Tools for Thought

  When you've hammered a hundred nails, the hammer becomes an extension of your body. Likewise, a tennis racket becomes part of you as you play a match. Or you may have heard Formula 1 drivers talking about how they become one with the car. These are examples of how tools expand your abilities and reach. 

Think of a blind man. His finger tips give him a lot of information about his environment. He uses them to “see” another person’s face or assist him in getting a glass of water. As he feels his way along the sidewalk with a cane, the tips of his fingers stretch to its end where he deciphers the sidewalk from the grass. 

Tools are used to achieve goals. Sometimes to win a Grand Prix and at other times to get a blind man to the grocery store. You also use them to achieve your goals. And as you use them, you extend into them. Like the blind man’s finger tips moving to the end of the stick, your body extends into tools too. 

There are many things that act as tools besides those you commonly think of. You might use money to increase the amount of land you own. Or you may use the government to shape the community in the way that you think best. Although these tools are more abstract, you use them to continue to invade your environment and control it. 

People can also serve as tools. As the boss, you can have your employees do things the way you want. You have a goal and they are going to work for you to achieve it. Five people can work on a small goal whereas a thousand can achieve bigger ones. Usually more is better. 

Once you subsume everything in sight, you want more. Your “self” wants to extend further, making the next thing submit to your will. You can see this happen repeatedly throughout history with various political and military leaders. Many had grand plans to conquer the universe. 

But there is one ultimate step to fully conquer it. You must conquer its creator. He is the person who stands in the way. Although He gave you life, you desire to take His away. Or at least keep Him out of the way. 

You could argue that your mind never goes there. You don’t want to take over the world. Nor do you want to make God submit to your will. But what about those that interacted with God? Jesus, God in flesh, reached out with kindness and love. Despite that, numerous individuals were involved in His death. 

I propose that if you were in the shoes of the Pharisees, Pilot, Judas, or the crowd, you would have acted just as they did. They each had an agenda, and you have one too. Think you’re not one of them? Next time you pick up a hammer, think about extending into and ruling the universe if you had the power to do so.