Upgrading Life’s Operating System: Will you settle for Beta version?
Believing life is all about me (my security, my safety, my esteem, my power and my control), we humans have been experiencing the Beta version of life on earth. It is time for an upgrade of our personal operating systems. It is time to welcome the Alpha version of life on earth that corrects errors and enhances our experience of life for the common good.
Can you hear yourself crying in the wilderness? “What is going on in the world today? I have worked tirelessly to be safe and to secure my future but the ground on which I stand is shifting, shaky and sinking. I have cared for my family and satisfied social obligations but sources of my affection and esteem neglect if not reject me. I have credentials, license and experience yet I have neither power nor control. Surely there is a better way of living.”
Could it be that we, like the bug eating baptizer John, are standing in the wilderness between worlds, between the way life has been and the way life might be? Could it be that the time is long overdue to bravely join our ancient ancestors of “the Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem” to begin something new? Are we ready to collaborate with ALL people looking for a better way of living together? (See Mark’s text about John the Baptizer below.)
The operant word here is ALL. The transition from the way life has been to the way life might be occurs in the company of ALL people. And so the question is, “Are we ALL ready to walk into the wilderness, step into the Jordan river, die to the way life has been? Are we willing to turn away from a life ‘all about me’ and embody a new way of living that is ‘all about we?’
By almost every measure the ‘all about me life’ is not working because it is not good enough. It is not good enough because too many people do not have access to dignity and a decent life. As a result, people of almost every stripe have lost hope and find themselves shouting in the wilderness, “Our lives matter!””We are victims.” “Those people, those institutions are out to get us.” When nothing really changes, shouting turns to fear, fear fosters angry acting out, then we all suffer, we ALL suffer.
Here is the thing. Our lives are not the artifact of our circumstance. Our lives are the result of our choices. So what do we choose? To cling to life that is all about me or welcome a new version that is all about we?
Believing life is all about me (my security, safety, esteem, power and control), we humans have been experiencing the Beta version of life on earth. An upgrade of our personal operating systems is long overdue. It is time to welcome the Alpha version of life on earth that corrects errors and enhances our “all about we” life experience. Our Alpha operating system makes way for the indwelling Spirit or Christ in and of, with and through the community of humanity.
Our Alpha operating system insists, life is all about we. It compels us to turn the page and begin a new chapter by becoming the hope for humanity that we hope for. Hope is what gives us energy to act. In the absence of hope we either sink into despair or erupt into anger, neither of which foster life and both of which blow wind on the flames of suffering.
Consider just a few of the insidious idioms that inform the Beta way life has operated in the twentieth and early twenty first centuries. “It’s every man for himself” from Chaucer’s A Knight’s Tale. Or James Joyce’s allusion to “Pull yourself up by your bootstraps.” I have no idea of the source of this phrase, “Better look out for number one.” All this in the context of a Beta culture bent on arguing for inordinate individual rights, self help, personal salvation.
There is no ignoring the tragic consequences of these invocations. Western civilization has become all about me. We have lost the sense of the common good and commitment to community. Suddenly John the Baptizer’s call to repentance makes sense. Repentance is not about blame or shame. It is about making a conscious and conscientious choice to turn away from the way life has been and adopt new words for living, words that foster hope.
How different might life be if we chose different words to live by? Winston Churchill avers, “We make a living by what we get but we make a life by what we give.” Mother Teresa, “Love is not patronizing and charity isn’t about pity, it is about love. Charity and love are the same — with charity you give love, so don’t just give money but reach out your hand instead.” Desmond Tutu writes, “Hope is being able to see that there is light despite all of the darkness.”
Today we are poised between the Beta version way life has been and the Alpha version way life could be. We tremble when we hear John call, “Prepare the way of the Lord” because we know we must choose one way or the other. Will we cling to life as it has been, all about me procuring my private security, safety, esteem, power and control regardless of the consequence to others and the earth? Or will we step out of our comfortable ruts, find ourselves in relationship with all of humanity, step bravely into the wilderness and be the “Good news” of hope born again for ALL people on earth?”
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Thank you! Blessings for a Holy Advent.
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https://www.debraasis.org
All words are generated by grace and the grit of a real human being, Debra Asis
Mark 1:1–8 The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
As it is written in the prophet Isaiah, “See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way; the voice of one crying out in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight,’”
John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. And people from the whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem were going out to him, and were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. Now John was clothed with camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. He proclaimed, “The one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the thong of his sandals. I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”
