Have you ever tasted a food so great that when you try and explain the taste you can’t help but realize that you’ll never be able to properly express the experience? Or, have you ever listened to a song and you try humming it for someone or even showing it to them but you know that your explanation can’t do it justice because it spoke something so necessary to you at that moment that any words you use will fall short? Or maybe you went on a hike and the sun hit the trees in such a way that you couldn’t help but stop and stare. You tried to take a picture but you know any photo you take will undoubtedly fall short of the experience?
Yeah, I’m in the midst of one of these experiences. And I’m going to try and put it into words. Not to try and make you feel like you were a part of the reality necessarily, but to hopefully provide an example that hints at one of the lessons that was powerful to me.
I’m currently in between two Rob Bell events in Laguna Beach, California. The first one ended tonight and started yesterday evening. Rob Bell and Richard Rohr conducted the conversation together. One would speak, the other would be speak, and then the two minds would come together to converse about what each had to see. Rohr spoke with his grandfatherly wisdom, talking about concepts spanning from the cosmic Christ, to a Paul being Christianity's first mystic. Bell did what he is so great at doing. Talking about the absolutely mind blowing scientific theories that point to us being apart of something extraordinary. Both of them combining to create a message of hope not dependent on idyllic projection, but based on an empowerment to see God in the midst of the ever beckoning spiritual reality unfolding all around us.
Now, although this post could play as a simple summary of all the profound things I heard the past 36 hours, that would be nothing more than an explanation of a song you hadn’t experienced yourself. So, instead, I’ll put the ideas into my own words through personal story. And although that may seem too personal to make sense, I believe the lesson is quite clear and universal.
Bell emphasized how expansion is an essential part of the reality of life, and an essential part of the whole of existence. From the Big Bang to changing where we live when we go off to school, healthy realities are all about expansion. What expansion requires, on the personal level at least, is for us to step outside the realm of being comfortable and secure. In order for benefit to be presented in our lives, we must change the norm. Expansion requires boldness.
The summer of my senior year of High School, I shifted my youth group mentality to one revolving around girls, drinking, and occasional other illicit activities. My mom took notice to this and on one of our reoccurring trips to the bookstore asked me to pick out a book for us to read and discuss over lunch. I picked a book I knew was somewhat controversial within Christianity and accepted my moms offer. That book ended up completely revitalized my faith and allowed me to see God in a whole different way. I accepted the new challenge to hold onto this somewhat controversial version of faith.
At the end of that summer, I moved 2,000 miles away from everything I had ever known and loved. I headed across the country to pursue schooling at a Bible College I knew full well would be at best be hesitant to my newly discovered progressive faith. A few weeks in, my assumptions proved to be true. After sitting through incredibly uncomfortable lectures, it became quite clear the institution I went to’s idea of God and my idea of God were drastically different. We were at “different stages of consciousness" as both Rohr and Bell would say.
My freshman year was full of argument, resentment, occasional deep loneliness, and the weekly 10 mile walks in the Spring to get away. All the friendships I had were slightly tainted due to the frustration I had toward the people at the school and how they weren’t at the place I was as far as how they viewed God. I developed an ego. I thought I was better and with that came a slight arrogance and an unhealthy perception of myself
At this point you’re probably thinking “Alright Mike, great sob story. But what’s the point?” Great question!
To flash back… I moved away. It required expansion. I read a book that opened me up to new perspectives before I moved. It yielded expansion. I went to a school where people were at different levels of understanding. So what did I do? I tried to force expansion.
When expansion is unfolding, it is beneficial. When it is forced, it becomes unwanted dogma that leads to argument and tainted relationship.
The initial expansion of moving out west and the reading of that book the summer before I moved eventually led to the reality of sitting on a balcony in Laguna Beach writing this post right now. And you know what I realize now because of it? All of the expansion in my life thus far has been incredibly beneficial to me, but has had a very limited impact on the lives of those who I encounter.
The most recent expansion of my conciseness that is a direct result of what was revealed to me at this event has taught that although the expansion I’ve encountered is good and life giving, I should never try to force expansion in others. Force being the key word there.
Everyone is evolving. We are all headed somewhere. But just as every story within the binds of a book goes at its own pace, so to does the life of everyone on this journey we call existence. And that’s beautiful. That’s powerful. This week I’ve been able to eat bacon cheeseburgers covered in guacamole alongside people who have had the same evolution of understanding that I have. It’s been amazing. But if every persons life was at the same place of conciseness and that’s all we ever encountered, how incredibly stale would that get?
Laguna Beach is an art town. The wonderful thing about art is not only is every piece different, but so is every genre. Within all the different genres we find different beauty. The same is true of the human psyche. The sooner we realize that pushing our own agenda actually limits the potential the artist of the art can have, the sooner we recognize how much beauty there is in the art all around us.
We are all on a journey. Searching, discovering, despairing, hoping. It’s a never ending mystery. There are many mysteries in Laguna Beach. It is, after all, where the show Scooby Doo is set. But the one mystery I solved on this trip is the reality that each person is in the process of uncovering their own story. That process is not one for me to interfere with. But is a process that I can occasionally leave a clue in to help them along their way with the hope that someone ahead of myself in understanding will leave clues for me to find as well.
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