For many, “I am my brother’s keeper” is a strongly held religious belief. It has prodded governments to act ‘on behalf’ of its people and individuals to act ‘on behalf’ of the downtrodden. The concept seems noble at first glance, but the action it requires presupposes many other strongly held beliefs, the primary of which is that no one would choose to be downtrodden. Another is that we choose some things in our lives, but not all things. Another is that we can only control our destiny to a point and then ‘shit happens.’ But possibly the most strongly held belief is that we are nothing more than a happenstance meeting of a single sperm and egg and that what we see in the mirror represents the totality of who we are.
“I am my brother’s keeper” in actuality is a heavily camouflaged expression, for within its lofty idea is hidden a great serpent. It is called the serpent of discounting and it is rampant in the world. This serpent’s mantra is, “I can create your reality better than you can create your reality. I know what is best for you.” On its thousands of leathery scales are imprinted the words, “Thou Shalt” and “Thou Shalt Not.” The serpent of discounting was born during the age of Descartes and Newton. It was a time when man and the universe became a machine. As man forgot its connection to spirit the serpent grew larger and as the serpent grew larger mankind took on the mantle of victimhood. More victims required more brother’s keepers and like a snowball rolling down a steep hill the serpent grew to immense proportions.
It is the serpent, draped in “I am my brother’s keeper’s” clothes, that sent the US into Iraq and now keeps us there. The serpent screams, “We must save the Iraqis from the tyrant. They prefer democracy, for democracy is better than its alternative.” The serpent screams, “Leave now and there will be a bloodbath in Iraq. You must continue to be “your brother’s keeper.” “You know best what is good for Iraq.” As products of a mechanistic age we can be nothing less than victims, for we are the product of happenstance. We are thrown into this world, not by our own choice, but by the random joining of sperm and egg. We live in the world of The Forgotten Self, where religion has us aspiring to gain admission to a “Better Place,” which takes our eyes off of THIS place. We feel insubstantial, insignificant and lonely, yet there is a small voice within us that cries out, “You are so much more than you believe.”
In My post, “Probable Selves – Many Mansions” I proposed a wider view of who we are and suggested that our ‘purpose’ here is simply to experience. Two days ago our news services reported an incident on Italian TV between an Italian female representative in the Italian parliament and an Italian Imam. The woman decried that Muslim law does not require women to wear a scarf and that it represent the idea of separation. The Imam denounced her and virtually decreed a Fatwa on national Italian TV. The woman is now protected by body guards. Both the woman and the Imam were acting as “My Brother’s Keeper,” each deciding what was best for someone other than
themselves. Both discounted the choices of others and both discounted each other. The mantra is, “I am right and you are wrong.”
On a grander scale the US is doing the same thing in Iraq. Because we see ourselves as poor, defenseless beings where bad things happen to good people we feel responsible for the welfare of the Iraqi people, thinking that if they had better sense they would not be killing each other. It is up to us wiser and more enlightened folks of the western world to show them the ‘Way.’
This thinking occurs in every aspect of our daily lives and is a direct result of thinking small about who we are as human beings. All of this is not to say that we should not care, or to offer help when it is asked for if it is our individual choice to do so. But, to unilaterally intervene on another’s behalf because we believe they have no choice but to be victims is an extreme case of non-acceptance. If you can accept a Muslim woman’s choice to wear head cover or a
gay couple’s choice to marry then you are on the way to acceptance. If you believe you must intervene on behalf of another without being asked then you are in judgment mode. If you judge those that judge you are not being accepting. When you move into acceptance the world you create will respond in kind.
Bill Marshall