Radical/Alternative Wisdom: The Road Less-Traveled

First, may I apologize for not getting to this sooner ... been wanting to! Mark's surgery went well, and he's mending ... but it threw a kink in the daily routine here ... and I had to spend about five hours yesterday, tending to some art-biz. Waiting to see if I'm juried into a show ... but since they want to use photos of my art for their postcards, I'm thinking I must be in...!

Back to comparing types of wisdom:

In contrast to Tuesday's peek into conventional wisdom, let's look deeper into the subversive and alternative wisdom that Jesus revealed, lived, and taught...

The wisdom of Jesus directly questions and undermines conventional wisdom ... it reveals another way, another path, another option. Other wisdom teachers taught much the same in preceding generations/centuries. In the East, the most familiar teachers of alternative wisdom were Lao Tzu, Confucius, and the Buddha. Lao Tzu spoke/wrote of "The Way" (Tao, pronounced "dow") that led one out of conventional thinking, into a way of oneness. Buddha taught of an "eightfold path" that leads into enlightenment and compassion for others. Confucius was the first to put forth the Golden Rule, which Jesus quotes (putting a more positive spin on it) 500 years later. In the West, Socrates taught the Athenians to examine conventional wisdom -- for this he was killed.

Jesus taught orally -- He apparently didn't ask anyone to write down His sayings (perhaps not wanting us to fixate on such writings...?). He used aphorisms (short sayings - "one-liners") and parables (short stories). These are invitational forms of speech - they draw the listener in, to hear/see something they otherwise might not -- to see beyond the surface understanding. He invited people to experience a transformation in normal perception.

We have to realize that the writers of the gospels didn't follow Jesus around ... they were written decades after His death. At best, this was second-hand information. Also, Jesus was a traveling teacher ... He wouldn't share a story or a one-liner just once -- He likely repeated them in each town. Further, as any good speaker knows, you don't hit your audience with a plethora of pithy statements -- that lessens the impact. So, rather than the "bam-bam-bam" effect we get when reading the sermon on the mount, that is likely a conglomeration of the familiar sayings of Jesus given over time, in many places.

Jesus did not issue demands, nor commandments (unless asked). Instead, His tone is invitational ... "consider seeing it this way, instead." He doesn't speak as a law-giver, with "do this" and "don't do that" and "thus says the Lord, so you shall". The authority of His words are not imperial ... instead they incite and engage the imagination ... making it a two-way conversation.

Jesus invites His hearers to see in a radically new way. His appeal is to our imaginations, even today. He invites us to try on different images, which affect our understanding of life. He speaks often of "seeing"... those who have eyes to see, those who are blind ... how one sees makes all the difference ... "the eye is the lamp of the body." HOW we see determines the journey we take, and the way we live our lives.

Jesus was not focused primarily on information (what we should believe) or morality (how we should behave) -- His focus was about a way, or a path, of transformation. From a life rooted in the world of conventional wisdom, into a relational life centered in God Himself.

According to Jesus' teachings, the world of conventional wisdom must be deconstructed in order for us to see/experience alternative/radical wisdom. The old must be unlearned, so that the new (which is primary) can be revealed. The veil of convention must be removed, torn asunder, ripped from top to bottom ... so to speak.

Jesus often confused his conventionally-entrenched hearers with his paradoxes ... impossible combinations. Like a good Samaritan (impossible, they thought!). Or an unrighteous pharisee. Or a donkey ride for a king. Or internal purity. Or the poor being blessed. Or the first being last, and the last being first .. the humble exalted and the exalted humbled.

He also described the Kingdom of God/Heaven (same thing to Jesus) in quite-unexpected combinations: How could something so HUGE be described as something tiny (grain of mustard)? How could something glorious be likened to a mere weed? How could it be impure, like a woman (impure!) using leaven (impure!)(double-impure!). How could the Kingdom be for nobodies like children? How could it be for outcasts? They thought they had the Kingdom-notion down PAT. Instead, Jesus speaks of it as NOT "up there, somewhere, someday" but among you, within you, inside you, at hand, outside you, here, now, spread over the earth; the problem is that we just don't see it with the spiritual eyes -- we've been trained to see it with the eyes of human expectations, or (you guessed it!) conventional wisdom.

