“A Man’s Got To Know His Limitations…” (Clint Eastwood)

An extraordinary amount of grief in my life has been caused by beliefs about myself being significantly out of sync with Reality. Hmm, let’s be honest here: beliefs that my knowledge/abilities/good looks/talent/etc. are GREATER than they really are!

But alas, four-score-and-ten years of only 24 hours to the day is a crushing limitation.

I read somewhere that the average CEO reads one book a week. (That’s pretty aggressive, especially considering that I read somewhere else that the average college graduate never reads another book!) Over, say, a 50 year reading period, that works out to roughly 2,500 books I can hope to read in a lifetime. The University of California at Riverside is the largest library within close proximity to me–I believe they have a couple million volumes. So in my lifetime I can’t expect to read more than 2,500/2,000,000 = 0.1% That’s not much of a dent in just that one library.

Some of the books in that library can demand an entire lifetime unto themselves. Glenn Gould had a great career as a concert pianist playing little besides Bach. Many a scientist has devoted their lives to solving just one problem. Biblical scholars devote their entire lives to just one Book.

How many years does it take to live in a culture and learn its language and its ways? How many cultures are there in the world?

How many years does it take to learn to cook? Weld? Play the piano?

How many of the economists who didn’t see the biggest Economic Tsunami of the Century coming, are now sure they know what we need to do to get us out of it?

Then President Bush announced on June 5, 2003, regarding the Iraq War: “Mission Accomplished!” And it still isn’t…

The point is that we are all prone to “fools rushing in where angels fear to tread.” It almost seems as if my degree of certainty about a question is inversely proportional to how much I actually know about it! That I am all too quick to judge others without ‘walking a mile in their moccasins’.

As I have worked with the idea of rejecting all False Certainty–about myself, about my neighbor, about EVERYTHING–I find myself just relaxing into being a Human Being, and much more accepting of the other Human Beings in my life.

My grandmother used to say: “Take each day and work it out.” Perhaps that is all that is really given us. But that is a lot! And it’s enough.

Learn all you can! But as you pick up that little shiny pebble of learning on the beach of Knowledge, don’t forget about the unfathomable ocean that still lies before you.

ALLEGORY: Grimpil and the “Land of Ocula”

At an opportune time in his journey, Grimpil found himself in a land called “Ocula”. He sojourned into the village, and discovered that none of the citizens spoke—they all used sign language.

“Are all of you hearing-impaired?” he signed to one of its citizens (for Grimpil was fluent in sign and many other languages).

“What is ‘hearing-impaired’?” the citizen replied.

“Why, the inability to perceive sound,” Grimpil replied.

“What is ‘sound’?,” she replied.

“It’s like THIS” and Grimpil shouted a loud “Hello! Hello!”.

The citizen signed: “I saw you exhale with vigor, but I still have no idea what you mean by ‘sound’.”

“OVER HERE! OVER HERE” Grimpil heard, and following the sound he found a young lad shut up in a pillory.

“Are all the citizens of this region deaf?” Grimpil asked Pillory Boy.

“Only by habit,” Pillory Boy replied. “Infants can hear well enough, but by upbringing, and the mockery and pressure of their peers, they soon learn to shut out and turn off their God-given ability to hear.”

“And why are you shut up in this pillory?” asked Grimpil.

“I had the temerity to suggest that they use their ears to hear! To LISTEN!” replied Pillory Boy.

“This is ridiculous!” said Grimpil. “I shall speak to the magistrate at once and secure your release.”

With just a few inquiries, Grimpil soon found the Magistrate.

“Is it true,” Grimpil demanded, “that you have pilloried a young man for the supposed crime of suggesting that people use their ears to hear? To LISTEN?”

“That is a very serious crime, a very serious crime indeed!” said the Magistrate. “All of our scientists agree that there is nothing beyond the four senses. This ridiculous and discredited notion of ‘sound’ is nothing but the deluded ravings of deranged minds.”

“But I can hear perfectly well,” said Grimpil.

“Of course you… CAN’T!” said the Magistrate. “Any supposed experience of an extra-sensory perception like ‘sound’ would have to be irrational and contradict the four senses.”

“Not at all,” said Grimpil. “My experience of ‘sound’ dovetails perfectly with my experiences from my other four senses. I have never experienced any contradiction at all!”

“You speak very dangerous words, stranger. In times past we have tortured and even killed those who have suggested the existence of this so-called “fifth sense.” Such ravings are a threat to our society and we won’t have it! I suggest that you leave our village immediately, or you’ll be joining your friend in the pillory—or worse!”

“Can I take Pillory Boy with me?” asked Grimpil.

“Begone with you both!” signed the Magistrate, who ordered the bailiff to release Pillory Boy and escort them both under heavy guard to the edge of their land. “Return at your grave peril!” signed the Magistrate.

So Grimpil shook the dust off of his sandals and hurried away on his journey with his new companion Pillory Boy.

Psalm 23 (A Free Paraphrase)

It was recently suggested to me to try a ‘free paraphrase’ of the famous 23rd Psalm.

Here’s the “original” King James version:

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
He maketh me to lie down in green pastures:
he leadeth me beside the still waters.
He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.
Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.

Here’s my ‘free paraphrase’:

The Lord is ineffable, I shall never presume to comprehend Her at all.
He shows me Unfathomable Shining Mysteries. In every moment for all time
She sings Her Great Omni-Fecund Silence-—and all that Is springs anew,
transformed and renewed again and again, eternally.

I have no soul apart from Him.

She leads me, and all of humanity, in our lurching, staggering first
baby steps toward the Greatness for which He created us in Her image.

Yea though I be crushed by Fierce Graces* beyond enduring, I know that
His Love will ultimately triumph in ways I may not live to see. Her
chastening, and His embrace—-they both sustain me through each day.

In my Darkest Night, You are the dim, sputtering candlelight that
nevertheless never fails. You anoint my broken heart with Your Own
tears. My puny cup and I are simply lost, carried away by the mighty
currents of Your Great Ocean.

Surely Love, Awe and Forgiveness shall enfold me all the days of my
fleeting life, and I bow down with gratitude beyond expression to have
been even a forgotten whimsy in the Heart of God forever.

—-

*Seeming tragedies that turn out to [spiritually] benefit us in the long run.