Through a Glass Darkly

Glass Window

I have long been an admirer of those who fight against all odds to find the truth, to be able to see what lies beyond, or to find the clues hidden in the obvious.  My youth was filled with truth-seeking heros, from detectives to archeologists, laboratory researchers to astronauts.  Lives devoted to discovery were the stuff of which great television shows were made, from Perry Mason to Star Trek, National Geographic Magazine to Nova.  At times it seemed like an obsession.

We all need to know the truth.  It is in our nature.

My grandfather used to say that if you wanted to know the truth, don't ask.  People will tell you if you just listen.  I guess his many years as a barber taught him that lesson and in following his advice, I have discovered that it is true.  Jesus talks about the truth in today's reading from the Gospel of John.

Then Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, ‘If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.’  John 8:31

On first hearing this statement, I think about Truth as something external, something I need to find and make mine in order to be freed from my unknown bondage.  It sounds like a quest, a Star Wars journey to learn about myself in a way I hadn't expected.  But what if the journey is not external at all?  What if the truth I am seeking is inside me?

In my business, I help people tell their stories.  I do that by interviewing them.  Their answers to each question I ask give me ideas of what my next question should be.  In other words, it is a step-by-step process, open to where the client wants to go.

It sounds simple, but most people don't like to talk about themselves, so I have to get them comfortable with me.  I can't be threatening or judgmental.  Asking questions alone doesn't necessarily get to the stories that move people.  For business professionals, the story behind their success, their products, their business, or their abilities is wrapped up in emotion, presented as a precious and valuable package.

While the stories I get this way reveal a great deal about the person, and they are the truth, they are not the truth that will make you free.  That TRUTH is the stuff we have a hard time revealing to anyone, especially ourselves.

I received my Pastoral Care Training under the expert guidance of Rev. Dr. Donald J. Heringa, BCC, Director of Pastoral Care at Northern Westchester Hospital.  What I learned from Rev. Don was how to connect to patients in a non-threatening way, so that the patients are free to release the emotions which have shackled them.  Guilt, anger, frustration, fear, disappointment, are all prisons that can rob us of our lives, erecting barriers to our relationship with God.  Each of the lay volunteer visitors in the program learn to leave their personalities, prejudices, and pre-conceptions at the door, to be fully present for the patient.  It is a self-less act that is anything but simple or easy the first time.  We are not there to form a relationship with the patient.  The relationship is between them and God, and we are only there to help them take those steps themselves.

In Paul's letter to the Corinthians, he gives us a glimpse of where those steps can lead.

For now we see through a glass, darkly, but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.

To break down the walls between us and God, I believe we need to start with the walls we have built between each other.  We need to see each other face-to-face, person-to-person.  If we don't, over time the walls we build between each other will become thicker, beginning perhaps as sheets of glass, but then growing darker and thicker, until all light is gone.  Once we can no longer see the truth in ourselves and those around us, what hope is there to see God?