Common sense tells us that wisdom is to be found on the conventional (right, traditional, popular) path. You know - what most folks believe. Those in charge of forming religious thought (whether 2,000 years ago or now) tell us that the foolish way is the path of disregarding conventional wisdom. And yet -- Jesus actually reversed this. He came against all the core values of the religious rulers of His day: family, wealth, honor, purity and religiosity. It's no small wonder that so many who defended status quo in His day derided His message, finding it nonsense, offensive, and threatening enough that they did away with Him.

So, how did/does Jesus invite us to see God? (& it seems to me that our view of God is THE defining basis of all of life)

He invites His hearers, then and now, to see God not as the wrathful, angry, ready-to-smite, highly-offendable Judge, not as the task-master with demanding requirements, not as the enforcer of conventional wisdom, but as grace-filled and compassionate.

(Wondering now, how many of us are thinking, "that sounds just dangerously too good to be true!"..?)

Jesus tells us that God is no respecter of persons ... that He causes sunshine and rain upon both good and evil, upon both just and unjust -- with no mention of reward or punishment. He speaks of an intimate God -- one He calls "Abba" (Dada in English) ... one who knows how many hairs are on each head (He sees us each individually, not just en masse) ... and He tells us to "fear not" when He's asked about judgment. We are invited to see God as Jesus does -- as One who ensures that everyone receives what they need. When those who uphold conventional wisdom (the all-day workers in the vineyard) complain, God asks, "why do you resent my generosity?" Jesus is saying, "God is like this -- not the god of requirements & reward and punishment."

The story of the prodigal is a classic ... every step of the way it speaks against conventional wisdom. Conventional wisdom would not allow for a father who lets the son take the inheritance and go (in effect saying, "I wish you dead" to the father) ... nor would it allow for a pig-sty to be a place of enlightenment (coming to his senses) ... nor would it allow for a Father to throw of all dignity and decorum and RUN to his wayward son ... nor would it allow for brushing aside the confession ... nor would it allow for celebrating and lavishing gifts on the son (who "should" be punished!). Conventional wisdom shows up best in the older son -- who resents the grace lavished on the "wrong one", after he's done "all the right things all this time". We're left wondering: will the older son's sense of "how things SHOULD be" keep him out of the celebration...?

We are invited to see our place in the story ... perhaps we are both of the sons ... the one who goes off to a far country (in our thinking - which is what the story is about), awakens, and returns Home to Father; and the one who obeys dutifully, resenting how others "get away without punishment".

Most of us can easily relate to the wanton prodigal. Perhaps we're also invited to see ourselves in the older son ... to hear his voice as our own ... and to reject it.

I believe that the Father would say to ALL of us: "My Child -- you are always with Me -- everything I have is yours." Think on that ... let it well up.

Jesus shows us the Truth about God -- that He is a God of graciousness and compassion.

It's right about now that I imagine that some may be asking, "what about all those verses about judgment?!? Surely we need to 'balance' all that love with a healthy dose of wrath!"

My views on this are not ... shall we say ... conventional. Now, don't faint, or fall off of your computer chair. First, I do not believe that Jesus' warning verses are about "what happens after we die." I believe that we've projected our views, our traditions, onto the scriptures. Sure, Jesus believes in a life after this earthly habitation -- but I don't think His message, including those judgment-verses, are about how to get there. I believe that Jesus' warning verses are about the soon-coming historical consequences that the Jews were soon to experience for their choices. In choosing to be spiritually blind, in stubbornly clinging to the "security" of their own hierarchical kingdom, in refusing to follow Jesus into the Abundant Life He demonstrated and provided, they were sealing their own doom (Jesus describes this in the "Olivet Discourse" of Mt. 24, Mk. 13 and Lk. 21 -- and it came to pass in 70AD, in the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple). Because they clung to conventional wisdom, because they arrogantly scoffed at His message of radical wisdom, because they claimed to be the center for religious truth, and yet did not know "the things that make for peace", inevitable conflict lay ahead for them. Jesus warned them, over and over -- the specific warnings were for them , then, and not for us (though we can learn from them). THAT, and not the threat of "hell" (of which Jesus never spoke - as it's a word Christians inserted into the text) is the warning message.

