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In a recent post I compared the seeker experience of Siddartra Gautama before he became known as the Buddha, “The Enlightened One” and Enos, the third writer found in the Book of Mormon. The reason I find their stories interesting is that I believe certain elements of their experiences are quite common in the personal religious dilemma of many in the modern world yet most in the modern world have not had the outcome of “enlightenment” or report “having their guilt swept away” or being able to say “my soul did rest.” Instead the common outcome is apathy. “It doesn’t matter” or “nobody can know, so why worry about it” are the responses of our day.
Why is this so? Am I wrong in regards to apathy?
DearScriptures.com
1 comment so far ↓
As I’ve been working today I’ve been considering your post and your question; I’ve considered both the bad and good in the world, the elevated and the base, the believer and the doubter. While apathy is the problem of some, I don’t know that it is the problem of all. There are plenty of people who are actively searching, and the rest are searching without realizing that is what they are doing. I have found that often those who say, “nobody can know so why worry about it” are often the ones most troubled by the question of enlightenment and fulfillment.
I think you answered your own question in your first post on this topic: Many, like the Buddha, search for enlightenment through outside means: education, philanthropy, personal discipline, etc., expecting these things in and of themselves to define enlightenment or peace. These things are valuable but, when viewed as the stop-point, are empty, leaving one feeling unfulfilled and not at rest. When viewed as tools of discovery–ways to feel the love of God and to lead us down the path to spiritual rebirth–they take on new meaning; the interesting thing to me is that those very things which lead one to the point of spiritual rebirth are also manifestations of it. John 7:17 comes to mind. The “apathy” we witness I think comes from disappointed hopes and discouragement, which is one of the adversary’s greatest tools against us.
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