And as Usual, I Disagree.




I keep seeing these car stickers and their message irks me a bit. Perhaps you've never seen it, but it refers to a Christian-themed brand called "Not of this World". It is a Christian idea, this detached-from-the-world-living-in-God's-kingdom stuff. As a cradle Catholic, I completely disagree with this logic. Are we truly called to live our lives with our head in the clouds, proclaiming to others that our hearts and minds are in the heavens, all the while (let's be honest) partaking in all the human drama and emotions that define our lives? Nope. Is the point of life truly to detach oneself, in a ironically Buddhist sense, from the world that God has placed us in? Again, nope.

In my opinion (this is my blog, after all), we should never seek to remove ourselves from our own human lives, but occupy them, touch others' lives, fully engage in the life that God gave us. What is the good in pretending like you're "not of this world," other than to give yourself a false sense of security and others a sense that you are somehow holier than you truly are? I believe that if we fail to engage in life on it's terms, as fully human beings, we fail at what we are here for to begin with.

So as I am stopped at a red light behind a giant SUV with a NOTW sticker, filled to the brim with *ahem* human stuff like sports equipment and divorce papers and personalized iPhones, I can't help but to send them gentle thoughts and hope that the person in that car comes to terms with their humanity and begins living life within this world, a beautiful place indeed.

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