Lessons from My GPS
by The Rev. Kathy Schmitz on April 6, 2008
Pathways Church, A Unitarian Universalist Community in Southlake, Texas
A ship in a harbor is safe, but that is not what a ship is built for.
Rear Admiral Grace Murray Hopper (December 9, 1906 – January 1, 1992)
Story before the Sermon: God’s Hat from A Bucketful of Dreams by Christopher Buice
Sermon Description
People often speak of their spiritual life as a path or a journey. For most of my life, I have used the metaphor of maps to think about this. Last year, as I prepared to move out of the area I'd lived in all my life, my mother gave me a navigation system (GPS) for my car. Besides helping me find my way around Texas, this has inspired some new thoughts about how we navigate our spiritual journeys.
Sermon
Last year, as we were preparing to move out of New England, my mother gave us a very wise gift – a Global Positioning System, or GPS. In the months before we moved, we used this navigational tool in areas that we knew well to get familiar with how it worked. In the early days, we would occasionally miss a turn either because we misunderstood what it meant, or sometimes, being on familiar turf, we would know another way to go, and so, ignored her instructions.
I say “her” because we have programmed our device to speak in a female voice. For awhile, she even had a British accent, but she kept using kilometers instead of miles. Much as we think it would be good to use the metric system, it’s not the one we know, and driving at 100 kilometers per hour one really does not want to be taking time to recalculate the distance to a turn.
I came to enjoy missing turns. She would say, “Turn right.” My partner, Charlie, would say, “I’m going to go straight instead.” And I would say, “She’s not going to like that.”
Sure enough, as soon as she perceived the departure from the route, she would say, “Turn around when possible.”
Now of course, the GPS did not like or dislike our action. It was just doing what it was programmed to do – keep us on track. But sometimes, I couldn’t help feeling like we had disappointed her. I could just hear the frustration in her voice. “What is wrong with these people?”
I am pretty sure the people at the factory did not install a voice with irritation in it.
It was a good lesson about the way that some of us project our emotions onto someone or something else. Those of us who like to follow the rules and not disappoint people tend to assume that our departure from what is expected will cause frustration, and we hear it even when it doesn’t exist.
Silly when we are talking about a machine.
When we are talking about a real person, it can add unnecessary confusion and tension to a relationship. For example, we might cause ourselves stress by rigidly following the rules when the other person may or may not care. Or, we might break the rules and assume the other person is upset, and behave accordingly, causing the other person to wonder what up with us.
I heard of one person who is sure that her GPS sighs when she goes off route. (sigh)
I am pretty sure that it does not.
I wonder if that person hears people sigh when they do not as well.
Hearing judgment that does not exist is a problem for many of us.
Eventually, with my GPS, I learned to accept that I wasn’t causing real distress when I took my own path.
I understood that as long as I had a route programmed in, my GPS would simply, and non-judgmentally, keep guiding me toward my destination.
Then I got to thinking, I guess that’s a little like God.
Or at least a universalist God. The sort of God that loves you no matter what. The sort of God, or I guess in this case, Goddess, that gently guides you back onto the right path.
Turn around when possible. You’ve begun to go astray. Turn around when possible. Come back this way.
Or if I’ve gone beyond the point of turning around, she has another way to lead me to where I belong. At this point, my GPS displays the message, “Calculating New Route.”
Now, of course, in life, these course corrections can come from a God or a Goddess, the Universe or our higher power, our experience of reality or our inner voice. Sometimes we veer off our path and most of us have something that helps us get back on our path. There is a whole other sermon taking shape in my mind about who and what we listen to at times like these. It’s a question of what is authoritative for us. But, we will come back to that another day. Today, I will simply assume that we each have some way of detecting how close we are to our path.
And if I can personalize my GPS, I suppose I can personalize my source of authority too, so for today we will call her my Goddess.
Just like my GPS, my Goddess can detect if I have gone off track and beyond the point of turning around. She, too, is determined to find another way to lead me back to where I belong. She is rarely so obvious as to flash the message, “Calculating New Route” before my eyes. But calculate she does.
Like last week when I overreacted to an email – heard judgment where it did not belong. And I reacted to that perceived judgment – in not such a helpful way – ok, it was a downright unhelpful way. I could feel myself veering off course, but it was too late. The words were out.
And there she sat, my goddess, quietly and compassionately, calculating a new route.
Because we were not going to get where we wanted to on that road.
