This morning Brother Weeps finished his conference with a somewhat humorous but provocative postscript. He said, “Perhaps the two most costly false assumptions we make in life are, first, that because we are born human we know what it means to be human. And, second, once aware we are a human being—as opposed to a rock or beetle or doorknob—to fail to realize that we still have to become human.
It’s sort of like confusing a wedding for a marriage. After the wedding, the couple is considered married. But they know next to nothing about marriage, about being married. Or assuming that because this afternoon we sit a two-year-old in front of a book on a coffee table and she leafs through a hundred pages of color photos of items from the five major food groups that when her mother takes her home the toddler will be able to cook mom and dad a delectable three-course meal tonight. Ain’t gonna happen, right?
Imagine if tomorrow some alien creature came knocking on our door and we were able somehow to communicate with this creature and the creature asked, “What are you?” And Brother Leo said, “We are human beings.” To which the alien creature says, “What’s a human being?” To which we respond by taking the creature into the city and having it observe a pathologist perform an autopsy on a cadaver, going through each body part: “This is a liver. This is a spleen. This is an eyelash. This is a big toe.” After the full autopsy will the alien have any clue, any idea what a human being is, let alone how to become human?
How sad if before I leave here—here meaning this earthly life, not this conference room—I am still unaware of who the “I” is and why I am here. Same for you. See you tomorrow.”
© Dan Miller, 2023. All rights reserved.
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