Re-writing the Bible – You’re Blessed

Every so often, I feel compelled to re-write sections of the Bible to more accurately guide the desires of the average reader of today.  Much of the old language appears to be confusing, misleading, and even offensive to many.  Certainly, as the inspired word from a loving God, that was never the intent of the original text.  God, in His love for His creation, must surely have longed to give us “the desires of our hearts” (Psalm 37:4).  So I have occasionally taken it upon myself to edit areas and make it more palatable and applicable for modern readers.  Whether you regularly find yourself in the corporate world, the church environment, or simply on community play-dates with the kids, these altered words will put your mind at ease and allow you to focus on your hearts’ true direction.  I hope you will find peace in these timeless truths…

The NTICSB Version :^J - Tracy Holley

Matthew 5:1-12

You’re Blessed

1-2 When the young corporate executive saw his rhetorical propaganda drawing huge crowds, he climbed to the roof of his high-rise office building.  Those who were learning from him, whose ears were being tickled by him, climbed with him.  Arriving at the roof-top, he stood high and taught his underlings.  This is what he said:

3 You’re blessed when you are at the top of your game.  With greater success, greater income and greater position, you are closer to becoming your own god.

4 You’re blessed when you feel that you have everything under control.  Only then can you display confidence and be embraced by your peers.

5 You’re blessed when you’re discontent with your place in life and driven to become more, earn more, and save more.  The poor you will always have because they are lazy, but leave them in your dust.  That’s the moment you’ve found yourself to be an American.  Long live capitalism!

6 You’re blessed when you have worked up a giant appetite for great food and spirited drink; due the best meal you’ve ever eaten.  After all, you deserve it.

7 You’re blessed when you can fully take care of yourself; when those around you need what only you can supply.  That’s the freedom to do whatever you want whenever you want.

8 You’re blessed when you find your own “religion”; that pomp and circumstance that makes others look up to you and respect you.  Your place is with the famous, those you aspire to be.  Being idolized fills your heart with joy.

9 You’re blessed when you run the rat race and finish at the front of the pack, even if you have to knock over and step on the weaker ones in the way.  That’s when you discover who you really are, a winner.

10 You’re blessed when your success earns you the accolades of the world.  You have worked hard for it.  You deserve it more than anyone else, especially more than those lazy people who never try. 

11-12 Not only that -- count yourself blessed when you win awards, medals, trophies, and honorary degrees for the great things you have accomplished.  Many people will want to be your friend because you are so successful, powerful and wealthy.  Know you are in the good company of those who have the lifestyle of the rich and famous.

Peace be with you!

Good God, Bad God

Recently, I was talking with my father.  He is a hard-working, self-employed salesman of industrial metal cutting machine tools.  These tools are not your ordinary hand tools, but rather room-sized, computer controlled, fully mechanized manufacturing machines that can cost over a million dollars.  These are not the types of machine that you sell every day.  During the years following 9/11 and then into the recession, business had taken a turn for the worse.  There were entire years where no company was purchasing any machinery of this type and times were challenging.

But times are changing.  Industry is beginning to see a turn-around in the recession.  Schedules are picking up, orders are increasing and companies are beginning to spend money again on capital equipment.  (Side-bar:  In my business of education, things are economically at an all-time low.  I find it ironic that education is always so far behind industry, even when it comes to the recession…but that’s a thought for another day.)  This is great for someone in the business of selling industrial metal cutting machine tools.  My dad was telling me about how much he loves his job, about the increase in productive sales leads, the newly opened doors, several recent orders, and many positive prospects.  As a summation of his conversation, he said, “…and it’s all due to the Lord.  The Lord has been very good to us…” 

The other day, my wife ran into an old friend at the grocery store.  In conversation, my wife shared that several of her close co-workers had lost their jobs over the past year, but her positions had remained intact.  The old friend responded with, “That’s the hand of God in your life.  God has been good to you.”  

According to many, there seems to be a correlation between good situations and good treatment from God, their anecdotal evidence abounding.  So, I started thinking…if “The Lord is good” some of the time, then doesn’t that mean that He also has to be bad sometimes, too?  And, if God’s goodness is evidenced in our good fortune, does that mean that His bad-ness is evidenced when misfortunes occur?  My father had gone through nearly a decade of poor business prior to the good times.  My wife’s co-workers have lost their jobs and are in very difficult and challenging times as a result.  Why is the “goodness of God” -speak conspicuously absent during those times?

