The Deception of Separation

Having grown up Christian and then very much embracing the path of Christian Spirituality, it is easy for me to slip into dualism.  Early Christians, as subversive and amazing as they were, were steeped in a dualism of the day.  Dualism divides the world into either/ors:  heaven or hell; good or bad; them and us.  Jesus teachings pressed people to go beyond seeing each other in the colors of opposites.  Jesus' teachings asked and still ask us to see the world in the living color.  He doesn't even talk about "grey" areas...but pure, unadulterated color!  And in the amazing gift and celebration of creation, we are called to usher in the kindom of God, a place where we are all on equal footing, where the respectable and the powerful willingly step back into a place of humility, and the poor, those lacking in privilege and power come right up to the front, and are given a place of honor.  Yes, you heard it right:  honor! 

Now the truth of the matter is that the powerful and the poor live within each of us.  If we listen and pay attention, we can find in ourselves the outcast, the broken, the poorest of the poor.  If we listen deeply and long enough, we begin to understand that in truth, there is no separation.  We set up the barriers.  We want to keep the poor well defined and well behaved, in their place.  Because keeping them at arm's length protects us from knowing them as human beings.  Keeping them separate keeps us secure in our "righteous" success.  And we needn't worry about slipping into the abyss of poverty and powerlessness.

And for some of us, honoring the power within ourselves is much the same...we despise how power has been used and abused, so we stand back from it, refusing it, refusing to acknowledge it dwells there in us, and we become blind to just how powerful we are.  And when we are blind to our power, well...it's a bit like swinging a sword with our eyes closed. 

Well, this conversation is a bit dualistic in itself. 

There's a guy here in the town where I live who is running for mayor, and who at one point in his life chose to be homeless.  Perhaps he still is homeless.  Wow.  What a radical concept!  Or is it?  Nope.  Let's see:  Jesus, St. Francis of Assisi and all of his followers to name a few.