Quasi-Random Thoughts on #OccupyEverything and Following Jesus

As is often the case with my stream of consciousness thinking, these thoughts occurred at 37,000 feet this morning en route from Vancouver to Minneapolis. I'm referring to this as #OccupyEconomyClass. (I've already trademarked that label so don't get any ideas.) Any errors are my own, and not the responsibilityof the fine crew of Delta Flight 5771. In other words take this all with the usual grain of salt, and let me know what you think.

Things are so far out of whack that there is no way they were going to right themselves through self-correcting incremental change. Change is only going to come through crisis. In the olde days they call this revolution. Today it's called business as usual, apparently.

If we look at the political system for a moment, North America has not self-corrected its democratic model in the same way Europe has. Things haven't changed in a long time, and in a dynamic world stasis is not a natural state; it leads to stagnation and corruption. 

• Corporations control the government
• If you are likely to vote against the status quo, the powers will look for a way to deny your right to vote.
• And should you manage to actually vote in an anti-status quo, pro-change, 'Yes We Can' type of candidate, well, his enthusiasm and idealism will be co-opted by the powers anyway.

Here in Canada we have a 'majority' government that represents the wishes of one third of Canadian voters. In other words, two thirds of us expressed a desire for someone other than Stephen Harper to lead the government. It stands to reason then that if this was a democracy by any logical definition of the word, then the two thirds of us would have prevailed, and someone other than Stephen Harper would, in fact, be leading the government.

"Ah," but you say, "That's not how the Canadian system works!" 

My point exactly.

Why are people upset? Because the system does not work, and it is failing at an increasingly alarming rate. (See my Reading List on the Global Economic Situation.)

To my mind this is all to be expected to some degree, and ties in with earlier posts on the evolution of human consciousness. As a species we will not move to the next state until the current one becomes unworkable, thus facilitating a crisis. This happens on a personal level and also as a species. 

I humbly submit that many, if not most of us, are finding the current reality unworkable.

When these points of crises are reached, some push for change (think #OccupyWhatever) and some push back, advocating for an extreme, bastardized version of the status quo (think Tea Party.)

This, friends, is a crisis, and normal will never be the same again. We will either move forward into a more generous, compassionate world, or we will (temporarily but violently) slide back into a reality worse than the one we are trying to leave behind. Nothing ever stays the same.

So what's a Follower of Jesus to do?

#OccupyTheKingdom

Or maybe I should say:

#OccupyLove, as 'Kingdom' is an outdated metaphor which holds no (or perhaps even negative) meaning for those not steeped in religious ideology (and is often ignored by those who are.)

With each subsequent advancement in the evolution of human consciousness (think Spiral Dynamics) and the corresponding 'adjustment' in the church (think The Great Emergence) the wisdom of the teachings of Jesus become more and more clear.

These teachings are not just nice ideas, they are clear instructions on how to live with each other. It's almost as if Jesus knew what he was talking about!

So as followers of Jesus we must be a beacon, even as we continue to struggle to pu those teachings into practice. We must stand against the powers, not just as a reactionary force, but as proponents of a better way.

This is God's plan.
This is the plot of the Story, and
This is the trajectory all of Creation is on. 

May we better understand our role.
May we rise above petty politics, ideologies, and yes, religion.
May we have the courage to function as the hands and feet of God in human form.

#OccupyTheBodyOfChrist 

Comments

[Erin Wilson]

#OccupyLove... it always comes back to Love.

I'm loving this co-opting of the tagline. Playing around with the implications of that word 'occupy' and what it implies.... powerful word. It fits well.

[Al-muses.blogspot.com]

Not to nitpick, but since only 61.4% of Canadians voted in the last election, only 24.3% of eligible Canadian voters actually voted for Mr. Harper/Conservative.--which is even more dismal than the percentage you used. In other words, you are totally right, the system is broken.

Much more importantly, you are also right in that we need to understand what and how we must be 'occupied'. It completely correlates with the social/financial significance of the occupy movement, and has added significance for us as we work to be true followers of Jesus. Greed, arrogance and power must be replaced by love.

[robert]

I'm sorry. I disagree with complaints about the election outcome being unfair. The rules are straighforward in our first-past-the-post system and the only way to ensure a majority votes for the "winning" candidate would be to restrict every riding to two candidates. Otherwise, we have to accept that a plurality will win most ridings.
If you have a problem with that, vote strategically. Then again, isn't that really just maintaining a two-party system? If you want a diversity of options to truly represent the political spectrum, you have to accept it's unlikely any one candidate will achieve a majority in every riding so, because we have to decide who wins an election on some basis, we decide that whoever accumulates the most riding wins gets to form the government. If that number is greater than 50%, the government is in a majority position.

[Mike]

Robert - You need to stretch your imagination further. You've presented an excellent defense of the current system.... which is why it has to go.

And remember, I'm all for coalition governments. This country is made to order for that kind of arrangement.

[robert]

Not enough people agree with you so we got a majority. My point is the system is already in place for coalition governments, if that's what the people want.

[Morganguyton.wordpress.com]

I prefer #occupythekingdom simply because kingdom connotes a reimagining of the space we occupy as falling under the sovereignty of God's mercy and providence rather than the invisible hand of the market. Here's a sermon I preached on this theme: http://morganguyton.wordpress.com/2011/10/16/occupy-the-kingdom/