Here are some thoughts and (admittedly over-simplistic) logic…

Logic #1:        If good situations = evidence of a good Lord

Then bad situations = evidence of a bad Lord

Let’s analyze this logic and the traditional Christian responses to it for a minute…

a)  The nature of God is always “good” all of the time; God can not be bad.  It is commonly described throughout the Bible that God is good.

i.e.       - You are good, and what you do is good; teach me your decrees. (Psalm 119:68)

- Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and long-suffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance? (Romans 2:4)

b)  If we find ourselves in bad situations, God is still good.  We are just not capable of understanding His ways.  The bad situations are due to our general fallen sin nature and we just can’t possibly understand His sovereignty and omniscience.  We have a failure to understand what is truly good for us.

i.e        - “For My thoughts are not your thoughts,

 Nor are your ways My ways,” says the LORD.

“For as the heavens are higher than the earth,

So are My ways higher than your ways,

And My thoughts than your thoughts. (Isaiah 55:8-9)

Here is their argument:  As a father, I am sometimes made to bring circumstances upon my children that do not make them happy.  In our home, cell phones and computers are not allowed after 8:00pm.  This is not because of any previous abuse, but rather simply to guard my children against potentially harmful and distracting drama that can occur, especially as fatigue begins to set in.  This is not always a popular rule and can cause some perceived hardship.  Just because my children do not yet understand the value of this “hardship” does not mean that I am not a good father.

Logic #2:        If bad behavior (sin) = punishment by God (bad situations)

Then good behavior = rewards by God (good situations)

Again, the traditional “Christian” responses…

a)  If God does have to behave in a way that looks “bad” it is because we have done something to deserve it (sin).

i.e.       - But in accordance with your hardness and your impenitent heart you are treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, who “will render to each one according to his deeds”:  eternal life to those who by patient continuance in doing good seek for glory, honor, and immortality; but to those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness—indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish, on every soul of man who does evil, of the Jew first and also of the Greek; but glory, honor, and peace to everyone who works what is good, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For there is no partiality with God. (Romans 2:5-11)

b)  But, it would appear that some “evil” (I am not going to define “evil”.  Feel free to plug in the definition that works for you.)  people are being treated to some very good situations.  It seems like, if the logic and formula is correct, that these “evil” behaviors should be punished rather than rewarded.  Here is a traditional “Christian” response…

Sin is pleasurable and feels satisfying, but only for a short time.

i.e.       - …the (fleeting) pleasures of sin (Hebrews 11:25)

“Good” and “bad” falls equally on all people.

i.e.       - That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he makes his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. (Matthew 5:45)

- As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”

“Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him. As long as it is day, we must do the works of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work. While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” (John 9:1-5)

I really don’t care to argue the validity of either of these sets of logic: that God is “good” all of the time or that He is “bad”.  Rather, I would like to consider the large gaping hole that remains overlooked by the traditional Christian logic; one that is left underlying and unspoken.  It is an “Emperors New Clothes” of the Christian world; obviously present yet intentionally ignored.  To avoid making themselves look bad, they all agree to pretend it is something else all together, couching it in subtly twisted Biblical logic arguments and glorified pomp. 

What Christians are really believing (but never saying) is…

Logic #3         (My) proper behavior = Good situations (rewards from God) 

But (their) bad situations = (are a result of) bad (sin) behavior

Here, there is a subtle yet monumental shift from that of logic #2.  This places an over-emphasis on personal behavior above God’s character.   This logic has coupled a ball and chain to the Christian world, dragging those who find themselves in “bad situations” to the abyss of guilt and fear while permitting those who find themselves in “good situations” to bob buoyantly on a raft of their own self-righteousness. 

If we are saying, “I have been a really good person, followed all the laws and prescribed formulas for following God and, as a result, He is rewarding me for my good behavior”, this is self-righteous BS.  It only leads to swagger and air of superiority.  If we are saying, “My situation is bleak and meager, so it must mean that I have made bad choices and have spent my time living steeped in sin”, this is self-destructive BS.

