You can substitute any religious book for bible here and get the same results. When we forget to open our eyes to the beauty that surrounds us and see the world for those simple gifts we are no longer alive we are pretending to be. It is not life when we see only what justifies our negative emotions. It is not a moral consistency to only see evil in people.
People are complex and have several facets and as long as we only allow one to come to the surface we deny God his creation. We as a whole are wonderful beings with so much to offer each other and the landscape of this world and yet many of us fight day in and day out trying to get others to conform to their idea of what is right. At the moment Islam is in a tail spin of violence and hate but they are not the only religion to be consumed with such poor vision, nor should we condemn them as the only one as we remember the Christian past or any past that involves at least two humans. My father would have argued that if you put two men in a room they will find something to fight about ad that does seem to be a good representation of human nature but not the only one.
Remember the first word in Harper Lees critique of religion, sometimes, meaning not always, sometimes we see the world for the wonderful thing it is. When we look at a baby playing with a toy contently, not bothered by the world around them or when we look into the eyes of our dog to see a compassion we do not find in people anymore. I would contend that when you look into your favorite pets eyes and see that unconditional love you are seeing Gods eyes looking back.
Sometimes we get it wrong, suicide bombers and mass shootings, accusing people of the wrong religion and killing them for seeking God in their own way but sometimes we get it right, The USA is an example of getting it right, that is until those who do not and will not understand what freedom is. Another word that could be used for freedom is simply tolerance, but tolerance works in all directions and from all people it is never one sided and never a one way street.
Sometimes the man with the bible or Koran is wrong as they seek out to destroy instead of love or to follow Gods plan of love and tolerance and that is a shame. It is like standing in the garden and not seeing the beauty all around you because the first fruit you ate was bitter. We forget that the bitter taste is still an experience that teaches and has a beauty all its own.
We must stop worrying about the next world and pay attention to this one, without interjecting love and tolerance into this world the next may not be what we think it will be. We are here and now and nothing changes that, the world if you open your eyes and see it is a beautiful place with wonders all around, some so subtle you must stop and listen for Gods advice to see them but you will not see any of it if you do not start tolerating others opinions and stop hating others for their differences, you will be to preoccupied to notice those simple things that make up what God intended for you to see.
Harper Lee, yes sometimes people are too preoccupied with the next world and destroy this one in their haste but sometimes they don’t and when we choose to see the beauty all around us, even in those places one would not expect it is a magical thing.
a continuation of a series of articles written from famous quotes to help in the understanding of ourselves