Stirring the pot
I recall a bit of common sense advice that floored me. Why hadn’t anyone ever mentioned this before?
When your two year old is throwing a tantrum, you don’t yell at the kid. Yelling increases the energy, joins in the kid’s tactics, and sets a new goal of loudness for the kid to achieve. Instead a calm word or three will make the kid get quiet to hear your response.
What got me thinking about this is the number of religion based conflicts in the Middle East, and here in America. Just from my own experience at attending Christian churches on my own and when visiting friends, I can see a parallel. See, I prefer a calmer approach, based on study. Certain co-workers preferred a preacher with fire, with emphasis on acting according to their group’s teachings. These friends are more inclined to intolerance of others. They are militant about abortion, about gays, and about how their beliefs outweigh the rights of others.
I may be missing something. But it seems to me that Syria and Iran believe strongly the Bible line ‘if you are not with me, you are against me’. Thus Hezbollah is performing a service to their faith, in harassing Israel. In the context of nations, of peoples, and of protection of family and friends, not to mention self-defense, Israel has no option but to oppose the continued assaults coming out of Lebanon. And Israel is standing for her faith as well.
What does this mean in middle America? When we choose a preacher for our congregation, should we go for the energetic delivery, the fire-and-brimstone fervor that draws donations and attendance? The crowd pleaser that encourages behavior on the fringe of legal behavior in the mundane world?
I think ‘homo sapiens’ really translates to ’single thought’ or one-track minds. We are hard-wired to addictive behaviors. Most of us are best pleased with a fixed daily routine — note the success of corporations, armies, and schools that establish a fixed routine. Note how prone we are toward fixed patterns of behavior with respect to food, sexual intercourse and fetishes, gambling, drugs and alcohol, hobbies, livelihood, and other individual or crowd-based behaviors — such as religious fervor. Perhaps the greatest achievements of the human race are the individuals that resist habitual behaviors, and the masses that make communal efforts their habit.
So choose. Next time you attend religious services, contemplate whether the speaker is encouraging communal behavior or individual freedom. And whether the emphasis is on growing and maturing, or on shouting at (warring on) enemies.
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