do not worry about tomorrow

8/12/2019 Do Not Worry About Tomorrow

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Do Not Worry About Tomorrow

Say,

Thanks for sending me Father Michael's sermon on 'Don't Worry, Be Happy'. Quite persuasive orrhetorical, don't you think? But as Father Michael puts it - 'Easy words to say, but hard to put into

practice.'.

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I enjoyed reading Father Michael's sermon. I agree with him that Jesus' intention was to allaypeople's anxiety about worldly life. I do not agree with him however that God would 'literally'provide for us in this world. But overall his sermon is directly on point that we should not worry toomuch, but be (practically) 'happy'; by not being pervasively anxious about things. Try to take life aswe find it, as it comes, with equanimity, i.e. take the good and/with the bad with equal stride.

Jesus is in a strict sense, an in-consummate preacher, because you cannot get the full

interpretation and meaning of his parables or cryptic sermons, if you were to read them literally. Donot take today's Gospel Reading from Matthew 6:24-34 literally. Otherwise we will all end up likelizards suntanning in the sun or worse, ostriches with their heads in the sand. There are severalhints to not reading it literally and ending up taking it out of context.

Now to the first hint. You will note that Matthew 6:25, the passage starting off today's message,begins with the opening words - "Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you willeat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. ... ". The "therefore" ispredicated on what Jesus prefaced in the last sentence in the passage before, in Matthew 6:24 -"You cannot be the slave both of God and of money." So, the 'not worrying' bit does not relate toactually 'not worrying' but really about not being enslaved to this world of mammon, of money. Livein this world but do not be enslaved by it or by your worldly mammon self. Be a slave prospectivelyonly of God and live your life in such a way that you glorify God and seek his grace. But you stillhave to render unto Caesar what belongs to Caesar! You still have to render unto your worldlybeing and mammon life what befits your worldly being and mammon life.

The second hint is in Matthew 6:32-33 (after Jesus had described all the anecdotes about 'notworrying') - "It is the pagans (worldly beings) who set their hearts on all these things. YourHeavenly Father knows you need them all (i.e. food, body, clothing etc.). But seek the kingdom ofGod and His righteousness, and all these other things will be given to you as well." In other words,glorify God and God will extend his Grace, as regards our 'tomorrow'.

The third hint is in the last passage i.e. Matthew 6:34 in today's Gospel Reading, and what I see

epitomises what Jesus meant by the 'not worrying' - "So, do not worry about tomorrow; (for)tomorrow will take care of itself. Each day has enough trouble (worry) of its own." So, Jesus is nottelling us not to worry at all; he is telling us not to worry about 'tomorrow', and, rather, to worry onlyabout 'today'! Jesus wants us to focus on the 'present', on whatever worldly task we are currentlydoing, on directly effecting our present worldly plans, on what we can immediately worldly do,resolve and decide on. Jesus is not asking us to just lie back and idly bask in the sun without anycare in the world aloof from the world, like a dole bludger, a hermit or a monk under the banyantree. That would obviously be contradictory to what Jesus taught in the Parable of the Talents.

When we work, we work. When we eat, we eat. When we sit, we sit. When we shit, we shit. Do notworry about tomorrow, while sitting on the philosopher's chair in the toilet. Do not let your mindwander off worrying about tomorrow, when you should focus and concentrate your attention on the

immediate task before you, whether you are working, eating, sitting or shitting. That would benegligent behaviour. Accidents can happen, when the mind drifts astray! You are mindful when youthink of the present; but you are mindless (as in careless) when you think of tomorrow, when you
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should be thinking of the present! Jesus wants us to give our heart and soul and mind totallydedicated to the present, the very here and now; to live it fully in diligence and thought, celebratingthe goodness of God and his grace and glorifying him.

It is in this sense that Jesus wants us to worry - worry only about 'today', the immediate and thepresent, for that is already quite a handful to worry, to be 'mindful' about. It is enough if we justrender unto Caesar what belongs to Caesar. Do not however anxiously worry about tomorrow. For

tomorrow does not belong to Caesar! The future is subject to God's grace. Not God's will, for aslittle Caesars, we will reap what we sow in the world of Caesar, but God's grace. That is why, in the'spirit' of hope, we enslave ourselves to God, that is why we glorify God, for we wish God's gracefor a better future, for a better 'tomorrow'. For if we celebrate God's goodness in the 'spirit son ofGod' within us, we need not have any fear for the future nor have to suffer any depressive mentalanxiety. That is what spiritual faith is about. Be mindful of the present in the world of Caesar buthave full faith in the future of the tomorrow that is God's. We will then watch our 'eternal' life unfold,for we are now the 'light of the world'.

