Holiness

 

Action, not just belief is a source of holiness…

How does one become Holy? Would be a question at this time of the year for a variety of reasons. Holiness when checked via a dictionary means: “Worthy of complete devotion as one perfect in goodness and righteousness.”

Philosophically, we as humans can only be so perfect. We may strive for it—which could be considered a noble effort. Yet it doesn’t measure up equally across the board in all lives. What’s holy to you may not be holy to someone else. Just like, what’s of great value to you may not hold the same value for someone else.

Even in marriage our individual ideologies concerning perfection of goodness, and such are not the same. As much as we strive for unity; somehow that does not usually bring happiness. Happiness, joy, ease of mind and mellow of soul along with concern for others may be a poetic perfection of living. And therefore be considered holy.

Then we might consider holiness to be perfection of living to the devotion to do our best under all circumstances, as we consider others. The effort of being loving to all living things, encompasses kindness to all living things. To, having consideration towards all living things. To bestow and allow free-will.

So, that ant we stepped on, because it freaked us out is our imperfection. At that moment. It takes great restraint and practice for many of us to not squash a bug such as a mosquito or ant present in our domain. We are taught they don’t belong there. But if we recognized that our domain may have been built on top of its ancestors’ domains we might take that into account.

Comparatively, the other night I watched a leader of another country—struggle to express in English which was not his first language—a sense of gratitude. He spoke in appreciation for our support for his people and their country during a time of war. As this occurred, I felt his pain as he set aside his pride and acknowledged other’s assistance as to ask for more help.

When listening and watching his speech intently, I noticed there was disrespect from a handful of our house and senate members. Those few were the converse of nobility. Those few know privilege. Those few mostly do not know war. Those few appear to only value people who think, look and act just like them. That action is unholy, and it is the ultimate sign of imperfection in humanity.---Jody-Lynn Reicher