"ALL CAPS IN DEFENSE OF LIBERTY IS NO VICE."

Monday, December 17, 2007

"EVERY BUILDING IS A TEMPLE TO SOMETHING"

The Aztecs built many huge pyramids with alters for human sacrifices to a pantheon of bizarre gods...

Romans built a Colosseum for cruel sports and many other temples with all kinds of bizarre rites...

The Jews built one Temple to the One God... the 2nd Temple was destroyed and since Jews have devoted themselves to Torah, the Words, the Law...

The Roman Catholics built soaring cathedrals in which the focal point was a figure of the crucified Jesus...

Modern Industry has built huge skyscrapers and mega-domes to sport, in complex cities articulated by a vast networks of spectacular bridges and intricate highways and rails and an artificial neuron network of wire - and a wireless network, too... (and don't forget the internets!)

The biggest projects a group of people see through to completion says a lot about what they find important, what they are devoted to... what they "worship."

The money committed, the people hired, the calories burned all reflect devotion to whatever that project is in its heart.

In this sense, every building is a temple to something; its very existence is an expression of that devotion - of the will to bring it into the world. And to maintain it... see it passed down to the generations to come. Maybe it's just a lovely and loving home - a modest one where good values are nurtured. In a way, that's a fine temple.

Each of our lives also reflects our devotions. What we are willing to sacrifice for, the joys we want shared.

People have long said our bodies are our temples - so take care of them. What I am adding here is that our lives - our life project - is our temple, too - in the way I've described.

SO... WHAT DO YOU WORSHIP? HOW DOES YOUR LIFE REFLECT WHAT YOU THINK IS REALLY IMPORTANT?

WHEN YOUR LIFE IS DONE, WHAT WILL REMAIN? WHAT WILL IT HAVE TESTIFIED TO?

JUST ASKING...

I hope it is a noble and good and joyful thing. Worth the struggles.

'Cause everything noble and good and joyful comes with struggles. To test your devotion. Pass the test. You can do it. You can find the time. You can find the will. And the cause.

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