We all need to free ourselves from the burden of behavior = treatment, good or bad.  Both are equally destructive and over the years I have watched them tear many souls apart. 

If God simply is and and we simply are, where do we go from here?  

Search hard for your true freedom…

To Celebrate or to Mourn

On Monday morning, I turned on the radio to see what was happening in the world and instantly heard the news;  Osama Bin Laden was dead.  When I first heard the report I had no strong feelings, but simply received the news as fact.  It seemed beyond belief that a man has been able to elude the most powerful nation in the world for over a decade.  I guess my first thought was, “Well, that puzzle is solved.”  It was a curious bit of news, but no more than that. I found myself with mixed emotions, but no strong sense of anything profound.

Then I began to hear the coverage…the endless news coverage on the story.  The coverage of the celebrations, the analysis of his compound, the details of the secret mission, the possible impact on future safety,….  But what began to strike me most profoundly was the spirit of celebration that had over taken all aspects of this story.  Over the course of the day, I heard many news reports from many angles, but one was conspicuously missing. 

As the week went on, I waited to hear the voice of opposition, any perspective of critique, but that voice was never aired.  It was as if we had become united as a nation for the celebration of this event.  But, as the week went on, I began to feel less celebratory and more concerned.  For, as we have come together in celebration, have we in actuality convened a celebration of our hatred and prejudice?  I fear for a nation whose rallying cry is punishment, judgment, retribution and death, when we can not even agree upon caring for the health of our own people.  I fear for a nation whose mutual hate is our rallying cry.  I fear for a nation whose hands can collectively slam down the gavel and readily issue a death sentence before the evidence has even been unequivocally considered. 

Is this a time for celebration…?  Celebration over the death of another never seems like the correct response.  Is this a time for mourning..?  I do hurt for those who have lost, both for “us” and for “them”.  For that reason, I find it so very hard to celebrate.

I am a public school teacher in a suburban high school.  I see a lot of pain.  I see a lot of lost souls and confused identities.  I see a lot of misdirected emotions.  I see a lot of hurt and fear that is disguised as anger.  I see a lot of pain that manifests itself as bullying.  I see most students daily don their masks just to fit in.  I see people struggling to find their place in this world.  I watch people struggling to find their identity.  I watch smart kids pretend to be ignorant and struggling kids pretend to be cool.  I am asked to face this all with grace and love.  I am asked to look deep down inside each soul and find that spark that motivates each child.  I am asked to view each child as an individual, as a human, as the most important life on this planet at this moment and at this time.  I am asked to work and continue to work until I find that which connects with this child, because no child is a number, no human life is worth less than another, no one can be allowed to slip through the cracks.  I am never asked to give up on anyone. 

But it seems to me that we have given up.  I am not saying that this was an unnecessary action.  What I am saying is that our response to this action concerns me greatly.  That we, as a “Christian Nation” have taken the low road rather than the high road.  We have been so quick to serve as police, judge, jury and executioner…to draw blood and to smile, rather than to mourn.  Where are the voices to the contrary?  Where is the sympathetic heart?  Where is the doubt?  Where is the value of life over death?  Where is the solemnity over celebration?  Where is the pain in the action?  We have become a mob, driven by our ignorance and our hatred.

Like an unchecked cancer, hate corrodes the personality and eats away its vital unity. Hate destroys a man's sense of values and his objectivity. It causes him to describe the beautiful as ugly and the ugly as beautiful, and to confuse the true with the false and the false with the true. Power at its best is love implementing the demands of justice. Justice at its best is love correcting everything that stands against love.  (Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.)

We celebrate this victory as retribution for the 1,500 lives lost on September 11.  Each individual loss pains me to the point where it is difficult to write this in such a flippant manner.  Each lost soul represents the extended pain of so, so very many.  Each number was a friend, a lover, a mother, a father, a brother, a sister, a son, a daughter,…  But, when does that justification end.  At last count, since the beginning of the war in Iraq, as many as 100,000+ Iraqi civilians have been killed , with an increasing number of civilian casualties being added in Afghanistan.   When did “our” lives become 100 times more valuable than “their” lives.  When did we become so self-absorbed to believe that we can, with immunity, destroy 100 innocent lives for every one of ours and still audaciously celebrate?  When do we cease to be the hero and become the villain?  When the civilian death becomes 500/1, 1,000/1?  Each of “those” innocent lives also represents the extended pain of so, so very many.  .  Each number was a friend, a lover, a mother, a father, a brother, a sister, a son, a daughter,… 

I am glad this man’s reign of destruction is over, but one more death is not reason to celebrate.  I can take no pleasure in the death of another person, even the death of an evil terrorist.  I fear that, in our celebrations, we have ourselves become more like the terrorist.   

