One thing I like about summer is listening to cicadas. Cicadas are large, funny-looking, and slow-moving insects. They add a pleasant droning sound to our summer evenings. Cicadas are relatively harmless. They are also defenseless. Since they move slowly and can’t defend themselves, cicadas are vulnerable to attack, especially by their deadly enemy, the cicada-killer wasp.
Cicada killers are among the largest of the wasp family. They can grow to be over two inches long. Although they can sting, cicada-killer wasps usually don’t attack humans. They do, however, attack cicadas. First, a cicada killer will sting and paralyze a cicada. Then the cicada killer will carry its paralyzed victim to the cicada-killer’s burrow and stores the cicada for food. Eventually, the cicada killer will lay its eggs on the dead cicada. When the eggs hatch, the nymphs will feed on the cicadas.
Recently, I watched a cicada-killer wasp sting and paralyze a cicada. It carried the cicada to a tree, climbed the tree trunk, and crawled out on a branch. Then, still grasping the cicada, the wasp flew off carrying the cicada to its burrow. The tenacity of this cicada-killer wasp was amazing to watch, and it made me wonder if we have a similarly tenacious enemy. It made me wonder what our biggest danger or problem might be.
Kong Fuzi (better known as Confucius) believed that our biggest problem is selfishness and a preoccupation with our own self-interests. According to Master Kong, the solution to this problem is ren or benevolence. Master Kong believed we can overcome our selfishness by being concerned for others.
Siddhartha Gautama (better known as the Buddha) believed that man’s biggest problem is suffering. Siddhartha believed that our suffering is caused by attachment to the temporary things of life. Siddhartha believed we can overcome our desires by following his moral system known as the “eight-fold path”. Essentially, the eight-fold path is thinking and acting correctly.
Jesus believed that our biggest problem is the evil tendencies within us. The Bible calls these evil tendencies “sin”. Sin can only be overcome through faith in God and love for God.
Confucianism, Buddhism, and Christianity are three ideologies that come from different culture yet are uncannily similar. They all agree that selfishness, desires for pleasure and things, and evil tendencies within us are the enemies we face. They are the cicada-killers of the human soul. These soul-killers can swoop down out of nowhere, paralyze you, and take you away to a place you don’t want to go.
Be on guard against these soul-killers. Defend yourself against these enemies by being selfless, living a good and upright life, and most importantly, have faith in God and love God with all your heart.
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