A Wise Path
How is it possible to be clear and certain of absolute truth? I am not sure it ever is. Are you? I loaded that question with very high things. Clarity, certainty, absolutes, and the truth are things that come naturally to God, the One who is Absolute Being, but not to mortals who walk around here on the surface of the earth.
Some people claim to have a certain clarity and possess absolute truth. To a man like that, Winston Churchill might say, as he did regarding one of his adversaries walking nearby, “There but for the grace of God goes god, himself.” I can’t prove it, but people claiming absolute knowledge might be fooling themselves. I would state it more strongly, but Jesus frighteningly warns if we say, “You fool,” we will not like the consequences. (Matt. 5:22) I must tread carefully. This African proverb may be a safer thing to state: A wise man never knows all; only fools know everything.”
The pursuit of knowledge is made harder by our continual distractions. Our attention is pulled this way and that. We deny the obvious sometimes. We talk ourselves into dubious claims. The trailblazers of modern psychology said we employ mechanisms of rationalization, intellectualization, and projection to defend our stance and convince ourselves that others are wrong. As a flawed human myself, I know there are dozens of patterns that knock me and others off track and keep us from learning humility and finding a better way.
The sections of the Bible we call wisdom literature, teach that God is the source of wisdom: to stay close to God is to find a path to wisdom. The Book of Proverbs states variations on this repeatedly. Here and there, this book warns us that intoxicants can cloud our thinking, impeding our recognition of wisdom, and the discovery of joy in life. This Sunday we are celebrating Recovery, the wonderful way that people find liberation from the destructive cycles of addiction. The Old Testament reading will be this passage from Proverbs:
Surely there is a future,
and your hope will not be cut off.
Hear, my child, and be wise,
and direct your mind in the way.
Do not be among winebibbers,
or among gluttonous eaters of meat;
for the drunkard and the glutton
will come to poverty,
and drowsiness will clothe them
with rags. (Proverbs 23:16-21)
Recovery is not a threshold people cross and leave behind them, it is an ongoing way of life. In it one engages the day at hand, working steps toward serenity, knowing there are things we can change, things we can’t, with wisdom allowing us to know the difference. The humility of recognizing powerlessness over addiction and the beauty of trusting a Power beyond ourselves opens the ongoing path of recovery.
Meeting the destructive effects of alcohol and other mind-altering substances is not uncommon. It is possible to use these things to put our feelings to sleep, moving our lives toward a real nightmare. Recovery is a way of waking to freedom to live again and feel again. Those walking in the way of recovery, gain a knowledge that God is with them, and that friends working the steps are with them.
This is a very general description, but this Sunday we will hear from Vincent Fizer, of the Hope and Healing Center, here in Houston. At the 9:00 and 11:00 liturgies on Sept. 19th, he will illuminate things, making us better aware of spiritual healing that can come to people caught in addiction, and healing for those closest to them. I hope you will come ready to hear and learn about the wonderful wisdom of God.