Saturday, August 29, 2015

Unlearning What We've Been Taught

Unlearning What We've Been Taught
Sermon preached by the Rev. Lowell E. Grisham, Rector
St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Fayetteville, Arkansas
August 30, 2015; 14 Pentecost, Proper 17, Year B, Track 2
Episcopal Revised Common Lectionary

Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23 – Now when the Pharisees and some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem gathered around Jesus, they noticed that some of his disciples were eating with defiled hands, that is, without washing them. (For the Pharisees, and all the Jews, do not eat unless they thoroughly wash their hands, thus observing the tradition of the elders; and they do not eat anything from the market unless they wash it; and there are also many other traditions that they observe, the washing of cups, pots, and bronze kettles.) So the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, "Why do your disciples not live according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with defiled hands?" He said to them, "Isaiah prophesied rightly about you hypocrites, as it is written,
                'This people honors me with their lips,
                                but their hearts are far from me;
                in vain do they worship me,
                                teaching human precepts as doctrines.'
You abandon the commandment of God and hold to human tradition."
Then he called the crowd again and said to them, "Listen to me, all of you, and understand: there is nothing outside a person that by going in can defile, but the things that come out are what defile. For it is from within, from the human heart, that evil intentions come: fornication, theft, murder, adultery, avarice, wickedness, deceit, licentiousness, envy, slander, pride, folly. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person."


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"Why do your disciples not live according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with defiled hands?"

For centuries, the elders have passed along their teachings. Making sure each generation knows certain things that are important to our people. Like how to wash our hands correctly. Traditions are part of our identity; part of our heritage. They make us who we are; connect us with our past; order our present, so we know what is right and what is wrong in our social context and in our religious context. Every human being inherits your own group's traditions. Jesus is unimpressed.

The process of traditional learning is necessary and important. It is crucial to our discovering our identity. From the days of primitive humanity, it has been crucial to our survival.

Before humans had language, the elders taught us the skills of survival. The beige shadow in the grass might be a rock, but it also might be a lion. We evolved to flee in fear from a thousand beige rocks in order not to be eaten by the one that was a lion. Now we are wired for fear. Our inheritance is anxiety and defensiveness.

Before humans had language, the elders taught us the elements of belonging. This is how we wash; this is how we eat; this is how we dance; this is how we dress. Beware of those who do differently. They are strangers from another tribe. We evolved to flee from a thousand strangers lest one of them kill us. Now we are wired for fear. Our inheritance is anxiety and defensiveness.

Once we had language, we perfected our divisions:  them and us, right and wrong. Words define beautifully. To define is to create a boundary. We can speak and teach our youth. This is our line. Our boundary. Keep the fire burning and hold on to your weapons. Do not let the lion cross this line.

Every word defines something. We use words to make distinctions and judgments. We say, "This is good; this is bad." We teach our values to our children. There is something powerful about putting your thoughts and opinions into words. But once you do so, you tend to identify with whatever you have said. It becomes part of you, and you will feel like you must defend it. I say to my granddaughter, "Here, Laura, this is how my mother taught me to wash my hands." If someone wants to challenge me about that technique, you are messing with my mother. Nobody says anything bad about my mother.

Our brains are wired to be dualistic. Lion or rock. Tribe or stranger. Right way or wrong way. Whenever two things pop into our thoughts, our dualistic mind tends to make up/down judgments. One is better than the other. We judge nearly everything.

I remember an insight that came to me when I was a college student, that wonderful tribal time of my life. I thought that I could put stickers on my car that would tell anyone pretty much all they needed to know about me. Ole Miss; the Episcopal Church shield; Beta Theta Pi. Note how much that communicated. NOT LSU. Not Southern Baptist. Not Sigma Chi or ATO. Now tanks to social media, we're much better at this; we can publish our essential identities universally.

As I labeled myself in those days, I also recognized that I have a built-in tendency – let's call it a prejudice – to prefer those who are like me. Whenever there are two things in front of us, our dualistic mind tends to make up/down judgments. I remember recognizing how I felt drawn immediately toward someone when they introduced themselves as an Episcopalian or a Beta. And there was something about LSU that could make me bristle. Such prejudices are the foundations of racism and nationalism and polarizations of so many kinds. I think Jesus is still unimpressed.

It is very easy to let this evolutionary wiring distort reality and leave us as a human race divided, tribal, and conflicted. How much of the world's misunderstanding and violence is rooted in our inherited tendency to divide and judge. Essentially rooted in fear. Primitive fear. Fear of the other. Evolution has planted these fears in our guts.

Jesus said, "There is nothing outside a person that by going in can defile, but the things that come out are what defile. For it is from within, from the human heart, that evil intentions come."

The "outside" reality is actually one. The internal divisions within us are artificial, creations of our minds and our hearts. Reality is one. All humanity shares a common ancestry. We all share the same earth. We breathe the same air, drink the same water, draw our life from the same ground. We are more alike than we are different.

And now that humanity can imagine reality from a quantum perspective, we realize even more dramatically how interrelated everything is. Physicists tell us that the universe is more like a single living organism than like separate elements of discrete matter. Reality is one. That's what Jesus told us. It's also what the mystics and the scientists tell us. The fundamental Christian symbol of the Trinity says the same thing. Unity in diversity. The pouring out of the persons of the Holy Trinity in love toward one another which is the one unity that energizes all creation. Reality itself is unity in diversity.

How can we deprogram our inherited mental software of fear-driven division and reprogram our minds and hearts to be more in sync with reality?

It helps to disconnect from our addiction to words and from our thought-driven minds. That's what contemplative practices like Centering Prayer do. When we can bypass language we can receive everything as a whole. It is another way of seeing and experiencing reality. We can lose ourself as separate from the whole and be one with the all.

Musicians talk about becoming one with the music; dancers with the dance. There are times when I'm gardening when I am one with the earth and I lose track of time. Moments when driving a car when it's like looking at the whole of reality at once. Sometimes I can be so present in a crowd, that every person is beautiful, fascinating, alive with energy and wonder. It happens in nature. In the mountains. At the beach. Just sitting. Or working in a concentrated way with an undivided mind.  

We can also choose. Choose to divide and judge less. I am convinced that nearly every person at all times is doing the best they can, given their inheritance, history, and circumstances. I find when I regard people with that benevolence, I can feel empathy for people that I might otherwise judge harshly. It's a choice. Empathy and understanding rather than fear and resentment. I think I can usually be more helpful when I approach people from an empathetic position than from a judging position.

We have all inherited generations of fear that divides. Jesus is unimpressed. His antidote is love. Only love can overcome fear. "Perfect love casts out fear." (1 John 4:18) Jesus is not impressed with words: "This people honors me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me." The divine heart is a heart of love. Unifying love.

As it does so often, everything comes down to the single commandment that sums up them all. "You shall love God with all your heart and mind and soul and strength, and you shall love your neighbor as yourself. 

Fear not! Choose love.
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God's infinite grace, acceptance and love.

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