when I was a sophomore in college
I wore a deep track to the registrar’s office
to change majors
I had started out pre-med
seeking to follow in the footsteps of my father
an amazing physician and surgeon
a true healer
but then I hit chemistry,
and realized I was not a scientist
and my gifts lay elsewhere
I tried on history, political science, and sociology
eventually moving to philosophy, adding in literature
and later theology and psychology
I obviously didn’t know what I wanted to be when I grew
up
and in the midst of this mess, the Beatles broke up
they had been a part of my life starting in Junior High,
all the way through High School, and into the tough early
years of college
and then they were gone
leaving behind one last album, “Let it Be”
and on that album was a song, “I, Me, Mine”
All through the day
I me mine, I me
mine, I me mine
All through the
night
I me mine, I me
mine, I me mine
Now they're
frightened of leaving it
Everyone's weaving
it
Coming on strong
all the time
All through the day
I me mine
This was not an anthem for toxic individualism
quite the opposite
instead George Harrison was actually rejecting individualism
–
believing that a focus on what "I" have,
on those things which belong to "me",
which are "mine" –
prevents us being fully realized
it was a song about the danger of being wrapped up in ego
this was a cornerstone of Indian philosophy
it is also, I believe, the cornerstone of Jesus teachings
after all, Jesus did say this
If anyone would
come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.
we can talk a lot about what is wrong with the world
right now
about what is wrong with the United States of America
about what is wrong with the so called “church”
about what is wrong with “us”
but I think it comes down to this
individualism
people are radically attached to “their rights”
violently attached
to the right to carry a gun
to not wear a mask
to the point, paradoxically that
“my rights”
become the right to impose
one’s agenda, beliefs, and ideology
on others
Richard Rohr talks about the Cosmic Egg
and suggests that for all of us there are three stories
there is my story, where it is all about me
where I seek significance through power, possessions and
privilege
when on is wrapped
up in “my story”
the plea to wear masks for others become tyranny
then there is “our story”, the story of the tribe
the world of groupthink, nationalism, tribalism
if my story is about egocentricity
our story is about group egocentricity
and it is even more dangerous
a nation with the disease of toxic individualism can do
much more damage
than a single person with the same issue
which leads to “the story”
which is the story told by Jesus
the story lived by Jesus
the story of inclusion, sacrifice, generosity
the story of “all”
where all are loved, all are treated justly
all are valued
and where we are willing to give up some of what we have
that all might have enough
that mentality where, as we wander down the road of life
our time is spent not fighting our own way to success and
comfort
but is spent picking others up,
working as hard as we can
to make sure we all get there, together
in this time of toxic individualism, the verse that
guides me
the concept that drives me
and that has become my “anthem” for 2021 is this
If then there is
any encouragement in Christ, any consolation from love, any sharing in the
Spirit, any compassion and sympathy, make my joy complete: be of the same mind,
having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from
selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than
yourselves. Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the
interests of others. Let the same mind
be in you that was[a] in Christ Jesus, (Phil.
2:1-5)
Its time we get over ourselves!
(note: yes, I know
the dangers of not having “boundaries”, and there is a point where being for
others becomes enabling and co-dependence and toxic in its own right)
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