The Tao of Jesus.

     I recently attended a three part series Untold Blessings:Three Paths to Holiness, by renowned Theologian Fr. Robert Barron.  I love the way he brings concepts into perspective, and although I would have to view the DVD again and again to thoroughly instill the principles he taught, I did finish with a newfound understanding gleaned from the broader presentation of  "Finding the Center," "Knowing you Are a Sinner," and "Your Life is Not About You."

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     I narrowed what I learned down to what I call The Tao of Jesus.  What or rather who did Jesus love? He loved people. If we are going to follow Jesus, we have to love what he loved.  Loving God is loving people--- and that's the big challenge.           When we choose to love people, we choose nonviolence, we choose vulnerability, and we choose a path of resistance.  This is the good life, said Fr. Robert Barron.  He used the beatitudes from the gospel of Matthew, but used the word "lucky" in place of blessed:
     You are lucky if you...are poor in spirit, or humble.  The opposite is prideful.  If everyone were prideful, everyone would be out to get the other, to seek revenge and no one would ever have peace.
     You are lucky if you...are meek.  A meek person is never weak, rather he exhibits self-control.  He doesn't run in fright from his enemy, but his humility gives him an edge in that he allows nothing to disturb him.  Fr. Barron talks about three ways to react to an aggressor. One, is to hit back.  Two, is to flee in fright, or three, is to stand up to the aggressor with a posture that says, "I'm not playing your game."  The Tao of Jesus is to "turn the other cheek," which on the surface appears weak, but is it?  No.  It's the third option, and it's not passive.
     Rev. Martin Luther King jr. took this same stance during the civil rights movement in the 1960's. King taught his followers a path of nonviolence. Oh but it wasn't passive.  Learn more about this at  King Philosophy.
      You are lucky if you...can show mercy toward others.  You are building a road to peace.  Again, you aren't controlled by your mind and it's lower nature to seek revenge.  Barron referred to Gandhi's posture in saying that if we adhere to an eye for an eye, then we eventually make everybody blind.     But again, this is not passive.  It's not caving.  It's saying, "I'm not afraid of you, but I'll not participate in your violence."

     Count yourself lucky if you are persecuted or mocked for the sake of God.  If you are persecuted, then you can smile, even experience joy in knowing that you are doing the will of God. Fr. Barron concluded with the not so complicated idea that, "your life is not about you."  And the good news is this: It's about loving what God loves, and what God loves is freedom indeed.  Biblical freedom, Barron says, is "freedom from."  It is freedom from the domination of the human will that seeks a love of self, a protection of self, a self that excludes others--- which is ultimately not the Tao of Jesus.