Let me level with you.

We don’t see eye to eye. We’re not even on the same page.

Does that frighten you? Are you fearful that by reading this you’re getting into something you hadn’t bargained for? Have you decided to back off just for the sake of being sure nothing will cause you any harm?

Or do you feel intimidated? Is there something that you lack and are afraid to admit it? Or do you feel vindicated now that I’ve finally admitted how there is a difference between us? Or do you feel relieved now that you don’t have to continue with the charade?

Let me level with you. We’re all on different levels or at various stages. Equality just ain’t happening, now or any time soon.

Your worldview might be at, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth…” while mine is at, “In the beginning was the Word, and the word was with God and the word was God…” Your worldview might be, “And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion…” while mine is, “…the kingdom of God is within you…”

On the surface, it might appear that we’re speaking the same thing, yet you know we aren’t. It is this knowing which is producing in you one of two emotions: envy or contempt. You either want to be like me, or wish that I would hurry up and be like you. Yeah, sure, you’ll continue to love me, but it’s such an ordeal at times. More often than not, the ordeal, not the love, takes the decisive, primary role of considering how we’ll deal with each other.

Wisdom, or the lack thereof, makes one haughty, prideful, egotistical, maniacal in-your-face-fist-pumping-I-told-you-so rude. So, the choice is to not pursue wisdom or hide behind the façade of humility while patiently waiting for the line to catch up with you knowing they have no intention of even moving in your direction.

Development in any discipline requires sacrifice. Your commitment of time to master the discipline is the obvious sacrifice. The hidden sacrifice is the loss of community or station. We each orbit in a sphere of like-mindedness, a body of fellowship which adheres to similar beliefs and viewpoints.

A new discipline, a new thought, a new paradigm acts like an asteroid impact to the communal body; shattering long held alignments and fracturing tectonic plates of similarity causing enormously wild gyrations in emotions and responses. Sometimes fragments fall away from the impact left to navigate their own gravitational orbit; other fragments often just fall apart, scattered about on the celestial winds, wispy dust particles from a bygone era.

Grace is a cosmic force greater than an asteroid, more powerful than any black hole. It shatters everything it touches, realigns all chaotic structures and propels hearts at breakneck speed towards the all-consuming vastness of unrequited love. When grace grabs wisdom by the jugular and transfers it’s egoic pulse with the harmony of a universal commitment to the highest union, the trappings of superiority, the last vestiges of one-upmanship dissipate into the ether of the one-man-ship.

My plateau may very well be your peak. It is, plateau or peak, however, our journey, not a destination. While the vista might appeal to a part of us, it will change only when we decide to move on. Movement is neither forward or backward in a journey, it is merely momentum towards the destination. Wisdom is neither forward or backward, it is merely the path. Grace is the illumination of the path on the journey along many levels, over many peaks, across vast chasms of uncertainty and perilous heights of doubt. We’re all on the same path, we’re not all on the same level.