New Year

A mentor of mine once said that there is nothing special about a new year. The calendar is artificially imposed upon our world by human society, therefore one day is as any other in reality. What is different is simply where we choose to place the significance. Therefore New Year's Resolutions are nothing more than convenient psychological touchstones. That doesn't mean they are worthless provided they are approached correctly. But much has been written about them, good and bad, and I don't want to repeat it here. Instead I will focus on some thoughts as I enter 2012.

I'm glad to be done with the holidays. While I like them and welcome them for the most part, it is nice to get back to normal, whatever that is. And in my book it's always good to move forward. Good to come, good to go. This is a wise way to live I think; holding nothing too tightly.

I have no special foreboding about this year, mainly for reasons mentioned at first, but in general, I can foresee nothing big on the horizon. That doesn't mean it isn't there, just that I don't foresee it.

I've been learning how to live in this new way of eating and learning how it changes my mindset and outlook. Everything is connected. That's become cliche, but I am learning that we often define artificial boundaries just like the new year and wonder why nature doesn't fit them. There is no real separation between mind and body. It's not merely an unclear distinction; there actually isn't one. So what we eat and do affects our mind and our mind affects what we eat and do. A psychological problem could be physiological in origin or a physiological problem could be psychological in origin because they are not in reality separate systems. They are all part and parcel of the whole. We impose the classifications for our own purposes and nature nor God are bound to respect them. I'm learning this runs very deep in life. Many aspects.

I've also been thinking about the nature of belief. Many of us grasp onto something and ride it out for what we can. It might be imperfect, but we are all where we are and can be no where else. As MacDonald said, if you look at two men on a hill, from any distance you can't tell which is going up and which is going down. So I'm trying to account for that as subtext for my next statement: that many of us don't seem to really believe what we say we do regarding our faith. We give it service, but when we look at real ramifications of that belief, it appears as if we don't actually believe it.

Here's one prime example: death. If I truly believe that the soul is immortal and that my faith in Jesus crosses me from death into eternal life and that upon leaving this body I will be present with God, etc. What cause have I to fear death. I mean really. If I truly believed this I would not be anxious about dying in the least. Nor would be very upset by someone dying. I want to be clear that I do not mean we should have a lack of compassion, nor that suffering shouldn't bother us. Nor even that we should not have an instinct to self-preservation. In the first two cases, these are obviously major tenets of Christianity and one could scarce call themselves Christian with any credibility if he denied it. And the third is very natural and normal. But there's a difference in what is normal preservation and compassion and an over-avoidance of death.

Another less grave example (pun intended) would be in our communication with God. If I really believed that He is with me all the time and that He guides and directs me, I would be communicating with Him in a much different way, right? Many denominations and teachers have reasoned around this to fit their various bents and that is for the individual to determine the truth. But in all self-honesty, we have to ask ourselves if that makes sense, or if it is merely proof-texting and contrivance to support a pre-existing world view. I personally am working on this. I talk about God as if He isn't present and I muse about His meanings, thoughts, and desires without directly asking Him...Sure you might say we won't get answers like that, but how would we know, I know people who say they do and I've never tried it on His terms, so I can't say.

Which brings me to a final and remarkably synthesizing point. (That tends to happen in these blogs, even though it isn't planned...spooky, though it shouldn't be if the last paragraph is true). That point is that we have to operate on other terms of the given system. This can mean many things. When working with a kid, we have to acknowledge their level of understanding. We can't expect a child to do something far beyond what they are developmentally capable of doing. When communicating across languages we have to work within the available vocabulary and communication style. We can't use slangy words or assume meanings from non-verbals or partial translations. Similarly with animals we can't expect them to communicate like people when they are not physically or neurologically equipped to do so. For these things to go well, we have to do them within the framework provided by the system. Rather than creating a conflict dynamic, we need to come alongside and use the flows and currents of that system to get where we need to go. This must also be true for our bodies and our spirits as well. It's a paradigmatic understanding that affects so many behaviors I can't begin to illustrate them.

It's a new conception that is still far too gossamer for me to pin a lot too it just yet. but it definitely means something.