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The Living Life Series is dedicated to Lord Bo Tien (武天菩萨). The doctrine is in His image. The image is the doctrine. He who sees, understands and effects the doctrine sees and knows Him. He who does not see, know and effect the doctrine sees not and knows not the saint even if the saint or His image is beside him. The far may be near and the near may be far. Let the doctrine and the saint be part of our life. The lord saint in your life can be any heavenly saint of any religion, sect or school. The doctrine of truth is behind all and this is the Inner Truth that leads all (regardless of their religious affiliation or even if none) to inner peace and heaven on earth here and now and not just in the after life. The ideal worship and devotion is to know and effect the doctrine of God and the saints. The best gospel is the gospel of life. We learn from our life and the lives of others. The true temple is the world we live in. The sky is the roof of the temple and religions and sects are the pillars of the temple. All under Heaven are in the temple. Needless to say that all the saints we know are in this temple. Ji Gong Posat too is no exception. The whole wide world and web is the temple and must be regarded as a sacred place --- a temple for living and learning. It is more important that everyone that counts plays a role in this universal temple if due focus is to be given to the Mission of Heaven. Men must not be distracted by the agenda of men and end up serving the mission of man. That would be a far cry from the Mission of Heaven. We worship God and saints, not man however good that man may be. There should be no hero worshiping or idolizing of man whether he is a charismatic pastor, priest, monk, medium or lay leader. We don't even idol worship the image of any saint but reflect on what the image stands for. - the doctrine in the image. Omitofo 阿弥陀佛!.

Friday, September 4, 2015

Apathy will set the stage for disquiet and change

No 1024 of Living Life Series 1



When there is apparent apathy in a religious community, there are perspectives to look at. There may be two sides to the coin. One is that all is well and people will just go on in life. No need for them to ask and know more. After all, religion is a private concern between individual and God. 

But there is more than meet the eye. There is lack of fellowship and learning from one another's experience in life.

The dark side is that complacency has set in and religion is left on auto mode. This can be disconcerting and the silence will be broken. There will be disquiet and noise.

When there is disquiet and noise aplenty, there is discontent and external influences take root easily. People want to know why things are left as before. They want change and the religion they are in to be meaningful. There is no longer silence but noises and doubts. 
The good lord Lord Bo Tien 武天菩萨 says that let there be the doubts and the noises. We must entertain doubts and noises. People want to know more and they may not agree with the convention and they wake up and disrupt the silence. Society must wake up and address the concerns and not sweep issues under the carpet. 

Either society address the concerns and make changes or the society will be changed. This will go on all the time in cyclical fashion. Once the doubts are addressed, there will be silence again and with silence apathy will soon return. 

The change of culture and religious orientation is inevitable in every society. Change can lead to insight and better awareness of life and its purpose. 

Thus as what Lord Bo Tien 武天菩萨 says that those far from God who are noisy and no longer silent but keep questioning this and that, they are the ones who though far will end up near to God and truth of life. 

Those who are silent and lost interest though keeping the faith and near to God and saints may end up lost in worldly life and be far from God and saints. All may seem well when there is silence and apathy but this may be the prelude to disquiet and noise. 

Apathy may set in when all seems well in life and in any religion. Apathy will set the stage for disquiet and change. 

Hear ye. Hear ye. With small numbers and with tight knit group, all is well. But with success of concrete building, people may decide that they don't even need other people and life will be easier. They will have free hand and go unchecked. There is fragmentation and people drift apart. 

People just don't bother and let the few to run the show. It is often a personal show in of all place a temple and the others will not even notice so long as they come and go on the few occasions a year. 

Many more don't even go and that is telling. That seems to be alright and fine. Let everyone be in world of his own. That is best, isn't it or is it not? 

There is spiritual apathy due to the overtaking by worldly agenda of people who were once together and a close knit group. This is a common and recurring story line anywhere in the world of men and religions.

Let there be light. There will always be light at the end of the tunnel. Light will always be there. It is men who often shut themselves up in a tunnel of darkness when there is light outside.