Trigger Warning: The World's Most Audacious Claim

I mentioned in my previous post on critical thinking, how there are 7 billion wills in this world - each of us claiming our own truth, carving our own path, perhaps even bowing to our own gods. Hey I'm all for our God-given freedom as individuals.

Can we admit though that unbound freedom is daunting? Just because we have the right to choose doesn’t make the choice right. Our series on critical thinking is a discussion on spotting errors, to narrow our options. Nonetheless, wouldn't it be helpful to have a big fat arrow pointed on the ground every time we come to a crossroads?

Obviously I'm not talking about whether you should order the salmon or the steak for dinner (seriously that’s a tough one). Those aren't decisions that keep us up at night. We're talking soul choices.

As a spiritual seeker, my soul was incredibly restless. I wanted TRUTH, dang it! I couldn't accept something I was told just cuz parents/school/internet experts. I had to get to the bottom of it myself. Like a good post-modernist, I believed it must involve my own path.

Not arguing for a carbon copy world here. The problem is, the "your truth is your truth and my truth is my truth" PoMo path, though breezy at first, leads to a futile end. Not a dead-end - that would have almost been a relief! But an endless end - no conclusion, no reward. For if everyone has their own way, ultimately, there is no way.

I concluded the truth had to be definitive. But everyone was saying it was relative.

Except Jesus.

“I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” - John 14:6

I was used to hearing the passage, raised Christian. But when I was an interfaith seminary student, and when I was chillin with the West Coast cosmonauts, New England intellectuals, and Woodstockian wanderers, this statement downright offended many in my circles. How arrogant, how impossible, how narrow-minded and bigoted such a statement was. But whatevs - it was written in a time way before the Enlightenment and Ms. Magazine, so we shall ignore this patriarchal archaism and keep doing whatever the hades we want.

Friends, I tried so hard. I bought every book and downloaded every podcast to every “wisdom tradition.” Each one promised the big breakthrough...but I’d get to the end, only to discover I needed to buy the next book, enroll in the next (more expensive) course, travel to Machu Picchu, and trip my arse off...even when I did do all that, the Holy Grail turned out to be simply a mirror: “Look inside yourself. Become your true self. You have your own answer!” It was a mirror looking at a mirror becoming infinite mirror, a fractal image of my own face, which is what I was trying to escape in the first place. It’s advertised as a journey of self-discovery for something grander, but it's just a method to self aggrandize. I was more confused than when I started.

And all the time, I kept hearing Jesus: “I am the way...I am the way…” That audacious claim - that HE was THE way…

I became nauseous from being hurled through the multiverse of relativism...or maybe it was the ayahuasca. Same Diff. Point being: I needed a SOLID ROCK. I needed a FIRM FOUNDATION - something to put my feet on and stand and say, “THIS.” Can we just start there? If that’s all my truth is, if all I can prove in the end is that I am standing, OK I’ll take it - anything to break my fall.

Jesus stooped and drew an arrow in the sand and said, “Stand here. Look here. Walk this way. No exceptions.”

Can I tell you...what a sweet relief. What a blessed assurance.

So much more to say about Jesus and the journey. But for now, I’ll just mention my theme verse for the year:

“You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.” Psalm 16:11.

At Pentecost, inspired by the Spirit who just entered the followers of The Way, Peter gave a sermon proclaiming what was happening in that remarkable moment, quoting that very verse: "You have made known to me the paths of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence.'" - Acts 2;28. Jesus’s way, truth, and life was being confirmed, and was now merging with us. Yes gurus, we can look inside ourselves...if we’ve got that Christ-centered inner compass.

If you are seeking truth, if you have tried everything and find yourself in the hall of mirrors, if you are tired of tumbling through the cosmos, I urge you to give it a try: be willing to be offended and offensive by going against the modern day narrative. Yes, there is absolute truth. Jesus had the audacity to claim it - unto death. But his way is not a dead end. He audaciously rose above the cul-de-sac, saying: “Come.”