The Christmas story is about something that is abstract to most of us (God) becoming concrete (Jesus). Of course, many people don't believe in God, but still have an abstract image of the god they don't believe in. There are countless books written that try to make sense out of Jesus (back to and including the original gospels). But whatever our views on God or Jesus, the idea of Incarnation is useful no matter what we believe.
Although incarnation is often use only in its religious sense, it also has a more universal meaning: according to Dictionary.com, it is "a person or thing regarded as embodying or exhibiting some quality, idea, or the like."
Whether we like it or not, we are all something incarnate, whether we are aware of it or not. Whatever views we have about deities, we all believe in abstractions. We may believe in faith or skepticism, cooperation or competition, or any number of other abstract ideas. These ideas do not exist as concrete things in the world - they must be made incarnate by the actions of real people.
When I am teaching writing to my students, I stress that their details must match their big, abstract ideas. If they don't, their writing becomes nonsensical. "The class was so boring. We set off fireworks indoors during one of the labs." "The food in the cafeteria was awful. I had a hot, golden brown grilled cheese with a hot cup of tomato soup." If the concrete details we use in our writing don't match our big ideas, readers get confused and feel as if we're bad writers.
In life, our abstract big ideas and the details of our lives that make those abstractions incarnate should probably match up. We may think our lives represent compassion, selflessness, joy, and generosity, when in fact, anyone taking a moment to look at our actions would realize that our actions display resentment, jealousy, selfishness, moodiness, and greed personified. It is fairly easy to stop for a moment and ask ourselves what human quality we are incarnating at a given moment or on a given day. But we probably don't do it often enough.
I also tell my writing students this: be sure your big ideas are worth talking about, are worth creating details about. If you have great details in support of some dreadful abstraction, the end result is this: you might make bad stuff look attractive. Writing - all use of words, in fact - has a dark side. If I am arguing for exclusion, for hatred, for greed - I'd say there's a pretty good chance you are arguing for the wrong side.
Whatever you think of the theological idea of incarnation, Jesus must have incarnated some enormously powerful abstract ideas - and lived them out every day, right up to and including his death. Those actions, and those ideas, resonate to this very day.
What are we incarnating in our actions every day? It is easy to say we stand for love, truth, and hope, and yet actually embody hatred, falsehood, and despair in our words and deeds.
I am __________ incarnate.
I need to start asking myself every day: what am I filling that blank with?
Monday, December 25, 2017
Wednesday, November 29, 2017
The Dark Side of the Faith
May the Force Be With You. TM
And also with you.
The genius of the Force
Is that it can be read so many ways:
It's an energy field
Created by life,
Not creating it.
It isn't just light
It is darkness too. -
A self-contained,
Ying-yang
Sci-fi-fantasy
Dualism.
But not God,
or even a god.
At a glance, the Force has nothing to do with faith.
The Force is not God.
But neither is Faith.
If I say "May the Faith Be With You,"
(And also with you.)
Maybe I'm saying the same thing.
Because Faith is not an absolute good.
Ask Jesus, who was killed in part by over-zealous faith.
Faith, as anyone with a mind that thinks
Will realize, has a light side and a dark side too.
Faith serves,
Feeds the hungry,
Welcomes the stranger and the outcast,
Works for the good of all,
Builds bridges,
Seeks after the truth that will set us free.
But faith also
Judges, kills, hates,
Sides with the oppressors,
Is oppression,
Hoards power,
Builds walls,
And tells lies to itself and any one who will listen.
The light side of the faith is about peace.
The dark side of the faith is about anger, fear, aggression.
Its is, as the green one says,
Quicker,
Easier,
More seductive.
Because the story of every sacred scripture,
The story of belief,
Whether religious or secular,
Is always the story of the light side the dark.
The Bible is not a story of unbroken,
Good faith, faith that is woven all of the light.
It is the story of a faith that begins tribally
In darkness and violence and conquest
And making everyone else
The Other.
The Dark Side of the Faith.
But then Faith begins to grow outward.
At every stage, in every story,
Faith is pushed outward into the light.
Faith is always battling against its own dark side
Leaning toward the light.
The prophets fought for the light.
Jesus said he was the light.
And it was the dark side of the faith,
Faith as an institution,
Faith as government,
That killed him.
The saga continues.
