“I realize that we are all part of something much bigger” (ODAT, 19 July)
I am accustomed to viewing things from the point of view of
myself as a separate individual. From this point of view, I will judge courses
of action with reference to my benefit. This is wrong-headed and short-sighted.
If, as the reading suggests, I am part of something much
bigger, there are two elements to consider:
Firstly, ‘bigger’: any considerations based on me as an
individual are missing the main part of the picture. I’m missing most of the
facts and I’m also failing to consider the good of others and the good of all.
Without all of the facts, no valid assessment can be made. If I am part of a
greater whole—which I am—then there is no such thing as an individual benefit.
Any benefit or detriment to me is part of a much bigger pattern of benefit or
detriment.
Secondly, ‘much’: one might legitimately replace this with
‘infinitely’; value, identity, purpose, and other parameters of consideration
or judgement depend not only on factors beyond the individual, but on an
infinite plurality of such factors, extending both in time and space, almost
all out of sight, to the end of time and space, and maybe even beyond both
meaning that no judgement cannot be made at all.
‘Do not judge’ does not mean ‘if you judge, you’re a bad
person’. It means, ‘you have not the ability to judge’.
One is simply left with silence.
And, in that silence, God gives me the next right action to
do carry out. I will never see what the ultimate purpose of that action is.