of it my whole Tae Kwon Do days I remember in one big dialogue. Every day was another thing to fix and learn, just like the analects.

I really like the teachings in the Analects. They are confusing and hard to understand but that is what is cool about it. I love it when I can finally make a valid connection with my own life and the text.

"The Master said, 'People are true to type with regard to what sort of mistakes they make. Observe closely the sort of mistakes a person makes-then you will know his character.'"
This quote was the one that stood out the most to me. It’s interesting because my brain is immediately lead you to think it is the quote learn from your mistakes but when you go deeper into the text it has a completely different meaning. The quote is saying to study people based on their actions because their actions will reflect on their previous mistakes. For example if someone has regretted a certain thing thye did, they will refrain from doing it again thus reflecting in their actions. I believe this is what the quote means. It is the same in Tae Kwon Do once Mr. Chung would tell me to correct a stance I would refrain from doing the same mistakes and sometimes commit another one instead. 

Little Bits Of Knowledge

The Psalms are interesting. I don’t exactly know what they are there for but they seem like little pieces of guidance to live by. It says, “The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.” Psalms 23:1. I like this quote because it is interesting “The LORD is my shepherd” does this mean we are his sheep? Is this where the term “Lamb of God” comes from?

Psalm 42 reminds me of the book “Night.” He believes God has forgotten him, “I will say unto God my rock, Why hast thou forgotten me? why go I mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?” 42:9. I think it is important to remember that God forgets no one he simply puts their faith to the test.

The Psalms are very interesting and I think sum up what the rest of the Old Testament is trying to engrave in us. It is a somewhat summary or analysis I believe. Their passages picked out to help us live a better life.

Shall We Dance?

Reading on to the second book of Samuel we begin to note David’s morality. I really liked this book more than the other one. I’m confused though, I can’t really tell how they want us to view David, it seems they show him off sometimes in a negative way and other times they put him on a pedestal. David commits adultery (clearly against the Ten Commandments) but God seems to forgive him. Basically this story is to get us to have a point of view on our morals. I really liked it because it shows a true human being making mistakes. This wasn’t the usual man that is all full of joy and obedience and does everything right no matter what. David is a true human being who makes mistakes.

It also shows how David is also willing to forgive. He ends up finally forgiving Absalom for killing his other son Amnion. This to me would be extremely difficult to forgive. So I believe David is nor good nor bad but a human being who knows good and evil from the tree of knowledge. David also becomes king in this book, and I have to say I think he is a good ruler to his people because his expectations of them are fair. If we had a goody two shoes ruler he would expect everything to be peace and unification and everyone to be good, and lets be real that won’t ever happen.

I love how free and human they paint David out to be, “And David danced before the Lord with all his might.” 2 Samuel, 6:14. This quote reminds me of dancing in the rain, free and careless and plain full of joy.

Does Saving A City Justify Killing Goliath?

A king is on the verge of being impeached and a new one about to be discovered. This is the book of Samuel I am talking about. Samuel is in charge of finding the new king due to Saul disobeying God. The king Saul failed to use a priest in his battle and therefore was being punished with impeachment. New enemies were about to be made when Samuel came across David. David was just an ordinary harp player; little did he know he would soon be king. The Philistines called war upon Israel and unleashed their kraken, Goliath was his name. David was able to defeat Goliath and save the people. This was not good news to Saul who would soon be proclaimed ex king. This reminded of the story of King Arthur. An ordinary man could do what no other could and defeat Goliath or pull out a sword from tone.

The thing about this though, wasn’t that David killed the giant, it was how he did it that was interesting to me. He killed the giant with a tiny rock. How a little thing can have such a huge impact amazes me, “And he took his staff in his hand and chose him five smooth stones out of the brook.”1 Samuel, 17:40. How a little pebble can have such an impact on such a huge thing. It is like the Chinese saying that says water can break through stone. This of course couldn’t have been done without Gods help, so the moral is to keep faithful to God.

David defeating Goliath also brought up the question of our debate last Wednesday. Do the ends justify the means? Does saving a city justify killing Goliath? Is David really a good person if his intentions are to kill? This part of the book really got me to think. I hope the story only gets better. 

