BLOG 7/3/2016. WHAT’S BEHIND OUR DISTRUST OF PERSONS?
One of the enigmas of the current and wearying coverage of the presidential campaign is the recurring report that while Secretary Clinton has stunning credentials, … that people “don’t trust her.” A couple of factors need to be introduced here. One is that we do, in fact, live in a culture of cynicism, and tend to be a bit suspicious of lots of things. The other is that we see in ourselves also a tendency to hide stuff that we don’t want others to know, so we naturally superimpose that on to others, such as Secretary Clinton (and other political candidates).
Perhaps it is our own confession that we ourselves tend to create personas, or something like ‘facades’ to hide behind. We want to project to others a more commendable person than we really see ourselves to be. As we say: We put our best foot forward, and seek to hide what we don’t especially want to be in the public domain. If Secretary Clinton has an obvious motivation it is that she has always be very ambitious, from her earliest days. She is an achiever. She wants to project a persona that will enhance her ambitions. Her opponents and critics want to pry away that persona, and when she is protective of it, it breeds their distrust.
I can empathize with her. I, at the tender age of 26 was ordained to be a Presbyterian pastor, and with that came the title: Reverend. To be called ‘Reverend’ carried with it a call to create a clergy persona, and to act in a manner that reflected something other than normal red-blooded humanity, to speak a bit differently, to often avoid being totally honest, to dress as a ‘church professional,’ and to avoid being too earthy. It was an artificial life. I still had doubts, anger, unanswered questions, hormones, etc. It was a clergy persona and a bit dishonest. It also meant that people didn’t know who I really was. ‘Clergy’ are not expected to confess their sins too candidly. And so one becomes programmed to hide one’s real humanity. That meant that it was a favorite indoor sport for many to gloat over the pastor’s failings. It also meant that those who were not clergy, would often assume their ‘churchy’ personas, when they were in the presence of a clergy person, i.e., to assume a more pious demeanor.
More recently this has come under healthy scrutiny. There has been a call for clergy and all of us to demonstrate authenticity, to come out of hiding. But to be thusly authentic ‘freaks-out’ some folk. The late Henri Nouwen put that in different words when he called upon us to seek clarity, to be transparent, to “seek littleness.” I like that: humility, freedom to be real, authenticity, etc.
We do live in a society /community of imperfect, broken, hiding, bewildered, frightened, protective-of-their-true-selves persons, … and who therefore create or assume a persona behind which to hide in so many human relations. But in our Christian faith, our first confession is that we are sinners, i.e., imperfect, guilty, frightened persons who do not want too much light shined on the real ‘us.’ Such a confession, however, enables true intimacy, true honesty, true freedom to be who we really are. This is the great leveller, the great democratizing principle in our Christian faith Jesus, who was in the form of God, did not seek equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself of no reputation. He was never in hiding. He was authentic and transparent. That made him a most amazing figure among all of the giant self-aggrandizing figures of his day.
We should not be surprised that the current crop of politicians are seeking to project the persona they want to public to see. We all do it to one degree or another. What is behind that persona is another question. Who is the real me? Who is the real you? What is there about me that I don’t want you to know? What is there about you that you don’t want me to know? That can remain a mystery, or the honest confrontation of that can set us free to be truly human and authentic. Our distrust of others probably begins with some suspicions about our honest with ourselves. What do you think?
http://wipfandstock.com/what-on-earth-is-the-church-13883.html