Over the past few days, I have pondered this question… If I found myself in the presence of a bound Osama Bin Laden and, on the floor in front of him, lay a loaded 9mm Glock and a basin of warm water, would I place the gun to his head or the basin to his feet..?  

^{Matthew 5:38-42}"Here's another old saying that deserves a second look: 'Eye for eye, tooth for tooth.' Is that going to get us anywhere? Here's what I propose: 'Don't hit back at all.' If someone strikes you, stand there and take it. If someone drags you into court and sues for the shirt off your back, giftwrap your best coat and make a present of it. And if someone takes unfair advantage of you, use the occasion to practice the servant life. No more tit-for-tat stuff. Live generously.

^43-47"You're familiar with the old written law, 'Love your friend,' and its unwritten companion, 'Hate your enemy.' I'm challenging that. I'm telling you to love your enemies. Let them bring out the best in you, not the worst. When someone gives you a hard time, respond with the energies of prayer, for then you are working out of your true selves, your God-created selves. This is what God does. He gives his best—the sun to warm and the rain to nourish—to everyone, regardless: the good and bad, the nice and nasty. If all you do is love the lovable, do you expect a bonus? Anybody can do that. If you simply say hello to those who greet you, do you expect a medal? Any run-of-the-mill person does that.

⁴⁸"In a word, what I'm saying is, Grow up. You're kingdom subjects. Now live like it. Live out your God-created identity. Live generously and graciously toward others, the way God lives toward you."   (Jesus)

Salvery: 150 Years Later - Part 2 of 2

Part Two

Every Sunday morning, millions of Americans put on their “Sunday best” and head off to church.  Modern church in America has taken on a wide variety of skins these days.  The ideal church description includes monikers such as traditional, contemporary, seeker-friendly, house church, modern, and post-modern, all in an attempt to remain relevant to today’s culture and to offer the ideal church for all individuals.  And so we choose…or we think we do.  Perhaps the choice is already made for us?  Lying just below the surface is the shrewd truth, that all of these institutions, no matter the denomination or religion, are very much the same.  Their voice speaks of one “truth”, but many ulterior motives loom below the surface.  To describe these motives as “sinister” (albeit naive) would not be too harsh. 

I was once a very active participant in the perpetuation of this system.  For a time, I served as a pastor of a small “evangelical Christian” church.  Try as I might, I found myself moving into compromise; doing what I needed to do in order to keep the attendance growing, the people pacified, and to forward the prevailing dogmatic “truth”, rather than doing what I knew in my heart to be right.  In the end, I refused to sell out and knew that the only answer for me was to move away from the system… but many do not.  Only after walking completely away from church did I realize the extent to which we were all enslaved.  Dietrich Bonheoffer once said, “The church is the church only when it exists for others.”  That is freedom; looking beyond our own selfish felt needs, desires and insecurities.  That does not honestly describe most of my past 40+ years of church experience.

So, what if the system that (we) have developed to “set us free” is the very system that enslaves?  Thomas Merton wrote that we set people free, “…not by telling slaves to be free, but by telling people who think they are free that they’re slaves."  What might our freedom look like if we were to break out and begin to think for ourselves?  Ask questions.  Do the hard work of finding the answers rather than waiting for someone else to tell us what to believe.  Our faith becomes more about listening rather than speaking; more about others than about what we want or even what we think.  In the end, we may land in the same place in our thoughts and beliefs, but they will hold infinitely greater sincerity and worth.  The world just might be much bigger than we “believe in.”      