You will note the rather abstract or colloquial expression of Jesus - "tomorrow will take care ofitself" (Matthew 6:34)! How can or would 'tomorrow' worry about its own things? But when youponder deeply about this trite phrase or manner of expression, that is all we can do and hope for.For life is like a perpetual gambling session, whether it be poker or mahjong or whatever. We canonly play the game, and with the 'players' that we are playing with! We can only play with the cardsor tiles that we are dealt with. Imagine if you were to play your poker or mahjong game notfocussing or concentrating on your cards or tiles that you have on the present 'round', but instead,worrying about what cards or tiles you might possibly have in the next 'round'? Jesus is basicallysaying that in the world of gammon (here illustrated by gambling), just focus on the present 'round'.Jesus is saying, as to the world of 'tomorrow' (the next 'round'), let me worry about it; leave it to mygrace. But he implies however that his grace depends on our being enslavened to him, as to our'tomorrow'. If 'today' we are slaves to gammon, in our 'tomorrow' we must be slaves to God. Wecannot have two masters! Our 'tomorrow' must therefore belong to God i.e. we must glorify God forhis 'tomorrow' to grace us.

In fact, if you follow through and continue on to Matthew 7:1-2, which is where the final hint is, youwill then realise that Jesus is telling you here one of those other things (other than 'today') that youwould need to worry about. Rather, be worried, Jesus is saying, if you judge, whether yourself orothers - "Judge not, that you be not judged. For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged;and with the same measure you use, it will be measured back to you."

In fact, this passage about 'worrying' that you are 'not judging', ties in with today's Second Readingfrom 1 Corinthians 4:1-5. At passage 3, St Paul said - 'Not that it makes the slightest difference tome whether you, or indeed any human tribunal, find me worthy or not. I will not even passjudgment on myself.' It is only when you do not judge yourself or others that you are selfless andegoless! It is only when you are selfless and egoless that you can love your neighbour, as you

love yourself. It is only when we are selfless and egoless that we can love one another as Jesusloves us. It is only when we are selfless and egoless that we do not have an 'idol' before God. It isonly when we are selfless and egoless that we are not 'separated' from God. For then we aretotally subsumed in God; and that is when we might be said to love God with all our mind, bodyand soul!

So, like the birds and the bees and the ants, and all the other creatures big and small, that do notstrive to dominate like man, do not judge yourself or others, do not worry about tomorrow. Practiseequanimity. Just get on with our lot in life to the best of our ability and capacity. Just go about dailydiligently foraging or otherwise 'value-adding', making hay while the sun shines. Just go out andprovide and feed and nurture your family and loved ones unselfishly. Be selfless and egoless andlive your life to the full for them and for a better world. That is what a father's love is about! That is

what filial piety is about! For the son is going to be a 'chip of the old block'! The son, through filialpiety, will learn how to be a loving father. That is what being a family is all about. That is howworldly as well as spiritual life unfolds!


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Today's Gospel Reading reminds me of 'Brother John' (nickname) Chiang Kah Heng, one of mybest friends at University. John was a dedicated Pentecostal Christian. He was so engrossed anddedicated that he spent most his time helping out with his church community and in reading theBible incessantly by rote. He is another of my Christian friends who were good at reciting the Bible.Faith to him was learning the Bible off by heart. John failed his 1st Year University Exams. Hefailed because he took it 'literally' that he did not have to worry about tomorrow; despite my

constant urging that he should start 'swotting' as the exams got nearer. The faith in the promisethat God will provide for the future with his grace does not mean that God will help those who donot help themselves with or for the present. We are presently, day by day, as sons of man, like littleCaesars. We must therefore render unto Caesar what belongs to Caesar. Today belongs toCaesar, God is our tomorrow. Today represents our mortal life. Tomorrow represents our eternallife! Tomorrow is with God. Tomorrow is therefore, metaphorically speaking, subject to God'sgrace.

Now let us get back to our 'worrying' bit, the part where we worry about the 'present' but yet weshould not worry about our life - 'do not worry about your life', as Jesus said (Matthew 6:25). It israther puzzling that Jesus is telling us not to worry about tomorrow, but rather worry about today,the present and now; and yet in the same breath he is telling us that we should not worry about'life'. That appears to be an impossibility. It is all rather convoluted? Or is it?

No, Jesus is simply telling us not to dwell too deeply about worldly life, or about our state or lot ordestiny in our worldly life. Whatever will be, will be; the future is not ours to see! Jesus is telling usto get on with our worldly life! Otherwise we will be stuck in the quagmire of despair anddespondency of worldly life, with all the suffering of humanity out there. Nothing is satisfactory inthis world. This world is never-ending in its insurmountable problems.

Jesus is telling us not to stress our mind with things that are outside our control. We are 'worrying'our mind with things outside its control! Jesus is saying that we should not 'dwell' in our mind; thatis, we should not linger on the present, we should just experience the 'moment', and just plod on to

the next moment. It is like saying focusing and concentrating on the moment is just momentary,from moment to moment. It is like a tennis match. When the volley is on, we focus with totalconcentration; but once we hit the ball we move on to the next moment, to the return on the volley.We do not linger on! We do not dwell on the present past!

Recently I wrote the following to you.

Amazing Facts - Where is Our 'Self'?

Ponder on the following amazing facts.

Fact No 1 - Because it takes our brains 80 milliseconds to process in formation; that meanswe are all living ever so slightly in the past.

