The linear path to life is one of upward mobility, of stable family, good jobs, established security, well thought out plan, nice reputation and recognition. My life and perhaps those who share similar journey may find that linear is not within the path nor is it upward mobility. The walk is fragmented and fragile breaking into pieces and one juggles to hold them together. One wonders isn’t it suppose to be the other way round after long struggle through life’s bruises and scars. Isn’t things supposed to get better and lower places slowly diminishes their space within our path?
But lows happen. It seems that lows become lows because of gravity. Without gravity there’s only spaces and there are no hierarchy in these spaces. Gravity, it seems to me, is socio-political. Gravity happens because we assign high values to certain categories in our psycho-social life. Gravity happens because we give so much values to certain dimension and as a result it becomes really heavy. Gravity dictates gravitation and where there’s gravitation there are only high or low places.
Lows are a part of the soul’s journey. Lows do not make you low. Lows make you if you allowed yourself to be made by these lows in our lives. Perhaps one needs to learn to find place that defies gravity and remain in this space in between.
Thank you for your post.
Interesting opening assertion – I wonder did Jesus live a linear life? Was he upwardly mobile – how does the extra-terrestrial fit? Out of your entire list may one even argue he had a well thought out plan or was it his Father’s (‘I do nothing on my own initiative’ John 8:28)? Otherwise, he was a bastard (by our definition illegitimately born), his step-father died early in his own life (so much for family stability). Interestingly Satan tempted him in the wilderness with job/security/reputation and although he received recognition it killed him.
Jesus fits in well with your picture of holding fragile pieces together – isn’t that partly what we celebrate when we celebrate his brokenness? That’s what Jesus is described as doing now – “He existed before everything else began, and he holds all creation together.” Colossians 1:17
Last night I was with an elderly woman as she died in ICU. Everyone watched her blood pressure drop on the monitor and commented aloud to each other how ‘dangerously low’ it was. I silently wondered about what we weren’t measuring, and what there was to observe other than danger.
A linear life can be explained by Newton’s first law of motion insomuch as that life can continue in its state of uniform motion in a straight line because it has not been compelled to change that state by external forces acted upon it.
By this model, are you saying we invite ‘external forces’ to act upon our lives when we impose value judgement upon them thus making them heavy with projected meaning/consequences that our fragile lives cannot bear the weight of and remain intact? Wasn’t it the accumulated weight/gravity of judgements and projections belonging to us that broke Jesus into pieces on the cross? And yet, if Jesus is holding us all together (in every sense of that) then how can any force be external to Him?
What a beautiful reflection from within the context of faith tradition. Have not thought of it in this light but you have given a very meaningful reflection from the life of Jesus and the way that is non-binary opposite. Thank you for sharing this perspective which helps me to root this in a religious tradition that is meaningful for me. Reply