So, what is this Abundant Life, this life of alternative wisdom, that Jesus invites them, and us, into? It's not a "new religion." It's not Christianity (which was man's idea). It's an invitation to see God in a daringly "new" way ... as gracious, intimate, even womb-like (motherly, nurturing), rather than as the Enforcer of The Requirements/Boundaries/Divisions of conventional wisdom. It's an invitation to a radical life that's wholly centered on God, led by the Living Spirit. An ever-deepening relationship of trust in the Spirit ... not a life of striving, requirements, rewards, and punishments.

What is promised, and delivered, is a new heart -- symbolic of the deepest level of the self. An inner transformation that changes everything. A whole new God-lens perspective of BEing, rather than the ego-centered perspective of earning/striving/doing.

AS we die to the notion of conventional wisdom as the center of our security/identity, we also die to the notion of the self as the center of our focus. We are set FREE from all restraints, both outward and inward. This "dying to self/ego" may include all the classic stages of physical dying: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. Anyone who has experienced even one (if not several!) paradigm-shifts can attest to going through this agonizing-yet-liberating process...!

The way less traveled is the Abundant Life. Life in the Spirit. The life that Jesus lived, demonstrated, exampled, and which He invites us to share with Him. It's a transformation of perspective ... being enabled to SEE what was always there, all the time, only eclipsed by our carnal/egoic thinking... our insistence upon the self-achievements of conventional wisdom.

We are invited, and even enabled, to know God as Jesus does -- the Compassionate One, and not the God of demanding requirements, and exclusionary boundaries. We are invited to abandon second-hand religion in favor of first-hand experiential relationship with the Divine.

As beings who are Sourced by the Infinite/Divine (God), we have an undeniable appetite for the Infinite ... though we may spend our time feeding at various conventional pig-troughs in life. There comes a time when all the rewards of conventional wisdom (achievement, affluence, appearance) no longer satisfy ... and we experience the horrible too-full-yet-starving sensation of those who are stuffed with fluff and nonsense. There comes a time when we can no longer deny the hunger for the "much more" of which Jesus speaks. It is then that we allow the Spirit to lead us into all truth.

Letting go of those things that the traditions of man has declared "sacred" can be challenging, and painful. I've lost much in this process (though none of it can compare with what I've gained!). We may need to let go of what others tell us the scriptures say ... or what Christian doctrines declare. We may need to forsake "what everyone believes to be true" in favor of what the Spirit reveals to us ... there comes a time when we have to choose between the God that we are experiencing, and the god that others tell us about.

This is powerfully expressed in Job, when he says (to God):

"I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear,
but now my eye beholds You."

That transformation, from hearing *about* God, to beholding God experientially, is what the radical/alternative wisdom of Jesus is most deeply about.

If we dare to follow Jesus on this radical path of alternative wisdom, we will move from anxiety and fear, into peace and trust. From the enslavement of self-focus, to the freedom of self-acceptance and other-service (for we will see all others as one with us).

From fear to love.

Will you answer that invitation..? Will you take the offer of this radical adventure...?

Shalom, Dena

Eavevsdropping on a Conversation about the Abundant Life vs. the "Christian Life" ...

A conversation I recently had, elsewhere ... let's eavesdrop:

Me: I see Christianity getting in the way of the Abundant Life -- and yeah, I'm quite sick of it.

Other Human: How does the world get to the Abundant life? What do you believe the world already has and what do they need? And how is Christianity getting in the way?

Me (the rest is me, actually ... I mean, it's my blog, LOL!): The Abundant Life is God's life -- it's the life we all have, as His children. It's the only life there *is*. It's what we've always had ... only all manner of egoic/illusional perceptions get in the way.

Our early perspective of, and insistence of scapegoating/blaming (which created & justified the sacrificial system - which God said He never wanted!) got in the way ...

Our erroneous belief that we are separated from God (because of our focus on fear and shame) got in the way ...

Our erroneous belief that there is scarcity (not enough of food, land, water, resources, attention, love, God) and we must therefore compete, got in the way ...

Our erroneous belief that we have to *earn* a connection with God (whether by doing good works, or believing the right doctrines/beliefs) got in the way ...

WE have ALL that we need -- God is Omnipresent, Omnipotent, Omniprovisional. We are of God, with God, and we all return to God. We are only separated in our imaginations, in our minds (& thus in our experience). Scripture affirms this, in many ways:

Colossians 1:21
Once you were alienated from God and were enemies *in your minds* because of your evil behavior.

