Do the chickens know?

'Having lots of money doesn't buy me happiness'

Yes- I KNOW that

'I am supposed to put people first'

Yes- I KNOW that

We all KNOW that.


As soon as I walk away from this computer, however, I begin to act as if money can buy me happiness. Or I start to act like I'm the center of the world.

It's not about what I BELIEVE...

A man who believes himself to be a grain of seed is taken to the mental institution where the doctors do their best to finally convince him that he is not a grain but a man; however, when he is cured (convinced that he is not a grain of seed but a man) and allowed to leave the hospital, he immediately comes back trembling and scared - there is a chicken outside the door and he is afraid that it would eat him. "Dear fellow," says his doctor, "you know very well that you are not a grain of seed but a man". "Of course I know that," replies the patient, "but does the chicken know that?"


The point is this-

You don't have to convince me that having the bigger car won't make me happier
Or the house
Or the money
Or...


I KNOW that.

You don't have to convince me

You have to convince the chickens...

The advertisers
The magazines
The movie casters
The shops
The system and the structure in which I participate(No, I'm not necessarily going all Rage Against The Machine)


Is part of our role as the Church not to create another structure?
To present a structure to the world around us that not only says 'No', but also gives an alternative?

To poke holes in the lies in the world around us (around and within us). Holes that say No.


And along the way on our journey, we begin to learn to live differently.
Not just in where we go on a Sunday
Or by what we say or don't say
Or what we do with our money
Or what we BELIEVE

But to live differently in everything.

Holism.

Because when we forget to say no, we're telling the chickens that they're right.







And they're not.









Living differently is an incredibly painful process.
Participating in Crucifixion is painful

And so is resurrection.


(99% Plagiarized from Zizek, Pete Rollins and Rob Bell )