So my new route included several extra turns and a stop in the picturesque little village of “asking for forgiveness.” I was fortunate enough to receive a warm greeting there and am now, for the moment at least, back on my path.
One critical difference between my GPS and a loving, all-knowing source of wisdom has to do with destinations. I would think that a loving, all-knowing source of wisdom would not have to be told the destination. However, on my GPS, I choose the destination and program it in – and it would be just as happy to take me to somewhere that I probably shouldn’t go as to somewhere that I should. I think there is yet another whole sermon brewing on destinations, and how we choose, know, or discover them.
For today, let’s assume that the destination, or at least general direction we want to go, is known.
Now, I have always been a big fan of maps. I like reading maps, planning trips, and being the navigator. But, since I’ve gotten used to the GPS I rarely look at a map anymore. This is a mixed blessing. The GPS is really easy. I just jump in the car and go. I am much bolder about going to a new place when the GPS is my co-pilot.
But, the GPS doesn’t give me the same perspective as a map. Sure, I can zoom out a bit but it’s a small screen and it loses detail fast. The result of this is that I haven’t really developed an internal map of the Dallas – Fort Worth area. It leaves me feeling a little lost when people talk about where things are. People say things like “Oh yeah, I grew up in Frisco” and they think they have communicated something to me. All I know if that they grew up somewhere in this very large state called Texas. Even worse is when I don’t even know the locations of some of the places I’ve actually been. There is an Ethiopian restaurant in Addison that we have been to several times, and thanks to the wonders of the GPS, I can only tells you that it is somewhere vaguely east of here. Had I had to find the route on a map, I would know where I had been.
I’ve often used the metaphor of a map to talk about the world views that each of us has and with which we navigate the world. There are many physical aspects to such a map but I think our spiritual world is mapped there as well. Our map of the world includes our ideals and values, our ideas about relationships, and our understanding of our place in the universe. We use it to make our way through life.
I got to thinking about this with respect to the guiding voice of my GPS.
My GPS offers me one path to my destination.
Sure, I can click on “find alternate route” if I want, but generally speaking we are focused on one path at a time.
But a map, it shows me lots of paths. Some good. Some not so good. Some direct. Some scenic. I get a lot more information but I also have to work a lot more out for myself.
I started to think about the path offered by my GPS as being like the path offered by a spiritual tradition. It’s one of many possible paths.
Jesus said, “Follow Me.”
The daily prayer of Muslims includes a request to be kept on the “straight path.”
The Buddha offered the Eightfold Path.
The Baha’i tradition is a liberal tradition that developed out of an Islamic context in Persia in the 1800’s. Their sacred writing fills many volumes. I was told that I would find those writings completely consistent with my experience of the natural world. “Why then,” I asked, “do you need the text?” The person I was speaking to said, “Well, you’re free to try to figure it all out yourself, but it’s really much easier to read the texts.”
I could map my own route. But, it is really much easier to turn on my GPS.
So perhaps which navigational tool I use depends, in part, on what kind of journey I am on.
Sometimes I want the scenic route. Sometimes I just want to get there.
Sometimes I want the big picture and a sense of adventure. Sometimes I want the comfort of traveling a tried and true path that others have traveled before.
This is true in the physical world. And in the spiritual world, also.
I began to wonder if this is part of the reason that people who have been enjoying the map of many paths that is available in liberal religious sometimes find, that in times of crisis, they gravitate back to their more orthodox childhood traditions. When I am in crisis, I do not want new challenges and adventures. I have enough of those thank you very much. I don’t care about the big picture. I am only concerned with that one particular spot, right here (my heart), that is filled with so much pain. Please tell what will ease my sorrow.
One the other hand, sometimes someone on specific path finds that it has lost its meaning, no longer provides comfort. They need to explore and to find new vistas. They need to turn off the GPS and get out the map or the atlas. There are so many tools…
What would be the spiritual equivalents of some of our other travel tools? … travel agents and guide books, a plethora of online tools and maps, package tours and hired guides, the visitors desk and signs along the way, and don’t forget, the tales of our fellow travelers.
So many ways to travel. So many tools for our journey. So many paths to travel.
Different tools for different journeys.
Different paths for different days.
Perhaps my roles as a pastor, perhaps your job as a congregation, is to help connect people to the paths and tools that are right for them and to inspire them to take the first step.
