........................................................................................ - a weBlog by Snowy and me.

Sunday 22 February 2015

Freedom Is Always Relative And Best When Mutual

The English 'The Lord's Prayer' contains the line
'forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those
that trespass against us', as if the issue
were physical boundaries and property
as much as it were about reciprocation.
This is not wrong. But the original went

'Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors',
i.e. forgive us our appetites as we forgive
those who eat through our means.
This will be, in part, be about money.
But at a deeper level this line takes a big swipe
at our capacity for creating the debt bondage
by which to control others-the power behind slavery.

So by all means reduce your money debts
and where you can don't make new.
Leaving others lighter of load will prove
the harder, and more virtuous, path in the end.
 

No comments:

Post a Comment