Weekend Reading – Wabi Sabi

But he saith unto them, It is I; be not afraid. – John 6:20

"Be not afraid" or its equivalent is one of the most common phrases in the Bible. It appears throughout the Old Testament, Gospels, and New Testament. Although as a Christian I believe other phrases have more theological importanance I can think of few as important in day to day life. With that in mind I find it wonderful and inspiring that one of the best examples of applying that phrase to "life on my own terms" is a blog about Christianity.

Specifically it is about one man’s journey to understand his own faith or as he describes it The faith journey of a follower of The Tao of Jesus. Wabi Sabi by Jim Marks is not only a faith journey but a journey of finding your own terms for life. I think it will surprise many people that I could consider an effort to be a follower of any religion as someone living their life on their own terms and doubly so for an American Christian. After all isn’t the point of religious faith to submit one’s will to a higher authority? Aren’t American Christians rabid fundamentalists often only a few steps removed from the Taliban or religious mushes who don’t really believe but engaging in meaningless ritual? American Christians themselves fling those two stereotypes at each other and both points are common among non-believers. The entries at Wabi Sabi put the lie to both.

The most recently entry (as of this writing) provides excellent counter examples to many prejudices about religion in general and Christianity in particular. It is very representative of the writing and thought in the blog in general. Religious faith, at least in the realm of a quester like Jim, is a difficult journey. The entry referenced above takes as its entry point this observation:

I have created several entries in the past about Creeds (one, two and three) and my capacity to claim genuine belief in them. In fact, it was this process that repeatedly confirmed for me that while I had a genuine desire to believe and a heart that yearned for belief, Western Christianity was not instilling in me anything like belief at all, but rather an ever-shrinking pool of certainties that I knew, rather than believed.

A man who truly desires to believe but sees his faith as an ever shrinking pool of certainties is not someone mindless submitting his will to an external source nor is he one simply accepting what he is given. He references his past discussion to provide us with context for his current conclusions. He then goes on to discuss a commitment not to move forward in formalizing his membership in in the Orthodox faith until he can honestly speak every single word of the Nicene Creed with conviction. Finally, he gives a detailed report of where he is on that quest and why, including unanswered questions.

In this one struggle he strikes at the core meaning of "life on my own terms". Your terms are not just actions. As we’ve discussed before your aspirations and beliefs are just, if not more, important. Two men engaged in the exact same actions may have different degrees of personal sovereignty in taking those actions. The one who is reciting the Creed at church on Sundays because that’s how he was raised without any further thought has sacrificed his sovereignty to his parents and first teachers. He has, in fact, never owned his sovereignty at all. The one who is speaking because he has come to understand and believe every single word has claimed his sovereignty. He may have, in some ways, willing placed it in submission to another but he has done so consciously. He has surrendered it on his own terms and the life he is embracing is one on his own terms.

Nor is such an attitude the sign of an overly certain fundamentalist or squishy semi-believer. The lack of certainty clearly is the fundamentalist whose belief is an iron edifice that cannot be challenged. Neither is it the unthinking drift of the semi-believer whose life has caused him to doubt that which he is taught but lacks the conviction to abandon the nice people image of people who go to church. Instead, it is the stance of someone who has engaged his mind, asked a question, and now seeks an answer.

I have concentrated on the latest post because it is easier to use a concrete example. However, the depth and thought of the posting on Creeds (and the three that preceded) are reflected throughout the blog. I especially recommend the posts on what is and isn’t prayer and gender (including gender equality) in the church. Each is as thoughtful as the Creed posts. Even if you disagree they are the kind of writing that sparks questions both of yourself and it. Such engaging of your mind to understand your internal beliefs and the world around you is critical to engaging life on your own terms. Everyone, Christian and non-Christian, alike has much to learn by
engaging with one man’s struggle with his faith.

The opportunity for non-Christians leads to one final point. Jim’s Christianity did begin, like most American Christians, in his family and in a Protestant denomination. Over the course of his life he has journeyed through a variety of Christian sects in a search for the answers he sought in faith. For those whose view of American Christianity extends from Phelps to Falwell with a side helping of the Pope for Catholic flavoring Jim journey will expose you to the diversity of American Christianity, or at least the tip of it. Even many American Christians could use a healthy dose of really seeing what those who share his faith but not his sect believe.

Wabi Sabi is a fine introduction to the internal struggles of finding faith. Anyone who wants to live on his own terms will engage in this struggle for our own terms is a faith, one we have consciously embraced. In the end it the source of those terms is often less important that the path we walk to find them.