. . . For They Shall Inherit the Earth
I’m not sure how I ended up in this Bible study. But it changed my life.
Christian counsellor David Wiens spent six Sunday mornings leading a Bible study with this one quote from the Beatitudes. He started with his hypothesis that many Christian theologians have failed to fully understand. He brought in a lot of his counselling experience. I will briefly summarize his hypothesis.
Mr. Wiens described what happens if a life trauma that is not properly addressed. Traumas like accidents, abuse, crime, loss, and injustice create a little fire inside us. This fire smolders and simmers and gnaws at our physical and psychological well being. Outside we may look calm and collected; we appear normal to many people in our lives. But inside we are slowly burning up. The past trauma is a never-ending supply of fuel. We can carry this trauma for decades. It is only our death when the fire finally goes out.
To feel better, we try to quench this fire. One way is through addictions: alcohol, drugs, gambling, sex, materialism etc. Addictions give us a temporary relief from the fire. We get a little high; the fire subsides. But the good feeling leaves us after a short time. The fire flares up. We need another fix.
Another way we reduce the fire to a smolder is by gaining control over other people. A subtle form of control is gossiping and backbiting, which elevates us over others. An overt control is having authority over others, making them do things that we tell them to do. Another overt control technique is gaslighting; we gaslighters believe we are helping others, not harming, with our constant fault-finding. In a more extreme example, some of us have the power to make other people suffer. When we cause suffering, this alleviates the stress inside us.
There is one more way to quench the fire. We develop a persona of arrogance. We are smart; we are wise; we have the right recipe of life. We feel justified in belittling the idiots in our life. That too puts a little water on the fire — for a short time.
Unfortunately, these addictions, domination tendencies, and arrogance often cause trauma for other people.
Mr. Wiens said forgiveness is the solution. With forgiveness, the fire inside us can finally be extinguished. The person who caused the trauma is no longer writing our internal dialogue.
But Mr. Wiens was realistic. True forgiveness does not come easy. But by acknowledging the trauma and getting some counselling, forgiveness becomes within reach.
Mr. Wiens said that unfortunately many people — including many Christians — fail to address the trauma they are still carrying inside them. They are still causing all sorts of unnecessary problems in their family, community, and working relationships. They are not getting full value for their spiritual life. He called them “the walking wounded.”
From this wonderful seminar, I gained a new understanding of why the world is so screwed up. Many people are not dealing with their trauma. I was changing my perception from “idiots in my life” to “walking wounded.”
Then . . . . then . . . then Mr. Wiens gave us a counselling anecdote that metaphorically knocked the chair I was sitting on from under my butt.
I too . . . I too . . . I too belonged to the walking wounded.
I did something I would have never considered a few weeks previously. I booked some time with Mr. Wiens to help me deal with my internal fire. Four sessions later and bringing back some painful memories brought me to an understanding of how my trauma had shaped my life.
It was about a year later, when I had a mystical moment. I was writing on my computer, happily putting words together for whatever project I was working on.
A voice came into my head. It said, “Dave, you know you have forgiven (name of transgressor).”
I answered back: “Yeah, I have.” It was a very liberating moment in my life.
What About the Meek?
This beatitude has confounded Christian theologians and laymen for centuries. When one is meek, one tends to get run over by more dominating people. They will happily take whatever you have. There is no inheriting anything from the Earth in these situations.
Mr. Wiens had an agricultural background and recalled his grandfather using horses on the farm. Mr. Wiens used two teams of horses as a metaphor to explain meekness.
The first team has developed strength to pull plows and wagons. The two horses have been trained to work together and take instructions from the farmer. They can work many hours in a day. They are ready to go to work when called. They are confident in their abilities.
The second team is not so well prepared. But they need to prove themselves to the world. So when a job comes up, the two horses say “Pick us, pick us, pick us.” They believe their enthusiasm will carry them through. When they are picked, their lack of preparedness is evident. The farmer is not happy. If they finish the job, it is of mediocre quality. Sometimes they get fired. They fail to learn the lessons they needed to learn. They continue to use their arrogance to get more tasks they are not prepared for.
The first team of horses knows it is a good team. It need not brag about its abilities. It will let its reputation find it the work it needs to make its living. It is meek — and confident — and capable. Just waiting to be asked.
