Gray Henry

This morning I was thinking about the ‘other’ and all the interfaith movements in the world. I wondered to what degree I was still ‘othering’ everyone even if they were from another faith tradition.

In my whole life, I’ve been trying to bring them together, reconcile them. I give a series of presentations on Judaism and its spiritual affinities with Islam. I present  Prince Rezi of Jordan with the Dalai Lama speaking on Buddhism and Islam as well as others from all the different traditions. Yet, sometimes when I think of someone from another tradition, I go right into stereotype. It’s very hard to be 100 percent present. But there is nothing to do with human life except to reach that place. That’s what human life is for, to quit ‘othering.’

Richard Rohr said, “You know, when you meet the other, another person, there should be nothing there except love.” 

It’s like having you in my home right now. I’m honoring your human presence because it is carrying the Divine. It’s like we’re lightbulbs. The bulb can go but the light is (still) there. Not ‘othering’ means that when you meet someone, just honor them as they are. 

Once I was on a plane and we stopped in Atlanta to change and get back to Louisville. I was getting some tea at that crossroads where there’s pizza and the worst of fast foods. Some people who were wearing baseball caps were waddling towards the pizza place. At first I thought, “Oh, yuck.” And then I realized I had ‘othered’ them. I’d judged. And so I caught myself. I opened my eyes and looked at those people with the caps and simply loved them. All of a sudden they started glowing. And all I can say is whenever I remember to do this (oddly enough I do it not so much in my life as I do it in airports while watching people) I feel great because I’m acting out of my real self. 

And look what happened with (Thomas) Merton on Fourth and Walnut, now Fourth and Muhammad Ali. He looked at those people around and saw them shining as the sun. 

Now, most of us identify with something, but it’s all misidentification because most people identify with their egoic story. I’m Gray Henry. I’m from Louisville, Kentucky. I have published books. I…blah, I…blah, blah, blah…right? I’m judging through the mentality of growing up with my prejudices; the things I like and dislike. So I’m basically judging nearly every situation through a Gray Henry package. I’ve not been acting from my heart. 

And that’s it. How do we remember that there is no other—, that we are all of one Essence, one glorious light…together. And how do we quit misidentifying with the wrong self?