What makes us human? In some mythologies we are half God and half human, or half human and half beast. We look around us and see angels and demons, heroes and rascals, saints and crooks. Some people are good and some people are bad. Period. With that, we think we have finally succeeded to sort out the messy reality of human life.
But there is more. We are not only half God and half human, we are also half ‘me’ and half ‘we’. We are singular and yet plural. We are all connected. Each person is like another peak of mother earth’s one and same crust.
No one is an island. It is only the surface water surrounding us that gives us the false impression that each peak is a separate, distinct island. In reality we are all connected. We all belong.
It is just as true that no one is totally good or bad. Good people can do bad things. Bad people can do good things. We are all sinful do-gooders and saintly sinners. Is this a mess or a blessing?
We are all human and divine, singular and plural, good and bad, finite and infinite, male, female, trans, bi, straight, gay. Yes, all of this at the same time.
Even if only I can be myself and only you can be yourself, yet we are not really ourselves without each other. We are distinct and inseparable at the same time. Is this a blessing or a curse?
We have been born not just to be but to grow. We are a gift coming from beyond ourselves to go beyond ourselves. How can I become more than I can be if you are not there to help me? How can I become more than I can be if I have no one else to discover, accept, embrace and love?
God said: “It is not good for man to be alone” (Gen 2:18). It is this intimate, loving ‘relationship’ with others that makes us truly God’s image and likeness.
It is not possible to believe in humanity without believing in the more of humanity, which is divinity. How sad when someone thinks that life is just about him or her. How meaningful it can be if the terms ‘them’ or ‘they’ are not used just to indicate the plural or the camouflaged singular of another gender. And how tragic it would be to eliminate the singular ‘I’, ‘me’, ‘him’, ‘her’ and reduce everyone to a non-descript generalisation.
We will never become truly human if we destroy the singular. We will never become truly divine and inclusive if we exclude the plural. We have to live with the challenge of accepting that we are both.
We will never become truly human if we destroy the singular. We will never become truly divine and inclusive if we exclude the plural
This truth is the very source and joy of our Christian faith. We believe in a God who is the more of who we are, because he too is a ‘me’ and a ‘we’ at the same time and from all times.
One day, God became one of us to make us, like him, a ‘me’ and a ‘we’ at the same time in a universal and loving belonging. This makes us truly precious, singular and whole persons. His name is Jesus, the universal Christ, fully human and fully divine.