Maybe we've got it backwards

It has struck me over the last couple of posts that I may be onto something, but unfortunately only why all of this may be so hard to get. In my mind, it's all pretty clear. We've got to do things differently from how we normally go about doing them. We sometimes need to say "no" instead of "yes", and we simply just can't take everything that's thrown at us. More importantly, though, we also need to get away from saying what it is we want, to talking more with others about what we don't want.

If how we've been brought up is wrong, and if the way we're trimmed in school is not right, and if there is something to the notion of the via negativa, then it would seem to me that, well, we've simply got it backwards.

Almost 30 years ago, I had what some would call a peak experience. I was studying New Testament theology (in Germany) and we were discussing the accuracy of translation. The passage we were looking at was when John the Baptist was running around admonishing everyone to "repent". Luther translated this into German as "kehr um", literally, "turn around". It was like someone hit me with a ton of bricks.

What John was harping about and what Luther apparently was trying to get across is that we have to go about things differently than we're used to. The word in Greek that we have to deal with is μετανοεῖτε (metanoeite), which literally means as much as "change your mind", that is, change your way of thinking.

I'm sure this isn't the first time the idea has appeared on the human scene. What got me, though, was just how long it's been around. OK, it was new to me when I stumbled across it, but it wasn't new in any absolute sense. Granted, there are any number of possibilities regarding what is the precise translation of the word, but this is one of those places I'm going with William of Occam: simpler is better. Drop all the theology, the religious overtones, the club that's been used to beat in I don't know how many heads: change your mind, change the way you think ... if you do, the world will change.

Oh, I know. It's hard to break old habits, but everybody has to start somewhere. Start small. Start with yourself, above all. Don't expect of others what you're not willing to do yourself. If you want others to be flexible and open, start being open and flexible with yourself. So, here's my suggestion for getting started: stop telling folks what you know, stop making statements about how things are, stop lecturing. Instead, just starting asking questions. You'll be surprised how liberating it is.