SIN
I’m here to talk about sin, and I’m choosing to speak about the paradox of sin and beauty.
In the Aramaic Language and culture that Jesus taught in, the terms for "sin" and "evil" were archery terms. When the archer shot at the target and missed the scorekeeper yelled the Aramaic word for sin. It meant that you were off the mark, take another shot. The concept of sin was to be positive mental feedback. Sin is when you are operating from inaccurate information and thus a perceptual mis-take. When you become conscious and aware if the results of your inaccuracy you have the option to reconsider what you have learned and do as they do in Hollywood, "do another take.
The thing about sin is that we acknowledge we do not always do what is right or best for ourselves or our fellow man…however it is about making conscious decisions, choices and living mindful of what is and loving it….
Everything we do, everything we say and everything we think has results. With our intended result it is usually easy to see if we have “hit the target”. Unintended results are more difficult to recognize because, for the most part, they may not appear to affect us directly. This unconsciousness is the sin through which much pain can be caused. The paradox of this is that awakening to the realization of the pain affords great opportunity for beauty and good to arise.
Here are three (very short) stories to illustrate this:
A random shot, fired in a street fight missed its target and hit a five year old girl playing Barbie on her 2nd floor balcony above the street, paralyzing her from the waist down.
Two years later the man is brought to trial. The mother pushes her daughter’s wheelchair into the courtroom and up close to the prisoner. The little girl, who knows more in her innocence and joy about living than many of us will ever understand, looks into the eyes of the man who shot her and says, “I forgive you.”
The man, the street fighter, who until this moment had only known fear and anger broke down and cried in front of the courtroom. He spent his time in prison and beyond helping young men like himself transform their lives.
The Paradox: Miss the target…unintended impact; raised consciousness of something beyond ourselves…true beauty arises.
(There is another sin in this story I can’t pass by, which is the unconscious impact on young girls of having Barbie as a role model)
Second story:
On Sept. 11, 2001 terrorists crashed jetliners into the World Trade Center. We all know the pain that was caused by this action. The intended result … destruction and fear… was achieved. Another result; unintended (I assume) was the wave of kindness and generosity that swelled across the country and the world.
The Paradox: Hit the target…unintended impact; raised consciousness of something beyond ourselves… true beauty arises.
And:
This last story illustrates what I believe to be one of the greatest sins that is happening everyday in our education system and in society.
The story goes: A rabbit, bird, fish, squirrel, duck and so on, all decided to start a school. Everybody sat down to write a curriculum. The rabbit insisted that running had to be in the curriculum. The bird insisted that flying be in the curriculum. The fish insisted that swimming be in the curriculum. The squirrel insisted perpendicular tree climbing be in the curriculum. All the other animals wanted their specialty to be in the curriculum too, so they put everything in and then made the glorious mistake of insisting that all the animals take all of the courses. The rabbit was magnificent in running; nobody could run like the rabbit. But they insisted that it was good intellectual and emotional discipline to teach the rabbit flying. So they insisted the rabbit learn to fly and they put him on this branch and said, “Fly, rabbit!” And the poor old thing jumped off, broke a leg and fractured his skull. He became brain damaged and then he couldn’t run very well either. So instead of an A in running, he got a C in running. And he got a D in flying because he was trying. And the curriculum committee was happy.
The same way with the bird-he could fly like a freak all over the place, do loops and loops, and he was making an A. But they insisted that this bird burrow holes in the ground like a gopher. Of course he broke his wings and his beak and everything else and then he couldn’t fly. But they were perfectly happy to give him a C in flying, and so on. And you know who the Valedictorian of that graduating class was? A mentally retarded eel, because he could do almost everything fairly well.
The unintended impact of this (I assume) is creating a world of mediocrity, a common purpose of conformity and a fear of anyone who is “different”. (George Orwell in 1984, wrote about this, Ayn Rand; The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged, Margaret Atwood… there is a huge list of books that project the results of this into a not too distant future.)
The Paradox is that this result causes so much pain in many individuals that they look for another way. There is a rising consciousness and appreciation of the beauty in our differences and the unique abilities of every human being.
Imagine what this world would be like if everyone had the opportunity to be encouraged to be a unique human being.
I’m going end with The Paradoxical Commandments by Kent Keith:
- People are illogical, unreasonable, and self-centered.
Love them anyway.
Sin is anything less
- If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives.
Do good anyway.
Sin is anything less
3. If you are successful, you win false friends and true enemies.
Succeed anyway.
3. If you are successful, you win false friends and true enemies.
Succeed anyway.
Sin is anything less
4. The good you do will be forgotten tomorrow.
Do good anyway.
4. The good you do will be forgotten tomorrow.
Do good anyway.
Sin is anything less
5. Honesty and frankness make you vulnerable.
Be honest and frank anyway.
5. Honesty and frankness make you vulnerable.
Be honest and frank anyway.
Sin is anything less
6. The biggest men and women with the biggest ideas can be shot down by the smallest men and women with the smallest minds.
Think big anyway.
6. The biggest men and women with the biggest ideas can be shot down by the smallest men and women with the smallest minds.
Think big anyway.
Sin is anything less
7. People favour underdogs but follow only top dogs.
Fight for a few underdogs anyway.
7. People favour underdogs but follow only top dogs.
Fight for a few underdogs anyway.
Sin is anything less
8. What you spent years building may be destroyed overnight.
Build anyway.
8. What you spent years building may be destroyed overnight.
Build anyway.
Sin is anything less
9. People really need help but may attack you if you help them.
Help people anyway.
9. People really need help but may attack you if you help them.
Help people anyway.
Sin is anything less
10.Give the world the best you have and you'll get kicked in the teeth.
Give the best you've got anyway.
Give the best you've got anyway.
Sin is anything less
May you find grace in the face of adversity;
And see the fear behind a critic's eye.
May you embrace love and joy as they're offered;
And give generously of your heart and time.
And see the fear behind a critic's eye.
May you embrace love and joy as they're offered;
And give generously of your heart and time.
Sources:
When Ted and Tim asked me to talk about ‘Sin’ at their wedding I was a little lost. I had agreed to speak at the wedding a year ago after Ted and I had our conversation with the turkey in California, and for most of that year I assumed I’d be talking about love. Not more than three weeks before the wedding I pressured them (Ted and Tim, not the turkeys) enough to be specific about what they wanted me to talk about that they gave me the word “sin”. I googled “sin”, then read through masses of stuff until I came to the definition, which talked of sin in a way I related to. Unfortunately I did not save this link. The second paragraph is a direct quote from Ted. (2006)
Everyday I receive a quote by email from an organization called Charity Focus. The email includes a quote, an inspiring story, and a ‘Be the Change’ suggestion.
The story of the little girl who got shot in April this year was from Charity Focus in April. This story stayed with me ever since, I pull it out often when I think about forgiveness. However, now that I have looked it up again I see I have taken liberties with it. The original is even more poignant and beautiful, but forgive me for remembering ‘Barney’ as Barbie.
Here is the direct link to it:
The animal curriculum story is from one of my all time favourite books: Living, Loving and Learning by Leo Buscaglia. It is a series of lectures he gave between 1970 and 1981.
The Paradoxical Commandments I also heard originally from a Charity Focus email.
Here is the link to read an interview with Kent Keith, the author: http://www.bookpage.com/0205bp/kent_keith.html
