Limits to doing right LO9201

John Paul Fullerton (jpf@myriad.net)
Sat, 17 Aug 1996 13:39:58 -0500

This morning my thoughts ranged over some of the comments seen on the list
recently, or at least that may be how I reached the following question.

There is a verse in the Bible (Hebrews 2:15) that says, "them who through
fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage". Thinking about
that, I didn't understand how "fear of death" could be seen as ruling over
people for a lifetime. Another thing to note is that the "problem" is
evidently a problem by definition--in the time of life being subject to
thoughts of what is not life. Because I did not see how fear of death
could be so continual and pervasive, I thought, I would like to learn
about that today. Maybe it was a prayer :)

Malcolm Muggeridge, as I remember, said that Christianity beckoned to him
as a way of life to be desired, and yet he could not accept Christianity
because of the changes he thought it would require. The apostle Paul said,
"I die daily". He did actually receive noteable punishment for preaching
in those days; however, I expect that "die daily" has to do with putting
away one's own desire for benefit that does not so appeal to the senses.

What if "fear of death" could be seen as including fearing the imagined
cost of "doing the right thing"? The frequency of paying the cost for
doing what we believe is not known to me; that it is not very high seems
likely because it is not pleasant. (I should say that "mental protection"
for doing the right thing can be built into thinking and be effective.)

Another problem closely related to accurate perception of such a cost is
the imaginary cost based on what we've been told. In the Garden of Eden we
see God starting off positive, you can do this and you can do that. Only
after the expression of freedom was there, were Adam and Eve told one
thing they were not to do and that was to eat of the Tree of the Knowledge
of Good and Evil (not the Tree of Knowledge). Unlike the positive account,
oftentimes Christians (including myself) make their religion seem to be a
list of don'ts (and in terms of the law, maybe that would be partly
accurate). The result is a fearful imagination of "doing the right thing"
in the particular regard of "being a Christian". Someone said or showed
that Christianity was "no fun" and thus thinking that that was right (and
"no fun") would take away the "life" of life!

I don't know how Useful this idea is outside its direct application,
possibly due to how significant the "fear of death" may be considered and
whether it applies to inaccurate imaginations of something that is not
known.

To close on a cheering note, we can hear a sound on the roof at night and
think "Oh, no, it's a robber" when it's only a tree branch.

Fear of personal cost may be a limit to doing right and that fear may be
inaccurate and/or based on incomplete knowledge.

Have a nice day
John Paul Fullerton
jpf@myriad.net

-- 

"John Paul Fullerton" <jpf@myriad.net>

Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>