Like the institutional religious system, in general institutional systems have a tendency to create limiting paradigms, destroy critical thinking and diminish individual identity. The problem may not be a church problem at all, but rather an institutional problem.  I suspect many of the same concerns could be raised about the educational system, the political system, the corporate system, the financial system, the family institution… 

…and even the institutional thinking we integrate into our own lives.  Every day, I see friends and family bustle through life busily engaging in tasks that they feel they “have” to do.  We adjust our behavior, our appearance and our personalities in an attempt to “fit in”, however that is defined on any given day.  We spend so much of our time, energy, and money in an attempt to be what we think other people want us to be.  Then, we use this busy-ness, and a myriad of other excuses, as justification for doing little of worth in our lives; a slave to excuses and obligations. 

Again, what Thomas Merton said seems appropriate when he suggests that we set people free, “…not by telling slaves to be free, but by telling people who think they are free that they’re slaves."  About this, Richard Fournier has written, “This artificial reality is the matrix we live in with our false selves. By and large we are oblivious to any other reality or possibility.”  "Oblivious" is such a strong and appropriate word.  Defined, it means lacking active conscious knowledge or awareness; not aware of or not concerned about what is happening around one; unmindful; unconscious.  It is much stronger than having simply forgotten, but even implies an intentional egocentric desire to remain outside of understanding.  When we consider our own awareness of oblivion within ourselves, it is possible that we might just be too oblivious to accurately consider our own state of oblivion.  Just because we might think we are basking in the attributes of abolition does not mean that we have become truly free. We can never become truly free until we first come to sincerely recognize the excuses, obligations and insecurities that are keeping us confined.

Perhaps, a deep and honest self-assessment is in order… or perhaps we might need the help of a very good and honest friend; someone who we fully trust and respect and who can speak candidly.  The ancient Jewish prophet Isaiah once said of himself, “God has anointed me and sent me to tell of the good news to the poor, to bind up the brokenhearted, to announce freedom to all captives, and to pardon all prisoners.  And to announce the year of God’s grace—.“  Some religious systems might try to narrowly define this “freedom” for you, but that is not what Isaiah says.  What is “good news to the poor”, but help with their needs; what do we need when “brokenhearted”, but a kind and listening ear; what do "captives" want, but an open door; what do "prisoners" need, but sweet relief from guilt and consequences; what do all long for, but freely given, unearned favor and love?  This is the “Grandma Moses” that I want by my side as I move through this journey from slavery to freedom.  But before I begin the journey, I first need to see and then I can be…

The Civil War and the 13^th Amendment were highly effective at accomplishing their prescribed goal of outlawing and freeing us from our recognized “slavery and involuntary servitude”.  But after 150 years, for some unknown reason we continue to voluntarily enslave ourselves.  True freedom is so close at hand, but we need to be willing to look deep inside ourselves, step out of deeply held paradigms, recognize and set aside ulterior motives…

I am going to sum up my thoughts on this by encouraging you to watch the following video of Dan Caro on Dr. Wayne Dyers series “Excuses Be Gone”.  At the age of 2, Dan was very severely injured, but you have to hear the freedom in his voice and in his music.

Slavery: 150 Years Later - Part 1 of 2

Part One

At 4:30 a.m. on April 12, 1861, Confederate artillery opened fire on the Federal Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor.  Although the Union garrison returned fire, they were significantly outgunned and, after 34 hours, Major Anderson was forced to surrender and agreed to evacuate.  This was the start of the American Civil war; a war to whose intention, arguably, was to abolish slavery.  As a result, slavery was officially abolished with the 13^th Amendment, passed by Congress on January 31, 1865, and ratified on December 6, 1865.  The text reads,

“Section 1. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.”

So on this, the 150^th anniversary of the start of the Civil War, where do we really stand on the issue of slavery in America?  Is this “Land of the Free” as free as one might have hoped when they donned their blues and set off to give their life for the sake of another man’s independence?  Let’s consider a few things together… 

There is an extreme dichotomy in the distribution of wealth in America.  A friend recently read an article that said the greatest determining factor for a nation’s long-term success is not its form of governance or type of economic system, but rather the discrepancy between its wealthiest and poorest citizens. The distance between the wealthiest and the poorest is a great chasm and the gap seems to be widening.  In 2010, the average household income was $46,326/year, which accounts for nearly 50% of all Americans, while the top income earners ($200,000/year and up) only account for 3%.  What is even more fascinating, is how even amongst the super wealthy, income is not distributed evenly.  There are approximately 146,000 (0.1%) households with incomes exceeding $1,500,000 a year.  Even at that, the top 0.01% of households had incomes of $5,500,000 and accounted for 11,000 households.  The 400 highest tax payers in the nation brought in a stunning $87,000,000 a year. (Source)  Now that is a very oddly shaped bell curve.

