david hayward. artist. cartoonist. teacher.

One of the questions I was asked in my interview for my new job teaching international students was, “How easily do you adapt to change?” I answered that there are two kinds of change: one that you don’t ask for but happens to you; and the kind you initiate. I told them that I was good and experienced at initiating change I thought was necessary and good. And I told them that I’ve learned to handle the stress of unwelcome change and negotiate my way to tranquility again.

My life has changed. But both at the same time: initiated by me, but not entirely welcome or easily negotiable. I’m experiencing a bit of trauma.

I realize I could no longer work for and receive my income from the institutional church. I also realize that I need to responsibly support my family and provide income. I do feel this job is a gift and I receive it with deep gratitude and joy. However, I told Lisa that I couldn’t see the big picture right now. How does this fit into the story of my life? Or, how does this fit under the blessedness of my life? That’s something I simply have to entrust right now.

She figures something like this: I have always contemplated, worked toward, and write about unity. Even my Z-theory is an attempt to articulate a unifying theory for the Spirit of Jesus and all religions and philosophies. I have also been very frustrated with the church’s general reluctance or even refusal to see the Spirit of Jesus beyond its walls. And here I am plopped into the middle of a wide range of international students from all over the world: Saudi Arabia, Iran, Bangladesh, China, Korea and Japan, to name a few… and all the religions and philosophies these students represent.

Today was my first full day on the campus. It is wonderful to discern the Spirit of Jesus in every person one encounters. Somehow this is going to help me articulate something my spirit wishes to understand and say.

The painting pictured here, Mystic North #2, is available HERE. It is a watercolor measuring 4″x8″ (10cm x 20cm).

Isn’t it interesting that those people we admire the most and sometimes even worship in our respective faiths are those who rejected and even opposed the popular religion, the status quo and the contemporary expectations of their peers? We are grateful to them for having the courage borne out of necessity to find out for themselves what the truth is. If they didn’t do it, we believe, then we wouldn’t be where we are today. There are the founding figures like Abraham, Moses, Jesus, Paul, the Buddha, Muhammad, and others. I also think of other figures such as Kirshnamurti, Gandhi, Mother Teresa, Chogyam Trungpa, Thomas Merton, Rumi, Heschel, M. L. King Jr., the Dalai Lama, D. T. Suzuki, and so on. Such people have not only broken away from the prescriptions of the past, but have even redefined the belief systems and thought patterns of the faiths or movements they have challenged.

One of the things common to all the above people is that they were thoroughly raised under the tutelage of the faith, belief system, or philosophy of their own people group. However, at some point, signs of their latent heterodoxy poked their heads through the apparent normalcy of their lives. Jesus at just 12 years old showed precocious tendencies when he asked probing questions of the elders. And Krishnamurti who, at a very young age, rejected a career of guaranteed success when he disbanded the Theosophical Society of the Order the Star to teach on his own.

Religious and spiritual communities need to balance these two forces. On the one hand, we need to provide our children with a comprehensive and even deep understanding of our faiths or philosophies, but at the same time provide them with the freedom to explore and discover their own paths. Why, their own path might be a kind of trail blazed for the sake of so many others! But my experience has been that religious communities and cultures provide the former and punish the later. Convention is rewarded and dissension is crucified. You venture too far from center and you are excommunicated.

We need to encourage and honor our pioneers.