As no thing is new under the sun, I have provided three excerpts from texts that appeared synchronistic-ally, syntropic-ally and syntonic-ally to my mind’s eye after hearing the sermon of the Good Shepherd in Church today.
The first excerpt is based on the Gospel and a commentary on it. I found it very revealing, to say the least, that they made reference to the difference between the higher ever-present “I AM” Christology of the Gospel of John to the lower never-present “The kingdom of God is like..” Christology of the Synoptic Gospels.
And it made me wonder, in God’s name, why has the suffering and death on the Cross become the official narrative, or dominant optics, for us as Christians? Is this the quintessential example of the malignant normalization of the acceptance of suffering and death of all life as our redeeming grace in the after-life in order to serve the vested interests of the ruling classes, be they religious, economic or political? If our concern should be the present-life, and that of the next generation’s life-capacities and opportunities, after-one’s-life, then should not the Good Shepherd narrative, which is no longer based on a false syn-optics of disharmony, disunity and war, but now based on the true syn-optics of harmony, unity and peace, be our WAY, our TRUTH and our LIGHT? Can such a small shift in perspective make a world of difference in how we relate to ourselves, each other and the planet?
What if Life-Value is the Lowest Common Denominator and the Highest Common Multiplier of the Good Shepherd Ethics, in which we are called to serve all life on this Earth, from the least among us (microbes) to the greatest (Mother Earth)? Would we not all be seen as life’s chosen-ones and would we not be immunized from the endlessly manipulatable identity-politics tactics and mind-bending optical machinations of the ruling class? If the WAY, the TRUTH and the LIGHT is through LIFE-VALUE ONTO-AXIOLOGY, isn’t this the antidote? And what are we waiting for??
The second excerpt is a reflection on writings of two Israeli archeologists relating how one of the first voices of protest against the first ancient Israeli Establishment of the time was a shepherd by the name of Amos. They go on to detail the death throes of Israel, the Assyrianization of the North, and the end of the Kingdom. There are so many parallels of their time with ours, it would have been irresponsible for me not to share! Furthermore, it makes me wonder aloud, that as a species, we have barely made progress from the machinations of old, and have not learnt our lessons and are repeating them over and over again, now on a eco-genocidal global scale, still unseen! (Please see: Will the Real Modern-Day Pirates Please Stand Up!)
And finally, the third excerpt is a reflection on the full transcript of Malcolm Gladwell’s TedTalk on “The Unheard Story of David and Goliath.” David, as we know, was the shepherd boy who was able to kill the Giant Goliath with his sling. His insights are very relevant and revealing for us today. As has been admitted as of late, we are in an “information war”. We must ask now if the “synoptic” mainstream media is the de facto informational Goliath warriors, and the truth-seeking bloggers of the alternative media the informational David warriors? Does this retelling help us to go forward and does it give us a better perspective of the life-view transitioning in our midst?
