Today I want to review the last 2 Scriptures I read the beginning of this year: the Apocrypha (Catholicism) and the Shri Guru Granth Sahib (Sikhism), hereafter abbreviated as SGGS.

APOCRYPHA:

The first wrote, Wine is the strongest. The second wrote, The king is strongest. The third wrote, Women are strongest: but above all things Truth beareth away the victory.

I honestly don’t have a lot to comment on about this quote. All of these things (wine, government, women, and truth) can have tremendous power. The truth definitely survives longer than the others, so in that since it is the victor. This is one of those phrases or sayings that can seem super profound, but I think the main reason some people might view it that way has more to do with it being in some ancient book of Scriptures than anything else.

The following four excerpts are either events that are spoken of in a positive light or direct commentary/instruction. In all cases, the moral being espoused or the general truth arrived at seems quite bizarre.

All these had taken strange wives, and they put them away with their children. (Esdras)

This follows Esdras returning to Jerusalem and being shocked at the Jews intermarrying with non-Jews. I am definitely a proponent of conscious uncoupling in certain situations. However, putting away the children? I have no words.

He ran, and slew him upon the altar.
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Thus dealt he zealously for the law of God like as Phinees did unto Zambri the son of Salom. (Mattathias)

This describes the actions of Mattathias upon seeing a fellow countrymen going to sacrifice something (possibly a pig) upon an altar dedicated to an idol. Now let’s just grant that what his fellow countryman did was the most despicable thing imaginable (something I don’t accept). Even in this case, does it justify murdering him? In actuality, the man was either an unwilling hostage to a decree from a hostile king or someone who actually believed in worshipping idols. In either case, not someone deserving of the death penalty.

He that is honoured in poverty, how much more in riches? and he that is dishonourable in riches, how much more in poverty?

The tyranny of merit on full display here. Why the random dissing of the poor? Baked into the cake is the assumption that being poor is due to moral failing instead of just the economic reality of the situation.

Receive a stranger into thine house, and he will disturb thee, and turn thee out of thine own.

Here we have a random dissing of hospitality. Sure, the above could happen. But couldn’t the opposite happen as well? And isn’t their virtue in helping others for the principle of it, regardless of the consequences?

The following 2 excerpts are included just because they are bitingly memorable ways to die. The first one is about a soldier named Eleazar. The second is about an elder called Razis.

He crept under the elephant, and thrust him under, and slew him: whereupon the elephant fell down upon him, and there he died.
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Though his blood gushed out like spouts of water, and his wounds were grievous, yet he ran through the midst of the throng; and standing upon a steep rock, When as his blood was now quite gone, he plucked out his bowels, and taking them in both his hands, he cast them upon the throng, and calling upon the Lord of life and spirit to restore him those again, he thus died.

The last passage talks about the fear of God. This is a common refrain in the Bible at large.

The fear of the Lord is a crown of wisdom, making peace and perfect health to flourish.

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The root of wisdom is to fear the Lord, and the branches thereof are long life. The fear of the Lord driveth away sins: and where it is present, it turneth away wrath.

Obviously, in order to comment on these passages, the words ‘fear’ and ‘wisdom’ have to be defined. To steel man the passage, I will assume that by ‘fear’ what is actually meant is ‘awe.’ I take it to be apparent that anxiety, terror, or trepidation is NOT the root of anything approaching wisdom (thought it DEFINITELY could prompt action). I believe a necessary part of wisdom is the ability to make sound judgment.

So, the passage could be rewritten as, “Being in awe of God is the most critical component of making sound judgments.” Again, to steel man this, I could say that without belief in something beyond the material existence we inhabit, it is much more likely someone will give in to some sort of nihilism, which could mute their judgment-making capacity. While I grant that this could be true (it definitely was in my life), I still would say that at best having a sense of spirituality can be a great supplement to wisdom. On the other hand, I think everyone can think of someone who used their “fear of the Lord” to become moral monsters or close-minded bigots.

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SGGS:

Every soul was once part of God, the Supreme Soul. He separated each soul from Himself for its individual journey to experience various realms in different reincarnations.
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As the water merges with water, the individual soul merges with the Supreme Soul. The wanderings are over and you attain an ever restful state.

I find it to be an incredibly empowering belief to view our lives as streams of consciousness originating from an ultimate consciousness source. I love the imagery invoked in this passage of small streams of water merging with the ocean of water referred to here as the Supreme Soul (my preferred term is Universal Self). I don’t believe in a permanent “soul” and thus also reject the concept of reincarnation (I subscribe to rebirth), but I also realize that this can get somewhat semantic, so am less allergic to these terms than I have been in the past.

The only way to tackle these ‘others’ is to make them our own – embrace Oneness. With this shift in thinking the others become our ‘own.’ Now their success is our success and their defeat our defeat. There is no enemy now, no competitor. We are all part of Oneness.

There is a beautiful passage in the Bible which reads, “Rejoice with those rejoice; mourn with those who mourn.” However, I have found that this practice can be incredibly difficult without a sense of Oneness: that we are inextricably connected to others, such that we experience their happiness as our own, and their pain as our own. This is also a great way to avoid getting sucked into a zero-sum-game mentality about our success versus the success of others. How can this sense of Oneness be cultivated? For me, one extremely helpful tool is lovingkindness meditation.

To be able to say that you are nothing, or that you know nothing is the hall mark of real humility. The more frequently a person says, “I know nothing” the more spiritually enlightened he is likely to be.

Humility is a greatly undervalued virtue in our society. Confidence is a phenomenal skill to possess, but without the bedrock of humility, it all just becomes a lot of hot air without any substance.

Truth is high, but even higher is truthful living.

This sentiment I resonate with deeply. Truth in the abstract to me is almost entirely meaningless. If it doesn’t translate into a fuller perspective of the world around me, or a more informed decision-making process, I think a fixation on truth can sometimes do more harm than good.

CONCLUSION: The Apocrypha read very similarly to the Old Testament both in content and structure. I have about the same level of respect for it as I do the Old Testament, which is to say, not much. The SGGS had some truly beautiful passages, but ultimately its insistence on the SGGS as being the only true path to holiness, its validation of intercessory prayer, and its belief in an interventionist deity count as huge marks against its usefulness.

Namaste.