The Will of Man and Sheryl Crow

Did you ever stop to think that we are products not of just our own destiny, but the destiny of others. If we take the verse Mark 11:22-23 to heart then we must believe that nothing is impossible. Even the tower of Babel is a good example of God’s free will given to mankind. Proposing that if men came together with similar ideas then nothing would be impossible for them.

Recently I picked up a copy of a CD by Sheryl Crow. Her songs express views that many people may agree with but would never admit. . Her new song Shine over Babylon is a display of the thoughts and feelings of many people in the US and around the world. (the album with this song not released yet) Many of the words play upon the feelings of an end times philosophy that is all to prevalent in the minds of most members of the human race. A few lines read:

"walked the heat of seven hills
Endless talk of losing wills
Great highways in a constant melt
Men and women and children all have overbuilt

Buying bread and paying for none
Creatures of a waning sun
Teacher's hands are overrun
Clowns and gypsies have all but gone”

Mankind does seem to be on a high speed train bound for somewhere, without brakes or a destination.

The question is not can everyone have everything his or her way, but where does this process of everyone believing they can have everything his or her way end up. Also extrapolated even further is the idea that the will of one man or woman could be so strong enough to outweigh the will of many other people. Thus lies the dim reality of the future of the world of contending wills and objectives. When two wills collide someone eventually is a more dominating force of will. The media often serves not to discuss the truth, but to create or convince for a particular outcome or opinion. Ultimately the face of the very strong will takes the face of just one man or woman.

Take for example World War II brought about by an evil dictator whose will was so strong that he destroyed million of lives and property. (Adolf Hitler’s will was apparently developed in large part because of not being accepted to a particular school.) To counter this evil required the combined will of many other men and nations, which eventually created an even greater will to stop Adolf Hitler. The Jewish state and the nation of Israel were established once again as a direct result of the evil actions taken against the Jewish people. The theory of the atomic bomb was developed by a Jewish scientist Albert Einstein . The will of man is both a spiritual and scientific reality. These were acts of will brought on by perceived necessity.

Once again a new "counter will" emerged to the state of affairs. That is that muslim nations and the Palestinian people felt they were cheated by the giving of their land. Men bring together nations to promote a unified goal, but this seems to always end up producing an even stronger opponent, who feels that his or her goals are thwarted. Ultimately the "strong will" creates the need to dominate others in the quest for their goals, which means of course to mistrust or detour threats to power described in the words of Shakespeare in “ Julius Caesar” “A piece of work to make sick men whole, but are there some men whole we must make sick.” The US and the war in Iraq is a display much about George Bush and his reaction to the 911 attacks. The question of a just war is somewhat irrelevant, but is more about perceived will to have war. The concept of annihilation of the enemy is not new, but is primarily to reduce the response of the counter will.

The unseen hand of course is the unpredictable events such natural disasters or disease. Even these unknown events are seen to those in power as threats. These events are often what has changed the course of history even destroyed civilizations. Currently we hear much talk about Global warming, but issues such as these produced strong concerted "wills" all aiming to produce a solution, but with much less certainty to accomplishing the task or how to do it.

It seems with each "will" there is a "counter will" to overcome and with each success there are even greater difficulties that cannot be overcome. The very things which create the "strong will" are the things which create a sort of "counter will". This suggests that the fate of the world is ultimately balanced with each successive "will" producing the potential for even greater reaction. This may be why many see the world is doomed accept of course for the unseen hand, which we say is the intervention of God.