My Camino in my mind was about leaving 3 ‘rocks’ on the way and having it out with God. A bit of a ‘what the hell?’ conversation. Getting to Sarria was really hard and I almost turned back but I really wanted to have that chat, it pushed me from a need deep within.
On the first day, whilst just getting into the rhythm of walking I felt the presence of God and within I heard ‘do you really think that was me?’ ‘are you laying that at my door?’ And in that moment I knew deep within my heart the love of God. The next sentence, the title of this blog, summed it up ‘Shit happens – make good choices’. I had not set out thinking my conversation was me blaming God but trying to understand why it had all happened. But sometimes there are no reasons, they just are.
There were many more revelations on my journey and it was so important to have that time – a luxury in our busy yet mundane lives.
I thought about both parts of the title separately and combined. The choices we make as people create the shit that happens to others. We may not intend that but it is the reality. What is a good choice? We talk about making good choices so often and yet mostly we are thinking of good for the individual. I believe God wants us to make ‘good’ choices where good is something bigger than the personal good. It is such a huge concept for such a simple word. How do we even know what true ‘good’ is given we have descended into such mediocrity and selfishness?
If I turn to Augustine – things that exist are good but corruptible. Does this apply to people? In every ‘less-than-good’ choice we make do we lose some of our goodness? Do we corrupt ourselves rendering our being less than when we were born? Yet Aquinas suggests that goodness and being are similar and so if something is then it is good. In a way I come back to ‘it is what it is’. Each moment we are faced with what is – it may feel unpleasant but it just is. So the moment itself is neither good nor bad, it just is.
As humans we are such emotional creatures. We paint our reality through a lens of feeling. Silly really, as feelings come and go and we have limited control over our feelings. What we can control is what we do. What our choices are. And yet history tells us that human judgement is inherently flawed and causes a lot of ‘shit’ to happen. Vicious cycle. Will we ever get off this roundabout of pain?
So how do we make good choices? We learn. We reflect. We think beyond the immediate and try and see other perspectives. A narrow lens is seldom a good thing when faced with the glorious spectrum of humanity.
The Female Theologian 