It would look like presumption from the part of finite and frail human beings to try to know the way of God's thinking. But the chiding administered to Peter by Jesus about thinking like humans and not like God implies that we should be able to think like God and not merely as humans. This is possible only if we are prepared to get under the skin , so to say, of reality. In other words, the human way of thinking is governed by the appearances of things and not by their reality. It comes down to giving prominence to our body, senses and emotions neglecting the soul, intellect and will power. We are dragged down by the weight of events and occurrences in the world as our body and its five senses are always open to the world outside. In course of time, we forget the powerhouse within us rooted in our soul to which all our faculties should be made subject for a smooth functioning of our life. Such a reversion of our natural and human way of behavior from the body to the soul will result in the peeping out reality over and above its appearances. Now we are on the way to think as God thinks and not merely as the humans do.
What prevents us from seeing reality as it is as against its appearances is our tendency to superimpose our subjective reality over the objective reality. Our bodily way of thinking , i.e., thinking arising out of our lower nature, is responsible for supplying the materials required for manufacturing the content of the superimposition in our subjective thinking. An example given by the Indian sages in this context is about someone mistaking a rope for a snake of which the person is afraid. The subjective thinking of the person has superimposed the serpent on the rope due to lack of light or poor eyesight or because the person was inebriated at the time! The rope and the fear are real, whereas the serpent is only manufactured by his or her imagination. Similarly, a person without light, i.e., understanding or due to ignorance or because he or she is inebriated with the spirit of the world is prone to superimpose his or her views on the reality presented. The solution is to revert to the proper human spirit endowed with intellect and will power supported by the divine spirit. Such a reversion helps us to see things, events, reports and speeches as they are without any interference of superimpositions. The result is objective reality or truth and God Himself is Truth. Now we are closer to the mode of God's thinking. To achieve this one needs to listen carefully to the objects, words spoken etc., without any preconceived ideas. In addition, it is necessary to reflect on what is listened to and meditate on its implications whereby we shall really know things as they are. If this is real knowledge, a step ahead, when it strikes as revelation of the inner nature of things enabling us to distinguish between right and wrong, it is called wisdom. We already know from what has been said earlier that fear of God is the beginning of Wisdom.
God confers wisdom on people whom He approves. An example may be given from the Bible about King Solomon's wisdom. God appeared in a dream to Solomon asking for what he wanted. Solomon asked for a heart with skill to listen in order to help him govern God's people justly and to distinguish good from evil. God was well pleased with Solomon for asking this and not for a long life for himself, or for wealth, or for the lives of his enemies, but for discernment in administering justice. His request for a wise heart, therefore, was granted and in addition , he was given all those things he never asked for (See 1 Kings, 3: 5-14). From this incident, we may have a glimpse of how God thinks and also how we should pray to God. As for the nature of wisdom conferred on Solomon, and for that matter of any genuine wisdom coming from God , an instance may be taken from the Bible how Solomon exercised his power of wisdom. We read there how two women quarreled over the ownership of a living child as against a dead one claiming to be its mother. Since both were vehemently arguing and were unwilling to reach any compromise, Solomon ordered a sword to be brought for dividing the child into two to give a piece each to both of them. At the king's order to cut the living child into two, the real mother asked him to give the child to the other woman saying that at any cost the child should not be killed. The other woman insisted that the child should be divided so that neither of them has the baby. At this, King Solomon gave his judgment to give the child to the first woman and not to kill it as she was its real mother (See 1 Kings, 3: 16-28).
From this instance of the exercise of wisdom by King Solomon, we may learn two things. First, the mode of thinking of God , seen through the exercise of His wisdom by Solomon, is always impeccable and contrary to the human way of thinking. Second, wisdom of God conferred on the human is not something esoteric and mystifying leading to superstitions and meaningless rituals, but immersed in the general laws of the Universe. In this case, Solomon used the laws of human psychology to pinpoint the real mother of the child and thus his exercise of the wisdom given by God was transparent and convincing to everyone. It is a further corroboration of our thesis in this Study that the secular and the sacred are not to be separated in such a way that superstitions, black magic, spurious miracles etc., are given a chance to take over our rationality gifted to us by God. The real meaning and extend of true miracles may be gathered from the Gospels and how Jesus performed them. Generally speaking, Jesus dissuaded the beneficiaries of his miracles from publishing them in order not to draw attention to himself. A telling example of self-effacement even when he could easily have drawn attention and admiration from people is seen in the miracle of turning water into wine at the marriage feast of Can-in-Galilee. Jesus just asked the servants to fill the six stone water-jars standing there and draw some off and take it to the steward of the feast. He did not command the servants to bring water before him to be blessed that could easily have given the impression to the people of magical powers in Jesus. According to God's way of thinking, self-effacement is absolutely necessary even for people vested with God's wisdom and authority. The fundamental reason behind this requirement is the principle that what is honorable before the humans is despicable before God and vice-versa!