Proverbs 23:7
For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he...

(more "mind" verses: http://www.biblegateway.com/keyword/?search=in%20minds&version1=31&searchtype=all&bookset=2&limit=bookset )


What the world needs, what each of us needs, is to have our minds renewed -- to have our minds (filled with illusions, deceptions and skewy thinking) *transformed* -- so that our minds line up with our hearts - so that we are in tune with the Mind of Christ (which we *have* - 1 Cor 2:16).

What the world needs is to *wake up* to what God has done, who we (all!) really are in Him, and to recognize the banquet spread out before us ... the Abundant Life that is our very inheritance (what other sort of life is there, beyond the life that God had breathed into us? what other source of life do we imagine exists?).

We don't "get to it" ... we come to our senses and SEE it right there, in front of us, all around us and in us (we experientially experiencing God's reality, as opposed to our delusional and limited perspective). The Kingdom of God is *at hand*, in our midst... here and NOW. The journey is not linear, as if we must head out to a distant place in the future, or in some geographical location -- the journey is inward, within us, with God as both our Guide and our Goal. It's not about location-location-location, but about perspective-perspective-perspective...!

Christianity, as I see it, gets in the way, for it claims to be the "one and only" prescription to the problem of "separation from God". It perpetuates the notion of original sin (the product of the twisted thinking of Augustine -- a man who clearly needed some Theophostic and/or Prozac...!), of "separation from God", and that it is UP TO US to ensure that we can be reconciled to God (something that was demonstrated by Christ, to have never been a problem in the first place - *except* in our wrong thinking).

Christianity perpetuates the Pharisaical notion that we have to be "good enough" to warrant God's attention and blessing ... that we have to "do our part" to have a relationship with God ... when even scripture tells us that it is Godwho first loved us, Godwho puts the ability to respond to that love within us, Godwho enables us to have the faith to comprehend Him at ALL, Godwho has reconciled us to Himself, Godwho opens blind eyes, Godwho reveals Himself to us, Godwho leads us into all truth, Godwho even gives us the very desire to draw close to Him...!

Christianity masquerades as the Abundant life, while bleeding its adherents dry, putting them on an exhausting and perpetual striving-treadmill of "try harder, do better, repent more sincerely, believe right, serve enough, get your priorities straight, examine yourself," over and over, ad nauseam...!

Christianity claims to have the secret to knowing God (!), and excludes the vast majority of all mankind, unless and until they "do the right thing and claim the right beliefs" ... Christianity promotes self-righteousness, and an "us vs. them" mentality ... Christianity breeds division, separation and overlording ... Christianity takes organic life, and subverts it into organized hoop-jumping ... Christianity promotes the conventional wisdom of man (& how man traditionally views God), and makes a mockery of the subversive and alternative wisdom of Jesus ... Christianity keeps Christ to itself, and rejects the notion that Jesus is the savior of the WORLD, accessible TO the world, expressed in a myriad of ways IN the world ... Christianity sees love as a less-than-power, and resorts to using fear-power as a motivator to connect with God, thus Christianity doesn't trust in the love-power of God, and instead uses fear as a manipulation ... as if God's got nothing else going for Him...

I could go on and on, for this is a passion of mine ... but that's enough.

Accept no substitute for the Abundant Life which is your inheritance, NOW...!

Shalom, Dena

Do I Hear About God ... or Do I SEE God...?

As soon as I have a wee bit more time (as in after this looming art show - which is in 3 days!), I plan to delve into a profoundly fresh and relevant way of reading/seeing the Bible ... I find it utterly provocative and compellingly lucid -- and I cannot wait to share...!

Except I must. Sigh ...

In the meantime, I can share a snippet from what I read this morning ...

I was reading this in Marcus Borg's "Reading the Bible AGAIN for the First Time" ... it fits in well with my own journey, and perhaps those of others as well:

"Why be religious? Why take God seriously? Is it because 'there's something in it for me'?

That is the answer of conventional religious wisdom, ancient and modern, Jewish and Christian, and as found in other religions. Follow THIS way - it will take you to a good place, whether internally or externally, whether in this life or the next. It's Christian forms are many: believe in God and Jesus and you'll go to heaven, or you'll prosper, or you'll have peace of mind, or you'll be fulfilled. All of these turn taking God seriously into a means to some end.

