Inconsideration: the Disease of the Cosmos Engenders Discovery
I was working on a revelation of inconsideration as the disease of the cosmos, which it is, but the lesson has kept rolling way past that. This on inconsideration:
That people are inconsiderate is not earth shattering news: “Elbows bends inward,” we are reminded. “We need to take care of our own. Other people have their own lives; let them take care of themselves. They are not our concern.”
I was pointing out the error of that logic, and that it unfortunately exemplifies the prevailing philosophy of mankind: that others are separate. Edible, or at least a bother. The terror of the Jurassic has become the indifference of man toward his neighbor. Discomfiture with interferers. “We have to put up with the blighters,” we console ourselves, “until something gets rid of them for good.” Do I sound like I know this stuff too well? Ahh, Greta (Garbo, kids, who is endlessly mimicked sighing, “I vant to be alone”).
Selfishness is not the problem. God is selfish, that is why the rain falls on the unjust, and even the most miserable have salvation offered to them. Our selfishness just needs to be expanded to God’s perspective of the whole Self, that all are the same Self, so that we may be selfish for the benefit of everyone.
No, the problem with inconsideration is the idea of division between things, the perception of separation. For that is the ignorance we are overcoming. It is the mentally cloistered world of “I am this, not that,” and ignoring ‘that,’ which we ought not. It is one thing to be patient with the people trying to skootch by our chair protruding into the aisle at the restaurant, and another that we won’t skootch our chair a little closer to the table to let them by. It is this uncaring indifference. It is the mental framework of NOT NOTICING that precedes unfeeling.
That people are inconsiderate is not earth shattering news: “Elbows bends inward,” we are reminded. “We need to take care of our own. Other people have their own lives; let them take care of themselves. They are not our concern.”
I was pointing out the error of that logic, and that it unfortunately exemplifies the prevailing philosophy of mankind: that others are separate. Edible, or at least a bother. The terror of the Jurassic has become the indifference of man toward his neighbor. Discomfiture with interferers. “We have to put up with the blighters,” we console ourselves, “until something gets rid of them for good.” Do I sound like I know this stuff too well? Ahh, Greta (Garbo, kids, who is endlessly mimicked sighing, “I vant to be alone”).
Selfishness is not the problem. God is selfish, that is why the rain falls on the unjust, and even the most miserable have salvation offered to them. Our selfishness just needs to be expanded to God’s perspective of the whole Self, that all are the same Self, so that we may be selfish for the benefit of everyone.
No, the problem with inconsideration is the idea of division between things, the perception of separation. For that is the ignorance we are overcoming. It is the mentally cloistered world of “I am this, not that,” and ignoring ‘that,’ which we ought not. It is one thing to be patient with the people trying to skootch by our chair protruding into the aisle at the restaurant, and another that we won’t skootch our chair a little closer to the table to let them by. It is this uncaring indifference. It is the mental framework of NOT NOTICING that precedes unfeeling.
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I was on this tirade in my mind about all the things I wanted to say about the fault of inconsideration when I came to the realization that it—inconsideration—is a form of sociopathy. I had intended to emphasize the need for constant consideration of all in lieu of the biblical commandment to love all, as loving all seems too extreme for us to practice; but sociopathy is the lack of conscience, not just compassion. And that is our fault: lack of conscience.
How does one engender conscience? The only way I know of is the preaching of the Gospel. God cannot do much of anything with us until we have a conscience—THEN it begins. I have got to work on this some more.
posted by Daniel C. Branham-Steele at
2:18 AM
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