Common Sense as Ultimate Authority

The authority to which Jesus appeals is the authority of Common Sense — with capitals, because we mean by it Divine Wisdom — Sophia — which Lao Tsu called Tao and Heraclitus called Logos. In fact, when Mark says, “In many parables Jesus spoke to them the word” (4:33), he uses for “word” the term Logos, which, ever since Heraclitus, carries in Greek the special meaning that we are giving to Common Sense. We must stress this point: Jesus does not appeal to divine authority enshrined in sacred Scripture, as did the priests and scribes who said, “Thus it is written….” Nor does he appeal to divine authority as speaking through him, as did the prophets, who said, “Thus speaketh the Lord….” When he challenges them with “Who of you… doesn’t know this already?” Jesus appeals to the divine authority in the hearts of his hearers.

It’s when you cross the ford that your leg problems show up.

Priests, scribes, and prophets talk down at the people from the high ground of divine authority; Jesus stands on common ground with them and makes them stand on their own feet by recognizing that divine authority speaks through common sense.The implications are staggering.

Common Sense is the ultimate authority. Deep down we all know this. If the teachings of ministers and theologians can’t stand up to Common Sense they crumble. If the exhortations of preachers fall short of Common Sense, they fail. When a teacher awakens us to use Common Sense ourselves, we respond as Jesus’ hearers did. “They were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one who had authority. .” (Mark 1:22). Mark adds, “not like the scribes”—not like the authoritarians.This comparison contains a death sentence for Jesus. Nothing is more threatening to an authoritarian mind than an appeal to the authority of Common Sense. Religious and political authoritarians alike will not rest until anyone who mobilizes Common Sense among the common people is wiped out. This is why Jesus had to die.

Authority as such is of course a good thing. It is by definition a firm foundation for knowing and acting. A community will elevate those who excel in leadership skills and wise counsel to positions of authority and entrust them with power. But power corrupts. Inevitably, some who do not possess the necessary qualifications will acquire positions of authority and hold on to them. They will wield power without the required wisdom and compassion. Such authoritarians are the sworn enemies of genuine authority grounded in Common Sense. They will try to maintain their hollow power through spreading fear. Fear keeps Common Sense down — fear of losing your job if you speak up and question policies that go against common sense; fear of being ostracized if you question authority.

Refusal to be questioned is a sure characteristic of authoritarian power. Authority deserves to be questioned. We owe it to those in authority to keep them on their toes. Genuine authority wants to be questioned, because only through continual respectful questioning can those in power overcome the temptation of thinking that they have all the answers. No one does; life is too surprising for that.

According to John’s gospel Jesus says: “I have come that they may have life, life in abundance” (10:10). Life creates ever new forms. Old structures support new life and growth, but then they harden and must be replaced. Every living organism and every ecosystem continually renews itself. A common sense animates and guides the whole. New growth knows when to spring up; old structures know when to let go. When the raspberries are ripe, they drop from the briars; when the milkweed seeds are ready, the pods split open to let the wind carry the little suns away. When the coyote mother becomes aware that her pups can now hunt for themselves, she wanders off and leaves the territory to the young. Only in human society does fearful clinging to power block common sense. Taoist sages were keenly aware of this. The more they attuned themselves to nature, the more they despised and ridiculed their society’s aberrations from Common Sense. Jesus contrasts these aberrations of a death-bound world with a world alive by God’s life-breath — the Holy Spirit.

If “Holy Spirit” were not a time-honored term, we would never call the experiential reality to which it refers by this name. When we speak of a spirit today, what first comes to mind is a ghost. And “holy”—as in “Holy Moly!”—no longer implies a sense of reverence and awe. If we had to come up with an expression for the harmony-creating life force that connects all with all and with the very source of life, “Common Sense” would be most appropriate and readily available. Each time we see “Holy Spirit” printed on a page or hear it said aloud, we might replace it with “Common Sense” to get the full impact.

Using the imagery of his Jewish tradition, Jesus calls his vision of a world in which harmony reigns “the kingdom of God.” In our age, kings belong to the realm of fairy tales. Obedience to a supreme ruler is no longer a value that inspires us.A pyramid of authority with king and god — or even God— on top is a defunct model; today’s emerging model is closer to what Gary Snyder calls “Earth Household.” Here, authority works from within: the family spirit of Common Sense makes all work in harmony with all.The “kingdom” that Jesus envisages is a “God Household.” He sees God not so much as our

King, but as our Father; and the motherly Spirit (originally a feminine term) is an all-pervading sense of family, our Common Sense. In the God Household, the love of power yields to the power of love.

“The smaller the lizard, the greater its ambition to become a crocodile,” they say in Ethiopia. It’s hard to assess if this is true among reptiles, but it is certainly true among humans. The degree of power one wields determines one’s place in the authority pyramid of a worldly kingdom. But the kingdom of Heaven has the authority structure of a household. Here, the mark of authority is service: “Let the greatest among you become as the least, and the leader as the one who serves” (Luke 22:26). In the God Household, those in authority must use their power to empower all who are under their authority.