Tag Archives: oil of gladness

Buffer

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Buffer: (n) something that prevents conflict

A book called Isaiah refers to it as “a repairer of the breach.”

It is an individual–or maybe even group–who decides that holding one opinion or another in reverence does notDictionary B grant the equity and generosity of spirit that is necessary to allow for tender human interaction.

Over the years, such a position has been deemed anemic or ill-defined. We are told that the most important thing is to believe in something and then cling to it in spite of how many people object to the position.

That style of living has left us at odds, seeking out camps of culture, where we pretend to be equal with those around us while secretly feeling that our clan is superior.

God knows we need a buffer.

We need people who know that the greatest accomplishment in the human race is to be a peace-maker.

It doesn’t make us evasive or lily-livered–rather, desirous of the “oil of gladness,” to lubricate all human relationships.

Without this buffer we bang up against each other, and pretty soon we’re so bruised that it takes less banging to bring pain. Eventually we are so angry about any interaction that we either hurt one another or we run away from each other in horror.

It begins with a simple understanding: there is no way at all that I can be better than you.

Even if I believed I was, God, our Creator, is no respecter of persons.

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Boon

Boon: (n) a thing that is helpful or beneficial.

In the pursuit of progress, it is paramount that we learn what is so important to the human race that we dare not surrender it.Dictionary B

I completely agree that putting leeches on human skin to suck out the bad blood of disease was a horrible idea.

Turning Africans into slaves to work plantations without wages or a retirement plan was sinister.

But we must understand, there are certain attributes of virtue which cannot be compromised simply because they seem tedious.

In the past thirty years, love has been translated from an action into a sentiment.

This has been very subtle.

We have allowed our entertainers, our politicians and even our religionists to convince us that love is a high-sounding ideal, but most of the time beyond our grasp. Therefore, we are encouraged to settle for lesser representations, like friendliness, giving to the poor, or even lust.

There is only one boon to the human race.

There is only one condition that creates the oil of gladness that lubricates us for bumping up against one another.

It is love.

We cannot give up on it.

Matter of fact, our mission is to define it in such realistic ways that we just naturally pursue it.

Without this, we begin to believe that individuality is holy–instead of the communion of souls in gentle compromise.

 

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