|
The Strange Power of the Call to
Surrender the Self
If
one in the simple body of a man, with arms and legs like yours and mine, with
the voice of a mere human, could revolutionize the whole world with a new
understanding of faith, of forgiveness, of judgment, and compassion, so that
in 300 years He brought the empire that struck Him down to kneel before His
sacrifice and Word; and so that in 2,000 years His teachings of forgiveness
and compassion became so embedded in every concept of morality we know today
that people often do not even realize they are echoing Him at every
moment; does not tell us, maybe just hint to us, something about who
we are?
No
matter how you look at it, it says something uniquely and mysteriously
beautiful about the human race.
Against all greed for power, fame, and prestige, against every
instinct for advancement of the self over pain and loss, the Word persists.
That humans do these things that cannot be explained by the laws of
self-propagation or material gain, does not make sense on its face, unless
you look for a different understanding of what it means to be human.
See next
column >
|
Ultrapolis
World Forecast & Review
Ultrapolis
Project – ultrapolisproject.com
832-782-7394
Editor: Scott Lund
Copy
Editor: Michael Alberts
Contributing
Editors:
Mark Eastman
Mark Steele
contactproject@ultrapolisproject.com
|
|
|
Our forecast record cannot be beat. One can follow the herd chasing the latest
hyperbolic, melodramatic, and soon-forgotten micro-trend, or one can be
wisely and judiciously in front of it with UWFR.
|
|
|
|
< From column
1
We cannot tell you that we know as
an observable fact what God will do; what His ultimate plan is for you or
me, or the whole of creation. We
cannot tell you that we have definitive proof that within all of it, in the
crucible of every horrific and anonymous sacrifice, in the surrender of the
self in every act of love or simple compassion for a stranger, that there
is an ultimate meaning, an ultimate reality that transcends the men and
women who lower themselves, even let themselves be taken down, so that others
may be lifted up.
We cannot offer evidence that in
their surrender, often thanked by no one, soon forgotten by all, something
amazingly beautiful is born that becomes, for all places and for all time,
like an ever-living, ever-lasting diamond in the memory of God; and that
every being of goodwill that ever was or ever will be, is, was, and will be
somehow uplifted in the whole of a Holy creation. We can’t tell you we have proof of any of
that. But, we can tell you this: We
believe it.
Continued column
3 >
|
< From column
2
We
believe it as sure as we believe there are stars in the sky and oceans that
cover the face of the earth. We believe
it like we believe the sun of the day follows the moon of the night and the
night again follows day. We believe
it like we believe today we are alive and one day we will die.
But
more than that, we believe it like we believe in the possibility of the
imperfect and troubled, that is everyone of our kind, to reach beyond
themselves, above themselves, and to even just once, step into moments of
Holy perfection that will never die; like we believe in the holy
possibility of every life on earth.
Whatever
you believe, we at UWFR ask that
you believe in this: That we wish
you all the blessings of joy and comfort this new year 2016 can offer. And beyond those blessings, we ask for
your faith in this: That we believe
in the sweet and wonderful possibilities of every one of you.
Comments may be
directed to contactproject@ultrapolisproject.com,
or if you receive the newsletter email, also via a reply to the email
address from which you receive it. OR CLICK BELOW
|
|
