“Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; Not as the world gives, do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.”
~ The Bible – John 14:27
My thoughts hung over me this morning, just like that dark cloud, obscuring the light for a bit. My heart heavy.
By now, I’m sure you have seen the photo of that dear little 8 year old boy who was killed in Boston, with his sign:
No more hurting people. ♥ Peace ♥
My eyes fill with tears every time I think of it.
In some ways, I pray that the perpetrator is just a single “homegrown” wacko. This will be easier to accept, because the alternative will likely involve political groups, leading to more government intervention, retaliation, and war. And as hard as all of it is to accept, as a result of the horror, so many beautiful messages were shared yesterday. Our common humanity, shining through the cracks. Much like the clouds today. The light can never be fully suppressed. And I thank all of you for your beautiful comments yesterday, as we share in this tragedy.
And I am left asking: Why God? Why?
My questioning led to some pretty deep reading this morning …
Deepak Chopra writes: “Your ability to settle these issues becomes the most important power you possess, once you realize how deeply your life reflects the workings of the universe.”
Yes, all of this horror makes me question more and more. And the more I question, the more I open my heart to the divine, to you, to everything. It’s the only way I can bare it ♥
——— More thoughts on Why ??
One writer states: “God’s giving us what we asked for: a world where we get to treat him as though he is absent and unnecessary. We’ve all tried to make life work without God. Why do we do that? Probably because we’ve all bought the notion that there’s something more valuable, more important, than God. For different people it’s different things, but the mindset is the same: God isn’t what’s most important in life. In fact, I’d just as soon do it without him altogether. What is God’s response to that? He allows it. Many people experience the painful results of others’ or their own choices that run contrary to God’s ways…murder, sexual abuse, greed, lying, fraud, slander, adultery, kidnapping, etc. All of these can be explained by people who have refused to give God access and influence over their lives. They are going about their lives as they see fit, and they and others suffer. What’s God view on all of this? He’s not smug. In fact, God could rightly be viewed as leaning forward, compassionate, hoping we will turn to him so that he can bring real life to us. Jesus said, “Come to me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.” But not all are willing to go to him.”
Deepak Chopra writes: Confusion makes it more difficult to lead a meaningful life. In the back of our minds, we’d prefer to know, with some certainty, that our lives mean something, that we aren’t pawns in a game of blind chess. In an effort to tell yourself a consistent story about who you are and why you are here, you can’t escape the temptation to choose a cosmic explanation, even if it’s the explanation that rests on randomness.
Depending on which explanation you finally accept, your whole life will unfold along a path. Call it a spiritual path or not, the implications are spiritual. You are testing through your daily actions how the universe works; you are making a silent wager over the state of your soul. Depending on our faith, the primary decisions that each of us can choose can be summed up as follows:
1. You can live to obey God and resist the temptations of the Devil.
2. You can choose the most creative life.
3. You can decide to offer yourself in service to others.
4. You can seek to purify yourself of sin or bad karma.
5. You can pursue enlightenment in order to go beyond the world of illusion.
6. You can work to maximize your inner potential, speeding up the process of evolution.
7. You can become a co-creator of your own reality, aligning yourself with cosmic intelligence.
These are big choices based on big stories about how creation works. They are the most fascinating issues but also the most troubling that we face every day.
Your ability to settle these issues becomes the most important power you possess, once you realize how deeply your life reflects the workings of the universe.
——
Sources:
http://www.beliefnet.com/Faiths/2005/01/Why-Bad-Things-Happen.aspx#
http://www.everystudent.com/journeys/why.html
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/deepak-chopra/why-bad-things-happen_b_1079673.html
