So Much More...

I've been reading some of Pema Chodron's work lately on the recommendation of a friend. Pema is a Buddhist teacher with a lot of wisdom to share, some of it I can agree with, some of it - well, not so much.

I was reading her thoughts on Theism which she calls an addiction. Um, I don't think so. Nontheism, she says, is simply relaxing into life's mystery. I part ways with her there. I believe the deepest person of faith can believe in Holy Mystery who is One and All - Creator, God, YHWH, whatever name you happen to choose(none of which come close to approximating the wildness and wonder of it all). In other words, what she considers Nontheism does not, in my mind at least, exclude God. I don't have any problem understanding God as Mystery. Or, to put it another way, I am able to understand God as non-understandable. I'm okay with that. What I need to know I'll find out on the other side of glory. Until then, I try to live faithfully and with the loving-kindness that Pema writes about. I guess that's where we agree.

Don't get me wrong, she has some really good things to say about meditation practice and letting go of our illusions of control. She just seems to give the occasional sideways jab at faith in general. For example, she refers to most seekers of religious practice as those looking for a grand "babysitter" who is going to come and make things allright in the world.

To be fair, she also says that we use materialism, alcohol, pills, and anything else we can find to escape the reality of life, which is that we will all die. She spends a fair bit of time in her first book "When Things Fall Apart" talking about the damage that our death-denying culture has caused to so many people. I agree with her here entirely. However, even in times of grief, I don't see people of even marginal (Christmas and Easter folks) faith turning to God as a panacea that is simply replacing the scotch that will come later at the wake.

An example: A young couple in front of me at the Phoenix airport had a BUNCH of luggage. She looked to be about 18, he was possibly 20. Neither struck me as either materialistic or attached to wealth. Just regular folks. I can't put my finger on why I made that particular observation - just a gut feeling I think. They held on to each other as they made their way through the line to the baggage check.

Sure enough, they were over the weight limit. The nice gentleman at the counter said it would cost them $90 to put the fifth and final bag on board. The young woman asked her boyfriend/husband if there was anything they should take out and put in their already full carry-on bag. The young man said, "No, I don't think so." The man behind the counter asked "What's in the heavy bag? It's going to cost you to load it onboard."

The young man took off his ball cap and said, "Everything I have left of my mother is in that bag. Mostly pictures and stuff she saved for me. I'll pay the $90." The young woman said, "We were just in town for her funeral."

Pause.

Airline guy says, "Here's what we'll do. I'll put a shipping sticker on it. That brings the cost down to $50. Just go to the shipping area when you arrive to pick it up."

My hand was already reaching into my bag for the $50, when the airline guy whispered to the couple quietly, "Forget the charge. I'm sorry for your loss." As the couple (and me) wiped away a few tears, they were on their way and I was checking my bag.

There is just no way in my lifetime that anyone is going to convince me that Holy Mystery, our God and Creator, was not walking with those two young grieving people in front of me. No one will convince me that a greater power was not at work in that airport that day. Something beautiful happened, not because of some made up Babysitter god, but because we find the One True God in each other if we're paying attention.

The God of all Mystery and all Wonder is so much more than we can imagine. So much more...