The disciples said to Jesus, “Tell us, how will our end come?”
Jesus said, “Have you found the beginning, then, that you are looking for the end? You see, the end will be where the beginning is”
Gospel of Thomas, Logion 18
Assumptions give colour and shape to the world in which we live. They define the boundary, scope and depth of every interaction we have- including with ourselves.
Some of our assumptions are rational, some are based in prior experience, history or trends and forces, but a greater portion of them exist largely unconsciously. Setting aside the more complex discussion of the subconscious, the personal unconscious, the collective unconscious- I find it valuable at times to go with the definition of the unconscious as framed as anything which is not in your conscious awareness at the moment, your front view. Even with this boiled down view – there is much that exists just out of sight, out of earshot, and arms reach.
The conscious or unconscious assumptions from which we approach the world, the self or the other are more than just context, they are also means, motion and direction for outcomes.
The cosmological, theological, pastoral and social assumptions of small-o orthodox Christianity have led to a great variety of outcomes – from vast networks of selfless social care, masterpieces of art and architecture, to contemplative work to encounter both self and the Divine, but also to outcomes of horror like war, exclusion and notions of cultural supremacy.
Often these starting points are not complex theologies, philosophies or cosmologies but black and white one-line propositions, that like a pendulum, with a tiny motion at the top, creates a sweeping motion down the line or at the bottom.
This is the nature of the fundamental dispute over the nature of humanity by Augustine of Hippo and the Celtic St. Pelagius, the latter proclaimed a heretic for his theological optimism and whose memory we commemorate this month.
Augustine held that humanity was afflicted by original sin, the consequences of Adam and Eve’s disobedience in the Garden of Eden story. That as a result of these actions, the condition of humanity was that of a fallen and inherently damned creature who is incapable of orienting themselves towards the Divine because they’re predisposed to sin in an almost genetic fashion – that without intervention on the part of God, we are lost.
But this is not so, says Pelagius, who argued that original sin was an insult to the Divine who made us and that because are the image of the Divine, we possess the ability and strength to take our first steps under our own power by our own nature. This condition, as the priest Matthew Fox has said, is one not of original sin, but of original blessing. If we sin, err or are in ignorance – it is as a result of bad example, a learned behaviour, in imitation of Adam, not because of him like some fait accompli.
These opposing views, they influence or position the value of the spiritual path and how we see ourselves, each other and the world in such a way as to gravitate towards much different outcomes down that pendulum line. You can imagine how history might have been different if our fundamental assumptions about ourselves, or others, or the world, were different, beginning so long ago.
The past however has voice not a veto, and we don’t have to imagine alone – we can see what door opens when we try a different key. Replacement judgment with curiosity, challenge with opportunity, mistake with experience.
When confronted with a scenario in which you might respond – how can you say that!? or how can do you that!? – ask what happened or how do you feel that those words or those choices are the ones you opted for? Instead of what’s wrong with you! – what happened to you or why do you feel that way?
Imagination is the root of empathy, and neither you nor I can grow into the good we are capable of, unless you or I can envision and create a space where it can come into being. Every encounter with the world, with another and with ourselves is an opportunity to make a small swing at the top of the string – to start with a different assumption and see who, or what, steps into that space.
As Jesus says in the telling of the Gospel of Thomas, the end will be where the beginning is, and if you start from a place of common humanity, you may find that is indeed where you arrive
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