Theos-Talk Archives (September 2002 Message tt00142)

Hi all of you,


Below in the following is an excerpt from the "Mountain Top" speech by Martin Luther King Jr.
What he is talking about can easily be translated to the spiritual struggle - the true theosophical struggle.
The question is then if we today are acting properly on this ongoing struggle.

With talks about 'Hitlers' or 'non-Hitlers', Middle East aggressions and attacks on the Middle East - who is going to win this strange kind of 'Superbowl' or 'soccergame' ?

The question is then NOT, i.e. NOT- the phrase often put forward by Presidents and others: 
'Don't ask what you can do for your selves, but ask what you can do for your country'. 
That is according the the words from King in the below text clearly NOT enough.
We have to ask: "What can we do for our Planet and the World ? 

Because what we really have is EITHER the choice of NON-VOILENCE or the choice NON-EXISTENCE 
(---because of agression---). What is in between is the clock running towards the END." 
The Law of Karma tells its tale...
Now, what is our choice ? AND is non-voilence - the same as extremly weak passive protests in society and/or here 
at Theos-Talk ? NO - no and no. 
Do we have to stick more togehter like for instance in URI (United Religions Initiative) or elsewhere ? YES
Which major groups of importance similar to this one or theosophical ones are being create today ? Anyone on this ? 

Can we create such a group - of non-voilence ? And are we determent to do so ?

*******
Let us listen to Martin Luther King Jr.:

"Now, let me say as I move to my conclusion that we've got to give ourselves to this struggle until the end. Nothing would be more tragic than to stop at this point, in Memphis. We've got to see it through. And when we have our march, you need to be there. Be concerned about your brother. You may not be on strike. But either we go up together, or we go down together.
Let us develop a kind of dangerous unselfishness. 

One day a man came to Jesus; and he wanted to raise some questions about some vital matters in life. At points, he wanted to trick Jesus, and show him that he knew a little more than Jesus knew, and through this, throw him off base. Now that question could have easily ended up in a philosophical and theological debate. But Jesus immediately pulled that question from mid-air, and placed it on a dangerous curve between Jerusalem and Jericho. And he talked about a certain man, who fell among thieves. You remember that a Levite and a priest passed by on the other side. They didn't stop to help him. And finally a man of another race came by. He got down from his beast, decided not to be compassionate by proxy. But with him, administering first aid, and helped the man in need. Jesus ended up saying, this was the good man, this was the great man, because he had the capacity to project the "I" into the "thou," and to be concerned about his brother. Now you know, we use our imagination a great deal to try to determine why the priest and the Levite didn't stop. At times we say they were busy going to church meetings-an ecclesiastical gathering-and they had to get on down to Jerusalem so they wouldn't be late for their meeting. At other times we would speculate that there was a religious law that "One who was engaged in religious ceremonials was not to touch a human body twenty-four hours before the ceremony." And every now and then we begin to wonder whether maybe they were not going down to Jerusalem, or down to Jericho, rather to organize a "Jericho Road Improvement Association." That's a possibility. Maybe they felt that it was better to deal with the problem from the causal root, rather than to get bogged down with an individual effort.

But I'm going to tell you what my imagination tells me. It's possible that these men were afraid. You see, the Jericho road is a dangerous road. I remember when Mrs. King and I were first in Jerusalem. We rented a car and drove from Jerusalem down to Jericho. And as soon as we got on that road, I said to my wife, "I can see why Jesus used this as a setting for his parable." It's a winding, meandering road. It's really conducive for ambushing. You start out in Jerusalem, which is about 1200 miles, or rather 1200 feet above sea level. And by the time you get down to Jericho, fifteen or twenty minutes later, you're about 2200 feet below sea level. That's a dangerous road. In the days of Jesus it came to be known as the "Bloody Pass." And you know, it's possible that the priest and the Levite looked over that man on the ground and wondered if the robbers were still around. Or it's possible that they felt that the man on the ground was merely faking. And he was acting like he had been robbed and hurt, in order to seize them over there, lure them there for quick and easy seizure. And so the first question that the Levite asked was, "If I stop to help this man, what will happen to me?" But then the Good Samaritan came by. And he reversed the question: "If I do not stop to help this man, what will happen to him?"

That's the question before you tonight. Not, "If I stop to help the sanitation workers, what will happen to all of the hours that I usually spend in my office every day and every week as a pastor?" The question is not, "If I stop to help this man in need, what will happen to me?" "If I do not stop to help the sanitation workers, what will happen to them?" That's the question.

Let us rise up tonight with a greater readiness. Let us stand with a greater determination. And let us move on in these powerful days, these days of challenge to make America what it ought to be. We have an opportunity to make America a better nation. And I want to thank God, once more, for allowing me to be here with you."

*******

HERE I stop.



from
M. Suflight - still with a lot of problems...and doing his best to cope...>:-)



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