139. Spaces

If you follow my posts then you owe a thanks to another lunch mate. He bugged me about writing again.

I owe a thanks for the basic concept of this blog to a friend of mine Chris Kinman. 

I decided it was time to get back to doing what I enjoy.  Writing.  So here goes.

My friend has a concept that he refers to as Striated Spaces versus Smooth Spaces.  If we look at our interaction with nature it becomes easy to understand.  Nature rarely has straight lines. The lines in nature tend to be curved, like rivers, forming smooth spaces. The spaces nature creates tend to be less than clearly defined.

          We on the other hand we like straight lines, like the grid system of streets in our cities. The prairies where I grew up is a study in striated versus smooth spaces.  The plains were rolling, with poorly defined spaces.  Then we come along, with our penchant for clearly defined boundaries, and our desire for order, and lay down grid lines of road and railways. 

          But what happened is that the life that flourished there needed to be exterminated.  Thus, an entire ecology that had taken millions of years to develop – grasses, grains, and animals – was destroyed to make way for, well….. different grasses, grains, and animals. 

          I was reminded of this in a powerful way this afternoon.  We are undergoing another review of our agency.  And we were discussing a gentleman that we support on the streets of Surrey.  He prefers to be homeless as he likes the autonomy that comes with it. We provide outreach services for him. Mostly, we administrate his funds, make sure he’s alive, and try to coordinate health services for him. 

          We were asked today what the schedule for meeting him was…

          Our answer is that the outreach worker goes out around lunch on the given day to see him, and if he is not there, she goes back later, and then even later if she misses him again. Some days it will be four times that she tries to find him. 

          We were told that we should be setting appointments to meet with him. If he misses those three consecutive appointments, then we have to report that there has been an occurrence.  After an undefined number of occurrences, then services would either be scaled back or cut. The system works when applied to someone with a home, and personal supports.

          It is the same thinking that will keep him homeless. He does not want traditional housing, and you would not to rent to him – he is a lot on the smelly side.  But, as the arrangement we have made does not fit into the straight lines that the funding body wants to put in place, he will not have a place to live.  Which, given his health will probably lead to him dying.  He is at increased risk of developing lung infections.  Him being homeless in the wet and cold will lead to him being re-infected. He almost died last winter of a lung infection.

We do the same with God.

We create ideas of what life in Christ is like.  And like most of the striated spaces I see, it is an attempt to control what occurs naturally.  To be fair to my fellow Christians, I saw this aspect during my sojourn into paganism.

          Paganism, which by definition resists definition and hard and fast rules, had many people who were legalistic in their approach to spirituality.  People struggled with trying to create credibility by claiming this or that authority, and thus telling you how to worship, and to live your faith. It was that aspect of paganism that led me to understand that what I found distasteful about Christianity had nothing to do with Christ and everything to do with us.

I find much of what we do in our lives tries to limit the power of God. We create striated spaces when he offers smooth spaces. We create boundaries that will keep him out, but as with the grasses, grains, and animals of the prairies, can the replacement be any better?

          At best, our attempt to enforce our will on others, and God, becomes toxic spirituality, for religion becomes competitive.  In our quest to prove that God loves me best, we leave little room for each other, and even less for God.

I hope that you find yourself opening to the smooth space and energy that I find in Christ. I pray this for myself.  For as we create religion we create hard and straight lines which, I believe, damages souls. Not that there is no defined spaces within spirituality, but they are not as clearly defined as I think they should be.