Thinking Makes It So
Comments made on Jesus and shooting pictures reminds me of a scene from Hamlet by Shakespeare:
Hamlet: What have you, my good friends, deserv’d at the hands of Fortune, that she sends you to prison hither?
Guildenstern: Prison, my lord?
Hamlet: Denmark’s a prison.
Rosencrantz: Then is the world one.
Hamlet: A goodly one, in which there are many confines, wards, and dungeons, Denmark being one o’ th’ worst.
Rosencrantz: We think not so, my lord.
Hamlet: Why then ’tis none to you; for there is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so. To me it is a prison.
Is it true that thinking determines whether a thing is good or bad?
In what context would it be true and when would it be false?
We’ve had lots of good comments on this assignment – too many for me to comment on so I’ll just add a few of my own.
The individual’s thinking definitely determines whether a thing is good or evil in his own mind and thinking.
For instance, the teacher that ordered his students to stomp on the name of Jesus thought it was a good thing to do.
On the other hand, the student who resisted had different thoughts. He saw this as a bad thing to do.
The only difference in how the two people saw good or evil in the act was determined by their thought.
This principle also applies to groups. For instance, the Nazis as a group thought that it was a good thing to exterminate the Jews. On the other hand, the Jews had a different outlook. They definitely saw their persecution and extermination as very evil.
So Shakespeare was correct as far as good or evil is interpreted by individual or group consciousness.
Now we need to look at the bigger picture and ask if the Nazis belief that killing Jews as being a good thing really meant that it was a good thing to do?
To understand the answer we must define the principle of good and evil. We have previously defined good as that which moves us forward in our spiritual progression and freedom and evil that which takes us backward.
Therefore, the Nazis were definitely doing an evil act, even though they thought it was good. Taking an innocent life interferes with the path of the soul whose life is taken and the one taking the life suffers loss of soul contact and gains karma.
Now let us apply this to the assignment to stomp on Jesus. One thing that interferes with spiritual progression is to interfere with free will. For the students in the class who cared less about Jesus there was no problem. They could stomp on the name of Jesus, have a good laugh and their free will would not be infringed. On the other hand, the teacher’s command violated Ryan’s free will as the idea of disrespecting his messiah was repugnant to him and the teacher had to know that some would feel this way. This violation of free will puts his command in the evil category.
Let us suppose that the whole class was composed of atheists who didn’t care about Jesus. Would the order to stomp on his name be good, bad or neutral?
In this case it would not be nearly as bad as the violation of free will but stomping on the name of an honorable person is a sign of disrespect. The teacher is assisting in conditioning the students to not respect good people and if this happens on a large scale civilization deteriorates placing such actions in the evil category. It may be slightly evil if done infrequently but could lead to a great evil if people are conditioned with hate and disrespect over and over.
Was Jesus Wrong?
Question: How can Jesus Christ be wrong about the mustard seed? If he was really a master then why did he not know there was seeds smaller then a mustard seed that can be sown?
JJ This is certainly not something I would lose sleep over no matter who said it for the purpose of the conversation was not to find the smallest seed on the earth but to illustrate how the Kingdom of God will begin as a small thing and grow into something great.
A problem with analyzing this is we do not know the exact words that Jesus used when referring to the mustard seed. The Gospels were written down from memory decades after Jesus spoke the words and who knows how accurate they are.
Your post quoted from Mark as follows:
“And he said, Whereunto shall we liken the kingdom of God? or with what comparison shall we compare it? It is like a grain of mustard seed, which, when it is sown in the earth, is less than all the seeds that be in the earth: But when it is sown, it groweth up, and becometh greater than all herbs, and shooteth out great branches; so that the fowls of the air may lodge under the shadow of it.” Mark 4:30-32
On the other hand, Luke words the account quite differently: “Then said he, Unto what is the kingdom of God like? and whereunto shall I resemble it? It is like a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and cast into his garden; and it grew, and waxed a great tree; and the fowls of the air lodged in the branches of it.” Luke 13:18-19
Notice that in Luke’s account that Jesus said nothing about the size of the seed. It is quite possible that this is closer to his original words and other writers just embellished what he said.
But what if Jesus did say that the mustard seed is the smallest. This was a logical presentation as far as I can see for the mustard seed was the smallest seed with which the people were familiar. If he had identified the true smallest seed in the world the people would have been confused and the parable would not have had much meaning.
But the black mustard seed [Brassica nigra = Sinapis nigra] was the smallest seed ever sown by a first-century farmer in that part of the world according to some scholars.
Whatever the case, the mustard seed was probably the smallest seed that Jesus knew about and the contrast between its beginning and end made for a good example to illustrate the truth of his thinking.
Jesus probably didn’t have a clue as to what the real smallest seed on earth was. Neither do I and I do not care.
I have found power in the mysteries of thought. – Euripides (484 BC – 406 BC)
March 24, 2013
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