Tom and Jim met in a nearby mall:
Tom: Hey Jim. Long time no see.
Jim: It's been a while, hasn't it?
Tom: Fall of 2002, I think, at the state championship game when Jim Junior played. Did he go on to play college ball?
Jim: Yeah. He got a full scholarship to the University of Texas.
Tom: Well that’s good.
Jim: No, that was bad because the pressure was too much for him…football…studies…9-11 trauma and the aftermath…and then he broke a leg in a game.
Tom: Awww, that’s too bad.
Jim: Actually, he thought it was good. The time required to heal gave him time to think about what he wanted to do with his life.
Tom: Well then, that was a good thing.
Jim: Well, we thought it was bad. He decided he wanted to join the military and fight for his country. He said that was his calling and wanted to make a career of the army. The leg healed perfectly and they took him.
Tom: Well, that’s a good thing…at least he found a direction for his life, and he followed his heart.
Jim: Well, my wife and I think it was a bad thing...they sent him home a month ago.
Tom: Hey Jim. Long time no see.
Jim: It's been a while, hasn't it?
Tom: Fall of 2002, I think, at the state championship game when Jim Junior played. Did he go on to play college ball?
Jim: Yeah. He got a full scholarship to the University of Texas.
Tom: Well that’s good.
Jim: No, that was bad because the pressure was too much for him…football…studies…9-11 trauma and the aftermath…and then he broke a leg in a game.
Tom: Awww, that’s too bad.
Jim: Actually, he thought it was good. The time required to heal gave him time to think about what he wanted to do with his life.
Tom: Well then, that was a good thing.
Jim: Well, we thought it was bad. He decided he wanted to join the military and fight for his country. He said that was his calling and wanted to make a career of the army. The leg healed perfectly and they took him.
Tom: Well, that’s a good thing…at least he found a direction for his life, and he followed his heart.
Jim: Well, my wife and I think it was a bad thing...they sent him home a month ago.
Tom: Well, that sounds like a good thing to me.
Jim: Not really. He was in a flag-draped coffin.
Tom: Oh my gosh, Jim! That’s horrible!
Persons are trapped in ignorance because of their dualistic perspectives and because of their supposed "need" to classify everything as "positive or negative," as "good or bad," as "black or white" with no possible chance of any gray areas existing at all. Religious persons have been heard for nearly fifty-five years, explaining exactly what will get me a reward and exactly what will get me punishment, though their criteria vary by denomination or sect; judgmental persons have been heard as they share what they are sure is moral and what they are sure is immoral; politicians have informed the nation that “this country” or “that country” was evil, only to start a war, end a war, and then become their trading partners and allies decades later; spiritual persons have assumed me over the last several decades that they could teach me some spiritual disciplines that—if practiced on a daily basis—will guarantee a good life.
Tom: Oh my gosh, Jim! That’s horrible!
Persons are trapped in ignorance because of their dualistic perspectives and because of their supposed "need" to classify everything as "positive or negative," as "good or bad," as "black or white" with no possible chance of any gray areas existing at all. Religious persons have been heard for nearly fifty-five years, explaining exactly what will get me a reward and exactly what will get me punishment, though their criteria vary by denomination or sect; judgmental persons have been heard as they share what they are sure is moral and what they are sure is immoral; politicians have informed the nation that “this country” or “that country” was evil, only to start a war, end a war, and then become their trading partners and allies decades later; spiritual persons have assumed me over the last several decades that they could teach me some spiritual disciplines that—if practiced on a daily basis—will guarantee a good life.
Persons talk about “good weather” and complain about “bad weather”; about getting a “good job” but later about leaving that “bad job”; about finding “a good man” or “a good woman," only to leave after finding they had “married some kind of wicked devil”; about finding "a great lover" who would later be re-labeled as "a sex maniac" instead; about a man with "a good work ethic" who would later be re-classified as "a workaholic"; about a "really cool woman" who would later be labeled as "an emotionally-unavailable witch."
In an existence in which everything is relative, in which change is the only constant, and in which there are no absolutes, what (other than colossal egotism, self-satisfied arrogance, and total blindness) would make persons think they know—for a fact—exactly what is “good” and exactly what is “bad”? Please enter the silence of contemplation.
In an existence in which everything is relative, in which change is the only constant, and in which there are no absolutes, what (other than colossal egotism, self-satisfied arrogance, and total blindness) would make persons think they know—for a fact—exactly what is “good” and exactly what is “bad”? Please enter the silence of contemplation.
