Republicans and Democrats Lend Me Your Ears

Many people are naturally accepting of the reality of what is, but by nature are not comfortable with the unknown. So rules and the status quo are their comfort zone. They are the keepers of tradition. They tend to live in the present moment.   They are practical, often talented in working on things in the immediate physical world. In relationships they are like my husband, who said, “I don’t understand her, but I accept her as she is.” A neighbor or fellow worker, even one who is foreign or different from them, can gradually become understood and trusted enough to become a friend that they will help even at a cost to themselves. But that trust doesn’t necessarily extend to others of that differing group.

Other people come into the world naturally idealistic and open to those differing, but with ideas about how everything and everyone can be improved.  Change is the favored tool in their box. They work on self-improvement, but also tend to do as I did, encouraging (dragging) their spouses to explore means of self-improvement.  They tend to see the big picture, but sometimes are oblivious to what is right in front of them.  These people often focus on the future, anticipating problems and wanting to head them off. They tend to be interested in and care about the concerns of people who are different from themselves, those of other nationalities, races, genders, and people with disabilities  

We are only beginning to become familiar with the inborn differences that are strengths with up sides and a down sides. People naturally focus on different aspects of the world and life. 

For a democracy to survive and flourish we need both. The challenge is that at any given time, we may need to emphasize different needs.  And that takes cooperation and compromise and recognizing the need for the differing gifts of all.

When we see each other as the enemy rather than our partner, violence and fear become a daily part of all of our lives.

Grace for the Journey

Here are two quotes about spirituality that I understand from my own experience, but I see the differences as more stages of our personal journeys.   And of course, I see those as varying in the order of their development for people with different inborn personality preferences. By eighty-five, I’ve gone through the scary dying to my natural strength, so I could develop my weakest side more. I’ve seen others in their senior years panic in confusion over it, not knowing it’s a natural part of our spiritual growth toward more wholeness.  I know how weak spiritually I am when I don’t actively seek grace. So, when the way I’d found it since my thirties simply stopped helping, it took a while to recognize and accept that I needed to start focusing on my least developed side where I have almost no natural talents.

And while I have not become really “gifted” in that area, what has been the blessing is that I am better able to understand people who are and who have the values and limits that go with those gifts.                                                                              

Cynthia Bourgeault “In terms of the spiritual journey, trying to find faith with the intellectual center is something like trying to play a violin with a saw: it’s simply the wrong tool for the job. This is one reason why all religious traditions have universally insisted that religious life cannot be done with the mind alone; that is the biggest single impediment to spiritual becoming.”

Daniel Lee “Faith has to be experiential, not just intellectual. Even if you may understand it, you may not be able to believe it. Conversely, you may not understand it fully, but you may believe it. This is the mystery of unknowing. I used to pursue only knowing by studying the Bible and theology, but once I learned about mysticism, I now understand unknowing.”

Years ago, when I taught a six weeks class on mystical experience, most of the people who came were older men whose life work had been in very concrete logical things like construction and practical engineering.  And several did experience new aspects of spirituality.  One left after the first two classes, but several years later came to a prayer group and told us in amazement, “I was sitting on the couch praying and suddenly there was Jesus sitting right next to me!  He was as clear to me as you are.”  One interesting aspect of this is that intuitive me has sensed an incredibly loving presence several times. I was sure it was Jesus, but I didn’t see him with my physical eyes. We are different from one another and even our mystical experiences won’t be exactly alike, but ours will be grace for us and can even be grace second hand for others.