As a corollary to the above we may say that human suffering and pain can only be understood within the ambit of God's way of thinking elevating them as effective instruments of salvation (See Matthew, chapters 5-7). God's way of thinking is always from a perspective of totality, while ours tends to be fragmented. Therefore, to think like God, we must make attempts to see things from a wider perspective and not from fragmented ones. While we see things as happening in the past, present and future, God sees everything in the eternal present. To live in the present is to try to think like God. To grieve at tragedies is quite human and yet we will not lose hope if only our perspectives are not bound by the immediate sad events. The life of Jesus has amply taught us the meaning and purpose of human suffering, although by nature we are averse to pain both physical and mental. (To be Contd).
What prevents us from seeing reality as it is as against its appearances is our tendency to superimpose our subjective reality over the objective reality. Our bodily way of thinking , i.e., thinking arising out of our lower nature, is responsible for supplying the materials required for manufacturing the content of the superimposition in our subjective thinking. An example given by the Indian sages in this context is about someone mistaking a rope for a snake of which the person is afraid. The subjective thinking of the person has superimposed the serpent on the rope due to lack of light or poor eyesight or because the person was inebriated at the time! The rope and the fear are real, whereas the serpent is only manufactured by his or her imagination. Similarly, a person without light, i.e., understanding or due to ignorance or because he or she is inebriated with the spirit of the world is prone to superimpose his or her views on the reality presented. The solution is to revert to the proper human spirit endowed with intellect and will power supported by the divine spirit. Such a reversion helps us to see things, events, reports and speeches as they are without any interference of superimpositions. The result is objective reality or truth and God Himself is Truth. Now we are closer to the mode of God's thinking. To achieve this one needs to listen carefully to the objects, words spoken etc., without any preconceived ideas. In addition, it is necessary to reflect on what is listened to and meditate on its implications whereby we shall really know things as they are. If this is real knowledge, a step ahead, when it strikes as revelation of the inner nature of things enabling us to distinguish between right and wrong, it is called wisdom. We already know from what has been said earlier that fear of God is the beginning of Wisdom.
God confers wisdom on people whom He approves. An example may be given from the Bible about King Solomon's wisdom. God appeared in a dream to Solomon asking for what he wanted. Solomon asked for a heart with skill to listen in order to help him govern God's people justly and to distinguish good from evil. God was well pleased with Solomon for asking this and not for a long life for himself, or for wealth, or for the lives of his enemies, but for discernment in administering justice. His request for a wise heart, therefore, was granted and in addition , he was given all those things he never asked for (See 1 Kings, 3: 5-14). From this incident, we may have a glimpse of how God thinks and also how we should pray to God. As for the nature of wisdom conferred on Solomon, and for that matter of any genuine wisdom coming from God , an instance may be taken from the Bible how Solomon exercised his power of wisdom. We read there how two women quarreled over the ownership of a living child as against a dead one claiming to be its mother. Since both were vehemently arguing and were unwilling to reach any compromise, Solomon ordered a sword to be brought for dividing the child into two to give a piece each to both of them. At the king's order to cut the living child into two, the real mother asked him to give the child to the other woman saying that at any cost the child should not be killed. The other woman insisted that the child should be divided so that neither of them has the baby. At this, King Solomon gave his judgment to give the child to the first woman and not to kill it as she was its real mother (See 1 Kings, 3: 16-28).
From this instance of the exercise of wisdom by King Solomon, we may learn two things. First, the mode of thinking of God , seen through the exercise of His wisdom by Solomon, is always impeccable and contrary to the human way of thinking. Second, wisdom of God conferred on the human is not something esoteric and mystifying leading to superstitions and meaningless rituals, but immersed in the general laws of the Universe. In this case, Solomon used the laws of human psychology to pinpoint the real mother of the child and thus his exercise of the wisdom given by God was transparent and convincing to everyone. It is a further corroboration of our thesis in this Study that the secular and the sacred are not to be separated in such a way that superstitions, black magic, spurious miracles etc., are given a chance to take over our rationality gifted to us by God. The real meaning and extend of true miracles may be gathered from the Gospels and how Jesus performed them. Generally speaking, Jesus dissuaded the beneficiaries of his miracles from publishing them in order not to draw attention to himself. A telling example of self-effacement even when he could easily have drawn attention and admiration from people is seen in the miracle of turning water into wine at the marriage feast of Can-in-Galilee. Jesus just asked the servants to fill the six stone water-jars standing there and draw some off and take it to the steward of the feast. He did not command the servants to bring water before him to be blessed that could easily have given the impression to the people of magical powers in Jesus. According to God's way of thinking, self-effacement is absolutely necessary even for people vested with God's wisdom and authority. The fundamental reason behind this requirement is the principle that what is honorable before the humans is despicable before God and vice-versa!
As a corollary to the above we may say that human suffering and pain can only be understood within the ambit of God's way of thinking elevating them as effective instruments of salvation (See Matthew, chapters 5-7). God's way of thinking is always from a perspective of totality, while ours tends to be fragmented. Therefore, to think like God, we must make attempts to see things from a wider perspective and not from fragmented ones. While we see things as happening in the past, present and future, God sees everything in the eternal present. To live in the present is to try to think like God. To grieve at tragedies is quite human and yet we will not lose hope if only our perspectives are not bound by the immediate sad events. The life of Jesus has amply taught us the meaning and purpose of human suffering, although by nature we are averse to pain both physical and mental. (To be Contd).
No comments:
Post a Comment