Fact No 2 - Because it takes so long for their light to reach Earth many of the stars we seeat night are long gone.

This tells us that what we see and hear and feel, in fact anything to do with our five senses,when we experience them, after they have been processed by the CPU of our mind, we areexperiencing the 'past'. This fact is definitely apparent and proven in the case of some ofthe stars; for what we see is the past, as the applicable stars no longer exist!

If what we see is always the past, whether slightly, or definitely so, then it stands to reasonthat beyond the 'experience' nothing really exists, that is, there is nothing immutable andpermanent that exist the same from one millisecond to the next. There is therefore nothing


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eternal and permanent in this world, no matter how durable and everlasting we perceivethem to be. No matter how fleeting or how microscopic, everything is subject to change andare constantly changing. We are a different person from one moment to the next. We are adifferent person with every heartbeat. In fact we die and are reborn again with each newheartbeat. Even if it comes down to the minute changes in some cells in the skin and hereand there, organs and brain etc. If we are always experiencing a memory of the 'past' ormore specifically the imagery of an experience from the 'past', then it accords with reason,

that life is an illusion, that life is empty of any immutable permanent entity or self.

If our permanent self is not in our changing body and by extrapolation our changing mind,then our human persona of a 'self' or 'ego' is an illusion! We only exist in our 'mind'! And inlogical terms, that is a 'delusion' if what we mentally perceive turns out to be an 'illusion'.

But how come we have an innate sense of a 'self'? The only reason I can think of is that ofa permanent self in another dimension outside this dimension (that is an illusion) of ourhuman world; that is dreaming that he is the ''self' in this illusionary dimension of our humanworld. In other words the permanent self, outside of his 'dream', is dreaming that he is theillusionary self, in the dream (that is of our world). But since the dreamer is lost in hisillusionary self within his dream, how is he going to be aware that it is only a dream, only anillusion, and that if he awakens from his dream he will revert back to his permanent self thatwas only dreaming the dream? For the dream is so real within the dream that the illusionaryself (within the dream) thinks that it is indeed the permanent self; and that any talk of himbeing illusionary or a delusion and that someone else is the 'permanent self' that isdreaming (him or it) is itself a 'dream'. Confused!

No wonder we are all so confused and lost! I stand corrected. No wonder, most of mankind(other than us, if you should understand this dissertation) are so confused!

Chuan26/2/14

The past mind is unretrievable. The present mind is also ungraspable. The future mind is definitelynot comprehensible. Let me reiterate. The past mind is already gone. It is a distant memory. If yousuffer from short term dementia like me, it is lost history! The future mind is yet to arrive. And as wediscussed earlier, let us leave 'tomorrow' to God. As to the present mind, the moment you say orthink 'present', it goes by in a quick flash, like lightning, in less than the twinkling of an eye; gonelike a 'dream', like an illusion. You notice that I have underlined 'like'. Whatever we experience isvery 'real'! It is not a dream! It is not an illusion! However it is as if it were a dream, as if it were anillusion, but it is nonetheless very real in the experience. We laugh, we cry, we love, we pain, wesuffer. We live but we do not really 'live'! For, we die or we are dying. In fact we 'die' and are 'born'again, with every heartbeat! Such a mortal life is unsatisfactory. In despair we seek eternal life oreternity in God.

That is exactly the whole point! Even though realistically we are only experiencing each and everypresent moment of our life like a movie reel, we must be totally fully aware that the present mind isunobtainable. That it is like a dream, like an illusion. It is real in the experience but it is totallyempty in its permanency; it is not 'eternal'! Our existence and any happiness or enjoyment weexperience is transient temporary serendipity.

Jesus' entire preaching is predicated on this salvation, this liberation, from the illusory worldlyrealm to the spiritual eternal realm, that is heaven. Our original eternal being, our eternal spirit sonof God in us, what we were and are and will continue to be, from the beginning of creation, beforethe Original Sin of Adam, before the Fall of Adam, will liberate us from this 'dream', this 'illusion',that is the state of the worldly mammon 'son of man' in us. We need to awaken in the 'spirit son of

God' in us, the 'sheep' that is 'lost', and expiate any adverse karmic consequences or residue (the'reaping') from past and present causes and deeds (the 'sowing'); that keep us, as 'angels of God''ascending and descending' Jacob's Ladder. We have to do good to beget good. We have to love


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our neighbours as we love ourself. We have to love God with all our mind, body and soul. Thoseare God's Commandments. We have to live our life glorifying God for a good 'tomorrow'. We leaveour 'tomorrow' to God, predicated on our being a slave to him.

In practical terms, we do this when we repent and return home, in the spirit son of God, that is theLost Prodigal Son; repent and return home to our Spirit Father. That is what we do 'tomorrow' andthat is how we leave our 'tomorrow' to God. And that is how, the eternal spirit son of God in us

takes us home, liberates us, from this 'dream', from this 'illusion', that is the Sin City of the World.

Love and God Bless!

Chuan

do not worry about tomorrow

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