Displacement – to move or put out of the usual or proper place.
What is our proper place in life and who decides it? Do we decide our proper place? Does something else or a combination of things? There is somewhat a negative connotation to the word Displacement/displaced, but I don’t see it that way. Spiritually when you look at Jesus or Buddha, both stepped out of their proper place – both ran from the usual. Both gave up everything and stepped out of the traffic of society and from that moment forward they were displaced….no home….no 401k….no fall back plan. Why have we all bought in to this idea of “proper place”? Why do we applaud embracing the usual and ridicule the unusual. How did we get to this place of seeing the norm as saving our life when it is actually slowly seeping our life away as it feeds us more and more empty food and television and mindless pap until we are both physically and mentally obese. I understand…..I do….We don’t like feeling displaced. I certainly don’t. We don’t like feeling out of sorts but this leads to people always choosing the clearly marked and well paved freeway of their life over leaving car and pockets full of keys behind for the forest….for the unknown. That is where the magic is. That is where wonder hides. And if I am to believe that God is an unfathomable mystery I have to know that he lives there too. You see, you and I have this seed of light inside of us and it is fragile and small but it is ours to nurture. And the one thing I have learned about it is it does not like concrete and flourecent lighting. Believe me I get it: You have credit card debt, you have a safe job, you have a car payment, you have health insurance, you have new cloths to buy, you have a mortgage…..yes I get it…..believe me I do. I have these things too but as my wife and I spoke last night about bills and bills and money we both realized what we were stressed about was all the energy expounded to staying in our proper place….to maintaining the usual. You see, I fell into it too but how about you and I do something different. Let’s get displaced. Let’s give up the safe but unsatisfying relationship. Let’s give up the safe and usual job in our safe and usual mortgage in our safe and proper neighborhood and be displaced for a while. For me music is the one place in my life I feel totally displaced, totally uneasy about. I am constantly looking around and saying where am I, what am I doing here, I am totally lost. I have been doing this for years and have been wildly unsucessful but I have had more encounters with God and LIFE in a bar with 10 people in it than any church or synagouge could give me. Let’s embrace the answer, “I don’t know.” “But what will you do? How will you live? What about retirement?” Will be their questions and our answer will be “I don’t know.” Because what they are really saying is wouldn’t you rather have a guaranteed scoop of sheep food everyday than risk everything for one bite of strawberry? Look around at your life right now and please understand, whatever it is, you are choosing it. REALLY look at your life. What do you choose?
