Eyes Wide Open

 

Allow Truth to Set You Free

“People who ask a lot of questions often find themselves at odds with other people, and even institutions and governments. Sometimes questioning types don’t fare very well within religions.”

Jim Palmer (Wide Open Spaces: Beyond Paint-By-Number Christianity)

          Doubt is the cornerstone of a curious mind. It pushes one to ask question after question simply because each question and answer opens a door to another question. People ask these tedious questions when something bad happens to them or to someone they love: “Why does God allow so much suffering in the world?” “Why is this happening to me?” “Where was God in all this?” Why does God allow such injustice?” Poor old God gets the credit and the blame for everything these days—even the bad weather, when tornadoes destroy one person’s home and not another’s. Is God angry with one of them, or does God simply love the other one more? There must be a clue in there somewhere.

          We humans project all the time. Why don’t we ask ourselves these same questions? Why don’t we see that we cause most of our own problems—especially violence and war and human suffering. Why do we allow unnecessary suffering like hunger in the world? What keeps us from asking what we have done to cause these problems for ourselves? These things have nothing to do with God except as God exists within us.

          Curious people ask a lot of questions—especially about things that are accepted as normal—like inequality and faith. It’s annoying to comfortable people to be asked such questions; it’s like a burr in our behind. That’s why Rep. John Lewis said, “Get in good trouble, necessary trouble, and redeem the soul of America.” We don’t want to be reminded of the truth, nor do we want to deal with things that make us squirm—like our history of slavery and the genocide of our native peoples. Look at the protests happening right now against teaching Critical Race Theory; bills being passed in state legislatures as though the truth can be erased. It can’t be.

          Until we face our own history and own our capacity for cruelty, we will project it onto others. We have a dark shadow that we try not to see. But the only way to get better, the only way to become whole, is to look with our eyes wide open at all of it. And to claim what is ours. Don’t be afraid of the questions. Questions will lead us to the truth, and the truth will set us free.

                                                  In the Spirit,

                                                  Jane