phoenix

I used to think that education was the key to everything. I believed that when people didn't think like me it was because my thoughts had never occurred to them. I was sure that as soon as they heard and understood my point of view, they would quickly adopt it. I've only recently realized that this isn't usually true. One main thing that has caused me to realize this is my own aggravation with others trying to educate me into their point of view. I get angry when other people think that my thoughts, beliefs, and convictions are rooted in ignorance.
I always thought that my own views were simply better ideas and insight - other folks just did things out of habit or tradition. A little education will enlighten them to the more effective and productive way. Man, was I surprised when I realized that people's ridiculous ways were actually founded in their own convictions, regardless of how misguided I knew them to be.
It is very disheartening to realize that someone intentionally and thoughtfully does something that you feel is ineffective, counter-productive, or even damaging. No simple exchange of information is going to close the chasm.
So, how, I would ask, do you expect to accomplish our goal with that approach? Then the biggest shock of all – we don’t even share a goal. It is one thing when you feel that people are purposelessly going through motions with which you don't agree, it is quite another when you realize that it is not only the procedures that separate you, but in fact, they do have purpose, and it is the bottom line that separates you.

I worried about the way things were and how I thought they ought to be, and saw no way that they could become that. I thought about the 100th monkey lesson and how 3 contemporary generations reacted to the new practice of washing their potatoes in different ways. The youngest generation didn't even have to learn, they simply washed their potatoes as if it was "just how it was done". The middle generation slowly started adapting to the new practice, though not all of them did it. Washing potatoes was just an alternative to not washing potatoes. But none of the older generation washed their potatoes. They simply refused to consume their tubers in a way that was any different than they ever had. No doubt, they were sure that washing would rid the potato of all its nutrients. It was not until all those old monkeys were gone, that the culture completely adopted the practice of potato washing.
I began to feel that there was no hope until I realized something else. Old stuff can't become young, but it can become new. All things can be made new. I remembered that John, the Revelator hadn't seen a changed heaven and earth coming down. He saw a NEW heaven and a NEW earth.
I can't do it. I can't make me, or anybody else young or new. The author of the letter to the Romans doesn't say, "transform", he says, "be transformed". Be made new.
I began to think about the legend of the phoenix. In most cultures' versions of this fabled bird, it is immortal. But its immortality doesn't save it from death, it actually requires death. The bird builds a nest of fragrant herbs and sets itself on fire. Out of the flames or ashes, it is reborn. It requires a willingness to destroy the old and be made new.
Sometimes my cynicism has trouble with this as well. Where do we find the willingness to sacrifice ourselves for the new? Then I remember the monkeys, and Gameliel's advice, and Simeon who waited an insufferable long time for the new to come. Even John the revelator saw what was to be, not what was. Patience. Waiting. Come quickly.