‘Beliefs clearly play an important part in motivation. But is there a more fundamental, inspiring factor?’ Photo: by Joel & Jasmin Førestbird on Unsplash
A problem shared: Howard Grace on our deeper instincts
‘What is the bigger vision that we can all buy into?’
There is a story that when St Paul’s cathedral was being built somebody was walking around asking workmen what they were doing. A carpenter said he was sawing wood. A bricklayer said he was laying bricks. When asked what he was doing a sweeper replied: ‘I’m helping Christopher Wren build his cathedral.’ Many of us are engaged with worthwhile initiatives, the equivalent of the carpenter and bricklayer. But what is the bigger vision that we can all buy into, with the perspective of the sweeper?
Beliefs clearly play an important part in motivation. But is there a more fundamental, inspiring factor, one based on the heart thing rather than the head? The suffering of people in the Covid-19 pandemic has touched many. This empathic response seems to be embedded within us, because we are human beings, irrespective of our religious, cultural or other beliefs.
Yet our human nature and beliefs also lead to conflicts. My Palestinian friend, Imad Karam, says that a primary problem in his part of the world is that Palestinians and Israelis are both trapped in their own narratives. I’m sure that this entrapment is true for so many situations, whether with international strife, religious affiliations, husband/wife clashes or even football team allegiances, which sometimes turn to crowd violence. This also points us towards seeking a universal vision and greater purpose which all can buy into.
It would seem that a primary hallmark of a new inclusive narrative would be that, while maintaining our faith(s), we would recognise the limitations of our beliefs. We would accept that had we been nurtured in a different culture we would probably, sincerely and intelligently, have identified with the beliefs and norms of that culture. If we would all first and foremost acknowledge this phenomenon within ourselves we would more likely be able to walk in the shoes of, and to stop demonising, ‘the other’.
At a time when many are retreating into identity groups, and in many cases ceasing to talk to ‘the other’, how do we build trust with those on other sides of fault lines, and make this a priority in our daily commitment? This is a challenge facing all of us who have conviction that our shared humanity overrides all other group allegiances.
The experience of personal transformation and finding a new direction in life is universal, not the property of any particular group. So, in partnership with others on parallel journeys, might we engage with fostering humanity’s amazing, evolutionary, onward imperative. Or, how else might we express that deeper motivating instinct which lurks in all our hearts, from wherever it originates?
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