Human beings have many modes of being and doing. That simple statement is the first step
towards drawing a contrast, towards differentiating. We find we cannot live without
differentiating – seeing this nourishing foodstuff as different from that
poisonous one, in the primal animal sense, is crucial to our survival. There are times when we must contrast,
differentiate, divide, reject.
But we also have another mode of being and operating: that of
integrating, of drawing everything together in some sense of order and oneness,
of displaying some form of comprehensiveness from every viewpoint, of merging
and the dissolving of barriers. So there
are times when we dissolve, integrate, unite, encompass.
It is false philosophy that sets out one of these modes of
being as superior to the other. There
are times for ebbing and times for flowing, and we, in tune with all life, are
in the flow of the dance between the two.
Nonetheless, we do hear from wise teachers in all ages that we are in
the habit of spending too much time in the contrast-differentiate-divide mode, giving
rise to much tension and animosity, wars and atrocities, between persons and
communities. We are advised to love our
enemies, to see that other persons are no more than ourselves in different
lives, to integrate all opposites – to notice that when we define one something
as beautiful we necessarily and unavoidably are defining another something as
ugly (with the inference: “so don’t do it”).
There are always fault lines in a nation but, when they are
complex to define, people generally just rub along with them. It is when clear and explicit divides are
forced in front of us, in a way that we cannot ignore, that life becomes raw,
awkward and abrasive. Since the lead up
to the Scottish referendum on independence from England, Wales and Northern
Ireland the United Kingdom has been continuously in a time of division. In fact, look at Northern Ireland and I defy anyone to say we have ever lived in a United Kingdom. This latest referendum on the UK remaining in
the EU or leaving the EU will not mark the end of the era of division. Despite sane calls for healing, for seeing
what we have in common over and above what divides us, the spirit of the times
is for disintegration and disestablishing the old order, for a complete
revisiting of identities and where we fit in our little worlds.
It is difficult to live or even to promote the Unitarian
message that “there’s a certain mysterious, undefinable sort of one-through-ness
to all of life” in these times. It would
be dishonest to pretend I am operating in a uniting mode at present. I am finding that people I have been in the
habit of being with from time to time are no longer attracting me; in fact I
have designs for being near them no more. I find that my daydreams now include desires
for some quite disruptive events to be visited upon our country, in a way that
I would have found quite offensive some years ago.
I think I am instinctively detecting that the
storm hasn’t yet hit.
I think that these years are the years of storing up the
potential energy that – on some day that is coming closer now – will inevitably
resolve the rising tensions, not in the way hoped for by those sane voices asking
for togetherness, but rather by a big kinetic explosion. And I think my daydreams are signs that I don’t
like this time of waiting, of waiting for the kettle to boil. Let’s get it over and done with; let’s have
the volcanic eruption; let’s blow ourselves apart so that we can then have the
dust settle and then experience a time of getting familiar with a new order. Let’s get on with it. And this way of thinking is not wrong, or
bad, nor even sinful where I use the word sinful in
This divisive way of being is new to me and it feels rather
strange. It won’t stop me being
courteous to people even if they disagree with me; it won’t stop me reaching
out my hand where help is needed: but it will
change where I go and whom I choose to associate with; it will mean I wear a badge to display my viewpoint where before I
used to hide and disguise my position.
And I will do those divisive things not despite, not running counter to
the wisdom of the world’s teachers and prophets; but because as a Unitarian I
can see that we should not idolise oneness and togetherness, any more than we
should idolise anything else. Because in
a healthy system there are appropriate times and places for blowing things
apart. Roll on the second Scottish
referendum on independence.
