Order, Disorder, Reorder:\nPart One<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Necessary\nBoundaries<\/strong>\nMonday, \u202fAugust 10, 2020<\/p>\n\n\n<\/iframe><\/p>\n\n\n<p>Law, tradition, and boundaries\u2014what I call <em>Order<\/em>\u2014seem to be necessary in any spiritual system both to\nreveal and to limit our basic egocentricity. Such containers make at least some\ncommunity, family, and marriage possible. Boundaries seem to be the only way\nthat human beings can find a place to stand, a place to begin, a place from\nwhich to move out. Even those who think they don\u2019t have any boundaries usually\ndo. We discover them when we trespass against them. The human soul flourishes\non solid ground, especially in the first years of life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As\nPaul belabors in his Letter to the Romans (see especially chapters 2\u20137), the\nlaw is given for the sake of information, education, and transformation, but is\nnot itself enlightenment. Even though allegiance to boundaries, limits, and\nlaws is almost universally confused with religion and even salvation itself,\n\u201cthe law will not save anyone\u201d (Galatians 3:11). Law has to do with the pattern\nof how transformation happens\u2014and that\u2019s all. The struggle with boundaries and\nlaw creates the wrestling ring, but is not, itself, the encounter or the\nvictory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Human\nbeings seem to need to fight and engage with something before they can take it\nseriously\u2014and before they can discover what they really need or want. The\npeople who never fight religion, guilt, parents, injustice, friends, marriage\npartners, and laws usually don\u2019t respect their own power, importance, and\nfreedom. They remain content with the external values of the first \u201clawful\u201d\ncontainer, instead of working to discover their own.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I\nam trying to hold us inside a very creative tension, because both law and\nfreedom are necessary for spiritual growth, as Paul says in both Romans and\nGalatians. He learned this from Jesus, who says seven times in a row, \u201cThe law\nsays . . . but I say\u201d (Matthew 5:21\u201348), while also assuring us that he \u201chas\nnot come to throw out the law but to bring it to completion\u201d (5:17). Despite\nhaving been directly taught to hold this creative tension, rare is the\nChristian believer who holds it well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The psyche\ncannot live with everything changing every day, everything a matter of opinion,\neverything relative. There must be a sound container holding us long enough so\nwe can move beyond survival mode. There has to be solid ground, trust, and\nshared security, or we cannot move outward. There has to be a foundational\nhope, and for hope to be a shared experience there must be agreed-upon meanings\nand shared stories that excite and inspire us all. If there are truly stories\nfrom the great patterns that are always true, they will catapult us into a\nuniversal humanity and pluralistic society. We will both stand on solid ground\nand, from that solid ground, create common ground. <em>If it does not support our movement outward, then it is\nnot solid ground at all.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Order, Disorder, Reorder:<br> Part One<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The\nUniversal Pattern<\/strong><br>\nSunday, \u202fAugust 9, 2020<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It seems quite clear that we grow by passing beyond some\nperfect <em>Order<\/em>, through an often painful\nand seemingly unnecessary <em>Disorder<\/em>, to an enlightened <em>Reorder<\/em> or resurrection.\nThis is the universal pattern that connects and solidifies our relationships\nwith everything around us. This week\u2019s meditations focus on <em>Order<\/em>, the first in the sequence. We will take a closer look\nat <em>Disorder<\/em> and <em>Reorder<\/em> in the following two weeks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The\ntrajectory of transformation and growth, as I see the great religious and\nphilosophical traditions charting it, uses many metaphors for this pattern. We\ncould point to the classic \u201cHero\u2019s Journey\u201d charted by Joseph Campbell; the\nFour Seasons or Four Directions of most Native religions; the epic accounts of\nexodus, exile, and Promised Land of the Jewish people, followed by the cross,\ndeath, and resurrection narrative of Christianity. Each of these deeply rooted\n\u201cmyths,\u201d in its own way, is saying that growth happens in this full sequence. To\ngrow toward love, union, salvation, or enlightenment, we must be moved from <em>Order<\/em> to <em>Disorder<\/em> and then\nultimately to <em>Reorder<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A\nsense of order is the easiest and most natural way to begin; it is a needed\nfirst \u201ccontainer.