Currents of Faith: Open and Unfolding Reflections

For a process theologian, one might suppose, it is always time for candor. But from the process perspective, various desiderata should always be considered. When candor is cruel or dangerous, it may have to be set aside, at least for a while. On the other hand, when candor is too long postponed, the values for whose sake it is postponed may themselves be endangered.

Not since Earth Day 1970 has there been one that bore more promise. 1970 was the year when the American public recognized that the human treatment of the rest of the world was a matter of profound importance. In the following years Congress past significant legislation and Nixon signed it into law. No doubt there were many corporations unhappy about these developments, but their objections were swept aside. In a few years the opponents were better organized. Environmentalists have largely succeeded in protecting the legislation of the Nixon era from serious weakening, but no further advance has been possible. Other nations soon surpassed us, and the United States became the major obstacle to global progress.

We all want power. We should not be ashamed of that. Jesus was very powerful, and so were Socrates and Buddha. The question is, what kind of power? Do we want the power to control and limit others, even to injure or kill them? That is not the power embodied in Jesus, Socrates, or Buddha. Their power was the power to inspire, to persuade, to enable, to empower, to liberate to wider horizons, to open minds to the truth, in short, to lead into authentic life. That power is divine. It is the power God exercises in each of us all the time. It is the kind of power God gives us. It is the kind of power of which no one can have too much."

I'd like to ask you to do something that may be a little different than you normally do when reading an online article or email message. If you're like me, slowing down isn't much of an option given the very long list of activities and responsibilities that we are all involved in. Nonetheless, as your eyes roll over and your mind moves through the following bolded words, I want you to stop for a few moments on each one, and simply reflect, taking note of what sorts of emotions, images, and associations occur as you do so. What are your immediate impressions? What thoughts seem to flow freely and without any conscious or intentional effort on your part? Here are just a few among the hundreds one might choose: racist, right-wing, radical, conspiracy theorist, liberal, islamo-facist, anti-semite, extremist, left-wing, terrorist, ultra-conservative, cult, evil, ultra-orthodox, fundamentalist, satanic, imperialist, heretic.