Sunday, August 30, 2015

August 29th

Utopia

Chant one million times for world peace, they told me.
Pray three times a day to end all wars.
Practice austerities to liberate all living beings.
But the world's miseries have never diminished.
Periodically, some religious group proclaims that if everyone would just do something like chant, some fundamental social problem would be solved. Claims have been made that spiritual devotion could affect wars, famine, disease, the economy, and overpopulation.Only personal endeavors can be spiritual. What you do with your daily devotions is purely for your own sake. Once you put ideals on a grand scale, they are compromised by the contradictions of life.
There is no utopia. There never will be. There is only the valiant attempt of each person to live spiritually in a world where spirituality is almost impossible.


Personal Interpretation

We are imperfect beings living in an imperfect world. We can never accomplish utopia. We can only seek to live spiritual lives for our own sakes. We cannot purport to offer any absolute solution to social distress. We can only try to be the best people we can be, strive to make what difference we can make, seek truth in a world of illusion. We can make a difference without solving all of the world's problems, and this must be enough for us. And what works for one will not work for all. We must strive to remember this.  

No comments:

Post a Comment