It is Christmas morning as I write this blog. Up at 5am, as is my habit, going through my morning routine, as is my habit. Appreciative that I have built a foundation of solid habits on which to rely, but also a little annoyed. If any day I would have an excuse to blow off my personal commitments it would be today, right? Well, maybe not. What actually is self-improvement anyway? What would Jesus have taught regarding keeping or not keeping commitments on the day the world chooses to remember him a few thousand years later?
My mind has turned to more religious figures this last few weeks as Christmas was coming. My children are excited about the event, so consequently it has been on my mind. I have made a habit that everyday, I seek inspiration from some source, read and ponder carefully. After doing this for well over 700 days in a row, I have found inspiration in many different sources, some religious, many not. One thing that I have picked up is that inspiration can be found everywhere. Any system of religion, any codified way of living has value. People practice and follow things for a reason. I have been intrigued by why people do the things they do and have been willing to try to see if it can help me in my quest for improvement. This lead me down the path of a daily meditation routine, for which I am very grateful.
So if anyone that reads this blog is religious, then I completely respect that. I actually do not care much about what religion it is, the important part is that you have chosen to have faith in something. You have chosen to live your life a certain way, follow a certain code, join in fellowship with others and to believe. If there is one thing I have learned in this process over the last few years, it has been to have a tremendous respect for anyone that makes and keeps a commitment. I am sure that some commitments are more powerful for others, but anyone that subscribes to a belief system and actually follows it is worthy of admiration. So keep it up! You are better for it, and I am sure that you are helping others along the way. Bravo.
Having said that, I felt prompted to gain my daily inspiration from Jesus Christ this morning. After all he must have been a pretty amazing teacher. There have been influential people in this world, people that have created organizations with millions of adherents. However, no one single person can claim the influence that Jesus Christ had. He has had such a profound impact that there has been many naysayers that have tried to prove that he did not exist at all. That he was an invention, created out of necessity to propagate a formal myth for a popular sect of Judaism. The messiah that had come, and all that. However, I think that is complete rubbish. There is no denying that a travelling Jewish philosopher roamed the countryside of what is now known as Palestine and had a serious impact on people. What he taught was so earth shattering that it swept the known world, toppled governments, caused all sorts of havoc, and created thousands of new religions.
So this morning, in honor of the day that the Christian world celebrates his birth, I decided to really dig in and see what I could gain in my quest for personal improvement from his teachings. I was raised under the Judeo/Christian world view, so this is not foreign to me at all. However, for those of you that have no clue – the only real evidence of what Jesus actually taught is recorded in the New Testament, of what is referred to as the Bible. There are recorded eye witness accounts of Jesus’ life recorded in the New Testament and there are referred to as the Gospels. There are four of them respectively, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. I will caveat this with, we really have no idea if these recorded words are actually the words of Jesus. For the most part, we know that they were not officially scribed until years after his death, and in some cases they were most likely an oral tradition first until a few monks were probably commissioned to finally put the words down in writing.
So there we have it, four, very short recorded narratives that describe the life of the greatest and most influential person that has probably ever lived on this earth. I guess that depends on your metric, but as it stands today, just in sheer numbers, there are more followers of his teachings then any other major religion. However, this is the challenge, and it is a challenge that Jesus himself knew and even talked about in his teachings. You can call yourself a Christian all you want, but that is a lot different than actually living your life the way that he taught. The difference between doing and saying is probably of the essence of the Christian belief system and it is surprising how many people stumble on that one the most.
So I took a very pragmatic view this morning, as is my way. What could I gain from, learn from and possibly adapt from this powerful world leader? If I were to take the teachings identifies as coming from Jesus Christ, and I were to look at them, not through a religious worshipping type of lens, but rather through the lens of a person who was honestly and truly trying to improve themselves then what should I look at? Do not ask this question of a group of Christian scholars, if you asked a group of 10 you would get 10 different answers. So I will cut to the chase and tell you what I concluded. The best representation of the teachings of Jesus Christ are found in what is known as the Sermon on the Mount. It is a famous speech that he gave, it probably cost him his life, and it is found in three Chapters in the Book of Matthew in the Christian New Testament. Matthew 5, 6, 7 to be exact. So there, if you wanted to take a moment on this Christmas day and read something inspirational from one of the world’s greatest teachers then that is the section that I would read.
So did that this morning, and reading it from my pragmatic lens, I have to tell you it sucks. That is right, I said that the Sermon on the Mount sucks. Not suck as in, it is bad. It is quite the opposite. It sucks because it hurts to read. If the Sermon on the Mount is what is meant to be Christian, then I am not being a very good Christian. It is 3 chapters of hearing what you do not want to hear, telling you principles that you probably know are correct, but would really rather forget. The words are sharp, and hard to escape. I would not consider it light reading, every phrase has significant symbolism and meaning intertwined. Whether you are Christian or not, religious, or not you will find meaning in the analogies, and references made. Definitely worth reading, although, I can promise you that when you read it you are not going to like some of the conclusions that it wants you to make. Just in the first chapter here are some thoughts.
