When people question what you read; when people question what you say; when people question what you write; when people question what you believe; when people question with whom you hang out with; when people question your church; when people question your value; when people question your motives; when people question your intelligence; when people question your morals; when people question your loyalties; when people question your sense of humor; when people question your faith; when people question you; first, answer with humility; then, answer with perseverance.
If you like this post, or if you'd like to use it, consider buying me a beer.
I read somewhere recently that physicists believe that 60% of the universe is made up of dark matter. Some even suggest an even greater percentage if you add the dark energy. The same is true of the human psyche. It is pretty much agreed among psychoanalysts that the greatest percentage of the human psyche is subconscious (if you are Freudian) or unconscious (if you are Jungian). Jung spent a great deal of time studying and writing about the Shadow, that dark, mysterious and important component of the human makeup. It’s like an electric current: you need both the positive and the negative for power. All positive with no negative is harmless and useless. Good and evil, darkness and light and their relation is a profound mystery that we would be wise to investigate.
George Grant, the great Canadian philosopher, wrote:
Philosophy is for those who have moved beyond any simple certainty. It is for those who have come face to face with the mystery of existence and who have seen how profound a mystery it is. Philosophy is the attempt to fathom that profundity- that is, to find the wisdom which will enable us to live as we ought.
Now the sense of mystery arises for people in two ways; first from just plain wonder at the world around them, and secondly from the anguish of their own lives.
I am suspicious of anything that doesn’t have the undercurrent of anguish. The hyper-faith positive thinkers ring false because of the noticeable absence of the reality of suffering and evil that personally touches our lives. This is one of the things that is very difficult to teach in our community. Some people feel the need to believe and feel positively about everything all the time. To give them permission to be honest about the perpetual pain in their lives, to me, is a profoundly important step on their way to becoming fully human.
The fine art photograph with the beautiful contrast of darkness and light, is the creation of my friend Howard Nowlan.
Check out my tees HERE. I’m growing my inventory all the time. And check out my art HERE.
If you like this post, or if you'd like to use it, consider buying me a beer.
Everyone has the right to believe what he or she wants to believe. In fact, that can’t be helped. Homogeneous belief can be legislated (as it often is) but it can’t be enforced (as is often attempted). In other words, we can be told what to believe, but we can’t be forced to believe it, even under the threat of death. We may believe the craziest and even most hateful things. We may be inspired to believe what is most beautiful and true. This is our right. Even Luther said,
Every man must do his own believing, just as every man must do his own dying.
I see our community as a place where this must be made possible. I do not wish to create an enclave of homogenous religious thought. I could try, but it would be impossible. Or, together we could try to become that, but the result would not only be a fabrication, but unhealthy for our members. This, in my opinion, is a very present danger, but commonly practiced today. In an effort to preserve a certain dogma and piety, some isolate themselves from the world and only engage the world to extract converts to its thoughts and ways.
I do believe in the inestimable value of such places as monasteries and such communities as the Amish. More than that, I believe in their right to exist. But there needs to be open places where people can freely express wonder and adoration, commune with the True, seek truth, and learn how to be wise and compassionate in the context of community. There must be such communities that are witnesses to the fact that the Beloved Community is not just an idea but a reality made manifest. There must be such demonstrations of a just and free intercourse of all people, and that testify to the declared truth of the reconciliation of all things. These can be light to the world that peace on earth and good will to all people… all people… is not just possible, but among us and at hand!
The fine art photograph is the creation of my friend, Mark Hemmings, and was taken on his recent trip to Japan. It was shot at Shinjuku Station in Japan. Very cool!
Check out my tees HERE. I’m growing my inventory all the time. And check out my art HERE.
If you like this post, or if you'd like to use it, consider buying me a beer.
Stay tuned tomorrow for part two!
Check out my tees HERE and my art HERE.
Check out my tees HERE and my art HERE.
This cartoon is also my submission to Illustration Friday’s “contained”.
Check out my tees HERE and my art HERE.
David Hayward is an artist trapped in a pastor's body, stripping to the essential.
