Turning

“When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put aside childish things.”

As children, we’re fascinated by foreground. We attend The Church of What’s Happening Now. We’re wired up, plugged in. As men, Life turns our attention to the background, to what isn’t there and doesn’t happen. A chance encounter with Japanese art, a rite of initiation, the loss of everything—these can inaugurate the movement, sacralize the turning.

The unwanted advantage

Anything that draws us out of the mainstream is a good thing. The mainstream is a near-total state of identification with work, relationships, politics, religion, sex, dogs, cats, money, cars, boats, travel plans, dogs, money markets—even furniture! Sickness takes us out of the mainstream. So does rejection, loss, crisis, sexual confusion, left-handedness and loneliness. We can also step out of the mainstream in silence. In silence we don’t know who we are.