Domaine Carneros, Los Carneros Appellation,
Napa Valley,
California, USA
March 1, 2017
"For me this is a practical matter. Instead of having
the answer
about
God
like some
guy
or some thing or some explanation or some anything, I have a space of
possibility
like an
openness,
like a place for
God
to
show up
in my life."
...
speaking with Reverend Terry Cole-Whittaker about
God
Being
a
human being,
it's
who I am
which is the
context
in which
Life itselfshows up.
Being
a
human being,
who I am
is the space in which the events of my life occur. I have a space for
religion
to
show up
in my life - indeed, I have a space for
God
to
show up
in my life. I have a space for
politics
to
show up
in my life. I have a space for sentiments to
show up
in my life. And when I say that, I would be amiss if I left it sounding
like I was touting "having a space" as just another
belief system
about how to live (which is to say about how to make
being alive
be alright), or about a better
way
to engage with
religion,
politics,
and sentiments.
Listen:
what
earthly
good does it do us, if we merely trade in one tired old
belief system,
and replace it with another soon-to-become tired old
belief system?
No good at all. So when I say it, I say it instead like it's a
perspective to try on for size. In other
words,
when I say "having a space", it's not a
belief:
it's
a place to stand,
from which to look and see what's now
newlypossible,
without changing one iota of the current situation or circumstances -
not one scintilla.
Somehow we became convinced there was something we had to do, to make
being alive
be alright. In effect we concluded
God
only did a half-assed job
creating
us, so it was up to us to
complete
the job and make it right (ie we concluded we had to improve on
God's
work,
if you will). With
transformation
comes a
shift
ie with
transformation
comes a
contextual
shift
of such epic proportions that people say it's left them
incredulously
recognizing the person they've become, given the weight of the person
they once were ie the person they once
considered
themselves to be. The person we once were ie the person we once
considered
ourselves to be, is at last seen ie is at last outed for
what he is (ie is at last outed for what he was): a clever
impostor,
a ham
actor
who memorized then rote-recited a plagiarized B-grade
script, an
inauthentic
fake. What's equally epic is what's now
newlypossible
for the person we've become. It's the erstwhile
unimaginable
stuff
dreams
are made of.
