Imagination-or a lack thereof

Recently, I caught a news feature on T.V. about a male flight attendant who flew into a rage when an irate passenger verbally abused him. The flight attendant cursed at the passenger over the loudspeaker before  grabbing a beer and making a theatrical exit from the plane via the escape chute (luckily the plane had already landed). The news clip included interviews asking people what they thought of the flight attendant’s unusual behavior. To my surprise, the flight attendant’s ‘take this job and shove it’ antics were generally regarded not only as justifiable, but heroic. One lady defended the guy remarking, “People are lost and looking for answers.” After a fair amount of head-scratching over why such an immature and irresponsible action would elicit so much nationwide attention, I finally concluded that the flight attendant ‘s dramatic actions resounded so strongly with people because he was only doing what a lot of us would love to do from time to time i.e. escape the burdens of an unfulfilling life that has lost all meaning.

We humans are meaning-making machines. By that, I mean that we have a basic need to make sense of our existence, with all of its challenges and adversities. Some of us are lucky enough to have a higher purpose such as family, country, God, or service to others which gives our life a framework in which to hold it all together. Without that purpose, the daily stresses of life can sometimes become so overwhelming that we search for a temporary escape from what we perceive as the daily grind. Whether it’s in alcohol, drugs, relationships, or acquiring more stuff, we need that chute to escape the pain of our dissatisfaction with a life that doesn’t make sense anymore. As a lay chaplain, I encounter many individuals who are facing life-threatening illnesses and are struggling to come to terms with why such a horrible thing is happening to them. Without a doubt, confronting one’s mortality is one of the most challenging situations a person will ever have to face. But what appears as a calamity can also be viewed as a great gift, because in facing death, a person is given a precious opportunity to reflect on the sacred mystery of life and what really matters to him.

While I haven’t had to face a serious illness, I’m no stranger to adversity and I’ve had my struggles with addiction. Every time I took a glass of wine, I was trying to escape an existence in which I was constantly victimized by circumstances or people. It didn’t make for a very peaceful way of being and I was always yearning for something to fill a giant hole in my heart. At the time, I had fallen away from the Catholic faith of my childhood and had little use for any sort of organized religion. But my addiction was the best thing that ever happened to me, because it awakened me to an innate spiritual nature that had nothing to do with traditional religion. My recovery set me on a path which gradually led me to a conviction that we are first and foremost spiritual beings having a human experience and as such, we possess an innate higher wisdom which is always calling to us and impelling us towards the fulfillment of our purpose in life. Part of my learning curve has been to fully trust this wisdom and use a little imagination to develop what I call ‘spiritual eyesight’. Using my spiritual eyesight enables me to look beyond the surface appearances of my life to catch a glimpse of an orderly spiritual system in which I am an integral and essential part of a greater whole. It provides me with the understanding that I’m here for a reason. In this framework, I know that I matter, regardless of other people’s opinions; regardless of what I do or fail to do. Adversity becomes opportunity; failure becomes an avenue for greater success; and the burdensome challenges of daily life transcend from grind to grist for increased self-knowledge and growth. My life starts to feel less like a prison and more like a classroom where I can fearlessly explore my potential and develop my unique gifts and abilities to benefit others.

My imagination gives me the wings to fly above the material world into the heart of the sacred. While it sometimes takes me on white-knuckle carnival ride,  it also can fuel my soul and deepen my faith in a friendly and loving Universe that is always supporting my best interests. It’s still somewhat beyond my limited human imagination to always know what’s good for me, but I believe that an Intelligent Being cares for me and makes His, Hers or Its Presence known in a variety of ingenious ways: Words of wisdom from a stranger, a song on the radio with inspiring lyrics, or a so-called co-incidence that sets off a chain of miraculous events. With a vivid imagination that inspires me to have a profound reverence and gratitude for the commonplace things I used to dismiss as insignificant, I tend to become more engaged in the present moment and alive with curiosity.

I give the flight attendant an “A” for the ingenious use of his imagination to escape a job he hated. I know nothing about this man’s life or the pressures which caused him to act as he did. I can only wonder how differently things would have turned out if he’d used his imagination to view his job as a precious opportunity to spread light and joy to hundreds of weary travelers. I can guarantee he wouldn’t have received any media attention for being kind, but neither would he have had to resort to deploying a $20,000 escape chute.