Wrestling with Complexity

Everything is layered and complex. God didn’t intend for so many things to be happening that are happening right now … the deeply ailing earth, the sex trafficking, the crime, the wars in Israel and Ukraine, the obesity and drug epidemics in America, the loudness and divisiveness of the world … but these things and more are happening nonetheless. I regularly lean into the truth that my beloved teacher, James Finley, speaks often, ‘God protects us from nothing yet sustains us in all things.’ The question is: what is my work in the world regarding the madness I see (and deeply feel) every day? 

Yesterday I read a Facebook post that read “God save us” related to the Productive Rights Amendment, Issue 1, passing in Ohio. I read another that read “Good day for ladies and bodily autonomy.” I feel both deeply. The issue is not cut and dry. It’s a ‘both and’ issue. Ultimately our entire spiritual lives are more both/and than either/or. Our egos and the structure of society impose the latter on us because neither (our egos nor society) can hold complexity or ambiguity. Only the oneness of God and nature can do that, but luckily we can learn to hold the both/and nature of life through contemplative practice.

If we look at Issue 1 solely from the standpoint of abortion (even though it covers a lot of other issues related to reproductive rights), choosing to terminate a life is a bold, gut-wrenching decision, one I assume most women would not take lightly. But what about the various social issues that are never addressed by anti-abortion groups? What about rape, incest, ‘equal rights’ and the unequal treatment of women (even to this day), the cost of raising a child (including the unfathomable cost of daycare, formula and diapers), the fact that raising a child very often falls solely to the woman, on and on. We still live in a capitalistic, patriarchal society that contributes to all of these things and more … the majority of people in America are living paycheck to paycheck with no respite in sight. No, the issue isn’t as ‘simple’ as abortion. There is far greater complexity to it than that. Further, if you’re a woman who feels strongly about owning your body, keeping government out of it, of course you voted ‘yes’ on the issue. Enough is enough. In what ways do we try to control a man’s body? I maintain that abortion isn’t an easy choice, and one that most would not make unless their conscience truly guides them there. Pregnancy doesn’t just happen. Men are half of the equation, yet the simplified answer is to ban abortion to save a human life. And don’t get me started on the fact that too many people already populate the earth, which is part of the environmental issues we see today. Complexity. I am neither pro-abortion nor anti-abortion. I don’t understand how we can dilute the issue to either/or.

But let’s dive deeper than Issue 1. This aspect of life is just one that government’s hands are in. How did we let it get this far? Everything, and I mean e-v-e-r-y thing is regulated by the government: taxes (on things you already own, buy, work for …), reproductive rights, employment and labor relations (including the establishment of full-time work as 40 hours per week), gun laws, ‘health’care, our ‘food,’ the pharmaceutical industry, advertising, privacy, licensing and permits, environmental regulations, etc. (there are a lot more). While I get that we need established rules to live by to avoid anarchy, how far is too far? And in allowing government this much control, have we lost sight of who we really are? How autonomous and sovereign are we, really?

Since my spiritual crisis this summer, my contemplative practice has allowed me to see much more clearly the madness that is before us. We don’t live as ‘one nation under God.’ We live as a divided nation under a system of control, a system that has become God-like in its nature.

To further complicate the issue, we have various groups and interests that have also grown beyond recognition and are now backing the government with money to forward their particular causes. One example includes two very different sides of the environmental issues that exist: researchers who are studying the very real effects of environmental degradation vs. gas and oil industries who have only profit in mind. Government is swayed much more by money than by their consciousness. Governments are the reason our soils, seas and air are poisoned.

And back to the abortion issue, various religious groups and organizations back anti-abortion laws. Some for good moral reasons, but some for the additional advancement of a white Christian nationalist agenda, an ideal society in their minds. Church and state are supposed to be separate but they are not. As individuals in the image of God, shouldn’t we have the right to make our own decisions based on our consciousness versus letting a system (that is so far from the Divine) make decisions for us?

We need leaders who recognize the harm being done to people and planet through the dominant practices that control, ignore, abuse, and oppress the human spirit. We need leaders who put service over self, stand steadfast in crises and failures, and who display unshakable faith that people can be generous, creative, and kind.

Margaret Wheatley

I have so many thoughts and feelings in my head and in my heart; I’m not sure how to bring this to a conclusion. Sometimes in this situation, all I can do is bring it back to basics … what would Jesus do? Remember that fad, WWJD? Maybe those of us with a bit of common sense should make it stick, kind of like the KISS rule, keep it simple stupid. Not all, but a lot of organized religion in America have moved far from the WWJD question.

Not all, but a lot of Christianity in America is missing the mark (interestingly this is one definition of sin). Jesus was anti-establishment. Jesus was against blindly following law. Jesus was not about dogmatic religion. Jesus was a rule-breaker in order to teach us to see differently. Jesus didn’t intend for us to blindly follow a set of beliefs (head knowledge), but to live from our hearts … to do what is right, and to put no other gods before God. In my mind, the other gods in our world right now are ‘right belief’ in the church (dogmatic, moralistic religion) and the vehicle of government that worships money above all else, and perpetuates various agendas based on the religious groups that push them. 

Perhaps we should stop simplifying things. Perhaps we should take the blinders off of our views, our rigid beliefs of right and wrong. Perhaps we should live more from our hearts than our heads. Perhaps we should recognize the complexity that exists and simply work to do good in the world …

I’m leaving so much unsaid here, mostly because I know how I feel and can’t properly translate heart to head. I hope, if nothing else, I’ve given you something to ponder. And if you get mad at this post, good. Maybe it means you’re questioning yourself, or should be. Maybe it means I’m wrong, but I have no need to assert my ‘rightness,’ only a need to express the way I feel, hopefully in service of the human race.

Photo by Maria Lupan on Unsplash