Following the Wind

One night, in a dream, I was in a group of people listening to a man known by all to be a responsible person. This man looked at me and asked, “When will you set your feet here?” An odd question, to my awakened self, but my dreaming self immediately recognized that he was asking me, “When will you do the responsible thing?”

I responded, in my dream, “Since you asked, let me explain what I have learned about being responsible.” I went on with my explanation to the group. Then I awoke. I lay alert in the dark with an urge to write down my explanation for the benefit of others who might be curious. Here you have it:

Responsibility. It’s overrated.

Or maybe I should say, it’s not a great end goal. It’s just a good place to start.

When I consider what it means to be responsible, I think of terms like integrity, reliability, trustworthiness. All admirable attributes, to be sure. A responsible person has learned the right things to do and consistently does them.

And yet, is that the pinnacle of remarkable living? I think not. I want to be one who grows past responsibility into respond-ability. I want to not be driven primarily by my own sense of personal responsibility or duty, respectable as that may appear. Rather, I want to daily be about what I see my Father doing. I want to be one who feels the Wind and follows it wherever it may lead.

One might benefit from considering responsibility as one’s apprenticeship and respond-ability as the master level. Presuming to operate at a master lever before first graduating one’s apprenticeship can be risky indeed. It could be said that one must first develop well the attributes of integrity, reliability and trustworthiness because responding to what the Father is doing requires all of these, especially when the going gets tough. Let he who has an ear hear. I am not suggesting these responsible attributes must be fully perfected first, but they cannot be ignored either.

Herein lies the proverbial rub. Being a respond-able person looks very much like being an irresponsible person, at least from the perspective of those looking on from the outside. In following the Wind, we may make a job change, only to make another one next year. We may move to a faraway place, only to move back a while later, then be off again. We may run hard after a particular passion or focus that shifts to another direction with equal intensity with each new season. And the most unfortunate reality is that only you know you are following the Wind. To others, you just look like you are always changing your mind, and you can present no satisfactory explanation in the defense for your actions.

So how do we know whether we are truly following the Wind or simply being tossed by the waves? That actually is quite simple, if we keep ourselves accountable. Do I have an accountable relationship with an experienced Wind follower? By that, I mean one who possesses the attributes of responsibility and has practiced respond-ability to the Wind for a long enough time that the fruit of his or her life choices is discernably good.

Such an accountable relationship is well practiced within Celtic spirituality. It is known as a soul-friend or “anam cara.” In this tradition, your anam cara is one who can be trusted to engage with you in even the most hidden recesses of your inner motivation.

The stability of this relationship provides the string that can connect the kite of our life to something solid. With it, we can fly to great heights. Without it, we may be prone to the conviction of our own delusions.