Political String Theory (Whatever that Means)

 

The Future in a Multiverse Vision of Universal Prayerful, Personal, and  Political Possibilities or ...

Who Is Pulling Our STRINGS?

Photo by Terri Bleeker on Unsplash

Through our personal, prayerful, and political choices, we are working together with God to create a new world.

One theory of reality suggests that there are infinite realities in infinite dimensions, each created with each new choice or variable in the previous dimension.

It grows through geometric progression ... but since there is no way to cross over from one to the other, it matters little except as an interesting point of speculation.

But this is beyond speculation: There are countless possibilities ahead to be determined by the choices and behaviors today of all of us.

Imagine a place in a universe that operates on some different historical premises. One little piece of that universe that might be called earth is the subject of your focus.

Some things we assume have not happened in that place; others have; outcomes have changed.

What does that place look like? How is it different from our world? Is it possible for you, in this world, to help create that world?

Is it too late?

Is it too early?

Is it too much?

Is it a little bit possible to pray and to live the prayer, "Thy Kingdom come ... on earth?"

If every possibility creates a new "world," what sort of world are you creating by your daily and moment-by-moment choices?

As I was walking to St Joe,
I met a man with a broken toe.
He knew some things I did not know,
Which I suppose just goes to show ....

That little ditty, of course, means nothing. I just stuck it in because I did not know where else to place it. Did it make any difference in anything?

Well?

Did it?

How about the way I see and meet you and you see and meet me?

When you see me
And I, in turn, fear you,
The spiral of
Communication
Downward
Would be the envy
Of roller coaster
Engineers

What about the decisions with which I am wrestling? How about non-decision?

If making up my mind is like making up my bed, it won't last long ... or I will be too sleep deprived to remember anyway.

I once felt more impressed with concept of standing my ground. Then. I was in an earthquake and it hook up my assumptions.

Buber says it is all about meeting - people or tectonic plates.

So, let's meet. Reflections on Buber.

We are different and can only experience what those differences truly mean as we come together in an I-Thou manner.

Meetings of minds are superfluous among clones, but essential to the fluid thoughts of intersecting individuals crisscrossing life's journey.

There must be some detente if there is going to be any negotiation. Negotiators do not compromise principles. They start with common ground.

If I say that Z is an unprincipled ignoramus, but Z is holding cards we need for a mutual win, I've gained nothing by winning that battle.

There's no shortage of clever slogans to obscure, marginalize, fragment, & distort the truth they purport to underscore- including this one.

If I represent Jesus, it may require that I keep my own opinions within the laboratory of my own mind until they are better formulated.

If I cannot recognize the name you are calling me, how can I know you want me to listen. Name calling accomplishes nothing of good ever.

I cannot hear the voices whose volume exceeds their content or whose hyperbolic pronouncements outdistance their capacity to listen.

Politics at its best includes collective, collaborative, courteous, and civil communication to solve problems as a people of differing perspectives.

To distinguish between
Opinion,
Preference,
Emotion,
Perspective,
Prejudice,
Inspiration,
and
Insight
Is no small task.
Speak.
Listen.
Be.

As for my opinions (and these are mere meditations):

My opinions are like underarms.
Like most, I have two.
Others are offended by their emanating aroma before I notice
I need opinion hygiene.

We must not be distracted.

"... So I sent messengers to them, saying, "I am doing a great work and I cannot come down. "" - Nehemiah 6:8

This is our work. If any of this is to be sorted out. If this dimension of reality, the only one relevant to us, the only one we know and can access to this point, is to reflect the best of all possibilities, we must pray and act on this prayer:

"Thy Kingdom come; Thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven."

Come tomorrow ...

Come tomorrow, what if Christians in our nation would make some resolutions like those I humbly and tentatively suggest below?

I can only speak to and for Christians on this matter. People of other faiths and ideologies often have similar ethics, but I am a follower of Jesus and these resolutions flow from my understanding of His directives to His followers.

We shall love, respect, and pray for our leaders whoever they are. We shall obey our laws.

If there is a law that we, in good conscience cannot obey (not just that we don't like it), we shall peacefully and respectfully resist and accept the consequences quietly and humbly.

We shall continue to love our neighbors and let our voices be heard for peace, justice, and a righteous, compassionate society beginning at the local level.

We shall work across the lines of ideology to support common causes and be willing to be distinct and different without disrespecting those with whom we differ.

We shall assume sincere motives in hearts of our opponents as a basis for reasoning with them and cooperating with them whenever possible.

We shall practice our freedom of speech, religion, and every other freedom with the assumption that those freedoms are protected, without fear, and without intimidation. We shall not expect the endorsement of civil authorities or special protections or considerations beyond that which is common to all -- even those who have other beliefs and practices.

If our freedoms of speech and religion are indeed threatened, we shall continue to exercise them no matter what the consequences.

We shall care for and advocate for those who have no voice, for the oppressed, the poor, the broken, and the outcasts.

We shall work for peace on earth and understanding among nations. We know that there shall continue to be wars and rumors of wars in the continuation of human history, but we shall do what we have been commanded to do and work for peace in our time.

We shall be friendly and winsome.

We shall guard our own personal morality and be honest in business, politics, and human relations. We shall seek to set an example of sexual purity, integrity, and fidelity. We shall conduct ourselves in our families and churches in such a way as not to discredit the Kingdom of God.

We will guard our words, temper our speech, practice the Sermon on the Mount, love God, love our neighbor, and pray for people in power as a witness to the words we speak.

We shall continue to confess Jesus as our Lord and Savior and the guide of our lives.

We shall believe in God and in the words of Jesus that He would be with us always as we follow Him and call others to follow and ...

We shall follow, making disciples as we go, teaching them to do what He taught us to to remembering that the essence of what He taught us to do was to love.

We shall continue to pray, "Thy Kingdom come; Thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven," believing that if the King has invited us to pray that way, He has a plan to answer our prayer.

That is my personal, prayerful, and political strategy for a new world that is yet to be created.

What is yours?