I am currently taking a philosophy class and this has brought ideas to the forefront of my mind. This blog is not intended to sound preachy but is just a glimpse in to what I have been thinking about. (Yes, Eunice has a spiritual side that some of you may have never seen).
What is perfection? According to the Bible, we are perfect because we are made by God. Though, it is not that simple; it is a very complicated stance as stated in the Bible. Matthew 5:48 "Be perfect, as your heavenly father is perfect". What does this mean? Well, my stance is that if we act in the ways in which God as we know him as our father then we become perfect. That is why perfection is so important. This coincides with the Golden Rule or Golden Mean of "do unto others as you would have others do unto you". By practicing the Golden Rule we are being perfect in God's eyes. We are not looking for praise from other people, we are acting as God wants us to act.
Essentially, Matthew is saying that we should do things and be perfect in doing them; yes, we can be perfect in our imperfections but do not do acts to get praise from other people. We can do something nice for someone and ask nothing in return. Many people do not understand this simple process; many people espouse "Hey, I did this for someone and got nothing in the end". Why not just do good deeds for nothing? Why not just rest assured in the knowledge that you did the good deed and accept that there are no rewards except the idea that you are being perfect in God's eyes? This is not to say that you should expect to be seen as perfect in God's eyes. To go further out on the limb, this is not to say that you should do good deeds based on the idea that you will be perfect in God's eyes.
The Golden Rule or Golden Mean is merely a guide! A guide to morality. Its as simple and as complicated as that. If you want to be treated well, then treat others with the respect and dignity they deserve. This is to say that think before you act because actions cause reactions. This is to say that if I step on your foot you may or may not feel pain but why would I want to go about stepping on people's feet unless I want people to step on my foot and ultimately feel pain.
I subscribe to the philosophy that we need to perform good deeds without asking for commendations. If I purchase my friend lunch, I do not expect he or she to return the favor. Some might not agree with me. Some might say that because I purchased lunch for this person they should at least pay me back. I say the payment for the lunch is that the person took the time to have lunch with me. Therefore, they repaid me by spending time with me. Time is important to all people and we all have schedules to keep and that time that the person spent with me was important to them quite possibly as important as the money that I just spent on them for lunch!
How can we judge that spending money and spending time are not the same thing. Money to pay bills is important; money to pay for my own lunch is important. My friend might not have the money to pay for their lunch or they may have the money to pay for the lunch but it is good to treat someone to lunch every so often. I am going further out on the limb to say that I am treating my friend the way in which, I want to be treated. Yet, I am not expecting the friend to return the favor. I do not even expect them to spend the time to have the lunch with me. If they wanted to take the lunch and go home to eat it alone, that would be fine because I was not expecting anything in return for purchasing the lunch.
It is hard to be perfect in our imperfections. It is hard to follow the path of what is right and what is wrong when we have so many imperfections. Nobody is expected to be completely perfect because God understands that we cannot be perfect all of the time. The only thing God looks at is the effort to be perfect. Essentially, we could say that the whole of life is a mastery test.
Tags: Eunice Crankyponts Golden Rule Golden Mean Morality
