I have spent a fair amount of time in my life acquiring some knowledge. All human beings do. That knowledge acquisition begins very early on. We learn who are parents are and who are strangers. We learn that saying thank you is a good thing to do. We learn so much before we even go to school. Indeed, psychologists tell us the first two or three years of life are key to brain development and development of healthy individuals.
We head on to school and, for some of us, a very long time in school. My parents thought I never was going to finish! They had not even gone to college, so when I was entering in a PhD program, they had no real clue what I was doing. It would have been one thing to head to medical school; that they understand. But in religion? What really was there to learn that was all that important! I persevered and made it. I never had regrets. I learned a great deal about people, theology and things like that. It opened doors that have given me wonderful opportunities to share what I know with so many students and others.
Colleges sometimes glibly talk about “life-long learning.” I can almost see students’ eyeballs roll when they hear that phrase. But it actually is something I am still engaged in doing. Early on I learned that hanging out with interesting people made my life more interesting. Another thing I learned was some of the least interesting people were the ones who knew the kinds of things I knew. That did not mean they were inherently uninteresting, but they could probably teach me less than someone who does something very different than what I do.
When I look back over my life, I see a string of people who never even took a religion class in life. Some of them may well be atheists. But they are interesting. Some of them are in business. A fair amount of them have been involved somehow in athletics. Others have been university colleagues who teach astronomy or something very different than my own focus. Befriending them and being open to conversations have been a way of proceeding for me.
As I ponder this, I realize I continue to look for sources of interesting things. Those usually come with interesting people. I try to cultivate my curiosity. If I couple this curiosity with some courage, I can ask someone to have a conversation with me. To have a conversation that is meaningful to me and, hopefully, to the other person means I get my ego out of the way. I know that if I am talking about myself, I am not learning much new. If the other person is talking or showing me something, I can watch, listen and ask questions. I don’t want to be too quick to judge whether what I am learning is good or useful. Be patient is good advice.
While this might not strike you as spiritual, it is very much so for me. One way I define “spirit,” is to see it as what animates us---makes you go. Some folks have a spirit that is seemingly depleted. That are not animated by anything. Others have a spirit that almost makes them dance through their days. Everything they do or touch vibrates with vitality. They have a purpose that propels their quest in life. They are interesting. They are attractive to me.
When I read about Jesus, I am confident he had this kind of spirit that danced in his soul. His spirit was so attractive, it pulled others---disciples---into his orbit. I don’t read the gospel story as a narrative of his rebellious rejection of his heritage so much as a journey into the deepest Spirit within him. He was animated to reach out to people---all kinds of people---to be in conversation with them.
He hung out with Samaritans and tax collectors. He was not socially careful to protect a reputation. I do think he was curious. It was not unusual for him to ask a question or to be asked a question. I think of Nicodemus asking what he must do to be saved? That is hardly a question about the weather! It is a good reminder of the inane conversations so many of us have. Social media is a wonderful repository of inane conversation. So many words that are pure dribble. Almost no one is saved by Twitter!
However, I also think interesting people can even use something like Twitter as a way to someone else’s heart. Jesus did not write a gospel and neither are we. But he could live such a life that it became a gospel story. And so can we live a life that becomes a narrative of good news. We can become interesting in such a way that we are attractive and others will want to be in conversation.
To be spiritual is to become a source of interesting things to share. Our job is to understand this and to be a resource which is available to those in our orbit. Perhaps we all have our own Samaritans to whom we can reach out and befriend. Maybe a Nicodemus will come your way---someone who is of higher status than you are in worldly terms. If we are animated by the spirit, we may well have some wisdom to share with someone who is quite smart.
Join me in seeing yourself as a source of something interesting to share.
Those of us who have read theology or, perhaps, those who are people of faith and are old enough might well recognize this title as a reminder of the late Jewish philosopher and theologian, Martin Buber. I remember reading Buber’s book, I and Thou , when I was in college in the 1960s. It was already a famous book by then. I am not sure I fully understood it, but that would not be the last time I read it. It has been a while since I looked at the book. Buber came up in a conversation with a friend who asked if I had seen the recent article by David Brooks? I had not seen it, but when I was told about it, I knew I would quickly locate and read that piece. I very much like what Brooks decides to write about and what he contributes to societal conversation. I wish more people read him and took him seriously. Brooks’ article focused on the 2016 contentious election. He provocatively suggests, “Read Buber, Not the Polls!” I think Brooks puts
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