Paradigm Shifts

Photo Credit Ryan Roth-Klinck

By Denise Crane

In a recent daily meditation from Richard Rohr (January 5 to be precise) In which Cynthia Bourgeault says, “We’re living in an era right now which some would call a major paradigm shift.” She is specifically exploring what we mean when we talk about Christianity. I might take this concept of a paradigm shift a little further. In addition to this very important question about what it means to be a Christian, I might ask: what does it mean to be a democracy? what do we think social justice means? who is my neighbor? what is the balance between individualism and societal belonging? and what does it mean to be part of a community? I suspect that each of us can come up with a long list of these questions if we take some time to think about them.

Shouldn’t we?

Think about those questions I mean. Think about the questions important to you.

Then comes the fun part. Let’s imagine we find new answers to those questions. What happens if instead of providing the routine answers to those questions that we are used to articulating, we take a run at creating new answers? Answers that incorporate a perspective we haven’t considered before. Or answers that incorporate the particular nuances of your context that change the way you think about previous answers. Or answers that include entirely new words and phrases than those that normally roll off our tongues. It begs the question “what if?” and also the question “is that really true?” How many of the answers we come up with are really things that we have simply heard so many times that we no longer think about them? I suspect that Jesus’s annoying insistence on speaking in parables is part of his way to encourage us to continue asking these questions.

We used to call my father-in-law “Mr. Vanilla.” There was never really any reason to take him to Baskin Robbins 31 flavors for ice cream, because he always just ordered vanilla. His grandchildren teased him about this pretty regularly. He was simply quite sure that nothing else would be as good as vanilla. He did say that he had tried chocolate, and I seem to recall a mention of some sort of blueberry ice cream once, but neither of those options seemed on par with his vanilla, so he had long since stopped exploring other flavors, as much as his grandchildren might try and entice him otherwise. He simply couldn’t imagine anything as satisfactory as vanilla.

Don’t get me wrong. I like vanilla ice cream. There are pairings with which vanilla seems the only logical choice because it won’t be in conflict with the flavor of cake or pie you are eating it with. And yet, if I am just going to have ice cream on its own, it wouldn’t be my choice. If no one had ever imagined ice cream in any flavor but vanilla, how many untold sweet delights would we have missed out on? 

Are we brave enough to try another flavor?