NTI Mark, Chapter 2 opens with, “Jesus’ great love attracted many, …”
Let’s take this opportunity to review Michael Langford’s 5 steps regarding kindness:
- Every time you speak to a human being either in person or over the phone, make sure the content of what you are saying and the tone of your voice are loving, caring, and kind.
- Every time you write something to a human being, make sure that what you are writing is loving and kind. Pause before you send someone an email or a text message and make sure that your email or text message is loving, caring and kind.
- Never do any harm of any kind to any human being or animal.
- Treat even the people who you think do not deserve your kindness with kindness.
- Treat even people you only see briefly with great caring and kindness.
As Jesus followed inner guidance, he lived by kindness. Even when he felt tired, he chose to be kind. However, it’s interesting to notice that as he learned to follow guidance and live by kindness, he also dropped the habit of living according to outward expectations.
In Jesus’ time there were many religious laws. Many of these laws had no useful purpose. They were cultural laws, and people followed the laws because they were Jews. Non-Jews did not follow those laws.
As Jesus began to drop his identity as a Jew, he naturally began to drop the habit of following laws that had no purpose except to say, “I am a Jew.”
This is not a small point. As we awaken, we need to sort through our cultural conditioning. Which conditioning is useful and practical for human life, and which conditioning is based on imaginary roles and points-of-view?
An example of useful cultural conditioning is traffic laws. Traffic laws are meant for safety, and they are not tied to a specific false identity. We could see traffic laws as an extension of kindness. It is kind to follow traffic laws and help keep everyone safe on our roads and highways.
An example of cultural conditioning that is unnecessary is the expectation that your spouse remember your anniversary. That is tied to your identity as husband or wife. It’s also used to identify your spouse as good or bad, or to identify yourself as loved or unloved.
If someone spontaneously feels to celebrate an anniversary, fine. If the day passes and someone doesn’t notice the date as an anniversary, that is equally fine. A rule that says an anniversary must be remembered is useless conditioning that serves no purpose except to maintain false identities. No one is made safe or unsafe by the remembrance of an anniversary.
We use unnecessary conditioning (laws, traditions, expectations, etc.) to maintain our false identities and the false identities we have for others. In today’s reading, we will see Jesus as he begins to drop the habits of cultural conditioning.