These numbers could lead us to think that this is a problem with “those rich people”, but that is untrue.   Consider what I once heard on a radio broadcast; if you are a two income family, own your own home, and have two vehicles in the driveway, you are among the top 3-5% of the wealthiest people in the world.  If it is a “rich people” problem, then it might just be our problem.  Poverty is dispensing overwhelming bondage to millions of Americans.  In 2011, the official “poverty level” for a family of 4 is $22,350.  My family is a family of 4, so to me this is not a statistic, it becomes personal.  Could we live on $22,350?  Could we live on $32,350… $42,350… numbers nearly twice the “poverty level”, but… 

Statistics can be helpful but too often serve to depersonalize the situation and to ignore the true problem.  So, the statistics don’t do it for me.  But names and faces do.  Think for a moment, if you will.  Try to put a specific name to the “poverty level” statistic.  Do you have one?  ( I understand that it may even be you.)  If you can’t think of at least one name in under a minute, then it might just be you who is the modern-day slave owner, holding others in “involuntary servitude”.  They don’t want to be there and we have the key to unlock their cell door.  Are we willing to use it?  So much of our energy is squandered on earning more money, managing our investments, and maintaining the material possessions that we acquired with that money.  We could lighten all of our burdens by realizing that, at some point, enough is enough.

The other day, I was talking with a friend who has his own business.  He told me that he has to budget 42% of his income, straight off the top, to avoid getting crushed by the burden of taxes on April 15^th.  A hard working man, trying to supply an honest living for his family, is made to give away nearly half of his earnings to be spent by someone else.  We love to deride the government for these high taxes and seem to feel well within our rights to do so.  The nearly constant chatter from the popular prickly pundits may be partly to blame for the perpetration of our antagonistic response to the system of taxation.  “The right, left, and in between are all at fault for the failed system”, seems to be the reigning voice.  Blame is the game rather than results.  Even if we could focus on results, “results” look different to all stakeholders.  All stakeholders want lower taxes, but no one wants their service to be the one to receive decreased funding.  As soon as a tax-saving measures are suggested, that special interest group loads up a bus and heads off to Washington to rally for their cause…and nothing ever changes.

Perhaps it is not the burden of taxation that is holding us enslaved, but rather it is our own narcissistic greed.  What might this entire conversation sound like if we began to respond with, “Yes, I could live without all of that.  My special interest is not more important than yours and I am willing to voluntarily concede to that.  Let’s work together to accomplish a greater good.”  In 1773, the colonists began the fight for representation with our taxation.  It would be interesting to consider what America might look like if we had representation without taxation.  The system of taxation would become obsolete if, rather than waiting for “them” to demand it from us, we were to voluntarily give (time and money) to address issues that were apparent within our own small sphere of influence.  We say that our problem with high taxation has to do with the way “those representatives” spend our money, but that is simply a smoke screen to mask our true darker nature.  It is interesting to me that we can voluntarily give billions of dollars to the sports and entertainment industries (even while being taxed at 42%).  What might taxation and governmental reform look like if we each voluntarily funneled even some of that money away from entertainment and into diverse and tolerant services?  If we long to dispel the "tyranny of socialism", then give it away before "they" even ask for it.  The money is there, but are we...am I willing?

Part Two is coming next week...

Playing the Trickster

Within the mythology of nearly all cultures there exists this whimsical character known by such names as Hermes, Coyote, and Mercury, but always playing the role of the Trickster.  In his book “Trickster Makes this World”, Lewis Hyde speaks of Trickster as:

They are the lords of the in between.  A trickster does not live near the hearth; he does not live in the halls of justice, the soldier’s tent, the shamans hut, the monastery.  He passes through each of these when there is a moment of silence and he enlivens each with mischief, but he is not their guiding spirit.  He is the spirit of the doorway leading out, and the crossroad at the edge of town (the one where a little market springs up).  He is the spirit of the road at dusk, the one that runs from one town to another but belongs to neither.