It doesn't matter what you have faith in:
A philosophy,
The universe,
Scientific wisdom...
There is no faith that doesn't have
A dark side and a light side.
In that galaxy far, far away,
The light side and dark side battle each other
In epic space battles and light saber duels.
But in our galaxy,
the Dark Side and the Light Side
May sit in the same pew
Or subway bench,
Or stand next to each other
In neighboring voting booths.
Or politely shake hands.
Underneath all its used future hardware
The movies teach us something valid
About everyday life.
We all believe in something,
And those beliefs can lead us into darkness
Or into light.
And the battle between the two
is really fought
Inside each of us every day.
And also with you.
The genius of the Force
Is that it can be read so many ways:
It's an energy field
Created by life,
Not creating it.
It isn't just light
It is darkness too. -
A self-contained,
Ying-yang
Sci-fi-fantasy
Dualism.
But not God,
or even a god.
At a glance, the Force has nothing to do with faith.
The Force is not God.
But neither is Faith.
If I say "May the Faith Be With You,"
(And also with you.)
Maybe I'm saying the same thing.
Because Faith is not an absolute good.
Ask Jesus, who was killed in part by over-zealous faith.
Faith, as anyone with a mind that thinks
Will realize, has a light side and a dark side too.
Faith serves,
Feeds the hungry,
Welcomes the stranger and the outcast,
Works for the good of all,
Builds bridges,
Seeks after the truth that will set us free.
But faith also
Judges, kills, hates,
Sides with the oppressors,
Is oppression,
Hoards power,
Builds walls,
And tells lies to itself and any one who will listen.
The light side of the faith is about peace.
The dark side of the faith is about anger, fear, aggression.
Its is, as the green one says,
Quicker,
Easier,
More seductive.
Because the story of every sacred scripture,
The story of belief,
Whether religious or secular,
Is always the story of the light side the dark.
The Bible is not a story of unbroken,
Good faith, faith that is woven all of the light.
It is the story of a faith that begins tribally
In darkness and violence and conquest
And making everyone else
The Other.
The Dark Side of the Faith.
But then Faith begins to grow outward.
At every stage, in every story,
Faith is pushed outward into the light.
Faith is always battling against its own dark side
Leaning toward the light.
The prophets fought for the light.
Jesus said he was the light.
And it was the dark side of the faith,
Faith as an institution,
Faith as government,
That killed him.
The saga continues.
It doesn't matter what you have faith in:
A philosophy,
The universe,
Scientific wisdom...
There is no faith that doesn't have
A dark side and a light side.
In that galaxy far, far away,
The light side and dark side battle each other
In epic space battles and light saber duels.
But in our galaxy,
the Dark Side and the Light Side
May sit in the same pew
Or subway bench,
Or stand next to each other
In neighboring voting booths.
Or politely shake hands.
Underneath all its used future hardware
The movies teach us something valid
About everyday life.
We all believe in something,
And those beliefs can lead us into darkness
Or into light.
And the battle between the two
is really fought
Inside each of us every day.
Friday, July 7, 2017
Circles
We all draw circles,
Or most of us do.
It starts when we're young.
You're my friend.
You're not.
You're in this circle I have drawn.
You're not in this circle.
Later the circles become more distinctive.
You're like me.
You're in my circle.
You're not like me,
So you're not.
Sometimes I'll pretend my circle is wide enough to include you,
But it's only a ruse.
My circle will never include you.
Some people try to widen their circles
To include as many people as possible,
Or resort to overlapping circles
Like a page full of Spiro-O-Graph swirls.
Some people get to share space
In the Venn-like
Areas where the circles overlap.
Others stay locked
In the cut-off circle sections that never overlap,
Venn-different.
Some people never really extend the circle
Beyond themselves.
They draw their circle around their own two feet.
Because they they know
That they, themselves,
Are the only ones that matter.
Amazingly, these people sometimes draw,
Not only tiny circles,
But a lot of people to themselves,
Despite their tiny,
Exclusive circle -
Or maybe because of it?
Is the circle of one seductive -
So elite it becomes an impossible dream?
People are drawn to the circle of one
Like planets and stars and bending rays of light
To the vortex.
Yet no matter how much attention,
Idolization
Gets sucked into the circle of one,
It is never enough.
