POST #1 The place to begin ...
.. I suppose, is at the beginning, at the foundation, with the fundamentals. So: if we’re talking about spiritual matters, whether apart from religion or in connection with it, where do we begin? What is the first fundamental?
I think it is this: Check your imagination.
John Wooden used to begin each year by demonstrating not the correct way to shoot a ball or the proper defensive stance but the right way to put on athletic socks so as to avoid blisters. New recruits, anxious to get on with basketball stuff, couldn’t believe that this great coach would waste time with socks stuff. But of course as newbies, they had much to learn ‒ and Wooden had much to teach them ‒ about fundamentals. And one of the first things was that although they had had much basketball experience -- may even have been super-stars as the high school level -- they still had much to learn about fundamentals.
Basketball players who want to play their best games need to begin by tending to their socks. Human beings who want to live solid grounded lives need to begin their search for life-truth by tending to their imaginations.
So: What does that mean?
I once watched stage hypnotist at an August street fair in Decatur, Illinois, tell a group onstage that the temperature was dropping -- precipitously ‒ close to freezing. Despite the actual typical August weather, they began shivering and, despite being total strangers to one other, huddling together in the center of the stage as closely as possible to share body heat. The hypnotist then announced that the temperature was rising again ‒ as fast and far as it had dropped before! As it rose to over 100 degrees, people broke their mid-stage huddle, began wiping their brows, and one began to unbutton her blouse. (The hypnotist quickly normalized the weather.)
But he never at any time instructed anyone to huddle or wipe their brow or remove their clothing. In every instance, their behavior was a response to perceived reality. The problem was that the reality that they perceived ‒ although so real that at least one was willing to partially disrobe in public ‒ was unreal. Their imaginations were not in good working order.
But they did not know that. And as long as they did not question their perceptions of reality - did not conceive it possible that that reality, which seemed so real, could be quite unreal - there was no way for them to do anything but live and respond within the bounds of that (un)reality. And, of course, till the hypnotist clapped his hands (or counted to five or gave whatever the spell-breaking signal was), they had no way to escape their unreality.
That, of course, was a highly artificial situation. But the witness of the great spiritual geniuses of history is
-- that even in regular "real life" we all suffer from an impairment of our imaginations which renders us blind to the true nature of reality,
--that in life we respond to the reality we perceive,
--that the cure involves waking up to and responding to the greater reality we've been previously blind to,
--and that waking up depends a great deal on our willingness to be awakened -- to acknowledge that however absolutely sure that we are that we are right, we may not be seeing the whole truth..
If anything, but especially pride, keeps us from even considering the possibility that our perspective on life or any aspect of it might not be so absolutely right as it seems, then our search for truth, which requires a deep and healthy humility, has ended before it's begun.
"Repent!" was Jesus of Nazareth's first word -- "Metanoia!" in the Greek, meaning means "Change your mind deeply" or "Reorient your thinking from the ground up". It does not mean simply "Turn from your sin". Until you understand reality you won't understand what your "sin" is or be able to respond to reality otherwise). "The King- dom of God is at hand. Metanoia, and believe this good news." Only when our thinking is reoriented can we grasp what he meant by "the Kingdom of God" -- and be able to hear its announcement as good news.
For people who are spiritual but not especially religious -- or spiritual and religious -- the first step is to check our imaginations. If they aren't limbered up, they'll crack before we get very far.
[This website is under construction. There will be follow-ups to this first post when the construction is finished].
.. I suppose, is at the beginning, at the foundation, with the fundamentals. So: if we’re talking about spiritual matters, whether apart from religion or in connection with it, where do we begin? What is the first fundamental?
I think it is this: Check your imagination.
John Wooden used to begin each year by demonstrating not the correct way to shoot a ball or the proper defensive stance but the right way to put on athletic socks so as to avoid blisters. New recruits, anxious to get on with basketball stuff, couldn’t believe that this great coach would waste time with socks stuff. But of course as newbies, they had much to learn ‒ and Wooden had much to teach them ‒ about fundamentals. And one of the first things was that although they had had much basketball experience -- may even have been super-stars as the high school level -- they still had much to learn about fundamentals.
Basketball players who want to play their best games need to begin by tending to their socks. Human beings who want to live solid grounded lives need to begin their search for life-truth by tending to their imaginations.
So: What does that mean?
I once watched stage hypnotist at an August street fair in Decatur, Illinois, tell a group onstage that the temperature was dropping -- precipitously ‒ close to freezing. Despite the actual typical August weather, they began shivering and, despite being total strangers to one other, huddling together in the center of the stage as closely as possible to share body heat. The hypnotist then announced that the temperature was rising again ‒ as fast and far as it had dropped before! As it rose to over 100 degrees, people broke their mid-stage huddle, began wiping their brows, and one began to unbutton her blouse. (The hypnotist quickly normalized the weather.)
But he never at any time instructed anyone to huddle or wipe their brow or remove their clothing. In every instance, their behavior was a response to perceived reality. The problem was that the reality that they perceived ‒ although so real that at least one was willing to partially disrobe in public ‒ was unreal. Their imaginations were not in good working order.
But they did not know that. And as long as they did not question their perceptions of reality - did not conceive it possible that that reality, which seemed so real, could be quite unreal - there was no way for them to do anything but live and respond within the bounds of that (un)reality. And, of course, till the hypnotist clapped his hands (or counted to five or gave whatever the spell-breaking signal was), they had no way to escape their unreality.
That, of course, was a highly artificial situation. But the witness of the great spiritual geniuses of history is
-- that even in regular "real life" we all suffer from an impairment of our imaginations which renders us blind to the true nature of reality,
--that in life we respond to the reality we perceive,
--that the cure involves waking up to and responding to the greater reality we've been previously blind to,
--and that waking up depends a great deal on our willingness to be awakened -- to acknowledge that however absolutely sure that we are that we are right, we may not be seeing the whole truth..
If anything, but especially pride, keeps us from even considering the possibility that our perspective on life or any aspect of it might not be so absolutely right as it seems, then our search for truth, which requires a deep and healthy humility, has ended before it's begun.
"Repent!" was Jesus of Nazareth's first word -- "Metanoia!" in the Greek, meaning means "Change your mind deeply" or "Reorient your thinking from the ground up". It does not mean simply "Turn from your sin". Until you understand reality you won't understand what your "sin" is or be able to respond to reality otherwise). "The King- dom of God is at hand. Metanoia, and believe this good news." Only when our thinking is reoriented can we grasp what he meant by "the Kingdom of God" -- and be able to hear its announcement as good news.
For people who are spiritual but not especially religious -- or spiritual and religious -- the first step is to check our imaginations. If they aren't limbered up, they'll crack before we get very far.
[This website is under construction. There will be follow-ups to this first post when the construction is finished].