Unfortunately, separateness is the chosen stance of the small self which has a hard time living in unity and love with the diverse manifestations of this One Reality (i.e., ourselves, other people, and everything else). The small self takes one side or the other in order to feel secure. It frames reality in a binary way: for me or against me, totally right or totally wrong, my group’s or another group’s opinion—all dualistic formulations. (Richa Rohr Meditation, Separateness is Suffering, September 3, 2020.
I have struggled to understand how to escape the “dualistic formulations” Richard Rohr describes in his online meditations today. Politically I find myself drawn like a magnet to a certain pole, even when I am trying to make a fair judgment or reacting to “breaking news.” Spiritually I am often drawn to the same pole despite my Evangelical roots. I know the harsh judgments I project on the opposite pole of believers are self-righteous and uncharitable, but that smart-ass is always alive in my soul.
Today I went to familiar ground and thought about the competition among Major League baseball teams. I know there is healthy and ruthless competition among fans, as well as players. But I know there are fans of baseball who understand excellence and sportsmanship in the game.
We often speak of fans of the game, who are not merely fans of one team. If a player on the opposing team makes an outstanding play, the true baseball fans will cheer the effort and performance. They recognize excellence and freely appreciate it with applause or cheers.
Baseball announcers and managers will often refer to a “baseball town” or “knowledgeable fans” because the crowd responds to plays that are just “good baseball” regardless of which team makes them. This is a good analogy to the spiritual individual breaking through the “dualism” of life to a revelation of beauty and excellence. It is a wisdom born of much experience and a sense of how the game should be played or how life should be lived.
Maybe it is a crude analogy for the wisdom of the spirit, but it has meaning for me. When we remember a great baseball game, it is often with appreciation of a certain play that excited us, regardless of which team made it. “I remember when Ricky Henderson, that SOB, stole home home and won the game.” We appreciate the play, even while raging against the outcome. There is an admiration of the skill and an understanding of what “good baseball” is that you usually don’t hear from the young, but the older fan has a different perspective. That is like the appreciation of the divine.If I had a larger perspective of politics and religion, I think I would grow in appreciation for the world as God sees it, as God wants me to see. If I could see my adversaries with charity and empathy I would be closer to what God sees in them. It is what Richard Rohr calls living in the likeness of God. It seems like a long road, but it is worth traveling, I think.
The small self is still objectively in union with God, it just does not know it, enjoy it, or draw upon it. Jesus asked, “Is it not written in your own law, ‘You are gods’?” (John 10:34). But for most of us, this objective divine image has not yet become the subjective likeness (Genesis 1:26‒27). Our life’s goal is to illustrate both the image and the likeness of God by living in conscious loving union with God. It is a moment by moment choice and surrender. (Richard Rohr Meditation, Separateness is Suffering, September 3, 2020.)
I will try, but this is the hard part of following God.