We should we look deeply into one simple question, “What is trust?”. Most of us have undoubtedly heard someone refer to trust as a virtuous attribute that has to be earned. “You have to earn my trust” has become an American axiom where the “News” Industry dominates our attention on the reasons we need to suspend trust. Many believe others have to “earn” respect or love, as if it is a paycheck from an employer or manna from heaven. I paradoxically disagree with that proposition that the News is trustworthy. Trust is an inside-job.
In my weaker moments of vulnerability, I edge closer to someone needing to earn my distrust. When I am vulnerably strong, my heart can be peacefully still on this topic of trust, where I find myself not needing to trust “others” at all. For me, I only chose to trust God. But not everyone believes in God and when we crack open the shell of our boxed-in thinking about what God is or is not, even the closest of friends who attend the same church, synagogue or mosque might find themselves in a debate. Maybe militant “Born-Again” atheists need a God to not believe in. If we all just set-aside everything we think we know about everything, then we can play together as little children, innocent and free. Please allow me to make the comfortable uncomfortable and to make the uncomfortable comfortable.
It’s time to blend a philosophical Smoothie. Ingredients: A dash of, “Boredom comes from a boring mind” (Metallica). Throw in an ample serving of, “When the student is ready, the teacher appears” (Buddha). Drop in shredded bits of, “I am in charge of what I say; you are in charge of what you hear” (Timothy Cameron). Pour in a concentrate of, “The door to hell is opened only from the inside” (C.S. Lewis). To taste, measure in flavoring from the Mayan tradition, “In-Lakesh” “I Am You”. Lastly, throw in a negative-miracle- mix to illuminate the sacred with in juxtaposition of what the French existentialist Albert Camus said, “Hell is other people” and voilà, if you are still reading this, you know the meaning of trust!
The crux of the problem called trust might actually be with the word “other” and the solution rests in the sound, “Shhhhhhhhhhhh”. Try organically embracing people, places and things with childlike wonder. Quit second-guessing motives, overthinking rules, and inspecting perishable fruit until it is bruised and unsightly. Quit editing photocopies. Like a Native American, I’ll use the whole buffalo. I trust that nothing in my life is unusable, that every circumstance, no matter how difficult, has a nugget of gold message embedded in it. It’s like the Mexican Proverb, “They tried to bury us. They didn’t know we were seeds.” Bloom where you’re planted. Take your power back.
Sean Stephenson said; “Never believe a story that does not empower you.” So take what you like and take the rest. A man was fishing and throwing back big fish and keeping the small ones. When asked why, his response was, “Because all I have is this itty-bitty frying pan.
