Alarum Within

I really wish we could have internal warning alarms or some sort of trumpet fanfare - one of those buzzer sounds? - that would indicate to us when something is terribly wrong about our logic or understanding. Sometimes, I guess, we do have some warning- like when we get a heavy feeling in the pit of our stomach when something horrible is about to happen. But mostly I'm talking about having an internal, spiritual, or mental alarum that indicates when we ought to fight a legitimate fight for the good of our mental and spiritual well beings and/or for overall promotion of good in the world.

That being said, we would first need to tap in to that all encompassing "good" quintessence so that we understand that what we are fighting for is actually good.

I think most of us would agree that there are universal qualifiers that make up what we call "good". These are spiritual. They were here before there was a universe, nascent to the very earth that we walk on and to the air that we breathe. We inherently know what these are without being able to define them. They are components that make up qualities such as morality, kindness, helpfulness, gratitude, good stewardship, etc.. In fact, defining "good" as anything other than the components of qualities places a certain bias on the definition of "good". And that can be bad.

To clarify, good has nothing to do with religiosity or cause. I mean, religion and causes can work for (and with) the greater good, but neither of these are inherently good since they are man made. Both, without meaning to, can actually oppose goodness.

That being said, what happens when we perceive "good" to be threatened? To what extent is it our jobs as upholders of good to fight in the name of it?

For example, when someone makes a statement such as, "All Iraqis are terrorists" or "Americans are more deserving of (food, good health, happiness, wealth..) than everyone else" or "People who are poor deserve to be poor" or "If your religion isn't _____(fill in the blank with any dogma)_________, then you're going to hell" etc. and OH MY GOD, there are so many more that I've heard today alone. These statements do not, in any way, reflect the "good" as we should all understand it. In fact, even though the people making these statements perceive them as being good or being made in the name of what they think is good, they are completely bogus universally!

There should be alarum for that.

And that's what I mean in talking about alarum within. Why can't there be something internal that indicates either #1, the fact that what we are saying is ridiculous, illogical, uh.. bullshit and/or #2 a rational reaction is appropriate when dealing with others who say things that oppose goodness so that they can understand the fallacy of their statements, especially when they don't even recognize that what they are saying is harmful. And regarding the second, there are times when it is not OK to react.

I suppose I am sounding elitist here. I don't mean to be elitist. In fact there are plenty of times when someone has needed to blow a whistle on my thoughts and statements..actions, even. And if I were truly a good person, fighting for the universal good, then maybe I wouldn't be as afraid of confrontation.

But I wrestle with knowing when to fight and when to stand down, especially when dealing with people I love.. And that in iteself creates alarum within, but of a different nature.