We must be beware, for appearances are perennially deceiving. We must look beyond outward appearances – good or bad – to behold the true light in others. It is the snare of materiality (the smoke-and-mirrors act of everyday life) that robs us of true vision.
We only truly arrive at our destination when we realize something universal – that none of us needs to seek beyond ourselves for courage, fortitude, intelligence, or anything else we desperately wish we had. What we seek is already inside of us; we need only recognize it. We need not look any further than our own backyard, and if we cannot find it there, it must be that we never lost it at all. The holy Spirit fire is the power residing within each of us, guarded by the Master until we understand and know enough about ourselves for it to burn brightly. May that day come, sooner than we dare to believe. People’s lives consist of multiple choices they make. Life has no scripts, but it does have paths, and we are free to choose among them. The hell we occasionally experience is a part of life, and we could never appreciate heaven otherwise. These visions come from human experience, and it is in our (sometimes fearful) experience that we appropriate redemption. We can choose to see goodness and mercy, rather than wrath and punishment. Every action has its consequences. But wouldn’t our lives be infinitely sweeter if we studied to know and understand the two ways – of good and evil, of life and death – chose the way that leads to life? Know yourself, believe in yourself. Get out of the role of victim; give yourself the power to choose.
One might feel a victim of religious persecution becomes a story of a hero of religious perseverance, liken onto Daniel. Symbolically it tells us how to find calm during a storm. Discover the source of true nourishment, which, even in deprivation, will never fail you. Why was Daniel fearless in the face of persecution? Because he had cultivated knowledge and wisdom, which are really intertwined. Science is organized knowledge, wisdom is organized life, Daniel it seems, was a master of both science and life. I knew that it is not about setting dates or plugging current events into some prophetic scheme, but about finding meaning on a personal level. Indeed, there is something very comforting in knowing that history is going somewhere, that events are not random, and that life itself consists of something more than time and chance in an impersonal void. There is a lesson here, summed up in a single word: progress. It is a word we take for granted. It is all part of a great cycle, endlessly repeating itself, constantly seeking equilibrium and balance, but never finding resolution.
It is said that hope springs eternal in the human breast. We all want to nourish hope – for a better, brighter day, for a renewed and restored world. Hope is a good thing, perhaps the best of things, though it is sometimes a rare commodity in the modern skeptical world.
Enoch, the grandson of Adam declares that a time of terrible persecution will come someday; in which the righteous will suffer greatly at the hands of the wicked (the great flood). Enoch’s very name in Hebrew; Khanokh, is another word for education or knowledge. The second judgment will not be by water but by fire. Fire destroys, but it also purifies. Let your heart be purified, Enoch would surely advise us today. Let every motive be judged. Open yourself to divine scrutiny, and let the hand of G-d be upon you. Images of fire notwithstanding, judgment is not for evil, but ultimately for the good. You must understand fundamentally that you cannot know mercy without judgment. You must understand fundamentally that you cannot know mercy without knowing judgment. When we understand that everything is temporary, we can relax in the only day that really matters – today.
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