A story from the Early Buddhist Tradition (Soul Food, ed., J. Kornfield and C. Feldman)
In the City of Sravasti in northern India, the Buddha had a large center where people would come to meditate and listen to his Dharma talks. Every evening one young man used to come to hear his discourses. For years he came to listen to the Buddha but never put any of the teaching into practice.
After a few years, one evening this man came a little early and found the Buddha alone. He approached him and said, "Sir, I have a question that keeps arising in my mind, raising doubts."
"Oh? There should not be any doubts on the path of Dharma; have them clarified. What is your question.”
"Sir, for many years now I have been coming to your meditation center, and I have noticed that there are a large number of recluses around you, monks and nuns, and a still larger number of lay people, both men and women. For years some of them have been coming to you. Some of them, I can see, have certainly reached the final stage; quite obviously they are fully liberated. I can also see that others have experienced some change in their lives. They are partially liberated. But sir, I also notice that a large number of people, including myself, are as they were, or sometimes they are even worse. They have not changed at all, or have not changed for the better.
"Why should this be, sir? People come to you, such a great man, fully enlightened, such a powerful, compassionate person. Why don't you use your power and compassion to liberate them all?'
The Buddha smiled and said, "Young man, where do you live? What is your native place?"
"Sir, I live here in Sravasti, this capital city of the state of Kosala."
"Yes, but your facial features show that you are not from this part of the country. Where are you from originally?"
"Sir, I am from the city of Rajagriha, the capital of the state of Magdha. I came and settled here in Sravasti a few years ago."
"And you have severed all connections with Rajagriha?"
"No sir. I still have relatives there. I have friends there. I have business there."
"Then certainly you must to from Sravasti to Rajagriha quite often?"
"Yes sir. Many times each year I visit Rajagriha and return to Sravasti."
"Having traveled and returned so many times on the path from here to Rajagriha, certainly you must know the path very well?"
"Oh yes sir, I know it perfectly. I might almost say that even if I was blindfolded I could find the path to Rajagriha, so many times I have walked it."
"And your friends, those who know you well, certainly they must know that you are from Rajagriha and have settled here? They must know that you often visit Rajagriha and return, and that you know the path from here to Rajagriha perfectly?"
"Oh yes sir. All those who are close to me know that I often go to Rajagriha and that I know the path perfectly."
"Then it must must happen that some of them come to you and ask you to explain the to them the path from here to Rajagriha. Do you hide anything or do you explain the path to them clearly?"
"What is there to hide, sir? I explain it to them as clearly as I can; you start walking toward the eat and then head towards Banaras, an continue onward until you reach Gaya and then Rajagriha. I explain it very plainly to them, sir."
"And these people to whom you give such clear explanation, do all of them reach Rajagriha?"
"How can that be, sir? Those who walk the entire path to its end, only they will reach Rajagriha."
"This is what I want to explain to you, young man. People keep coming to me knowing that this is someone who has walked the path from here to Nirvana and so knows it perfectly. They come to me and ask. 'What is the path to Nirvana, to liberation?' And what is there to hide? I explain it to them clearly: 'This is the path.' If somebody just nods his head and says, 'Well said, well said, a very good path, but I won't take a step on it; a wonderful path, but I won't take the trouble to walk over it,' then how can such a person reach the final goal?
"I do not carry anyone on my shoulders to the final goal. Nobody can carry anyone else on his shoulders to the final goal. At most, with love and compassion one can say, 'Well, this is the path, and this is how I have walked on it. You also work, you also walk, and you will reach the final goal.' But each person has to walk himself, has to take every step on the path himself. He who has taken one step on the path is one step nearer the goal. He who has taken a hundred steps is a hundred steps nearer the goal. He who has taken all the steps on the path has reached the final goal. You have to walk on the path yourself."
There are paths to be explored.
Here, in a community called Pathways, we honor many paths and many forms of exploration.
We recognize the value of the individual journey and yet we gather to share our experiences and knowledge, to offer sustenance and support.
Our paths may be different, and so too our tools, and guides, and even our destinations, and yet we come together, together in our common humanity, to build a spiritual community that change lives – one step at a time.
Let us be together in silence.
(Silence)
Wendell Berry (“Healing”) wrote:
We clasp the hands of those who go before us,
And the hands of those who come after us;
We enter the little circle of each other’s arms,
And the larger circle of lovers
Whose hands are joined in a dance,
And the larger circle of all creatures
Passing in and out of life,
Who move also in a dance,
To a music so subtle and vast
That no one hears it except in fragments.