Sitting on
the front porch and watching the sun rise over Goat Mountain every morning is
the best of each day. The wonder of the rising sun, day after day, year after
year, century after century, why should it be so? It is quite impossible for we humans to fathom
the meaning of that little eternal word, every. Can the rising sun be that consistent? Such a question leads to others and we are
forced to think beyond our petty limitations.
Perhaps, Burt Bacharach was searching the “every question” when he
penned the tune so many years ago, “What’s it all about, Alphie”?
The lyrics
of this song say the answer is love toward our world and humankind but is this
not, in at least one important way, an answer based upon our limitations? Is it not an earthbound answer? There was a time in my life when such
thoughts or questions were understood to be nonconsequential to this seemingly
significant human. There was a time in
my life when it seemed prudent to shift into that comfortable place, the God scenario
of heaven and hell as an excuse to never have to ask such questions again. There was a time in my life when I gave up
asking or thinking about the eternal question because there were no answers
that seemed appropriate. The asking was
pointless and so far removed from the daily grind.
This time in
my life, the “every question”, remains the only question without a full blown answer.
Could this not be an answer? Our limitations were meant to leave the
individual, every individual, without an answer. As humans we are meant to freely search the
hinterlands for the consistency that the sun brings every morning, to search without
success in this world. Life is either
that pointless or our search was meant to teach us the meaning of something. If there be a God, an architect of this unknowable seemingly immoral existence, the word that he would have us swallow is
freedom. We are free to make our limited
world whatever the individual reckons to be most rewarding. Freedom cannot be
the exclusive possession of the few.
Freedom was designed to be the highest order of this world. Freedom is for everyone, it is meant for
everyone and we depend upon every other human to achieve that freedom. Freedom is the life value most desired by humans whether we acknowledge the desire or bury it. Yet, freedom is the most difficult value to give to another. Now that is a long term goal that makes
sense.
The evil in
this world says just trust me. Evil says
don’t search, don’t think, don’t question, just trust me. The mother goose of religion says just trust
me. The mother goose of political
government says just trust me. The
mother goose of social order says just trust me. The mother goose of wealth and privilege says
just trust me. The mother goose of human
allegiances gives comfort to life but it also says, just trust me. The mother goose of violence says just trust
me. Each claims to have our future best
interest as their motivator but the claims are a lie. Self-interest is at the heart of their message.
There is
only one messenger from whom I would take counsel and from whom I have failed
to emulate. Jesus of Nazareth never used
the word freedom but he lived the word on this earth for a few short
years. He was truly free from the
political intrigue of his time and place.
He was truly free from the religious dogmatism of his ancestors and
so-called leaders. Jesus condemned no
one but encouraged all to endorse and embrace the eternal value of the rising sun, the freedom
of another day or days.
G.Goslaw
Landers, Ca.
