Hopeful Thinking

Society has a checkered relationship with people and things we consider to be peculiar. On the mammalian level—for we are still biologically animals, don’t forget—our biology instinctively notices sudden differences in our environment and acts on those findings. Depending on your viewpoint, you may be highly suspicious of anything or anyone new, or unusual, or who doesn’t neatly fit into the narrow list of categories we often construct for ourselves. Some people are more comfortable welcoming difference than others. Pray for those who struggle. In the wild, sometimes an unknown fruit or plant is good for you, a potential new food source, and sometimes it is poisonous. Biologically, we can’t just eat everything we find and expect to survive for long. There’s a process of establishing trust and information before we feel safe to try that new fruit. Some differences in the wild can mean life or death. I empathize with those who are afraid right now. That biological function of seeking o...

I cried this morning when I prayed. Hard. I surprised myself with just how much fear is lurking beneath the surface of my optimism and hope. This is all very real. I have been encouraging myself with a quote from Mr. Rogers. It was taught to him by his mother. She told him, when tragedy strikes, “look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.” And it’s 100% true. I have been encouraged by things I have seen in the news recently about how neighbors have banded together. They have delivered humor where they could not bring hugs. And hope. And friendliness. And simple recognition of each other’s existence. We are being reminded right now about who our neighbor really is. Don’t worry, though. We’ll forget it again when this is all over. Most of it. Not all. But we will indeed forget about our unity again, at least a bit, because of one incredible feature of our humanity. It is the reason why some of us have employed our higher communal and neighborly i...

At what point do you suppose someone first pointed out the notion of “blind faith?” It is my assumption that the term was a critique. But I could be wrong. Of course, there are passages in the Bible which people have attributed as exhortations to blindly obey all of God’s commands, such as Abraham did when commanded to kill his child, Isaac. But Abraham's faith wasn’t blind, it was complete. It was based on a track record of experiences between himself and God. For Abraham had already been made certain promises by God that the death of his son would prevent. So he may have gone through the motions of preparing to strike down his son, but he clearly didn’t believe that would be the end of it for Isaac. Abraham's faith wasn’t blind, only winking. There are many places in scripture which are in support the ideas of wisdom, discernment, debate, and deep questioning. Even Paul complements his followers for doing their homework on him. So it can’t be that we are supposed to ...

Who is in charge of what you buy? I’m being rhetorical, of course, because the answer is: You are. Yet it seems to be a question which must be asked. For we appear to forget the answer, unless asked directly. This is the first important point of the case I’m trying to make here. We are in complete charge of how our own money is spent. The corporate world doesn't want you to consciously acknowledge this, however. They want to maintain their subconscious grip to manipulate and persuade you into buying whatever they tell you to buy.  We are unfailingly gullible when it comes to what we are told and by whom. We want to believe what we hear and read. Especially when it seems as though we are being given that information by a reliable source. But we still have preferences. We still have intrinsic human needs and wants and desires percolating beneath the surface of our conscious thoughts.  It’s like two worlds existing side-by-side. The corporate world, which behaves as t...

Today is Leap Day. This quadrennial occasion is neither a holiday nor a commemoration. It is a reckoning. Leap Day is referred to as an intercalary day, and restores the balance of a calendar which has slipped off course by approximately one minute per day over the previous four years. We add on a whole day to every fourth year not divisible by 400 to make up for the time we have incrementally lost. Or is it that we are giving ourselves a day in advance? Like buying it on credit? The calendar is, of course, a human-made construct used to delineate time across our solar year. The sun is always in balance with Itself. It is our structuring and understanding of Its light and the way we attempt to describe it on paper that humans can’t get quite right. Perhaps that’s the intention. Maybe this is a useful allegory of something else. There is a balance to all things. Even a glass of water levels itself. But that comes easiest to water. We should strive to be more like it. If only ou...

What is the rule against judgment all about? Why are we encouraged not to judge others? We are told we should leave it up to God to do it. But why?  It’s true, we judge others all the time. Every minute of the day, in fact. We judge others for the way they look, the way they are dressed, the things they say, the way they spend their money, the way they keep their house, the kind of car they have, especially for the mistakes they make. We judge them for all of it. Some of us are better at keeping our mouths shut about it, but the inner monologue lives. We do it to make ourselves feel better. It’s been observed that some need to (mostly figuratively, sometimes literally) cut off the heads of others in order to make themselves feel taller. But they are no taller.  I would think that’s what happens when our natural ability to evaluate becomes burdened by the effects of depression, abuse, or other emotional harms. Fortunately, that’s not the limit of our evaluative capa...

I spoke with someone recently who informed me that it was considered inappropriate, by their racial justice group, for white people to sing the social justice anthem “We Shall Overcome.” As a sensitive person, who makes a conscious effort to empathize with people's viewpoints, especially as pertains to race, at first I felt that I must somehow be wrong in my view. I was very disappointed. I have sung this song many times over the years. I have sung it in choirs, I have sung it with my afterschool kids in the mall on Martin Luther King Jr. Day. I even wrote a countermelody to it for church. I have a relationship with this song. Very quickly after concluding I must be wrong, I started to question that. I also started to question the right of people to exclude others from art.  But there is something to the point she was making. Our job as white people is to listen. Regarding the issue of racism and bigotry, a majority needs to comprehend the value of listening to the mino...