All the animation - click here !
Since I get such a kick out of blathering on about this stuff, I'm continuing the discussion of the animation HESUS JOY CHRIST / Matthew's One Too!
Verse 19
from the Gospel of Matthew, Chapter One, New International Version
19 Because Joseph her husband was a righteous man and did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.
Verse 11
from the text of the animation HESUS JOY CHRIST / Matthew's One Too !
written by R David Foster
11 Because David was a righteous man and did not want to expose public disgrace he had in mind to depart quietly.
Verse 11 Discussion
There is more to being righteous than being right. Joseph may have had every right to divorce Mary, being that she was pregnant outside of marriage, but that alone does not necessarily make it the right thing to do. Being right is more than just doing what is considered correct. Following the golden rule, to love God and love your neighbor as yourself, is a dynamic situation, and every incidence must be viewed on its own with respect to all the circumstances surrounding the situation. Furthermore, one must act independently of the pressure from all sides to move in one direction over another, and instead, consider the whole of the situation in the light of the infinite. Nevertheless, many take the high road of popular morality and choose to not sully themselves.
Being open to the infinite aspects of one's life adds a further dimension to decision making. When one considers something as vast as the infinite, and acts on it, many others who cannot view one's decision from the same vantage point will be unable to see any reason why one chooses to act as they do. Judas could not understand why Jesus would not claim his place as ruler of creation, when Judas could honestly believe that Jesus was the Christ, the Messiah, the anointed One. In my own life, of employment for example, I have very often chosen to leave a job, when everyone around me could not see it as a good or wise decision, and would have preferred that I stay in that employment. But we all know that certain situations fail to continue to be fruitful, and must be abandoned. Furthermore, free enterprise allows us to make these choices for ourselves. Why is this? I would assert that free enterprise incorporates the idea that the individual has a unique and only view of an employment situation and will act in their own best interest, and this is the best interest of the community. But in an infinite world, beyond free enterprise, this same infinite aspect comes into play, and I have acted with respect to the greatest understanding I can muster, and have chosen to leave unfruitful situations. This has disappointed others around me, as well as confused them, but has lead to further fruitful situations, in spite of the apparent cost, which does not appear to others to be worth the reward. Many have chosen, in the absence of any understanding that makes sense, being available to them, to attribute such decisions to mental illness. Such is my lot. Nevertheless, I am free and able to pursue my animation and this is my reward. Crazy like a fox – Joseph knew that a greater purpose was at work, as this text of the Gospel of Matthew plays out in the next verse, and made his own decision in light of the infinite, if not fully or generally understood.
In the text of the animation, I was up against the popular morality that an established ability to provide was prerequisite to marriage, when the popular opinion was that marriage was solely for the purpose of children and comfort, and had nothing to do with an infinite relationship between whole and part, female and male. I could have tried to change this popular opinion, but I did not feel up to the challenge, nor did I have the resources to do so, so I chose to live the remainder of my life apart from such apostasy and began to make my way accordingly.
The phrase “the pursuit of happiness” is full of unheralded assumptions. Although it is assumed that we are free to pursue happiness, what happens when one achieves happiness – does this confound society ? I would believe so. Consider drug addiction – sure it is an empty pursuit, but it does provide pleasure, and people pursue the pleasure just as the rest of society appears to do. But if one does achieve happiness, does this confound societies economy? Look at the over abundance of the western world. We have and consume more than we need, yet evangelists appeal to our everlasting hunger. If we were content with less, what would drive the economy ? The holy cow of industry and work and employment would lie down on its arse and fail to continue to be any consideration. Where can one be happy in such a society? So I chose to leave, in another apparently misunderstood decision.
Yet life goes on, and I may have been in the wilderness and other areas outside society, but I still had a life and grew to face further challenges. I tried to live in Povungnituk, in the arctic of Quebec, yet this door was closed, when in spite of doing a poor job as instructed, I was further hindered by not being allowed to wander the tundra on my time off. I tried to cache sufficient funds to purchase acreage but could not budget the funds for the municipal taxes. Although I was employed doing site supervision in the far north of Ontario, that door was closed when my job became stupid, and it was still too closely tied to the wrong side of society, in Toronto, rather than being tied to the life I loved in the remote communities of the north. These pursuits proved fruitless, yet I repeatedly gave them second chances and they repeatedly proved fruitless. The pivot point in my understanding was when I realized, while alone, that people are far more curious than any rock, tree, body of water, or animal, and this lead to a love of people as they are, and as I come across them, from time to time.
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Sunday, September 18th, 2011
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