Teaching in Criticism of Anxiety

71. Teaching in Criticism of Anxiety

Jesus understood that as human beings, we have a true, created nature – just as birds and flowers and everything else in creation have a true, created nature. Fulfilling our true nature is a natural outcome of meeting the necessary conditions for growth. For plants, that would be good soil and the right amount of rain and sunshine. Importantly, and one of Jesus’ points in this passage, everything we need to fulfill our true nature has been given to us – it’s embedded in the fabric of reality.

But as a species, we have lost touch with that truth. As we moved out of jungles and into civilizations, we have created cultures – made up of customs and laws and belief systems -- to help us get along and increase our chances of survival. While this has had many benefits, it has also created a fundamental problem. We have mistaken the map (culture) for the terrain (reality). We have made the mistake of believing that our enculturated self is our real self. And so we have become over-identified with our clan, or religion or nation, and not enough identified with the underlying reality that gave birth to us and all we see around us. We see our enculturated identity as something to fight and die for, when in truth our enculturated self is like clothing, to be put on and taken off and changed as the situation demands.

This mistaken understanding of who we are leads to anxieties and pre-occupations that are neither necessary or healthy. Seek ye first the kingdom of God. Understand the true requirements for life to continue, and fulfill those. From that, everything else follows.