Asking Directions

The other day my wife and I were walking down the main street of our village, and a truck carrying a load of lumber pulled up beside us. The driver leaned out the window and asked where a certain road was located. I gave him directions. This interaction is an increasingly rare phenomenon these days. GPS has taken the place of verbal directions and paper maps.  

Decades ago it was quite common for me to be asked for directions by motorists in town many times during the summer and autumn. I was often tempted to reply with the anecdotal response, “You can’t get there from here” or “If I was going there, I wouldn’t start from here.” But I always bite my tongue and give directions as accurately as I can. Now everyone always thinks they know where they are and where they are going ... as long as they have cellphone service, which is not always the case in New Hampshire. 

This “know-it-all" attitude seems to have carried over into other areas of life, thanks to the internet. Now everyone is an expert on everything from science to politics to medicine. No need to consult an expert any longer. Experts are now suspected of having ulterior motives. They are “elites” who are out to deceive us. Plus they think they are better than us simply because they earned a sheepskin!  

So people choose to trust a nameless source on the internet rather than their family physician. When it comes to politics they trust a talking head on TV or a faceless voice on the radio rather than people who have studied history and political science. In this way we have organized ourselves into warring tribes that glorify xenophobia. 

When it comes to spirituality it is much the same. The “us versus them” mentality is commonplace as fundamentalist religion takes hold around the globe, often bonded to an ethnic religion and a national sense of patriotism. No one thinks they need spiritual direction. Everyone already knows “the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth ... so help me God.” 

If there is one thing I have discovered from being an “expert” in religious matters - with multiple sheepskins to prove it – is that the more I learn, the more questions I have. Mature spirituality is not having all the right answers. It is asking the right questions. It is knowing that there are no definitive answers – at least not answers that can be put into thoughts and words, doctrines and dogmas. 

Spirituality is more about unknowing than knowing. It is knowing that we do not know, and we cannot know the One that is often given the name “God” for want of a better term. It is more about intuitive awareness of that which is out of sight. It is about compassion for all people who are just trying to make it through life the best they can. To use another misused word, it is about Love.  

One final note about the trucker who asked me directions. I told him to turn around and follow the road back in the direction he came from. He asked how far. I said, “A mile or two. You will see a road sign on the left. You can’t miss it.” I sent him on his way confident I had helped a lost brother find his way.  

A couple of days later I drove down that same road on my way to the town dump. I noticed that the road sign that I had directed him to was missing, perhaps stolen by kids or knocked down by last winter’s snow plow. In any case, I see how he would have missed the turn.  

That is the way life is. The road signs of previous generations are missing. The religious signposts of the past have fallen into disuse. That is why it is always wise to ask for directions from those who know the territory. And always remember that there is nowhere you really need to go. The Kingdom of Heaven is always here now for those with eyes to see.