Wednesday, June 1, 2016
ONE LIFE TO LIVE!
ONE LIFE TO LIVE!
By
Francis William Bessler
Laramie, Wyoming
6/1/2016
It's graduation time again. Recently, I joined in various graduation exercises for a niece, a nephew, and a grandson. I am reminded by all of this of my own graduation from high school - way back in 1960 - from Powell High School in Powell, Wyoming.
Looking back, I did not turn out like anyone thought I would. My class mates "predicted" that I would become a politician and maybe even become a senator from Wyoming; but Senator Bessler has not become a reality. I guess my class mates of 1960 just plain got me wrong.
On the other hand, I could have pursued politics; but in that "could have," I believe is a wonderful story. I could have become a Senator Bessler, but I chose a different path that has been mostly free of politics.
At first, I chose to enter Catholic seminaries in Wisconsin and Colorado. Upon graduation from Powell High in Powell, Wyoming in 1960, I decided I wanted to be a Catholic priest. No Senator Bessler in that path, huh - unless I first became a priest and then as a priest ran for a Senate seat; but none of that happened.
To get into St. Thomas Seminary in Denver, Colorado, it was required that I have a knowledge of Latin. So, I attended a minor seminary in Mount Calvary, Wisconsin to acquire the necessary Latin. After one year at St. Lawrence Seminary in Wisconsin, I was ready to attend classes at St. Thomas Seminary in Denver - which I did in the Fall of 1961. Hey, it seemed I was on track to become a Catholic priest.
While attending St. Thomas as a student, however, I came to suspect major Catholic teaching. I came to suspect the Church has a thing called "sin" all wrong. How could man be of sin - doctrinally interpreted as being "separated from God" - if an Infinite God must be IN all things? I was being taught that I was to teach as a Catholic priest that man can "sin against God." But how can I "sin" against something that is "inside" of me? In philosophical terms, that is what you can call a "dilemma."
So, I wrote a little allegory story to help me resolve my "dilemma." Writing songs, stories, and essays has long been a way for me to analyze various issues - and maybe help me resolve a confusion with which I may be dealing. In this case, at the age of 22 or so, I wrote an allegory story I labeled WISDOM that had an angel that I called "Wisdom" adopting a teenage boy I called "Simplicity" and his teenage sister I called "Innocence."
Good ole Wisdom took Simplicity and Innocence from their homes into a woods and taught them that they could not be of sin because it is impossible for an Infinite God Which must IN all things to be outside of them. All the tales of Catholicism - and much religion in general - then, that taught that such a separation is possible must be wrong; or so I concluded by letting my characters work out the details of my confusion.
Ouch! Here I was - a student for a ministry that taught all must be of sin - interpreted as separation from God - and I did not even believe it myself. How, now, reconcile my dreams of becoming a priest? As it happened, the faculty of St. Thomas decided that for me. After 5 years of study there, in May of 1966, I was told that I could not finish the regular 8 year course because "your thinking is not that of a Catholic priest." Of course I knew that years before my dismissal, but I guess I hoped that I could become a priest and tell people from a pulpit that they really have no sin.
After dismissal from study in 1966 at St. Thomas, I met a lovely lady named Dee. At the time, we were both Catholic. We fell in love and married in 1967. In 1973 - or was it, 1974? - I decided that Catholicism in general was not the right path for me. I walked out of the Church forever and have been happy to live as a "sinless one" ever since.
But in this tale of myself, I think, there is a greater tale that there are many ways to go in life. In the end, though, one should choose a path that is most endearing to oneself. Like it did for me, it might take a few years to decide on a course in life; but let me encourage all of the graduates of 2016 to spend their lives doing just that. Find your own path. Listen to your own intuitions. Like "Wisdom" told his students, "Innocence & Simplicity," realize that no one is really "born in sin." Sin is not a "condition" of being inherently defective. Sin is far more an "action" or "attitude" of insisting that one is better than another - for whatever reason.
Stand tall, Graduates of 2016! Know you are fine just as you are. Embrace the Wonder of your Creation - and live your lives fully, knowing that life is not so much an "achievement," but much more so a gift of mystery to be appreciated for what it is - not for what you might think you can make it.
Gratitude, I think, is the greatest virtue; or perhaps, Gratitude & Kindness are the greatest virtues. Meanness, for whatever reason, often assumed as Justice, is the greatest sin.
Or so, I Believe!