Conventional Wisdom: Or the Road Most Traveled

How to see Jesus...? Depending on who you ask, you're likely to get various answers. But whether a person sees themself as a Christian, a Buddhist, an agnostic, or one who eschews labels, the one thing most would likely hold in common is the view of Jesus as a teacher of wisdom.

So, what's wisdom? Loosely defined, it's "how to live." It defines the nature of reality, and how to live life within that reality. In many traditions, wisdom is likened to a path ... or the choice between two paths: the wise path and the foolish path. One way is encouraged, and the other comes with warnings of consequences.

There are two types of wisdom that have been taught: conventional wisdom and alternative (or subversive) wisdom. Conventional wisdom is "common sense" ... "what everyone knows" ... it's a culture's/religion's/society's notions of what's real, and how to live. It's what's taken for granted, even unquestioned. Another term is "enculturated consciousness" ... group-think ... the consciousness that's formed by a culture or tradition. Status quo.

(you can already tell that I'm not a fan of conventional wisdom, can't you...?)

Conventional wisdom is based upon the concept of reward and punishment. One reaps what one sows. Do this, and things will go well for you. Do that, and you'll get what you deserve. The righteous will prosper, and the sinners will suffer. In the West, this is embodied by the notion of a last judgement of either reward or damnation (according to either behavior and/or belief -- both a work). In the East this is demonstrated by the concept of karma. We also find it in the non-religious sense: work hard, and you'll be successful. Of course, there's a flipside: if you are not successful, if you are not blessed, if you are not prospering, then it's clear that YOU have followed the wrong path! Life under conventional wisdom thus becomes a matter of requirement/reward, failure/punishment. The measure-up trap.

As a result, conventional wisdom creates a world system of hierarchies and divisions, largely based on performance, though some are based on the more nebulous concept of "status." It's just understood: some folks measure up to the standards of conventional wisdom more than others.

At the heart of this measure-up system of conventional wisdom, is the Internal Judge. What has been referred to as the "Super Ego" ... that which "stands over me", telling me how I must measure up. It speaks in the language of "shoulds" and "oughts" and "musts". It's highly critical and judgmental ... It's the internal police... the Internal Judge and Jury.

Life in conventional wisdom is grim and dismal. It's heavy bondage to whatever happens to be the dominant culture. In this culture, we largely become automatons ... responding as we've been well-trained to do ... and punished when we stray outside the boundaries that have been set ... threatened even when we would dare to question "who set this up and why?" It's limited by blinders -- we're told how to see what we see, and what to pay attention to ... what's/who's "in" and what's/who's "out". It's a world of comparisons and competition, based on the belief that there is a severe shortage, a lack of what is needed ... and we must take what we need, and yet we must earn what we need -- we must prove that we deserve what we need. It's a world of have's and have-not's ... and the have's very much require a large group of have-not's, in order to have.

It's a life of anxious striving ... scraping, a roller-coaster of feeling "ok" or "not ok" depending on what we've done, and upon the perspective of others *about* what we've done ... we're always wondering, "was it good enough? am *I* good enough? how can I become good enough? Oh dear ... what if there's just something so very wrong with me that I never *can* become good enough? shall I try harder? shall I pretend? shall I become who I'm not to fool others into thinking I'm ok? Or should I just give up...?"

Life under conventional wisdom becomes very self-preoccupied. My "standing", my identity, and my security are always in flux ... in my anxiety, my agony, I become profoundly selfish.

Along with this self-perception, the world of conventional wisdom also has a specific view of God: He is seen primarily as law-giver, law-enforcer, and Judge. God is even the legitimizer of the too-high requirements. He is seen as stern, angry, wrathful ... ready to dole out consequences to the requirement-failures.

In conventional wisdom, even the concept of grace is turned into a requirement. While many have claimed to have turned from "salvation by works", and now have "justification by grace through faith," the emphasis is put on the *faith* (understood as "the right belief"). The message is: God requires that you have enough faith in the right belief, in order to escape endless punishment. Do you have enough faith? Is it real enough, sincere enough, strong enough? This is a continuation of salvation-by-works ... only the specifics of the requirement had been altered -- from "good works" to "right faith." Rather than a gift from God, salvation in conventional wisdom is based upon our accomplishment.

Conventional wisdom also sets up a world of divisions ... everyone is divided into those who have the right faith/belief, and those who do not. Clearly, it is believed, God favors the former, and punishes/destroys the latter. It leads to an unavoidable smugness, a self-congratulatory attitude that *I* have made the right choice, while *they* have not, and deserve to pay for it. Oh sure, I may feel obligated to go out and try to convince them that they should believe like I do ... (after all, this will score me more points with God, and may force Jesus to return sooner and rescue me out of this mess), but if they reject my sacrificial arguments, then I shall wash my hands of them, shouting a dire warning to them over my shoulder ... muttering about how they'll get what's coming to them...!

(& yes, I'm all too familiar with that, having done so for many years ... so that I can recognize it when I run into it ... and I *do* frequently run into it ... )

In conventional wisdom, the "gospel" sounds like a heavy list of requirements ... "you must have the right behavior, or beliefs, or both, or ELSE!" The good news for all mankind thus gets warped into the "good news for a very few, and the horrendous news for the vast majority."

Next ... I'll contrast this conventional wisdom with the radical subversive/alternative wisdom of Jesus ...!