The Short Life

Martin Luther King called death, "The Great Democracy." Nobody escapes death and even the high born and privileged must ultimately die. However, the discrepancy between the quality and length of lives can be just as great as the discrepancy between wealth and poverty. Today in the LA Times they had an article about two children who lived short and unhappy lives. One was a suicide and the other a victim of a brutal murder. Both children died at an excessively young age; one 14 and the other 12 years of age. The boy, 14, was missing an arm and had no family to speak of; the girl, 12, was too much to handle and was abandoned both by her birth mother and her adopted mother. Both lived on the streets and were unhappy with their lives. Neither got much support from the community. What do these lives mean? To a Gnostic it means that we have only begun our search for the Kingdom of Heaven. This search began before the birth of Jesus, who was its most powerful proponent. During the ensuing 2000 years since the death of Jesus, we have spent most of our time defending our liturgy at the expense of finding our souls. It has always been the liturgy that saved us, we have been told. In truth, it is the perfection of our souls that will save not only ourselves, but these children who have been ignored and left behind. Of only one thing, I am certain. When these two children died, it was Jesus himself who led them into the light. Will Jesus meet you as well? If you're not certain, perhaps its time to look inside yourself and see if the light is shining from your soul. If it is not, the Gnostic Way is there for you to find it.