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Encore Issues | PW | PC(USA) |
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Living An Authentic Lifeby Kikanza Nuri Robins When my nephews were young, they would visit me several times a year during their school vacations. Because I wanted to retain my status as the “cool” auntie, I would take them to places unique to the city where I live, Los Angeles. We would go to places seen in movies, like Muscle Beach in Venice, or look at hot cars in the Peterson Automotive Museum. Once we had a very interesting dinner theater experience at Medieval Times—a ring of seats surround the “stage” where knights clashed with huge swords and jousted on horses. In between the dining hall and the gift shop was a museum of medieval torture. The accoutrements of violence fascinate boys of a certain age and I was intrigued by their reactions to the various tools of torment. The boys slowly walked around the room, curious about how each weapon was used. Praying that I would not have to suffer through a series of nightmares after spending so much time contemplating the pain inflicted on many people in the name of God, I described to my nephews how government and church officials used the rack, the wheel and the other implements during the Inquisition. They repeatedly asked me who the torturers were and why the victims were maimed and killed. Finally, Sulaiman, my elder nephew, shook his head and softly said, “I would have just told them what they wanted to hear. They couldn’t tell what I was really thinking.” My nephew offered an apparently easy solution, which often helps us through our days. We tell little white lies that save us from embarrassment, annoyance and unnecessary pain. I left the museum wondering if I believed in any idea so strongly that I would be willing to die for it. I thought about how difficult it would be to live without personal authenticity or external integrity—to live as if I believed one thing, while actually believing something else. During the Inquisition, the cost of affirming one’s beliefs was torture and death—for oneself and possibly for one’s family. But what price did they pay for choosing to live an inauthentic life? Kikanza Nuri Robins is a consulting pastor in the Presbytery of the Pacific. She lives in Los Angeles where she is the caregiver of two Chartreux cats—Manifest Justice and Munificent Concordance. How well do you live into your values? Use this refresher course on
moral decision making to make the best choices you can. Read the full
text of this article in the July/August 2004 issue of Horizons.
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