The person who stands in it
Is always alone.
Groups draw circles.
My country.
My party.
My religion.
My denomination.
My church.
My faction within my church.
My philosophy.
My skin color.
My taste in
Food
Movies
Books
Sports teams
Beer
Soda
The internet filters our experience,
Makes our circles into bubbles -
Virtual, yet unpoppable.
But there have been those people
Throughout history
Who try not to draw more circles,
But to erase them.
There once was a man
Who came along and said,
"All your circles do that matter.
Stop drawing them.
Stop living in them.
Follow me away from the circles
And be free.
"The only people who will be thrown out
Of all circles
Are those who keep drawing them."
The people who liked circles
Killed him.
Even sadder,
The people who followed him
Went back to drawing circles,
Sometimes very small ones.
But we are called,
All of us,
To stop drawing circles.
To erase them.
Or maybe someday we'll draw a circle
Wide enough to contain everyone -
Even the people who insist on circles.
Or most of us do.
It starts when we're young.
You're my friend.
You're not.
You're in this circle I have drawn.
You're not in this circle.
Later the circles become more distinctive.
You're like me.
You're in my circle.
You're not like me,
So you're not.
Sometimes I'll pretend my circle is wide enough to include you,
But it's only a ruse.
My circle will never include you.
Some people try to widen their circles
To include as many people as possible,
Or resort to overlapping circles
Like a page full of Spiro-O-Graph swirls.
Some people get to share space
In the Venn-like
Areas where the circles overlap.
Others stay locked
In the cut-off circle sections that never overlap,
Venn-different.
Some people never really extend the circle
Beyond themselves.
They draw their circle around their own two feet.
Because they they know
That they, themselves,
Are the only ones that matter.
Amazingly, these people sometimes draw,
Not only tiny circles,
But a lot of people to themselves,
Despite their tiny,
Exclusive circle -
Or maybe because of it?
Is the circle of one seductive -
So elite it becomes an impossible dream?
People are drawn to the circle of one
Like planets and stars and bending rays of light
To the vortex.
Yet no matter how much attention,
Idolization
Gets sucked into the circle of one,
It is never enough.
The person who stands in it
Is always alone.
Groups draw circles.
My country.
My party.
My religion.
My denomination.
My church.
My faction within my church.
My philosophy.
My skin color.
My taste in
Food
Movies
Books
Sports teams
Beer
Soda
The internet filters our experience,
Makes our circles into bubbles -
Virtual, yet unpoppable.
But there have been those people
Throughout history
Who try not to draw more circles,
But to erase them.
There once was a man
Who came along and said,
"All your circles do that matter.
Stop drawing them.
Stop living in them.
Follow me away from the circles
And be free.
"The only people who will be thrown out
Of all circles
Are those who keep drawing them."
The people who liked circles
Killed him.
Even sadder,
The people who followed him
Went back to drawing circles,
Sometimes very small ones.
But we are called,
All of us,
To stop drawing circles.
To erase them.
Or maybe someday we'll draw a circle
Wide enough to contain everyone -
Even the people who insist on circles.
Monday, July 3, 2017
The Other Side
I see them on TV
Or online
And they make me want to shake them.
Shake them and say,
"Snap out of it!
How can you possibly think
Your point of view makes sense?
How can you possibly think that way?
How can you see people the way you do?
Don't you understand who our enemies are?
How can you see this country the way you do?
How can you see the issues the way you do?
Do you even understand what this country is about?
Do you even understand its founding principles?
"Does your vision for the future
Even make sense?
You are against everything good and virtuous.
Your values are completely upside-down
And in favor of everything that is wrong and amoral.
"And then I see you in groups
On TV
Or interacting with each other online.
And I realize what the problem is.
You all live in a bubble,
Talking among yourselves,
Making the rest of us out to be the enemy,
Agreeing with yourselves,
Never thinking for yourselves.
You groupthink and agree
With each other and
And take great pleasure in bashing the other side.
My side.
"You are so sure you are right.
You are so self righteous!
You are unthinking!
You are ungrateful!
You don't deserve this country.
We should just run you out of it
Because only people like us,
Like me,
Deserve to live here!
We aren't like you!
We know what this country is about!
We...
We...
Oh.
I'm exactly the same way.
Maybe we're not as divided as I thought.
