Filed under: Roadside philosophy | Tags: anglican, christianity, ethics, lines, morals, religion, riding
As rather appropriate for flying down the chute of a HOV lane at 12:15 in the morning, I had an epiphany last night. Trying to ride the line – that ephemeral concept of the perfect path to ride through curves and around obstacles that overlays the road is very similar to trying to walk the path of Christian ‘sainthood.’
With the church my husband and I go to (a very Anglican church, St. Matthias it’s pretty nice), I’ve been seriously trying to work on improving my spirituality. I pretty much fell off that wagon this summer because I had too many plates to balance.
I think this epiphany of mine will give me an analogy that will make trying to walk the ‘straight and narrow’ easier. This concept of ‘straight and narrow,’ Christian ‘sainthood,’ etc. is basically the ideal Christian life – no sin, and being as much of a saint in this world as we can. This ideal concept is very much like riding the line – it is an invisible ideal path through life that we generally don’t manage to walk.
Daydreaming about chewing out my friend’s possibly controlling and abusive boyfriend that I have yet to meet is a spiritual pothole. Once I realized I was experiencing ‘target fixation’ over this pothole I was able to steer around it. It’s easier to just know some idea or decision is something you’re not supposed to run into makes it easier to not justify some idea that is basically a sin – in this case the sin of anger. Yes I’ve been hearing that the guy is kind of a jerk, but ‘love thy neighbor’ – even if I do wind up setting him straight I want to do it in the way he needs so that he learns his lesson. That doesn’t mean threatening to tear him apart.
The other parallel is the exposure of riding a motorcycle v riding in a cage. You can’t just wrap yourself in your world and your safety zone because you will miss lots of experiences. And those might be experiences that God wants you to see. And he might find less than pleasant ways of making you live those experiences.
Yes, God generally will let bad things happen to good people to help strengthen them, and they are generally things we cannot see to avoid. This happens on a bike too – you can never know what will happen next because Murphy’s Law will have out. All you can do is prepare yourself as best you can, and live every day to the fullest.
This idea of comparing a life plan to riding the line is applicable to all life plans – I just choose to follow the Christian spiritual one. I challenge you to try and use this parallel in your life and see if it helps. Where is that ideal path through the road in front of you that you can’t see, but exists? It might not be that perfect delayed apex line through a curve, but straightening up in the curve and slowing down to help the stranded motorist on the side of the road. Lets face it, most motorcyclists are going to know more about engines than most cage drivers – they’ll need your help.
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