You are encouraged, by Jesus, to be a certain way, to act a certain way, to behave in a way that I can best describe as humble. Ugh. Humility is a personality trait that I do not think that I will ever master. I want to be humble, but the reason I want to be humble, is so that others will view me as humble, which is not a very humble thought. Consequently, I am trapped in the vicious humility circle of seeking acknowledgement of others, yet doing my best to not want it! He teaches that those that live their life concerned about the welfare of others, to be merciful to them, to mourn with them, to forgive them will have the greatest rewards in life. If you motives are pure, and you are truly seeking peace and kindness for humanity than you will find your true reward. Of course, he makes sure to point out that people that exhibit this form of enlightenment will inevitably be persecuted. When you are persecuted because of this, then Jesus teaches that you should be happy, because now you know that you are on the right path. This makes me wonder how often I have been the prosecutor, holding harsh judgement toward another who was simply and honesty just trying to help others with their services. According to the teachings of Jesus, the individual with the pure motives and pure intent, will have a far greater impact than the one that sits in judgement.
All of that is in the first major paragraph. That is called in the Christian world as the beatitudes, a sort of a code of conduct as you will. The chapter continues with the concept that even though we need to be humble, and pure in our intent, we also need to be the light of the world. On one hand, Jesus teaches us to be humble, and poor in spirit, yet on the other hand is encouraging us to let people and others know who we are and what we live for. We should be willing to share what is good in our lives with others, because that is the only way that we all benefit. He uses the analogy of hiding a candle light under a bushel, or forgetting to salt your food. Life is only worth living, life is only capable of being grand if we are all are willing to share what is good in our lives. Ok, I feel better. I am writing this blog and sharing it with others, maybe I can check this box! Feeling better now, that is until I read the next chapter.
The next paragraph focuses on hypocrisy. Reading between the lines here, I think that Jesus had a big problem with people that would say one thing and do another. I think we all do really. We are all looking for the inconsistency in people’s behaviors. We can easily see hypocrisy in others, but have a difficult time seeing it in ourselves it seems. Jesus taught that if you are going to try to teach people to live a certain way, then you had better be willing to do it yourself. Do and Teach seems to be the most pertinent phrase. I imagine that I can extend this concept to the idea that the best way to teach anyone is by doing what it is you want them to learn. People learn by example far better than by words.
The remaining paragraphs of this chapter are focused on a review of the major Hebrew commandments. You all know them, the 10 commandments that Moses brought down from Mount Sinai. The basic code that seems to comprise most of the laws in the Western world seemed to be defined by these 10 commandments. Well, Jesus’ must have been highly aware of this. He takes to topic the three big ones. The commandment not to murder anyone, the commandment not to cheat on your spouse (adultery), and the commandment not to swear. Now you would think that he could have just covered the basics. Hey everyone, keep the commandments, they are a good idea. However, that was clearly not his way. He took each commandment and extended it further, really dug into the meaning and committed his followers to an even higher standard.
True, we should not murder anyone, but Jesus extended that to mean that you should not even hold a grudge against anyone. In fact, you should learn to love your enemies and forgive anyone that hurts you. The concept is that you are probably in need of forgiveness yourself, so what right do you have to not forgive another? So do not go plead forgiveness, while you are hating on another. You should first forgive the person that has hurt your feelings, before you go and ask forgiveness for what you might have done. With the adultery thing, he claims that not only should you not cheat on your spouse, but you should not even think about it. You should also realize that when you commit a bad act, or even think about committing a bad act that you are causing the other people in the relationship to do bad things to. So this is a double crime. It is not good enough to think only of your action and the harm it causes you. You must also weight what you have caused others to do as well. Jesus does not seem to be talking only about the concept of adultery, he seems to reference all acts of life when he says if something is causing you to do bad things, then just get rid of it.
The analogy is your eye or your right hand. If your eye is wandering and causing you to inflict harm on others, then pluck it out! Seems rather harsh, but as I thought about it, I realized what powerful advice this really is! I have a box of cookies in my pantry right now calling my name. “Guy….Guy…you know that I am here. I am a cookies, and I am really tasty and yummy. It is ok Guy, you can eat us, it is Christmas Day. No one will know! You can have a cheat day. Guy…Guy…Cooooookiiiiieees.” Well according to Jesus, I should march right over to that cupboard, take that box of cookies and dump them into the trash. Cut it out. It is better to remove the temptation then to risk the consequence of falling victim to a harmful act.
You should also not swear, and use wasteful words. It makes no sense to carry on with a bunch of words that mean nothing. Filler words that express your frustration, demonstrate the fact that you have let your primal emotions take over. Rather, Jesus says, to let your communication be plain and simple. Yes and No is far better than blustery bravado, overextended bragging, swearing and other trivial forms of speech. If someone pissed you off, then just accept it. Better to accept it then to make yourself look like a fool by making a big deal about it. The famous line, turn the other cheek is referenced. If someone hurts you, then just let them hurt you again because then you really have the power over them. Stay in control, let the other person be the one that falls to the temptation of hurting others for their own benefit.
Finally, Jesus also indicates that if someone ever asks you for something, give them double. Go the extra mile. Give more than expected. This seems to be an ethic to live by. Give more than what is asked, and give freely because that is the real challenge in our lives. He indicated that it is easy to love people that love us, but what about loving people that do not love you? That is the real challenge. Living life to its fullest is not about doing the easy thing, hanging out with people that tell you that you are great all the time. Challenging yourself is about trying to figure out the people that are contrary to you. That is not the easy path, but probably the path in which you will truly learn to love others because it will require you to see new perspectives, new cultures and understand and have empathy for people in different situations.
There I finished one chapter, that is all I have left in me. My brain hurts now, I am full of ideas for self-improvement. I have received enough inspiration to fuel the day, plus my 9 year old is waking up and she is ready for Christmas. She has waited long enough!
Guy Reams