Is there such a thing as religion unmotivated by self-interest? What would it mean to take God seriously, not as a *means*, but as the ultimate end...?"

Provocative, no..?

(though I would replace "religion" with "relationship with God" - and I *do* see a significant distinction...)

And so, I'd expand that excellent question to this: "If there's no hell or heaven, why follow God at all?" (i.e., if there's no punishment or reward, does God have anything going for Him...?)

This is powerfully exemplified in the book of Job -- Job goes from believing in conventional wisdom (if I do the right things, I will experience blessings; if I do the wrong things, I will experience calamity), to having that conventional wisdom turned upside down ... despite being righteous, he experiences calamity. He experienced the worthlessness of conventional wisdom - it was wholly inadequate to help him comprehend, and endure, his own suffering. Despite how his friends continue to repeat status quo (& to thus blame him for how he was suffering), he instead insisted upon having a conversation with God, for the purpose of understanding what he was experiencing (to me, this illustrates the peril and absurdity of quoting all parts of the Bible as if they reflect God's point of view ... all too often, the Bible is reflecting man's point of view - mankind creating God in his own all-too-small image).

Job pours out his heart to God, and God responds (God shows Job the stark difference, but not distance, between the creator and the created) - thus Job experienced an encounter with God -- which transforms him (the real meaning of "repent" - to be changed by an experience with God -- we butcher its meaning when we reduce it to "being sorry for our sins").

Job describes his transformation here:

"I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear -
but now my eye sees you."

("seeing" is classical language for a mystical experience - an intense, immediate experience of the sacred -- an encounter with the Living God)

His rejection of conventional wisdom called everything he had once believed into question ... and his experience of God convinced him that God was real, despite the human inability to see fairness/balance in the world around him.

The point, I believe, is not to adhere to a second-hand religion (an orderly set of conventional-wisdom teachings about how things are and how things go, and thus what one "should" do - or else!). Second-hand religion is learned from others - a set of teachings and practices to be accepted and believed and followed, IOW religious conventional wisdom. First-hand spirituality is that which flows from a first-hand experience of God... an experience of the sacred which shatters and transforms second-hand religion.

Do I want to settle for hearing about God from others, or do I want to see (experience) God for myself, first-hand...?

(even if it means that the others will dismiss and reject me for my experience, and thus my shedding of status quo, conventional wisdom, and the traditions of man ...)

Shalom, Dena

Who is Jesus, *Really*...?

Have you ever wondered about Jesus? I mean, He's arguably the most influential person in all of history, and certainly our denotation of time is divided so as to reflect His life, but have you ever wondered whether you know Him, or just know *about* Him...?

I have.

I've certainly come to question what I've been told about Him by others ... sometimes the claims about Him, and the representations of Him, strike me as missing the point about Him. Certainly His teachings have been misunderstood ... I no longer see Him as primarily a teacher of morality (how to behave), but as a teacher of wisdom (how to know God).

I'm reading a fascinating book about Jesus - "Meeting Jesus AGAIN, for the First Time" by Marcus Borg. Yeah, that dude. The one I was warned about - the terrible and liberal (redundant words in my former culture!) "Jesus Seminar" participant. (You can read more about him here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcus_Borg)

He's had an amazing spiritual journey, and is an outspoken critic of Christianity ... hence the indictment against him (if you point out a problem, you become the problem). While our paths are uniquely different, it would seem that he and I see eye to eye on a great many things (go figure!) ... including having a more panentheistic view of God (God being all in all).

It's certainly giving me much food for thought ... and in case anyone else would benefit from what I'm enjoying, I thought I'd share a bit. This is taken from Chapter 4 - "Jesus and Wisdom: Teacher of Alternative Wisdom."

- The subject matter of wisdom is broad. Basically, wisdom concerns how to live. It speaks of the nature of reality and how to live one's life in accord with reality.

(sure 'nuff makes sense to me!)

- There are two types of wisdom (& of sages): the most common type is conventional wisdom, or mainstream wisdom of a culture (what "everyone knows"). The second type is a subversive and alternative wisdom. This wisdom questions and undermines conventional wisdom and speaks of another way, another path.

(I certainly started out in the first, though I never "fit" well ... was forever in trouble with those touting status quo.)

