OSaD, D70

Turn the other cheek has always been the most puzzling of the teachings of Jesus.

The other day I mentioned that a few trees had been cut near my house. That got me thinking that, in a way, nature is always turning the other cheek. We cut it down, we abuse nature, and nature always comes back, turning the other cheek.

One way to interpret turning the other cheek is to think of ourselves as actors in our own victimization. We could think "nature turns the other cheek so that we can keep abusing it."

I don't think that's what Jesus meant. Before I tell you my interpretation, let me tell you that I'm not a priest. But my authority to interpret the teachings of Jesus is my authority as a human being. We all have a moral compass, we all have more wisdom inside of us than we acknowledge. We have just chosen to be complicit in the scheme that takes the responsibility away from us and gives it to another class. We do that because responsibility is scary, complex and difficult. Like Bodhidharma said: "We all know the way." It's just a lot of less work to pretend that we don't.

Turning the other cheek is to face adversity again and again—to fight against what's wrong, to show up day in and day out committed up to our eyebrows to the higher purpose of our humanity. It's nature coming back, asserting herself. It's the group of people, organized by Mahatma Gandhi, who protested against the British occupation by peacefully raiding the Dharasana salt works and getting severely beaten in the process.