It’s dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step on to the road, and if you don’t keep your feet, there’s no knowing where you might be swept off to.”
—The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien
Michael Servetus was burned at the stake.
(How’s that for an opener.)
He was burned at the stake surrounded by his books. The books were the kindling. The books were filled with his ideas. The year was 1553, a year when ideas could get you killed.
There is nothing new under the sun. There are no more original ideas. Only new ways of expressing them. (I read that somewhere. So I thought to myself “I should steal that idea.”)
I researched quantum physics. Not because of the science. But because of the idea that thoughts were energy. And energy can be transmitted. Your thoughts affect your reality.
Shoshin is a Japanese word that means: beginner’s mind. It comes from Zen Buddhism. The idea of approaching all things as a beginner would. No preconceptions. No dogma.
You must be shapeless, formless. Like water”
—Bruce Lee
I read ancient philosophy. I meditate. Sometimes I read the Bible while listening to Wu-Tang Clan. Sometimes I get sucked into Wikipedia wormholes.
I have been asked by people how they can find purpose in life. I wish I had an answer. (As a write this, I take a sip of coffee. My dog walks by. I pet her on the head and she smiles. She doesn’t really smile. She wags her tail.)
I have a friend that doesn’t like dogs. To each his own but that’s no way to live a life.
People want to know if the stories I tell them are true. Can people really change? Can people really overcome depression, anxiety, addiction?
I used hypnosis once. My patient said he had never felt better. His anxiety calmed. His fear subsided. He was motivated. A few months later….he was back with his ex. And he was as miserable as ever.
J. Robert Oppenheimer helped develop the atomic bomb. This is what he had to say about it:
Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.”
Try putting that on your resume.
We walk into this world. Fragile. As Jesus said, like sheep among wolves.
When we have children come into our family, my wife wishes she could see the future. She wants to know if everything is going to turn out okay. That’s understandable.
But there is no future. Only now. And the sacrifices we make today, bring about the NOW tomorrow.
I wrestle with the concepts of Free Will and Fate.
Free will… the minuscule actions of my making. And fate seems to be everything else. Free will is what happens inside the framework of fate. The cosmic dance.
I watch the show Vikings on the History channel. I’d like to go back in time and rename my kids after Norsemen and shield maidens. Vikings had an interesting take on fate. They believed their destiny was fixed but you had a few choices you could make along the way. You could die with courage and then feast with the gods in Valhalla or you could die a coward. You were going to die either way.
Michael Servetus was a physician. He was one of the first people to describe pulmonary circulation. But he was also a theologian. He liked to match wits with John Calvin.
Servetus’s ideas were so severe, so outlandish, so dangerous, that he was killed for them. The powers that be couldn’t allow those ideas to spread.
And now you’re wondering what those ideas were.
Because you think you can handle them. Because you think free will entitles you to decide what ideas you will follow and what ideas you’ll cast aside. Because you accept your fate.
But the thing that keeps me up at night…..
It’s easy to judge history. It’s not easy to live. To make decisions that matter. To have the courage to do what’s right.
I don’t believe in original sin or total depravity. But I’m not naive. Evil exists.
I say this in the face of school shootings, human trafficking, drug overdoses, war, famine, terrorism.
I know the dark reality. The dark web holds no secrets that won’t be exposed. Humanity wrestles with itself. To know the others will be to know ourselves. And this will be our way through.
I put my hope in goodness. The human spirit. The divine spark.
Out of the chaos, we’ll walk together. Don’t give up just yet. Don’t be afraid. Don’t let the the darkness swallow you up.
Make straight your path. Feed your dog. Hug your kids. Kiss your wife. Write a song. Pray a prayer.
In the night, Michael Servetus’s flame still burns bright.
As dangerous as ever.
But it lights our path.
Until we find ourselves back home.
Wherever that may be.
“There’s some good in this world, Mr. Frodo…and it’s worth fighting for.”
—Sam Gamgee
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