- The wisdom of the subversive sages is the wisdom of "the road less traveled." And so it was with Jesus: his wisdom spoke of "the narrow way" which led to life, and subverted the "broad way" followed by the many, which led to destruction.

(What was your word-picture with the words "life" and "destruction"? If you thought they were synonymous with "heaven" and "hell", then may I suggest that your thoughts are rooted in conventional wisdom, and is missing what Jesus was really warning about..? More on that tomorrow.)

- Jesus largely taught using metaphor, in the form of parables and aphorisms (short memorable sayings, or "one liners"). These are invitational forms of speech. Jesus used them to invite his hearers to see something they might not otherwise see. As evocative forms of speech, they tease the imagination into activity, suggest more than they say, and invite a transformation in perception.

(Yeah! Woot! And to think I was told that the imagination was a dangerous commodity, and to denounce and deny it...! This is indeed how I still experience God's Spirit inviting me to explore the unquestioned beliefs behind my thoughts and understandings.)

- (Borg claims that though we read long strings of these one-liners in various "sermons" of Jesus ... in actuality, Jesus wouldn't have delivered them in that manner. What we have in the gospels is a condensation of parables and aphorisms given over time - he would likely repeat his stories in various locales, as an itinerant teacher.) As provocative sayings meant to lead the hearer to a new perception, they require time for digestion ... thus, we need to imagine them being spoken one at a time. What we have in the gospels is the memorable core (or gist) of sayings that were repeated many times - the resonant lines that hearers would remember as the heart o longer discourses or dialogues.


(That makes such obvious sense to me ... when I receive a rather insightful article or email from someone, I often call it a "keeper" ... if it's heavily laden with food for thought, I often need to save it, to re-read it later, or even to print it off and read it "devotionally" or contemplatively ... the better to take it in. So too, it seems, or even moreso, with the sayings/teachings of Jesus.)

- Jesus' appeal is not to the will - not "Do this" - but rather, "Consider seeing it this way." As invitational forms of speech, the parables do not invoke external authority. They do not appeal to divine authority, as do the speech forms of divine lawgivers ("Thus sayeth the Lord, you shall...") and inspired prophets "Hear the word of the Lord ..."). Rather, their authority rests in themselves -- that is, in their ability to involve and affect the imagination. Their voice is the invitational, rather than the imperative. The appeal is to the imagination, to that place within us in which reside our images of reality and our images of life itself; the invitation is to a different way of seeing. HOW one sees makes all the difference. How we see determines the path that we walk, the way that we live.

(SO true! When I be lived that Jesus was primarily a teacher of morality - right and wrong - I lived within that black and white duality of judgment ... everything, and everyone, I saw was judged as being "good" or "evil", "right" or "wrong". This set up all manner of walls between me and "them". Now, I'm seeing Jesus as primarily inviting me to view from the higher/deeper perspective ... to actually "tell myself another story" of what *is* ... this narrative is all-inclusive; no more "us vs. them" - it builds bridges rather than walls -- though in experiential reality, some folks have taken those extended bridges, turned them sideways, and used them as walls ...)

- Jesus was not primarily a teacher of information (what we believe) or morals (how to behave), but a teacher of a way or a path of transformation. A way of transformation from what to what? From a life in the world of conventional wisdom to a life centered in God.

(I just love this! How freeing! Not about what to *do*, but about how to *be* ... doing always flows best out of beingness.)

- Conventional wisdom is the dominant consciousness of any culture. It's a culture's most taken-for-granted understandings about the way things are (its worldview, or image of reality) and about the way to live (its ethos, or way of life). It is "what everybody knows" - the world that everybody is socialized into through the process of growing up. It is enculturated consciousness.

(IOW, group-think.)

- Conventional wisdom is intrinsically based upon the dynamic of rewards and punishment. You reap what you sow; follow this way and all will go well; you get what you deserve; the righteous will prosper - these are the constant messages of conventional wisdom. The dynamic is the basis of popular Western notions of a last judgment in which we are rewarded or condemned according to our behavior and/or belief, as well as the basis of popular Eastern notions of karma. It is also found in secular form: work hard and you will succeed. It carries with it a hard-edged corollary, of course: if you don't succeed, or are not blessed, or do not prosper, it is because YOU have not followed the right path. Life becomes a matter of requirement and reward, failure and punishment.

