Faith Venture

Someone I read last week talking about mixing young people and old people and talking to the older people said, “Don’t say ‘in my day’, your day is over.’ “

That put me in the proper mind to understand this thought from Søren Kierkegaard:

The path of an honest fighter is a difficult one. And when the fighter grows cool in the evening of his life this is still no excuse to retire into games and amusement. Whoever remains faithful to his decision will realize that his whole life is a struggle. Such a person does not fall into the temptation of proudly telling others of what he has done with his life. Nor will he talk about the “great decisions” he has made. He knows full well that at decisive moments you have to renew your resolve again and again and that this alone makes good the decision and the decision good.

Even for us older Boomers, it’s not for reliving the old days. This is a new day. New decisions. Relating to new people. Continuing to help and guide young people. Making good health and social decisions.

The one thing I miss about moving to another state and into a 55+ community is the mix of people. And no more soccer to keep me young. And my Yoga class mixed teens with 80 and even 90 somethings. I think of all the families in the community, there are only three or four not white. And, of course, no kids. No mix of cultures and ages. But as Covid winds down, there will be more opportunities.

We are leaving Indianapolis today heading for Ohio for a couple of days before heading home.

The trip started with picking up our grandson after baseball practice. Then it was on to Indianapolis to watch our granddaughter in a big swim meet. Hundreds of kids competing. A joy to watch them each get their chance.

Today the car points back to the city we left for dinner with old friends and then a funeral for one of my brothers. Like often happens, he got sick and was gone in three weeks or so.

A generation goes. A generation comes. We need to reflect on that occasionally. Especially on what we have done and are doing to prepare and encourage that new generation. That’s our job.

Mr. McCarty taught high school chemistry. When we didn’t have him off the track discussing model airplanes or aquariums, he would present an equation. We were expected to memorize that equation and then use it to solve a chemical balance reaction.

The good students did just that. They got A’s.

Then there was me. I sat there wondering, “How do they know that?” There was no satisfaction with simply memorizing an equation and working it. That was simple. I wanted to know the process involved in discovering that equation.

Already by age 10 I had been reading biographies of people who discovered things. That’s where my interest inhabited.

Whether reading scriptures or the writings of spiritual seekers (such as Thomas Merton, Pierre Teilhard, St. John of the Cross, and so forth), do you ever wonder “How do they know that?”

Whether reading something 3,000 years old or 50, the answer is they experienced it.

When I read something from a spiritual seeker, I can relate it to my experience of God and say it rings of the truth. Or, I can sniff out a fraud.

If you have not yet experienced God, that is why we have spiritual practices. The disciplines of awareness, intention, openness, along with prayer, study, mediation combine to lead you to the experience. Then you know.

A chemist experiences by repeating the experiment and observing the same result as others. A spiritual seeker also experiences by repeating the practices of thousands of years of others and the experience will come.

Today, I will be open to the experience of God.

I cannot remember when the thought impacted me that I should integrate the various aspects of my thinking. It came to me as I pondered something called First Principles thinking.

Let’s let entrepreneur (and not all-around nice guy, but look at what he has done) Elon Musk explain. “First principles is kind of a physics way of looking at the world. You boil things down to the most fundamental truths and say, ‘What are we sure is true?’ … and then reason up from there.”

What are the first principles of following Jesus, and indeed, for spiritual formation?

Jesus replied: ” ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

Then Jesus told stories and used metaphor to teach what that meant.

For those beginning at least 1,000 years before him and continuing 2,000 years after who search the scriptures for lists of rules to follow, he said things like You are like a cup, cleaned on the outside, but full of crud on the inside.

To what it means to love your neighbor and answer the question as to whom is my neighbor, he told the story we call The Good Samaritan.

In our spiritual formation, do we turn to God in various ways every day such that we are intimate—prayer, meditation, study, singing, and so on? What have we done today that shows love toward our neighbor like the traveling Samaritan who cared for the traveler who was beaten?

When we are making decisions, whether for ourselves or our group, do we stop and apply first principles thinking toward our decision-making process?

That would make all the difference.

My wife and I just finished a 1,000 piece jigsaw puzzle. When I closed my eyes, I saw the puzzle pieces pattern. When I went to bed before sleep, I saw the pattern. I could stare at my computer screen and if my eyes were defocused, I would see the pattern overlaid.

What if we mentally stepped back and looked at the pattern to our lives. Perhaps over the past year. Perhaps projecting to this new year. What are our daily habits and routines? Our routine interactions with other people? What to we read, watch, and see?

Are these routines serving us in our quest for a life with-God?

Pause…breathe…reread that last question.

What one little thing could I change starting right this moment to make things better? One habit? One thing I allow into my consciousness? One interaction?

Decide and act. Now. Today.

Pause and reflect periodically. Maybe monthly. Maybe weekly. What pattern am I following?

Ryan Holliday writing in the Daily Stoic about Emperor/Philosopher Marcus Aurelius pointed out that too often we worry about other people when we have enough to worry about with ourselves.

Be open to the idea that people are going to be fools or jerks or unreliable or anything else. Let them be. That’s their business. That’s not inside your control. Leave other people to themselves. You have enough to worry about.

Ryan Holliday

I believe Jesus had something similar in mind when he asked why we worried about the piece of dust in someone else’s eye while ignoring the log in our own.

If we follow Jesus’ advice on living with love, we will improve ourselves. By improving ourselves, we improve those around us.

I am finally seriously focused on this blog post. Should have been done four hours ago. I have two posts to do for my other blog. There is a book to read about consciousness lying on my desk. I have sketched out four podcasts, but I have not recorded one since the first part of October.

Procrastination.

I bet no one else suffers from that malady.

Psychologists may tell me that the problem is fear. I’m afraid to start because it may not be good enough. I’m afraid to start because the initial idea may not carry through for the entire piece. I’m afraid to record the podcast because it is also video and my hair looks terrible. What will people think? If I read that book, I may learn something that changes my view of the world.

But, if I take the first step from fear to uncomfortableness I know the momentum will carry me through. There–here is the first one done. Now for the next step.

What is holding you back?