Hi
I hope your week is off to a great start. I thought I'd write an open letter to you this week. I had some helpful feedback recently that I thought I'd share with everyone in case others shared this perspective.
Regardless of where we start. Regardless of what we believe or what we do or where or when we live, we all take the shape of the
categories that we possess. Like a piece of clay that is pressed upon by it’s exterior we all bear the imprint of our unique categories that make up our reality. So if we are a part of a religion, a denomination, a tribe, a counsel, a team, an organization or some kind of group think, we naturally take the shape of that collective. The function and power of all collectives is their ability to impress upon us a set of ideals, beliefs, or rules that are conditional if we
are to remain a part of that system. Holding to alternative perspectives will quickly result in being moved to the fringe or outside of the group. This is true for any group and it isn't always a bad thing.
Hollywood loves to make movies about those who don’t fit into the molds. From “Into the Wild” to “Rudolph”, our society intrinsically understands the power of the herd and it romanticizes the life of the stray. While it’s
true that innovation, progress, and advancement in consciousness usually comes from the divergent perspective, the life of the stray is not always so glamorous.
I know all too well that my content is biased toward the stray rather than the herd. This ministry is unique in that I am annoyingly calling people to question their group-think. The result is that for as much as I inspire those who find themselves on the fringe, I frustrate the sincere people who work
to make their organizations stronger and better. After all, we can't all be strays.
The constructive criticism I received is that some of the language I use makes me come across as though I am prideful or that I think my set of categories is somehow better than an alternate set of categories. If you have had that same experience with my content, I hope you know that is not my intention.
You see, I don't call people to leave
their jobs, religions, churches, or institutions because I have arrogantly found a better way. My goal is to show an equally viable alternative way for those people who don't really relate to the system. For those who really like their system, I hope you know I see this as a both/and not either/or. I believe that all of these groups have a good and proper place in the world and we all need them. I also know that these systems have many sincere people in them. Since we
can all easily see institutional power and its negative effects, I often use this to get at the point of our attachment.
My mission is to utilize our institutional alliances to showcase that we often mistakenly create our identities from them. We derive a false self from them. One of the hardest things to do is to reach people at their point of "BEING" because everything is focused on DOING. Anyone who
has ever done the hard spiritual work in their life has had to painfully resect any attachment points that are not tided to God. If we don't do this with conversation and engagement, then inevitably suffering has to do it for us.
Fortunately, we are not left in this process without examples. Beyond what hollywood can produce, we are told that Jesus was the "icon" (exact imprint) of God (Colossians 1:15). His story is that he didn't
take the shape of his tribe or people (he hung out with rebels and outcasts, not the elite). He didn't take the shape of his religion (he often broke religious rules and told others to do so). He didn't take the shape of his cultural expectations and norms (he was committed to non-violence in the Roman world). Despite all the pressure to conform, he stayed only conformed to the shape of God. When he did this, he gave us all a wonderful road map of how to live in faith, freedom, and power in the
world. He didn't start a new religion and try to get people in it, he rightly appropriated the religions that each person already had. He made the main thing, the main thing again, for all comers. That is what I hope to do too.
So even though my criticisms may seem a bit harsh, the risk of not saying something seems way worse to me. The byproducts of religion have been many wars, divisions, denominations, and not peace and unity. We can all do
better and I will do all I can to inspire others, as Jesus' story has inspired me, to live conformed to God alone. For some this makes them uncomfortable or it makes them distrust me. That's ok. I hope you will explore what this means for you, and I hope this newsletter and my other content inspires and equips you to become free of human "doing" and experience abundant human
"being."
Sincerely,
K