Daddy's Boys Are Put To The Test

I have finished the book of Job and I have to say I really enjoyed it. This helped me to realize that all the wealthy aren’t always unappreciative, because God puts them to the test. Job was faithful to God even when God himself took everything away from him. This book is very inspirational to see that there is always a God and he puts you through the hard times so you can appreciate even more, the good times. It also gets me thinking about the quote, “from rags to riches to rags.” These people get lucky and end up swimming in money and giving their kids everything they ever dreamed of. When you get things without working for them it is almost impossible to appreciate them to the fullest. The kids grow a sense of entitlement and think they can live on daddy’s money forever. Daddy’s money is consumed in a negative exponential decrease. The kids think they don’t need to study they will just inherit businesses. They don’t know how wrong their theory is until they realize they don’t have the neurons to run a business. So they go from riches to rags. I believe that this is Gods test. If you are faithful through riches and rags he will give you twice as much to for you to make the world a better place. For daddy’s little boys however, who don’t appreciate anything, they will go to rags economically or emotionally, both equally bad. This book is a lesson, a warning, to teach us that this test will come to us eventually. The innocent as much as the evil are tested. As long as we remain faithful to God and our beliefs and are appreciative to what we have, “I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth:
And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God.” Job, 19:25. 

Job vs The Holocaust

Moving on from Exodus we get to the story of Job, an honest, trustworthy, hard working man. Job had everything and he was very faithfull to God. This book is the one where Satan is first mentioned. Satan convinces God that Job only worships him because he has all these luxuries. God lets himself be manipulated by Satan (his son?) and decides to take away everything Job has. Job keeps worshiping God and Satan gets aggravated. God gets manipulated into letting Satan torture Job. Now what is interesting about all of this is that Job an innocent man who is being tortured for no reason and still has faith in God. When this happens to him he strips naked and shaves his head, as a sacrifice to show he is still worshiping God. His friends also turn their backs to him. This to me seems like a preview to the holocaust. Millions of innocent people who got everything taken away, even their closest friends due to religious intolerance turned their backs on them. The Jews were forced to shave their heads and go naked in the freezing temperatures for hours. Now you will rarely find a Jewish person with no money. As God gave Job back twice as much as he had before once he saw that Job is truly faith full to him. The similarities and parallels are fascinating to me. I wonder if there are anymore “previews” I will make connections with.

Through all the torture Job always stayed strong and I believe this quote is to be lived by, “Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him: but I will maintain mine own ways before him.” Job, 13. 15.

The Prince of Egypt

Moving on from Genesis I have began reading Exodus. Let’s start with my first impression of Exodus. Just from the name I imagined it a kind of version of angels and demons, powerful and mysterious. The name I think gives off a sort of different impression. Little did I know it was actually the story of “The Prince Of Egypt” a Disney movie from my childhood. So basically it starts off with Moses freeing the slaves and talking to the burning bush (God), “And the angel of the LORD appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed.” Exodus 3:3. So he goes back and reports to the people about God the burning bush. I do believe this because I am catholic and believe in the Bible, but I can’t help to wonder what the people must have actually thought when Moses says he just had a conversation with a burning bush.

Dialogue:

Moses: My people I have just talked to a burning bush, so it looks like we’re all saved.

People: What in the world… are you sure we should be letting him save us?

Frankly I would have been a little skeptical about the whole matter. Moses then goes to the pharaoh and asks him to let his people go. The pharaoh is his adoptive brother who he grew up with. The story of Moses actually begins with the previous pharaoh’s wife finding Moses in a basket sailing across the river and adopting him as a son.  So Moses is asking his “brother” to free his people. The pharaoh declines his request of freeing the slaves from Egypt. So Moses asks God for help and he makes a plague killing lots of royalty including the pharaoh’s son. The only ones who survived were the slaves who were told by Moses to paint an x in lamb blood across their front doors.

The story is very long so ill just give a few more essential details. Moses does this wicked awesome open sesame thing and parts the ocean to lead his people to the promis land. At the promis land the ten commandments are born.

Ten Comandmens:

"And God spoke all these words, saying: 'I am the LORD your God… 

ONE: 'You shall have no other gods before Me.'  

TWO: 'You shall not make for yourself a carved image--any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.' 

THREE: 'You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain.' 

FOUR: 'Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.' 

FIVE: 'Honor your father and your mother.' 

SIX: 'You shall not murder.' 

SEVEN: 'You shall not commit adultery.' 

EIGHT: 'You shall not steal.' 

NINE: 'You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.' 

TEN: 'You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor's.'