From: pharvey@mipos3.intel.com (Paul Harvey)
Newsgroups: alt.pagan
Subject: Re: Witches and death
Date: 13 Oct 92 19:49:33 GMT
Organization: and what is the greatest wonder?

pharvey@quack.sac.ca.us (Paul Harvey) writes:
>> You imply that "Do the right thing" is modern, but it is actually
>> ancient. It is a translation of the Sanscrit word dharma and is the
>> theme of the Mahabharata, one of the oldest written texts in the world.

In article <gTwJsB3w165w@hogbbs.scol.pa.us> 
wce@hogbbs.scol.pa.us (Bill Eichman) writes:
>I understood your intent, and the multiple meanings you were overlaying 
>into your choice of the phrase 'do the right thing'. I'd agree with the 
>'mythos' you're attaching to the phrase.
>But, to use another phrase, 'there's many a slip twixt cup and lip'. 
>Arjuna was a lucky fellow, with a demigod to guide him and educate him as 
>to the inner nature of 'right action'-- but most of the rest of us aren't 
>so lucky. 

Ah. It's been said that the ancients were closer to the gods, perhaps this
is so. But Arjuna lived in a time of war, is that luck? Perhaps humans
needed more assistance then, to do the right thing. The centerpiece of the
Mahab is Krishna's council to Arjuna in time of war, also known as the
Bhagavad-Gita. War is the greatest paradox of human life. A time to kill
one's brothers and sisters, how can that be the right thing? But, can we
learn from the story of Arjuna and Krishna? Who is to say that either of
them did the right thing, it doesn't say that in the text. Krishna is
presumed to be the personification of diety, like Christ. But the Hindu
trinity has three aspects, a creator (Brahma), a sustainer (Vishnu) and
a destroyer (Shiva). Was Krishna the agent for Vishnu or Shiva? We see
creation as good, but are not sustaining and destruction also necessary and
thus good? Is it ever a good day to die? The lake of unquenchable thirst
tells Yudhi that our father is Dharma, meaning our purpose is dharma,
meaning do the right thing. But what is this right thing, who will tell us,
who will be our guide? That is for us to find out, we have free will and this
is part of the package, part of the responsibility of being a free human
being. When the student is ready the teacher will appear. Don't be so quick
to discount your own ability to teach, and to learn. Do the right thing is
a personal decision, it is the individual who must judge. Absorb what you
can of the world and reflect it into the reality of yourself. What did
Arjuna or Yudhi or even Krishna do that we can not do?

>"Do the right thing" doesn't teach us what the right thing _IS_. And it 
>leaves us terribly vulnerable to any authoritarian who can persuade or 
>force us to accept their version of 'the right thing'.

Do the right thing is individual, as individual as your fingerprint. No one
can "teach" you about doing right, but you can learn. That is the way of
an authentic individual leading an authentic life, the life of a free human
being. The Lord of the Hebrews delivered all of us FROM slavery, that is
the whole point, but we must realize this freedom. The teacher may say,
"Follow me and be free", but this is a test. Students who still have much
to learn follow the teacher, the mentor or guru. Students who have learned
some say, "yes I see, today I chose the path less travelled." Heaven, the
Lord's Kingdom, is right here, right now, only most don't see it for what it
is. Hell is not seeing it. This dharma and freedom walk and freedom talk
is not an easy thing, but, now that you've seen the light will you stand up
for your right?

>Christ said, 'Sin no More', but the church redefined sin, and built a 
>machine for control out of a teaching of freedom.

Right! Why? Teacher said, "Follow me and be free". Most students followed.
Who is at fault? Teacher said HATE all, even yourself, (Luke14:26), yet
students still followed. What else could the teacher have possibly said?
When the student is ready, the teacher will appear, but if the student is 
not ready, it can't happen. No one can lead the student, it is the student 
who must learn. No one can teach you the freedom walk or the freedom talk. 
It must be learned. If you seek a slave master to tell you what is right
and tell you how to do your dharma, this slave master will be found. One
must learn first that this is not the way of the individual. Only the
individual knows the individual's dharma. Free will is not an easy path
to walk, but we have no choice in the end, it is how we were created. As
Janis Joplin put it, freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose.
The Lord delivered us FROM slavery, any clinging to the broken shackles is
of our own design. The days of obeying an all knowing slave master are gone,
and yet we cling to the institution, we long for the days of old when our
fate was out of our hands. Why? What is so hard about freedom walk and
freedom talk? Is self-responsibility to great a burden to carry? Didn't I
and my ancestors clear the land, and plant the corn and tend the fields as
commanded? Are we not ready for freedom? Are we ready to ride the train?
Those are lines from an African-American spiritual but they mean much more
than just the Christian meanings that the slave masters thought they meant.
The song says, get ready children please, get ready to ride that freedom
train. All across this country, we hear the word, that man must be free. 
Hebrews were slaves in Egypt, Africans were slaves in the US. What does it
mean? We are all the chosen people, we are all Homo sapiens sapiens from the
mother continent of Africa. Do we know how to ride that train or is that day
still a ways off yet?

>I didn't mean to impune the phrase you were using, BTW-- perhaps I should 
>have used the older expression "go with the flow".

Hmm, go with the flow is a very different thing. That can get you in trouble.
Go with the flow is an authentic individual leading an inauthentic life.
Newsgroups: alt.pagan