Satan
from 
JoeUser Forums
JoeUser Forums
With palms together,
Good Morning Everyone,
In a recent blog discussion it came to mind that we too often live our lives out as if we were somehow if conflict. For Zen Buddhists this conflict is with self and attachments to self. The self becomes an adversary, the world of things the self desires becomes temptation to remain deluded.
Our human history would seem to bear this out, Religiously speaking, Gilgamesh confronted Enkidu, Adam and Eve were tempted by Satan, Buddha confronted Mara, Jesus confronted the Devil. and so on. These stories are attempts to say something to us about our nature, I think. Not the nature of the universe as it is, but how we in it, perceive it to be, how we make ourselves.
Satan in Hebrew means adversary . The Hebrew bible a foundation text for Western civilization, seems to suggest that we need an adversary; its part of our story. And in the East, the same. Man against the Devil, Mam against Nature, Man against himself: why?
We could just as easily use a metaphor far more accurate, the metaphors of mutual aid, to describe and inform our condition.
My thoughts are that history is written by men and men need heroes. We seem to need heroic characters vanquishing evil through acts of courage and great skill. The quiet sacrifices of all those in-service to our heroes are rarely rendered into print. Yet, in deep fairness, heroes can only be if there is a team behind them. so, in truth, there is no one hero, ever. There is the team with the hero. Those who gave him birth, taught him, fed him, nurtured him. There were those who gave him a reason to be, both friend and foe. And this leads us back to the satan.
We need our adversaries. Our adversaries keep us honest. They ground us. The compel us to enter our practice.
Now, what if history were herstory?
Be well.
Good Morning Everyone,
In a recent blog discussion it came to mind that we too often live our lives out as if we were somehow if conflict. For Zen Buddhists this conflict is with self and attachments to self. The self becomes an adversary, the world of things the self desires becomes temptation to remain deluded.
Our human history would seem to bear this out, Religiously speaking, Gilgamesh confronted Enkidu, Adam and Eve were tempted by Satan, Buddha confronted Mara, Jesus confronted the Devil. and so on. These stories are attempts to say something to us about our nature, I think. Not the nature of the universe as it is, but how we in it, perceive it to be, how we make ourselves.
Satan in Hebrew means adversary . The Hebrew bible a foundation text for Western civilization, seems to suggest that we need an adversary; its part of our story. And in the East, the same. Man against the Devil, Mam against Nature, Man against himself: why?
We could just as easily use a metaphor far more accurate, the metaphors of mutual aid, to describe and inform our condition.
My thoughts are that history is written by men and men need heroes. We seem to need heroic characters vanquishing evil through acts of courage and great skill. The quiet sacrifices of all those in-service to our heroes are rarely rendered into print. Yet, in deep fairness, heroes can only be if there is a team behind them. so, in truth, there is no one hero, ever. There is the team with the hero. Those who gave him birth, taught him, fed him, nurtured him. There were those who gave him a reason to be, both friend and foe. And this leads us back to the satan.
We need our adversaries. Our adversaries keep us honest. They ground us. The compel us to enter our practice.
Now, what if history were herstory?
Be well.