\u201d I cannot think of a culture in human history, before the\npresent postmodern era, that did not value law, tradition, custom, family\nloyalties, authority, boundaries, and morality of some clear sort. While they\naren\u2019t perfect, these containers give us the necessary security, predictability,\nimpulse control, and ego structure that we need, before the chaos of real life\nshows up. As far as I can see it, healthily conservative people tend to grow up\nmore naturally and more happily than those who receive only freeform,\nbuild-it-yourself worldviews.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We\nneed a very strong container to hold the contents and contradictions that\narrive later in life. We ironically need a very strong ego structure to let go\nof our ego. We need to struggle with the rules more than a bit before we throw\nthem out. We only internalize values by butting up against external values for\na while. All this builds the strong self that can <em>positively<\/em> follow Jesus\u2014and\n\u201cdie to itself.\u201d [1]<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In our time,\nmany people are questioning and rejecting the institutions, churches, and\nauthority figures that have long provided stability. Looking to the perennial\ntradition, which has held up over time, can help create a positive \u201ccontainer.\u201d\nWe cannot each start at zero, entirely on our own. Life is far too short, and\nthere are plenty of mistakes we do not need to make\u2014though, of course, there\nare some that we need to make. We are parts of social and family ecosystems\nthat, when they are rightly structured, keep us from falling. More importantly,\nthese systems show us how to fall and how to learn from that very falling.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Order, Disorder, Reorder: Part One Necessary Boundaries Monday, \u202fAugust 10, 2020 Law, tradition, and boundaries\u2014what I call Order\u2014seem to be necessary in any spiritual system both to reveal and to limit our basic egocentricity. Such containers make at least some community, family, and marriage possible. Boundaries seem to be the only way that human beings […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19182"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=19182"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19182\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19183,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19182\/revisions\/19183"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=19182"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=19182"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=19182"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
<\/iframe><\/p>\n\n\n<p>Law, tradition, and boundaries\u2014what I call <em>Order<\/em>\u2014seem to be necessary in any spiritual system both to\nreveal and to limit our basic egocentricity. Such containers make at least some\ncommunity, family, and marriage possible. Boundaries seem to be the only way\nthat human beings can find a place to stand, a place to begin, a place from\nwhich to move out. Even those who think they don\u2019t have any boundaries usually\ndo. We discover them when we trespass against them. The human soul flourishes\non solid ground, especially in the first years of life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As\nPaul belabors in his Letter to the Romans (see especially chapters 2\u20137), the\nlaw is given for the sake of information, education, and transformation, but is\nnot itself enlightenment. Even though allegiance to boundaries, limits, and\nlaws is almost universally confused with religion and even salvation itself,\n\u201cthe law will not save anyone\u201d (Galatians 3:11). Law has to do with the pattern\nof how transformation happens\u2014and that\u2019s all. The struggle with boundaries and\nlaw creates the wrestling ring, but is not, itself, the encounter or the\nvictory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Human\nbeings seem to need to fight and engage with something before they can take it\nseriously\u2014and before they can discover what they really need or want. The\npeople who never fight religion, guilt, parents, injustice, friends, marriage\npartners, and laws usually don\u2019t respect their own power, importance, and\nfreedom. They remain content with the external values of the first \u201clawful\u201d\ncontainer, instead of working to discover their own.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I\nam trying to hold us inside a very creative tension, because both law and\nfreedom are necessary for spiritual growth, as Paul says in both Romans and\nGalatians. He learned this from Jesus, who says seven times in a row, \u201cThe law\nsays . . . but I say\u201d (Matthew 5:21\u201348), while also assuring us that he \u201chas\nnot come to throw out the law but to bring it to completion\u201d (5:17). Despite\nhaving been directly taught to hold this creative tension, rare is the\nChristian believer who holds it well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The psyche\ncannot live with everything changing every day, everything a matter of opinion,\neverything relative. There must be a sound container holding us long enough so\nwe can move beyond survival mode. There has to be solid ground, trust, and\nshared security, or we cannot move outward. There has to be a foundational\nhope, and for hope to be a shared experience there must be agreed-upon meanings\nand shared stories that excite and inspire us all. If there are truly stories\nfrom the great patterns that are always true, they will catapult us into a\nuniversal humanity and pluralistic society. We will both stand on solid ground\nand, from that solid ground, create common ground. <em>If it does not support our movement outward, then it is\nnot solid ground at all.