In Matthew 8 Jesus is calling for disciples.  One scribe responds, “Yes, but let me first go bury my father.”  Jesus responds, “Follow me and let the dead bury their own dead.”

Now taken simply, without any use of hermeneutical discipline, this statement can be interpreted to mean that Jesus saw the whole of humanity as “dead” and doomed to eventual eternal damnation.  And this interpretation is very ego rewarding to readers who relish being part of a very select crowd of believers who are going to bask in eternal glory for eternity while the rest of those “damn heathen” roast in hell.  It is so rewarding to know that one has “seen the light”, that one is “saved” and that most of “those wretches out there” don’t see the truth.  But that is not what Jesus was saying.  I believe he was pointing out that most people do live their life in “darkness”, they have never escaped the blinders they were born with, and they go their merry way without addressing the fact that there is another dimension to life.  It does not mean they are inferior to those who have been “enlightened”….or whatever you wish to term it…it just means they are ensconced in commonplace reality and are apt to stay there.

Ronald D. Laing once noted that he believed most people live their lives in a “post hypnotic state of early childhood.”  They go through life on automatic pilot, having imbibed the cultural mandates of the little corner of the world into which they were born, and having dug their heels in with no intention of ever leaving that safe haven.  This is what Jesus meant when he called them “dead.”  But it does not mean they are stupid and certainly it does not mean they are going to roast for eternity in hell.

But some Christians thrive on being “right.”  It is so intoxicating to know that you are “special.”  But, if spiritual discernment were practiced, if “mindfulness” were present, one would see just how egotistical this comforting elixir is.  Believing one to have been “enlightened” or “saved” or whatever, one has actually taken on a bigger blinder than the one he/she was born with.

Now I do believe that “being saved” and “being enlightened” is possible.  But it just does not mean you are special or cool or destined for eternal bliss that others will be deprived of.  For ultimately God’s Grace covers us all.