A Piece of My Mind: "How Then Shall We Live?"

One of my favorite things to do in Denver is hang out downtown.  The 16th Street Mall is a great place to do just that.  I sometimes spend hours on 16h Street with nothing but my longboard, a pen and paper, and my iPod.*  During one of my visits to the Mall, I was longboarding through the parking lot of an office building when I saw a sign in one of the lower level windows.

The sign read; "Those who can, do.  Those who can't, blog."

I had a good chuckle or two about the sign as I made tight figure-eights around two manhole covers.  To be completely truthful, my first reaction was an angered sort of defense - I bet whoever owns that sign doesn't really do anything anyway.  Realizing at once what a dangerous mindset that was, I put an end to it and instead focused on what caused that reaction within me.

I think it was a Divine Echo.  A God-incidence.  Call it whatever you like, as I've heard several names for it (those were just two,) but basically it's God trying to tell me something that I'm a little bit scared to embrace.**  This all stems from my philosophy on life, a philosophy that Professor DeVore helped me to develop.  Here's some back-background;

In Philosophical Inquiry this semester, Prof. DeVore was constantly challenging us with this question: "How then shall we live?"  You see, Professor DeVore was a firm believer (and I am as well) that philosophy, theology, and really whatever else you study is useless unless you satisfactorily answer that question.  You believe in Jesus, the risen Son of God?  How then shall we live?  You think justice is important?  How then shall we live?  Otherwise, our ideas remain in our own heads and are not reflected in our actions.

I have been applying this question to my thoughts a lot recently, and God has been using it in tremendous ways.  I believe that we, as individual, everyday people, hold the creative capacity and knowledge to change our world.  The mindset of "Oh, well I'm just one in a million" is a crippling lie that tricks people into resigning themselves to a meaningless life.  I'm one in a million, so how I act can't possibly be of any consequence.  I'm one in a million, so what I think doesn't matter.

Wrong.  Wrong, wrong, wrong.  What we do, what we say, how we live our lives, matters.  It all matters.  Mother Theresa wasn't a doctoral professor, a possessor of incredible knowledge - yet she changed the word.  Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. wasn't a multimillionaire - yet he changed the world.  It really only takes us normal, "Everyday Joes" to step up and live a life different from the 9 to 5, Monday through Friday lives so prevalent in our culture.

Now then, back to the God-incidence.  I really think the Man Upstairs is sending me a message here: Practice what you preach.  My philosophy is one of making a difference, changing this world in a way that brings about more peace, more love, more joy, and more glory to God.  So how then shall I live?  For this philosophy is nothing but a dream unless I start living it.

As Marianne Williamson said, "Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond imagination. It is our light more than our darkness which scares us. We ask ourselves – who are we to be brilliant, beautiful, talented, and fabulous. But honestly, who are you to not be so?  You are a child of God, small games do not work in this world. For those around us to feel peace, it is not example to make ourselves small. We were born to express the glory of God that lives in us. It is not in some of us, it is in all of us. While we allow our light to shine, we unconsciously give permission for others to do the same. When we liberate ourselves from our own fears, simply our presence may liberate others."

And who knows?  Maybe by me - one single everyday person - living my life with this philosophy, I can give others the inspiration they need to live theirs in a similar manner.  And the newly liberated can give permission to more.  And more.  Until this whole world is turned upside-down, and people no longer sit back and complain about how things are and how they should be, but rather roll up their sleeves and live like they believe in their dreams.

I'm reading the book "The Irresistible Revolution" by a guy named Shane Claiborne.  In it, Claiborne is talking about a comic strip he once read; "Two guys are talking to each other, and one guy says he has a question for God.  He wants to ask God why He allows all this poverty and war and suffering to exist in the world.  And his friend says, 'Well, why don't you ask?'  The fellow shakes his head and says he is scared.  When his friend asks why, he mutters, 'I'm scared God will ask me the same question.'"

Claiborne goes on to talk about how we the Church are God's hands, feet, mouth, and ears in this world.  When I read that paragraph, I stopped for a second and drew a deep breath.  Take a minute and think about it.  We have the capability to stop all of the injustice in the world.  All of it.  We could use our money not for iPods but for food for the starving.  We could stop buying cars we can't afford and instead make sure everyone on the planet has clean water.  We could cease to purchase $200 pairs of shoes and instead provide healthcare for anyone who needs it.  We could.

Think about it!  It gets me so fired up to come to that realization.

A skeptic will say, "Daniel, we can't honestly expect everyone to buy into that.  People will always be greedy, so that's a pipe dream."  To this I reply: Just because we can't change everything doesn't mean we shouldn't change anything.  Make a difference.  Snap out of the lies and ruts that the rest of the world have fallen into.  Do something worthwhile.***

How then shall we live?

Thanks for reading,

-Daniel K

*I sometimes even wear clothes.

**And by "a little bit scared" I actually mean "completely petrified."

***Or, I suppose, you could always just find a nice house in a nice neighborhood, get a nice car and maybe a nice dog.  Spend your paychecks getting the latest trends and technology, and die a quiet death in bed in the suburbs.  What a waste.