Or online
And they make me want to shake them.
Shake them and say,
"Snap out of it!
How can you possibly think
Your point of view makes sense?
How can you possibly think that way?
How can you see people the way you do?
Don't you understand who our enemies are?
How can you see this country the way you do?
How can you see the issues the way you do?
Do you even understand what this country is about?
Do you even understand its founding principles?
"Does your vision for the future
Even make sense?
You are against everything good and virtuous.
Your values are completely upside-down
And in favor of everything that is wrong and amoral.
"And then I see you in groups
On TV
Or interacting with each other online.
And I realize what the problem is.
You all live in a bubble,
Talking among yourselves,
Making the rest of us out to be the enemy,
Agreeing with yourselves,
Never thinking for yourselves.
You groupthink and agree
With each other and
And take great pleasure in bashing the other side.
My side.
"You are so sure you are right.
You are so self righteous!
You are unthinking!
You are ungrateful!
You don't deserve this country.
We should just run you out of it
Because only people like us,
Like me,
Deserve to live here!
We aren't like you!
We know what this country is about!
We...
We...
Oh.
I'm exactly the same way.
Maybe we're not as divided as I thought.
Wednesday, February 8, 2017
They (Don't) Win
If I let my mind turn endlessly
On the awful possibilities
What might happen to me
Or the people I love
Or even people I don't know
Till I am numb with fear -
They win.
If I feel sick to my stomach
All day, brooding in stress,
Unable to enjoy the meal in front of me,
Unable to enjoy a hot coffee
Or a cold drink -
They win.
If I am so distracted by fear
That every sunrise is clouded
By thoughts of "What if...?"
Every trip to work or back home again
Is a journey into dark thoughts
Of hypothetical futures,
Every evening at home
No longer feels safe,
But fragile, as if it all might
Come crashing down before
Tomorrow evening -
They win.
If I am scared so much
That I feel myself turn pale,
Drained of color,
Drained of my essential self,
So scared
That I stop being me,
Stop being the best possible version of me -
Whoever that is -
They win.
Because before it all started,
I could could go about my day
Half-heartedly, half-assed,
And slide by.
But now, I need the very best version of my self
On deck, ready for action,
Mind sharp,
Reflexes quick,
Ready for action
But not hemmed in by
Reaction.
If I am scared
It's because they want me to be
Worried
All the time
About me
About you
About the world.
But my imagination
Can only work for me
If I use the fears it conjures up
To imagine actions.
And when I think,
And when I act,
They don't win.
Speak up.
Talk to someone different from you.
Provoke thought, not anger.
Ask why without rancor.
Think hard.
Find insight.
Look at everything
From multiple perspectives.
Tell stories.
Listen to stories.
Share stories.
And when they want to win,
Don't even play their game.
On the awful possibilities
What might happen to me
Or the people I love
Or even people I don't know
Till I am numb with fear -
They win.
If I feel sick to my stomach
All day, brooding in stress,
Unable to enjoy the meal in front of me,
Unable to enjoy a hot coffee
Or a cold drink -
They win.
If I am so distracted by fear
That every sunrise is clouded
By thoughts of "What if...?"
Every trip to work or back home again
Is a journey into dark thoughts
Of hypothetical futures,
Every evening at home
No longer feels safe,
But fragile, as if it all might
Come crashing down before
Tomorrow evening -
They win.
If I am scared so much
That I feel myself turn pale,
Drained of color,
Drained of my essential self,
So scared
That I stop being me,
Stop being the best possible version of me -
Whoever that is -
They win.
Because before it all started,
I could could go about my day
Half-heartedly, half-assed,
And slide by.
But now, I need the very best version of my self
On deck, ready for action,
Mind sharp,
Reflexes quick,
Ready for action
But not hemmed in by
Reaction.
If I am scared
It's because they want me to be
Worried
All the time
About me
About you
About the world.
But my imagination
Can only work for me
If I use the fears it conjures up
To imagine actions.
And when I think,
And when I act,
They don't win.
Speak up.
Talk to someone different from you.
Provoke thought, not anger.
Ask why without rancor.
Think hard.
Find insight.
Look at everything
From multiple perspectives.
Tell stories.
Listen to stories.
Share stories.
And when they want to win,
Don't even play their game.
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