Obsessive Productivity Prevents Wisdom: Get with the Dance
Afloat on the tide of time
Wisdom dances in effortlessness.
Flailing arms and flapping backbone
Summon certain sinking.
I used to be driven to be productive in order to prove my worth. A day, not even an hour would elapse without me striving for something to “show for myself” for fear my self would cease to be. Turns out the lie of obsessive productivity feeds my shallow ego character and drowns the “still small voice” of the Spirit of Wisdom that from the beginning invites me to dance.
Such a great misstep. By striving to prove something, I forfeit the dance.
As long as I am uncontrollably compelled to forge form and compose castles to assert my worth, my obsession with productivity seals my ears to Wisdom’s whisper and nails my feet to stone. So what is a twenty first century, recovering Type A, INTF, Enneagram 9, unemployed priest supposed to do?
“Be still and listen.”
God spoke: “Let us make human beings in our image, make them reflecting our nature…” (Genesis 1.26)
“Is it not enough being created in the image and likeness of God? What more could a woman possibly produce to show for herself? ”
From the beginning being imbued with the Spirit of Wisdom, every human is meant to “reflect the nature of God” by listening to the Spirit and joining Wisdom’s dance. Sounds good, but what will that look like?
I believe Jesus is an accessible example of a fully human being wholeheartedly expressing divine nature. Throughout his life and ministry Jesus pauses and prays, listening for the Spirit of Wisdom to invite him to dance and lead the way. And Jesus follows.
Wisdom’s dance steps are simple, though impossible to follow unless we listen.
“Be still and listen.”
God created humanity to “be responsible for the fish in the sea, the birds in the air, the cattle, and, yes, Earth itself, and every animal that moves on the face of Earth. God created human beings; God created them godlike, reflecting God’s nature.” (Genesis 1.26–27 The Message)
As far as I can tell Jesus never forged a mission statement, finessed a five year strategic plan nor voted for an emperor who promised to reform his religion or change the world. Instead, Jesus explicitly embodied care and compassion for whoever he met along the way and with eyes wide open (and confidence born of following the voice of Wisdom within) he called out any person or practice that disdained humanity. In other words, Jesus assumed “responsibility… for every animal that moves on the face of Earth” by dancing in the Spirit of Wisdom born of his humble ‘listening’ relationship with God.
Rather than being possessed by self-assuring productivity (let’s be honest, can a human create a mountain or a platypus?), better we humans should spend our lives emulating Jesus, being “ responsible for the fish in the sea, the birds in the air, the cattle, and, yes, Earth itself, and every animal that moves on the face of Earth.” Instead of striving to make things happen, or searching for the perfect politician to execute authority for the good of the world and us, what if we welcomed the infinite variety of creation and got on with the business of humbly and wholeheartedly following the Spirit of Wisdom?
“Be still and listen.”
Jesus said to Phillip, “… The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own; but the Father who dwells in me does his works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; but if you do not, then believe me because of the works themselves. Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these…” (John 14, 10–12)
Like Jesus we are meant to listen for words of Wisdom given to us through the Spirit within, to reveal divine nature by consenting to join Wisdom’s dance and wholeheartedly incarnate care and compassion for creation. In fact, not only are we meant to do the works that Jesus did, we are meant to do “even greater works than these.” Simple and not easy.
God is fundamentally relational, Trinitarian. The Father is known in relationship with the Son. The Son is known in relationship with the Father. (If the words Father, Son and Spirit offend you, try substituting Transcendent, Immanent and Vital Spark or Invisible, Visible and Vitality.) The Spirit dances in and of, with and through the Father and the Son generating creation. We, who are created in the image and likeness of God, are fundamentally relational which means, we participate in the Trinitarian dance of creation.
The contemporary theologian Jürgen Moltmann writes, “True human fellowship is to correspond to the triune God and be (God’s) image on earth…” (Holy Spirit). In other words, we are supposed to be the outward and visible sign of life shared in mutuality of care as exemplified by the symbol of Trinity. This is the norm for human relationships and it is the unique mystery of the Christian faith.
Moltmann avers, “People only arrive at their own truth (wholeness) in free and loving inclination toward one another.” (The Trinity and the Kingdom). We participate in the Trinitarian dance by pouring ourselves out to dignify and care for one another and all of creation. This Spirit breathed dance is the aliveness of God and we humans are meant to spend our lives reflecting God’s nature in this dance.
“Be still and listen.”
“God said, “See, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit; you shall have them for food. And to every beast of the earth, and to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.” And it was so. God saw everything that God had made, and indeed, it was very good.” (Genesis 1.29–31)
Afloat on the tide of time
Wisdom dances in effortlessness.
Every beast and blade that breathes
Is good, very good.
“Be still and listen.”
Shall we dance?
Moltmann, Jürgen, The Spirit of Life: A Universal Affirmation, (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2001), 60.
Moltmann, Jürgen, The Trinity and the Kingdom, (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1993), Preface.
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