Paradox
“But all
truth really is paradox, and this turns out to be a reason for hope.
If you arrive at a place in life that is miserable, it will change,
and something else about it will also be true. So paradox is an
invitation to go deeper into life, to see a bigger screen, instead of
the nice, safe, lower left quadrant where you see work, home, and the
country.”
Anne
Lamott (Almost Everything: Notes on Hope, p.22)
I recall a conversation
with my friend, Rebecca, when she had read a post on this blog. She
said, “This is not the you I know.” She knows the me who is saucy
and opinionated and anything but “spiritual.” The truth is, I am
both, and several other “mes” too. Paradox applies to all of us
and to almost everything that is. How often have we heard someone
describe a person we know well, while our mind is wondering who on
earth they're talking about. People who knew my mother would say to
me, “She's the sweetest person. I just love her.” I loved her,
too, but “sweet” was not an adjective I would have used to
describe her. Isn't that a universal truth? Don't we know only one
side, or maybe a couple of sides, of any other human being?
Sometimes, we don't even know all the facets of ourselves.
Likewise, when something
awful happens to us, or to someone we love, we lament, we grieve,
sometimes we pitch a righteous fit. “How could a loving God allow
this to happen?” Later, we realize that it was a turning point, a
pivotal moment when we changed direction. I've heard people say, as I
am sure you have, when a seemingly dastardly horror occurs in their
life, “In retrospect, it was the best thing that ever happened to
me. I learned to stand on my own two feet,” or “it clarified my
priorities,” or “it changed my life for the better.” We may
wonder how those two things can possibly be true, but they are.
We cannot define another
person, nor judge them based upon the meager information we possess.
The very best we can do is to accept the paradox of life and of
humanity. We are the best and the worst, and all stages in between.
We live in a perfect, and utterly imperfect world. We have good
intentions, and we do great harm. And all of it is an unbelievable
blessing. In the words of Rainer Maria Rilke:
“Let
life happen to you. Believe me: life is in the right, always.”
In the Spirit,
Jane
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