Why Mecca?

[Steve Consilvio]

Don't worry about going off-topics. I find all the responses welcome.


(I am not a thread purist, I am a spiritual purist.)


Like the value of "things," we also seem to get caught up in names. Does a goat farmer of 1000 years ago know anything of the things we know (computers for example) of course not, nor can we really know anything about him. It is not the language amd antiques that get passed down that are important, it is the Spirit.


At the time that Moses met God, what was the concept of "holy" in those days? It was vastly different than what we think of. We are a product of our times, just as they were a product of their times. But what is the central issue? Cain slew Abel even when there were only two. As we multiply as descendents of Abraham our knowledge does not necessarily make us wiser. The millions on each side form a democratic religious force, but the wisdom of a single tongue cannot be denied by the loudest consensus of folly.


If we accept the existence of the Devil, should we not also accept that he leads masses astray? Not necessarily in huge and obvious ways, but in the subtlety of tradition and non-verbal projections and observations. Habits and traditions transpose bigotry from one generation to the next.


Muhammed and Jesus were both individuals misunderstood by their contemporaries. As they attracted a following, were they understood any better? Just as the blind follow the blind, the blind can follow others as well. WWJD (What Would Jesus Do?) is a common question. Yet we see men pray and kill. They are protecting "their" holyland or homeland or fatherland. Yet God says we are the aliens on His land.


As such, Mecca does not belong to the Muslims anymore than Israel belongs to the Jews. The world belongs to all of us, or none of us.


God has thrown down many temples and many nations because of the errors of their ways. Although I tend to think of it as the sins we sow create sinners that attack us, thus all conflicts involve two sinners, and regardless of who wins, more sin has been sowed.


The sad reality is that until we can open our minds and our hearts we will never be able to open our borders. The problem is not the people on the outside, it is the thoughts inside our head. The bigger the assumption (like Mecca) the more it should be questioned.


The Ten Commandments are rules that govern individuals. There is no need for the Church or State at all, and the deeds, property, money, etc. The Spirit creates cooperative communities, conflict comes from the presumption of power.