Finding the black and white in the grey.

If only one could roll his eyes back, inside his sockets, and look within himself. Sure, we can be introspective, and contemplate our inner workings, our heart’s desire, and our soul’s ambitions. But this mechanism is also intimately tied to and thus swayed by our brains faulty conjectures and mistaken self-image. What is a good man? What is a good woman? What is your criterion for the evaluation? How do you measure yourself in light of that criterion?  Our feeble flesh is alive with justifications to assure us that our worldly interactions, our inner thoughts, our spoken words are not indicative of who we truly are. So how do we see ourselves honestly? How do we find that honest voice within ourselves? And use it to better ourselves?

We are amalgamations; Blending’s of flesh and spirit that are part of an ongoing interaction with the visible and invisible world around us. It exerts a pull on us, as we likewise exert a pull on it. The gravity of the situation, however, is such that the fallen worlds pull would overpower ours. It is simply bigger. Its influence is beyond our capacity to resist. We are specks of sand on a beach, and the tide throws us where it pleases. We are small and seemingly insignificant: fuzz in the breeze.

Einstein formulated the general theory of relativity, yet, may I propose an interjection of his principles into the ethical realm, an embracement of his theory within the moral paradigm. May I extrapolate his principles into a general theory of moral relativity? Don’t let the phrase “moral relativity” concern you, I am not using it in the common vernaculars way. I am using it introspectively, to see how it can confuse our own personal moral compass, and how a dastardly moral state would lead us to misread the proper direction we should trot. I talk of our head space, and those morally grey situations we intermittently find ourselves falling upon. How does ones grey matter bring color to grey situations? Truly, there is no grey in God’s eyes, only black and white – much like my holy Bible, a black cover on white pages. We see those clear black words on white pages, which repel the grey and elucidate the myriad of color around us. It is glorious to see the black on white.  But as I have conceded, our head space is stymied at times by our iniquitous drive to walk the fence between the black and white, between the light and darkness: To walk in the grey. An unhealthy attraction to grey is an inner progressiveness towards destruction. Yet it can confuse your motley state with clever arguments to justify our newfound inclinations. These justifications for suspect activity need to be seen plainly and in the light of the Spirit’s luminance.

One’s perspective, as Einstein realized, influenced how the world appeared around them: relative to themselves. Reality differs, in your head space, depending on which inner voice you choose to listen too; biblically, as to whether you stand on point A, or point B. Yet how do we know where we truly stand? And which point is the proper one?  We are as crystalline specks of sand on the beach and we are buried with our brethren. We are covered with a mountain of spiritual corpses. And each night, the tide throws us and tosses us and buries us anew. We have no perspective we can trust. No way to see where we truly stand:  in God’s eyes. Our carbon bodies are homogenously blended with a sinful vein. Our heartwood is mired and blackened. Like a tree with Dutch elm disease. It spreads throughout the life giving centers of the wood, suffocating it, choking it, all unbeknownst to the tree. And the process began before we were born. We are extensions of our first fathers, and share in their error. Adam means earth … and we are part of this fallen creation: Children of the dirt. We are our namesake.

Yet God spoke, “Let there be Light”. And it was so. He shone a light into the darkness. And we His children embrace it. We step above the soil. No longer sons of filth, but sons of God. But again I harken back, to my original thought … how do we see ourselves honestly, so we can correct our trajectory if it is unbecoming of the Lord’s children?  How can we distinguish if our paths are truly wholesome, and not obfuscated by personal justifications to enable us on a twisted path?

And the choir sang joyfully, “Stand upon the Word”. And the pastor raised his hands and proclaimed, “Pray and listen for the Spirit’s voice within”. I too am a card carrying Christian, and endorse and promote the Churches merry-full music. The Word is our legs, the vehicle that carries us to a proper perspective. The Spirit guides our eyes and our heart. The lost read the Word, but see only letters. The Spirit breathes life into the Word. And we share in that life. This is our starting point, and our finishing point. Let nothing come between these two points.

Yet I am not ignorant of the life lived. I know most are not studious. Reading the Bible is tedious to many … perhaps to most (?). To these I simply ask, grow in Scripture and find the tools to accommodate this objective. Pray, receive good teaching, watch Godly programming, seek God in your lives. Have godly friends. And when you do so, the tiny speck of sand will be tied to something greater than itself, and much larger and influential than the world’s pull. For our attraction will be to God, and no matter where you stand or how dismally grey the situation is, He will pull you to Himself.