Dust.
Commit any violent and vulgar act against the dust of the earth. Trample it underfoot. Heartless cast it to the bottom of the sea. The dust will remain indifferent. Here lies the paradox, for we are dust.
Indifference. This is the first path at the crossroads I face. Are we but dust?
If we are but dust, then there can be no meaning. There can be no purpose. There can only be grasping and devouring. There can only be confusion. There can only be fear and emptiness. There can only be a dark end.
But, what if? Just, if? Can we bear to ask, “if”? What danger is there in the question “if?” for someone who is but dust? What danger is there to indifference, fear, meaninglessness, grasping, devouring, and the dark end?
The danger is clear. Can you see it? It is the light and breath of life.
Hope. Love. Life. Joy. Knowledge. Generosity. Mercy. Sacrifice.
These are not the emery of dust itself. There are the enemies of “but dust”. “But dust” is a belief. And that is the first and broadest belief that meets me at the crossroads.
The second path is narrow. The narrow way. I take that path as outlined in the Bible. If you dare think it, take that path too.
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