It’s funny how some issues keep resurfacing for me. Some
time ago I posted about paradox, and I’ve revisited the idea once or twice
since then. And here it is again.
One of my daily readings is a meditation by Fr. Richard
Rohr, OFM. His teachings have been instrumental in my spiritual path for the
past several years. Recently Father Richard did a brief series of posts based
on Sic et Non, a Medieval Latin text
that presents a series of theological and philosophical questions. The upshot
of this—or at least the takeaway that Fr. Richard relates—is that for many of
the Big Questions of Life, the answer is “yes and no.” Notice the ancient yin and yang symbol:the dark and light areas are connected by a sinuous line, not a straight clear-cut one. There is a black area in the middle of the white and a white area in the middle of the black.
But our minds don’t like
this answer. And we impose our insistence on black-or-white, right-or-wrong
judgments on everything—religion, ethics, business, government, philosophy—and
worst of all, people (including ourselves!). How did we (in the Western world,
at least) get to this place? I’m sure there are many reasons, including the
Industrial Revolution, Calvinism, Puritanism, the Scientific Method, and
perhaps most of all, the marriage of Church and State starting with Constantine
in 313. I’m not saying that any of these things are evil in and of themselves
(although Constantine may carry the lion’s share of any blame there may be).
The problem arises when we try to apply this dualistic
yes-or-no thinking to something as complex and mysterious as spirituality. I
continue to realize—and keep reminding myself—that more and more of life isn’t
so cut and dried. Life is not a scientific experiment or a mathematic equation.
All things do not apply equally to everyone. Nor does the same principle
necessary apply to the same situation every time. At first, this realization is
confusing and rather disorienting.
But it’s also very freeing.
And please understand—I don’t mean that there are never any absolutes. Hatred is always
wrong. Love is always the best path. But the more I understand, the more I see
that I don’t understand; and some
things I will never fully understand.
But more and more . . . I’m okay with that!
