WATCH OUT FOR THAT DITCH...

"Can a blind man lead a blind man? Will they not both fall into a pit?” says the parable.

A blind priest I know recently recalled how he was told that this parable was offensive to blind people. But he just finds it funny.

You don’t have to miss the point, even though it is embedded in a fairly ancient cultural context.

Religious revelations are always time bound, but Jesus parables ring eternally true.

Take this one, for example: “Judge not, lest you be judged.”

If we have our attention on the faults of others to the exclusion of our own weaknesses, then even with the best possible motives, we will be unable to help anyone into the clear.

In the spiritual life, it’s like a man whose arm is on fire. A second man spots him, and sees the urgent need to put out the fire, but rushes to the hosepipe without being aware it is connected to the petrol pump. Both of them will start to burn.

It takes proper awareness to be a positive influence in any situation, because whichever situation you enter is changed by the very fact that you have entered it. You don’t just observe, you participate. And wherever you go, there you are, taking the weather along with you as you go.

So we need to be aware of our own prejudices and emotions in the sacrament of the present moment. They affect the way we see things. People say 'Love is blind', but they are talking about human emotional attachment. Spiritual love is actually very clear sighted, because it is aware of its own emotions and attachments, rather than being controlled by them.

Jesus is open to what is there, and this encourages an open response, while blind prejudice encourages more of the same.

And how often do we set out to find whatever confirms our own prejudice, and then try to convince ourselves that we are discovering some objective truth?

Whether it is rushing into a pre-emptive war because we have projected our own fears outwards, or finding faults in our business competitors because we are insecure about ourselves, or failing to be compassionate with our fellow human because their neurosis and misery affects us.

We needn’t pretend, or shut ourselves away. But be aware.

With these parables, Jesus is trying to tell us that in the spiritual life, the attitude that: “I am OK only when the world around me is OK” simply won’t do. With that attitude, I won’t be OK, and nor will those around me.

But if our response is clear sighted, then it will also be accurate, and the world can be transformed, not because we absolutely must be there for people out of some compulsion that we feel, but because we are capable of being there for people without leading them into all our own ditches.

The rest is all detail.