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Order, Disorder, Reorder:<br> Part One<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The\nUniversal Pattern<\/strong><br>\nSunday, \u202fAugust 9, 2020<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It seems quite clear that we grow by passing beyond some\nperfect <em>Order<\/em>, through an often painful\nand seemingly unnecessary <em>Disorder<\/em>, to an enlightened <em>Reorder<\/em> or resurrection.\nThis is the universal pattern that connects and solidifies our relationships\nwith everything around us. This week\u2019s meditations focus on <em>Order<\/em>, the first in the sequence. We will take a closer look\nat <em>Disorder<\/em> and <em>Reorder<\/em> in the following two weeks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The\ntrajectory of transformation and growth, as I see the great religious and\nphilosophical traditions charting it, uses many metaphors for this pattern. We\ncould point to the classic \u201cHero\u2019s Journey\u201d charted by Joseph Campbell; the\nFour Seasons or Four Directions of most Native religions; the epic accounts of\nexodus, exile, and Promised Land of the Jewish people, followed by the cross,\ndeath, and resurrection narrative of Christianity. Each of these deeply rooted\n\u201cmyths,\u201d in its own way, is saying that growth happens in this full sequence. To\ngrow toward love, union, salvation, or enlightenment, we must be moved from <em>Order<\/em> to <em>Disorder<\/em> and then\nultimately to <em>Reorder<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A\nsense of order is the easiest and most natural way to begin; it is a needed\nfirst \u201ccontainer.\u201d I cannot think of a culture in human history, before the\npresent postmodern era, that did not value law, tradition, custom, family\nloyalties, authority, boundaries, and morality of some clear sort. While they\naren\u2019t perfect, these containers give us the necessary security, predictability,\nimpulse control, and ego structure that we need, before the chaos of real life\nshows up. As far as I can see it, healthily conservative people tend to grow up\nmore naturally and more happily than those who receive only freeform,\nbuild-it-yourself worldviews.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We\nneed a very strong container to hold the contents and contradictions that\narrive later in life. We ironically need a very strong ego structure to let go\nof our ego. We need to struggle with the rules more than a bit before we throw\nthem out. We only internalize values by butting up against external values for\na while. All this builds the strong self that can <em>positively<\/em> follow Jesus\u2014and\n\u201cdie to itself.\u201d [1]<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In our time,\nmany people are questioning and rejecting the institutions, churches, and\nauthority figures that have long provided stability. Looking to the perennial\ntradition, which has held up over time, can help create a positive \u201ccontainer.\u201d\nWe cannot each start at zero, entirely on our own. Life is far too short, and\nthere are plenty of mistakes we do not need to make\u2014though, of course, there\nare some that we need to make. We are parts of social and family ecosystems\nthat, when they are rightly structured, keep us from falling. More importantly,\nthese systems show us how to fall and how to learn from that very falling.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Order, Disorder, Reorder: Part One Necessary Boundaries Monday, \u202fAugust 10, 2020 Law, tradition, and boundaries\u2014what I call Order\u2014seem to be necessary in any spiritual system both to reveal and to limit our basic egocentricity. Such containers make at least some community, family, and marriage possible. Boundaries seem to be the only way that human beings […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19182"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=19182"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19182\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19183,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19182\/revisions\/19183"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=19182"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=19182"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=19182"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}