No 738 of Living Life Series 1
The non-believer may be better off than the believer. How can this happen? To put this another way round, we may say that the believer may well be worse off than the non-believer of a religion.
Many go for the complexities of the practice and teachings which are elaborated by adherents with passion and who adore more than they could fathom the sage or saint.
They try to run even before they can walk in the teachings. In fact, if they could not even see the basics in the teachings, how could they even walk in the teachings.
The outsider is spared from all these hassles. Like the insider, he too has limited sight or rather insight but at least can see the bare basics and often this is enough. Well, this and not the forest of the collection of teachings is what makes a person tick spiritually.
Outsiders may often know better. They are at advantage from two angles. They are less likely to be plagued by guilt and fear some or many insiders face. They are also less likely to be lost in the forest and on top of all these, they indeed are simply better able to see the whole picture - the helicopter view.
But apathy of society means that even if the nice view is there, people do not see even if their eyes are open. Thus there is need to repackage religion so as to renew them and attract attention but in the process attention may be diverted from the crucial basics.
Outsiders may often know better. They are at advantage from two angles. They are less likely to be plagued by guilt and fear some or many insiders face. They are also less likely to be lost in the forest and on top of all these, they indeed are simply better able to see the whole picture - the helicopter view.
But apathy of society means that even if the nice view is there, people do not see even if their eyes are open. Thus there is need to repackage religion so as to renew them and attract attention but in the process attention may be diverted from the crucial basics.
Then there is need to have recourse of simplicity. There can be plain recycling every now and then, more so when religion is lost and relegated to the backyard.
We need good Samaritans whom some consider freaks in society to come out to the open to recycle religion. But alas, some and those who come after them may overdo. They do the unthinkable so as to attract attention and the crowd.
Thus we have cults and cults may in time be the fad. But then, this will mean attention on more on man and less on God and saints. That may be the price to pay.
Even over attention to God and saints and sidelining the teachings will make society strange and weird when what they do are viewed later by future generations.
Also this is made no better when they end up focusing on the leaves rather than the panoramic view of the forest.
So do ponder and wake up and distance ourselves to be outsiders and to see things better, just like Sun Wukong 孙悟空 Monkey God The Great Sage or Great Man in the story of Journey to the West in Chinese culture.
He was more man than man and in some queer way obviously more sage than the monk in the epic story. He started out knowing less but in time could see better. He even fared better in the journey of life that reflects the journey for salvation of the soul.
Is he a reality and is the Journey to The West real? Well, he is real but what matters are the real values he stood for. He would rather that we know these than to know who is he, where he comes from and his life story. Truth must prevail and come to the fore. Truth must be more real than life.
Outsiders may know better just like 孙悟空 The Great Sage. The good saint Lord Bo Tien (武天菩萨) echoed this when he reminded that "the far may be near and the near far." He added that "he who knows the doctrine knows the lord saint and he who does not will not know the lord saint."
Is he a reality and is the Journey to The West real? Well, he is real but what matters are the real values he stood for. He would rather that we know these than to know who is he, where he comes from and his life story. Truth must prevail and come to the fore. Truth must be more real than life.
Outsiders may know better just like 孙悟空 The Great Sage. The good saint Lord Bo Tien (武天菩萨) echoed this when he reminded that "the far may be near and the near far." He added that "he who knows the doctrine knows the lord saint and he who does not will not know the lord saint."
