September 5, 2017

Pretending...On Purpose


Being free to make decisions, we are in each instance and in each situation, moment by moment, confronted with a choice.

We cannot predetermine all the right actions as rules and we don't get to compile a list of categorical imperatives, even if we hope to act in ways that might serve as as such if the situation we are in were to play as an Infinite loop.

We can however pretend.
We exercise imagination and envision being good, a mental rehearsal of laying down our lives.

Pre’tending’ to decisions. As best we can, we must tend to our decisions ahead of time. You can’t trust your morning self to decide when to get out of bed and you can't trust your hungry self to go grocery shopping. We need to have vision and make plans and then act in the moment, as best we can, to embody those values toward which we aim. We rehearse that reality that we long for, that future that we hope in. This is how we live out that prayer "may Your kingdom come, may Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven."

Just pretend.