YouTube: Toss, Salvage, or Keep?
J Douglas Bottorff
The moving process has been quite interesting. We look at each object in the church, whether it is a desk, chair, silk plant, or piece of office equipment with this question in mind: Toss, salvage, or keep? Toss is landfill, salvage is Goodwill, keep is our new place. It’s funny when doubts have risen but the decision to toss or salvage is made, how natural items look resting in the landfill or in the Goodwill bin.
It occurs to me that there is a mental/emotional cleansing exercise embedded in this process. During this move, I’ve encountered several people where the topic of religion has been raised. I notice in others strongly assumed, unquestioned religious views that I myself once held. Most of these now rest in my own personal landfill or salvage bin. I do not say this to be critical or arrogant, but to simply make the observation concerning my own process of change. I could no more go back than I would attempt to retrieve tossed items that no longer serve.
Early metaphysicians often referred to race consciousness. I think of this as culturally programmed group thinking. The field of religion is particularly prone to establishing rigid parameters of thought, probably to avoid giving the appearance of instability. However, instability can be the beginning of an entirely new experience in thought. Emerson put it this way: “People wish to be settled; only as far as they are unsettled is there any hope for them.” While I look forward to getting through this church move, the unsettled aspect of it has been quite invigorating.
Spiritual growth is an inside-out process. We often get so comfortable with our mental and emotional furniture that we fail to notice the wear that has set in. We may find ourselves going along to get along with our culturally programmed group thinking. In one recent conversation, a man wanted to know where Jesus fits in to our religious thinking. Rather than give him a standard Unity response, I just said, “Our focus is on where we fit in. Do you believe Jesus when he said, The kingdom of God is within you?” He said, “Of course.” I then said, “That’s where Jesus fits in. He told us where to look for the very thing we are looking for.”
I do not know that my answer was what he wanted to hear, but it was what I wanted to say. I did sense that he appreciated something new to think about, to consider whether he would do some tossing, salvaging, or keeping of his own.