Victim of a Larger Paradigm
I want to feel sorry for all these good people,
but my heart refuses to bleed for them;
and I have to wonder why.
Have I become so hard-hearted? Has this
covid pandemic inured me to their suffering?
Where has my empathy gone?
I’ve seen the images
on the national news,
thousands of Afghans
fleeing from the wicked
Taliban; but I’m not
moved.
I want to reach out to them with all my might,
but my compassion has gone into hiding;
and I cannot puzzle out why.
Gnostic wisdom says a horse can be led to water,
but the same wisdom tells us that the horse
will only drink of its own volition;
Is this why my compassion has gone missing
in action? Why my heart refuses to bleed
for the Afghan people?
Gurdjieff said that the old world would one day
clash with the emerging new world; is this what’s
happening in Afghanistan?
Have the values of the modern world threatened
the rigid Taliban order, forcing them to stand their
sacred ground, or wither and die?
But what about all the innocent people, the men,
women, and children who want to be part
of this new world order?
What did they do to deserve all the suffering
inflicted by the Taliban rule? Is all their suffering
their national karmic due?
Has life come calling to change the cultural patterns
of their old ways that can take them no further
on life’s redemptive journey to wholeness?
I dare not think such frightening thoughts, it’s much
too cruel; but I’m a victim of a larger paradigm,
and I know that suffering is not for fools.
It doesn’t really matter which path we take in life,
they all lead to the self; but the self cannot be born
again, until we die to what we are not.
This is the terrifying paradox of the Afghan people,
trapped in the chaos of the old world and new;
but only they can square their circle.
I want to feel sorry for these poor souls, but my heart
will not comply; but now that I know the reason
why, I must let go and let God decide.
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