In short, trickster is a boundary-crosser.  Every group has its edge, its sense of in and out, and tricksters are always there, at the gates of the city and at the gates of life, making sure there is commerce.  He also attends the internal boundaries by which groups articulate their social life.  We constantly distinguish-right and wrong, sacred and profane, clean and dirty, male and female, young and old, living and dead-and in every case trickster will cross the line and confuse the distinction.  Trickster is the creative idiot, therefore the wise fool, the gray-haired baby, the cross dresser, the speaker of sacred profanities.  Where someone’s sense of honorable behavior has left him unable to act, trickster will appear to suggest an amoral action, something right/wrong that will get life going again.  Trickster is the mythic embodiment of ambiguity and ambivalence, doubleness and duplicity, contradiction and paradox.

In my mind’s eye, Trickster looks like the bumbling belled jester, being guffawed at as the buffoon, all the time smirking slyly under his tasseled hat at the knowledge that he is indeed in control.  He is rude, raunchy, unpredictable, unreliable and perhaps even unproductive.  If Trickster were in a school classroom, he might well be labeled as the class clown, a bad seed, a trouble-maker.  But, in spite of this perception, he is one who can easily swallow his pride because deep within, his behemothic confidence relinquishes all derision.  I see him wit-fully and creatively showing that the boundaries in our lives are something that we have made up and that they can (and perhaps should) be changed.   He cares not what others think of him because he has a greater purpose that may rarely ever be seen; but when perceived, it is a remarkable awakening.
One of my favorite Trickster stories is from the Islamic poet Rumi.  The story goes like this…

A dervish knocked at a house to ask for a piece of dry bread, or moist, it didn’t matter.
“This is not a bakery”, said the owner.
“Might you have a piece of gristle then?”
“Does this look like a butcher shop?”
“A little flour?”
“Do you hear a grinding wheel?”
“Some water?”
“This is not a well.”
Whatever the dervish asked for, the man made some tired joke and refused to give him anything.  Finally, the dervish ran into the house, lifted his robe, and squatted to take a shit.

“Hey, hey!”
Quiet you sad man.  A deserted place is a fine spot to relieve oneself, and since there’s no living thing here, or means of living, it needs fertilizing.”
The dervish began his own list of questions and answers.
“What kind of bird are you?  Not a falcon, trained for the royal hand.  Not a peacock, painted with everyone’s eyes.  Not a parrot, that talks for sugar cubes.  Not a nightingale, that sings like someone in love.  Not a hoopoe bringing messages to Solomon, or a stork that builds on a Cliffside.  What exactly do you do?  You are no known species.  You haggle and make jokes to keep what you own for yourself.  You have forgotten the One who doesn’t care about ownership, who doesn’t try to turn a profit from every human exchange.”

As a teen, I was commonly labeled as a class clown (I think I still have the ribbon from 1980 to prove it), as an “anti-establishment type”, or as one who likes to “stir up trouble”.  Perhaps that was just my adolescent nature, so often common in us at the know-it-all early teen-ages.  But perhaps I have always had a bit of the dervish in me, with that wry twinkle in my eye that says, “I see where you might view me as rude, raunchy, unpredictable, unreliable and perhaps even unproductive, but I know it is there for a purpose.”  Shortly after entering college, I dove into the world of art, finally finding a “voice” for the trickster deep within.  And oh, what a tool art can be to play the Trickster.


As an adult, I have come to see that I am never comfortable with normalcy, always longing for change, and learning to consistently ask the large “why” questions.  That “stir up trouble” nature, once refined (although few might call me refined), becomes more aptly recognized as Trickster.  To those that embrace their boundaries, this often is misunderstood as obnoxious, annoying, offensive, even threatening.  But to those who long for freedom, Trickster makes this world.


A few weeks ago, after having sat in several leadership meetings with my Principal, he stopped by my room and paid me what I considered to be one of the greatest compliments of my life.  He said, “I really appreciate you.  You have the ability to make people think about things differently.”  I smiled, thanked him for the kind words and, in the solitude of my mind heard a little voice say, “Playing the Trickster…”


Come along and play with me…


An audio conversation with Lewis Hyde, the author of “Trickster Makes this World: Mischief, Myth and Art” can be found at <http://www.homepages.indiana.edu/040904/text/conversations.shtml>