What About “Inheriting the Earth”?
Let’s take a look at what a meek person does not have.
A meek person has no addictions. So such a person is free from the negatives that addictions bring. There is more money and better focus to accomplish great things.
A meek person has no need to dominate others. Such a person is given more respect and trust from the people around them. Such a person is better able to motivate and encourage.
A meek person has no arrogance. Such a person is willing to look at new facts and perspectives and change his/her mind. This person finds even better ways to improve his/her life.
A meek person has fewer difficulties in life.
A meek person has better life tools to handle those fewer difficulties.
The key word to this Beatitude is “inherit”. “Inherit” has a connotation of getting something without a lot of effort. For example, when my mother passes away, I will get an inheritance from her estate. Unlike a wage or salary, there is no direct effort for me to get this “money.”
In a like manner, becoming meek — i.e. dealing with internal trauma — is like getting gifts one did not expect. But the work still has to be done in advance. A person wanting to be meek has to work toward forgiveness. Then comes a clearer head, a sense of fairness and humbleness, and life skills. From this position, that person organically finds the good things of this Earth.
Examples
I have two people in my life who I would call meek.
Greg was my university roommate. He was always an approachable fellow, with many fellow students enjoying his company. He was a good person to sound things out with. I admired his abilities to attract people in this way. Greg became a pipeline engineer. He switched jobs every few years. The reason is that his current employer had him “between projects.” Rather than collect a paycheck for not doing much, Greg found work with his employer’s competitors. He gained new skills and became a more valuable pipeline engineer. He often went back to work for former employers.
Tom is my cousin. He is a forester. His employment history was more stable. He usually stayed about 10 years at a job, having worked for both the private and public sector. He too is approachable. He likes the challenge of managing staff to achieve objectives for his employers.
Both Greg and Tom have long-lasting and stable marriages and raised families. Both were active in community organizations. Both were successful in their middle-management positions. Neither seemed to want to advance any higher. They built their career on their reputation, not self-promotion. Both had good incomes and interesting recreations. They were a good influence on many people. Both were open to having negative people in their lives, but they put some limits on these interactions. Both had life challenges and overcame them. They have a big circle of friends and family around them.
Greg and Tom are great examples of “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the Earth.” They are like that first team of horses. I should just add that neither Greg nor Tom is all that religious. Yet they have lived the life of that beatitude.
I admire Greg and Tom. While I would like to be more like them, I don’t think I am fully cured of my trauma: I still have some arrogance in my thinking. But I am better. Much better. There likely are more life lessons in store for me. At least I’m open to learn these lessons (I think).
Conclusion: A lesson for future politicians and voters
The key word in this subtitle is “future.”
Sorry, we should not expect much meekness in today’s political players. We see lots of domination games and arrogance — and often addictions. Until proven otherwise, we should assume that politicians are people who have their own internal fires burning inside them. Just think about the lifestyle of a politician — and why would any sane person want that job?
Unfortunately, western democracy does not favor meekness. Any politician who displays meekness can be described with another objective: “unelected.”
So the future belongs to another system of governance.
Addendum to the conclusion of this essay
A truly meek writer would have been happy to close off the essay with that little cliff hanger: give the reader an allusion about a future system of governance; then wait for questions, if any.
My slightly arrogant nature says I cannot afford to take this risk. I must force my readers to the next level of thinking. I cannot trust them to ask me: “What’s this about another system of governance?”
So, unlike that first team of horses, I cannot stay quiet about my alternative democracy. My apology for my arrogance.
I have called that democracy “Tiered Democratic Governance (TDG).” There are no political parties, nor are there are election campaigns where candidates are basically saying “pick me, pick me, don’t pick them.” Elected representatives move to the higher tiers based on their reputation in the lower tiers, not on an election campaign.
In this system, people like Greg and Tom could become elected representatives and rise quite high. They will be more willing to serve in governance because there will be fewer walking wounded to deal with.
So maybe when we have people like Greg and Tom in governance, their example will entice voters to take their own path to finding meekness. With more meek voters, we will elect more meek representatives.
I invite you to investigate Tiered Democratic Governance.
Are you meek enough for this challenge?
Published on Medium 2023
Be the Example You Want our Politicians to be
