It makes a difference where you are. Really. That sounds simple enough, so simple that it hardly needs said. But given our tendency (as people busy with life) to avoid thinking about ultimate issues, it must be said. It makes a difference where you are.
I am spending a delightful five day visit with my daughter and her husband. I am a guest in their home and that makes a difference. Now my daughter loves me and is a most gracious host, looking after my needs and pleasures. But it makes a difference that I am here and not in my home. Despite her warm hospitality, making her home and possessions available to me, I observe that I restrict myself from making use of things as if I owned them. I am quite comfortable and happy, but I certainly limit my behavior in ways to be an appropriate guest. If I were in my home, I would exercise much greater freedom. In a context where I own it all, I can (and would) do what I want with whatever I want. You make think me foolish in what I do with my stuff, but you wouldn’t fault me for behaving differently in my home than while a guest at my daughter’s.
What does this have to do with ultimate matters, you ask? Everything, because it makes a difference where you are.
If we find ourselves in a universe that is merely physical, shaped only by forces of cause and effect, it will make a difference how we live. If this world happens to be a home that is deeply spiritually, but in an impersonal sort of way, governed by laws of karma (i.e., beware, its all coming back to you, at least eventually), well that too should make a difference on how you live. But if this cosmos is the possession and dwelling of a supreme being, who has not only created us but invited us to stay within this one’s abode, well, you better believe that would (or should) make a difference in how we live. Especially if this One cares deeply about how we treat other guests and make use of It’s generous provisions.
Context matters.
We live all of life adapting to our context. How I behave at the office is different than how I behave at home. How I behaved at school, is different than how I now behave at work. (Though my former teachers may have wished for a little better adaptation on my part.) It is only reasonable that we adapt. Likewise, it is only reasonable that we adapt life to the ultimate context we find ourselves within. And if we don’t know what context we are in, then it is only reasonable to seek to find out. We certainly wouldn’t want to be a slovenly guest, would we?
Indifference (on ultimate matters) is not only folly, it is highly inappropriate.
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