Spiritual Wisdom  from Researching

BLESS THE CHILD ?

A Priest, a Cardinal, a Rabbi, a Saint, a Medicine Man and a New York City Cop Weigh in!

I’m often asked by those who know of all the unusual research I did for Bless the Child, if any spiritual truths stand out for me. You bet they do! And, although they came from wildly diverse sources,  the truths were remarkably similar.

Three exorcist priests, a Jain Saint, a wise Rabbi, a psychologist Cardinal, a Sioux Holy Man, and a compassionate New York City cop all  had a lot to say on the subject of Good and Evil!

See what you think about what they told me:

•  Big evils are easily spotted and said no to.  But the little ones, the unexpected off-ramps for conscience that look harmless in the beginning… these can be the door-opener to larger rifts in conscience.

• Surely nobody invites the devil in to steal his soul, I said, but most surprised me by replying, “Don’t be so sure!  It isn’t unheard of, for man in his greed, to think this world’s goods are worth the exchange.  And remember that one may invite evil in behind the lines of defense, in many subtler ways… by lying, cheating, stealing, and the like.  One can wear away quite effectively at the lines of fortification – small evils opening the door for larger ones.”

• Drugs and excessive alcohol seem to have the capacity to open the channel to a place where evil bides its time, waiting for access to humanity — they can erode the will to resist temptation and the cognition to sort the wheat from the chaff.

• Any trauma – physical or psychological – that jars a person out of control of his own will, can provide access.

• Greed is the greatest spiritual un-doer of our times – from Inside Traders, for whom billions aren’t nearly enough, to children’s TV commercials that make every child in America feel deprived unless possessed of every device the cyber world can conjure up — greed is a killer of conscience.
  

• If we believe that  he who dies with the most toys wins no matter who gets hurt in the process, we’re already in trouble.

• The Seven Deadly Sins – Pride, Covetousness, Lust, Anger, Envy,  Gluttony and Sloth –  provide  crib notes for what  to avoid if you’re on the side of Good. (Although I have to confess that in my frenetic life, I’ve always thought a little sloth could be restful!)

• Daily decisions really count! My Jain Saint Guruji was  adamant about this.  “At the end of the day,” he said, “we are the sum total of all the choices we’ve made for ourselves at a hundred little crossroads.”

• We mustn’t cut ourselves too much slack. In order to hold the line against Evil,  we each must stand up and be counted on the side of Good, because on each and every individual depends the fate of the world.

• They all warned that the forces of Evil are organized! They work in groups, in concert, to undermine, to create chaos, to spread darkness.  We, too, must be organized in our efforts because collective intentions carry great energy and power.  Charities, spiritual organizations, people trying to save the planet, any group of altruistic givers, who promote compassion and good works can be the torchbearers and the wayshowers.

• We should get straight in our own minds exactly why Good is better and worth fighting for! They reminded me that decency allows civilization to prosper.  It can bring order out of chaos.  It sets our feet on the upward spiral toward enlightenment and communion with Creator.  They said the bad guys don’t build civilizations, they tear them down. They don’t nurture children, they brutalize them – they’re not capable of the feats of courage and daring we are, because they just don’t love anyone but themselves.

They said  the mystery of Goodness is far greater than the mystery of Evil.  It’s so much easier to lie and cheat and steal, than to work honestly, conscientiously and honorably.  It’s easier to give way to the grossest sins of the flesh, than to be moral, ethical, and self-restrained.  It’s easier to sink than to rise, to take the low road, not the high.  And yet,  a significant portion of humanity always struggles to build, not destroy.  To love, not hate.  To nurture its children, not harm them.  To heal, to help, to strive to  build a better world. And through all that enormous effort, it continues to have faith  in the face of great odds. They called this  a magnificent tribute  to the  courage, heart and soul of humankind.

So what did these spiritual guides from so many different traditions suggest we do to help Goodness prevail?  They offered a few pithy rules for the Game of Life.

The Rules of the Game of Life

•  Find time for  spiritual practice in this accelerating world. Time for prayer, for study, for meditation, for an  internal dialogue with God, or the Universe,  or whatever belief system  can connect us to a Universal force for Good that’s larger than ourselves.

• Don’t take any wooden nickels – in a society that bombards us with messages that say it’s smart to get ahead at all costs, smart to slander your neighbor, sophisticated to sleep with someone else’s spouse, clever to distort the truth for personal gain –  find ways to remind ourselves that in matters of conscience and morality, the will of the majority doesn’t matter one whit.  Character is who and what we are when nobody’s watching.

• Evil would like us to believe it doesn’t exist – that it’s just an outdated concept that’s no longer relevant. If we buy that, Evil wins the game.

• Tell the truth! We’re bombarded by lies.  Our politicians lie, our advertisers lie, our government lies.  The bigger the lie the more easily it’s believed.  Every tyrant knows that.  It’s so easy to slip into thinking it’s okay to lie just a little.  But we can’t do that because lies are habit-forming, they become a way of life – and if there is no truth, we and civilization are  doomed.

• We are our brother’s keeper – we need to clothe the naked, feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, shelter the needy – these days more than ever before. We live in a world filled with homeless, ill and deprived humanity – and  every Corporal Work of Mercy we extend to those less fortunate than we empowers the side of Goodness.

• We must light one candle instead of cursing the darkness…  as a line from a poem by L.R. Knost says  “the broken world awaits in darkness for the light that is you.”   Arvol Looking Horse, Visionary Chief of the Sioux Nations has said, “On every one of you depends the fate of the world.  Did you think Creator would have placed you here at such a critical time, for something less?”
  
• As Edmond Burke  admonished  long ago:

                                                  “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is that enough good men do nothing.”

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