USCG STATION HOBUCKEN: JESUS AS PHILOSOPHER

IN ORDER TO KEEP ON SCHEDULE, THE FOLLOWING BLOG IS INTENDED TO KEEP USCG STATION HOBUCKEN NORTH CAROLINA ABREAST WITH CURRENT INSTRUCTION JESUS AS PHILOSOPHER.

HERE IS YOUR TASKING:

1. REVIEW THE POWER POINT #11 JESUS OF JUDEA

2. READ THE SELECTION JESUS: Born Under A Wondering Star pages 34-41 PHILOSOPHICAL MINDS

3. GO TO THE GOSPEL OF ST MATTHEW CHAPTERS 5-7...REVIEW

SUMMARY OF CONTENT

Chapter 5  Slokas 1-48  Jesus is looking for a few good men and finds it difficult to find any who are pure of heart, will, and conscience. Even his disciples fall short of this mark. He has something very special in mind. Will he ever have it in hand?

Jesus is after an interiorization of morality. He wants to make the moral life personal for all humankind. Jesus would like individuals to recognize their internal nature and learn how to better control anger, contrempt, infidility, mistrust, hatred, and vengefulness. In other words, Jesus is after a NEW idea of humankind's role in their service time on this earth.  His demands on the local population are astonishing. Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect!.  Self improvement at its best...a call for humankind to go beyond the normal and envision the supernormal kingdon to come.

He asks that those who really want to be better step forward. Few can heed his call as they are not poor in spirit, are not meek, do not mourn, hunger and thirst...Jesus's message is clear and his philosophy is threefold:

1. Creation is not folly.

2. There are Great Expectations for all humankind.  

3. There is a design and destiny ahead!

You are the salt of the earth [have the power within], the light of the world [have the ability and are able to light up your environment], born to sustain the law.

An individual can kill off his friends with a shovel to the head or course and false words behind back...Reconcile with friends...quickly!

An individual can sleep with someone else who is married...bad for everyone. Stamp out the desire to lust after another...it is not easy to be yourself and not desire another's situation. 

Go the extra mile in human relationships...show some touch love.

Chapter 6 Gospel of Matthew Slokas 1-34 hit at the heart that all human action need not be noisy. Keep it simple and remember always that there is a greater than thou.  All rewards come to individuals as a result of a job well done...today. Hit it hard now...24-7-30-365-31,116 days in a row to 85...this is tough love!

Jesus is trying to sell everyone the same philosophical vision that Plato had in mind yet found hard to manufacture in hand. Jesus had in mind a heavenly Father who really knows each individual on this earth, who cares, and has great expectations for and a design and plan for salvation built within. This philosophy rests on the injunction that you have to believe and have faith and hope that these things are true and trust!  When in doubt, get over in a corner all alone and recite the Lord's Prayer...then you will hear the truth spoken to you in a voice that is inarticulate to all other ears...it is meant for you alone...and you will do your duty as God directs you toward the Promised Land. Humankind has to buy into this philosophy and generate energy in action to make these things true.

In the final Chapter 7, Slokas 1-29, Jesus lays out the plan for realizing his philosophical make-believe world: Do not judge others...perform!  Ask your family member, neighbor, community friend...and you shall receive!  Seek out the source of family and community problems and join in an assault upon them! Knock on every door until you knock down barriers to self, family,  and community improvement. In the end the individual will win! The family will win! The community will win!

After seventy years in the streets of Athens, Socrates was misunderstood and the majority who heard his philosophical message turned their backs on him and he died drinking hemlock to prove that he was not a god.

After thirty-three years in the streets and townships of Judea, Jesus was misunderstood and betrayed by some of those closest to him. One would think that this ought not to happen. However, the flesh is weak and hands are full of short-term goals and desire satisfying rewards. If there is an afterlife, then all will know!  Plato's Myth of Er does an excellent job at trying to get individuals to be aware of life's choices and make good decisions based upon a vision of great rewards to come in the afterlife.  Jesus' Sermon on the Mount lays out a simple format for developing a more perfect humankind. In the end he died disappointed and asked his Heavenly Father to forgive for they just do not know!

Remember, Philosophy is a human conversation that does not escalate into argument nor dwindle into silence. Keep the discussion alive...philosophy is for everyone!  Sois Sage

WEDNESDAY  OCTOBER 29: THE PHILOSOPHY OF BUDDHA