Living Spiritual Rhythms–September 12

Many people today are caught in a commitment phobia syndrome. They have a difficult time knowing who and what to trust or be suspicious of. True, because of human limitations there will be appropriate places where it is almost impossible to decide which is which. This is a complicated scenario and frequently produces a stalemate for them. But, when it comes to God, self, other, and world there will also be perspectives that are more or less trustworthy. In some contexts, suspicion will carry greater weight and trust less, yet in others trust will be stronger and suspicion weaker. If this is the case, which seems likely, it means two things are true at the same time. Even though trust and suspicion may sometimes cancel each other out, they do not always do so. If they did, all interpretations would be equal and we would be perpetually stuck; unable of building on anything, having convictions, or confidence in what we know and believe. In fact, so often today, ironically, a trust and suspicion stand-off functions as a metanarrative – a totalizing point of view – that people can end up being committed to without recognizing it. But this is absurd. There are no complete or comprehensive narratives. Furthermore, no one really lives this way. Metanarrative is an illusion. Sliding scales of trust and suspicion are unavoidable. We’re just those kinds of selves, who live in that kind of world.