In the Kingdom of What Is

“Happy are they who find their home
In the kingdom of what is.”

Psalm 2, as interpreted by 
Norman Fischer in OPENING TO YOU 

Do you ever look back at your really young youth and long for the simplicity of just accepting what the grown-ups told you as true? I admit that kind of backward-facing only happens when I’m doing my taxes or looking with despair at the ballot. Those are the times when I want somebody to adult for me. 

That childhood simplicity was most comforting, at least for me, when it came to things spiritual. Jesus loved me, this I knew. If I was good, I was loved. If I was bad, I was ashamed, but eventually it was okay (my innocent concept of forgiveness). You went to church because that was what good people did. God was … well, God was God. Right? 

If we mature spiritually, we grow away from the automatic acceptance that what we’re told is actually how things are. We ask questions. We have doubts. We work through them. Our faith deepens and grows, even when it seems to have disappeared altogether. 

What that leaves us with is a lot of unknowing along the way, and it seems to me that an important part of this journey we’re taking together is becoming clear on what we know to be true.

Define “what we know…”

What is true in the depth of ourselves is not necessarily what we have been told and have continued to accept. Or convinced ourselves we were accepting. 

Knowing is not just believing. Believing gets us started. Establishes a foundation. It’s a creed, a statement of belief, an accepted doctrine.  Again, we need that when we’re first trying to make sense of this thing called faith and to comprehend the divine in some way. 

It’s been my experience, though, that as our understanding deepens, a creed becomes a frame of reference. We come back to it from time to time to see if it still rings true in our souls.

Sometimes it doesn’t. For instance, I have trouble with the word “only.” Why is the presence of a Universal Christ only available to Christians? Is a good and beautiful person who professes a different creed going to hell because she isn’t calling the Christ by the same name we do? 

When those questions arise, I think we’re beginning to know. We’re coming closer to what is true for each of us. That doesn’t water down doctrine. It brings it to life where we are now.

What does knowing feel like?

We’ll explore this together this month. Let’s look first at what it doesn’t feel like:

• Automatic. Knee jerk. What always comes out of your mouth because … it’s always come out of your mouth.
• Locked up. Boxed in. Allowing for no doubt. Done. No further consideration needed.
• Defensive. Prickly. Argumentative. Ready to do battle with anything that questions it. At all.

A firm faith is a good thing. True conviction is pure in its integrity. 

It is lived rather than merely espoused. That’s knowing. It doesn’t have to fight.

This part of our journey …

… is about examining our assumptions to be sure they are truths. It’s about sorting out what no longer makes sense to us so we can see what does. On a soul level. It’s not about turning our backs on a solid foundation. It’s about making sure there are no cracks in it, that it isn’t tilting downhill. We will shore up the truly vital and clear the basement of anything we realize is false. If what we’ve always accepted is still true, wonderful. We just want to make certain we’re not stifling what wants to arise to enrich it. 

This week’s question: How does the idea of examining long-held beliefs land with you? And, um, really think about it …