(This makes me want to weep...! Ah, the exhaustion, and the shame, that come from such a system! This seems hard-wired into our culture, including the Christian culture! We observe this tendency within ourselves, and we project it onto God ... despite what God, and Jesus, have tried to tell us about God.)

- Psychologically, conventional wisdom becomes the basis for identity and self-esteem. The superego (whether we choose to cal it that or not) is the internalized voice of culture - the storehouse of "oughts" in our heads. It functions as a generally critical internal voice - the internal cop and the internal judge. I am who I am according t the standards of conventional wisdom, and I will think well or poorly of myself depending upon how well I measure up to its standards. Conventional wisdom is thus life under the superego.

(Anyone else ever stand accused by the internal judge, who works on behalf of collective-conventional wisdom? Guess what?!? That ain't God! I've come to equate the "accuser of the brethren" with that very self-same egoic voice within, as well as with the Law in general.)

- Life in this world can be and often is grim. It is a life of bondage to the dominant culture ... a life of limited vision and blindness. It is a world of judgment. I judge myself and others by how well I and they measure up. It is a world of comparison. It is a life of anxious striving, and of a "performance principle."

(This, for me, in my own variant-range of experiences, is an apt description of Christianity - in contrast to the Abundant Life of following Christ into knowing God.)

- There is an image of God that goes with the world of conventional wisdom. When conventional wisdom appears in religious form, God is imaged primarily as lawgiver and judge. God becomes the one whom we must satisfy, the one whose requirements must be met. When this happens in the Christian tradition, it leads to an image of the Christian life as a life of requirements. Indeed, this happens so frequently that it is the most common form of Christianity.

(This also impacts how we view the Atonement of Jesus ... we see it as an angry God demanding payment, in blood -- someone must die! And so Jesus becomes the fall-guy, taking on the wrath of God Who must be appeased. When we boil down this view of the Atonement, which is called the Penal Substitionary Theory, we're really saying this: "God killed God to appease God." Tilt...!)

- The Protestant Reformation emphasized salvation by grace and not by "works of the law." Indeed "justification by grace" was the battle cry ... Luther's own personal and theological struggle had been against "salvation by works." As Protestants, we knew that we weren't saved by "works". Rather, we were saved by "grace through faith." Yet, the emphasis was placed upon faith rather than grace, and faith insidiously became the new requirement. Faith (most often understood as belief) is what God required, and by a lack of faith/belief, one risked the peril of eternal punishment. The requirement of faith brought with it all of the anxiety and self-preoccupation that marked life in the world of conventional wisdom. Was one's faith/belief real enough, strong enough? Thus for many of us Christians, the system of conventional wisdom remained. Only the content of the requirement had changed - from good works to faith.

(I hesitate to even comment here ... this is utterly profound. Let it sink in ... selah.)

- There is another consequence of Christian conventional wisdom. The requirement of faith divides the world up into those who have faith and those who don't, with the implication that God is kindly disposed toward the first group and not so kindly disposed toward the second. This understanding is reflected in a bumper sticker that reads: "Christians aren't' perfect - they're just forgiven." It implies that other people aren't forgiven, and that Christians have done something (become Christian? believed?) that merits forgiveness. There is a smugness and divisiveness in the statement that comes out of the marriage between conventional wisdom and Christitanity.

(Again, deeply profound ... hugely indicting. To be honest, I see no distinction between conventional wisdom and Christianity ... as I see Christianity as a manmade construction based entirely ON conventional wisdom ... ignoring that Jesus subverted and upended the very things that Christianity insists upon...!)

- Most people report having heard the Christian message as a message of requirements (whether of belief or of behavior, or, most often, of both) and of rewards, typically in "the next world," and sometimes in this world as well. Thus Jesus' subversion of conventional wisdom is a subversion not only of the central convictions of his social world, but of many common forms of Christianity as well.

(This has become so very, very clear and true to me ... most of Christitanity has been playing a game of "The Emperor's New Clothes" ... admiring a projection of egoic collective thinking, of conventional wisdom, and using Jesus as a mere mascot to promote and enforce the reward/punishment system of man.)

Tomorrow, I'll finish out this most-excellent chapter ... looking into the *what* of Jesus' subversive and alternative wisdom...!

Shalom, Dena