It's Thursday morning as I write these words. The grey and white of the cold cloudiness resting on the treetops outside my bedroom window of my little house in the mountains invites me to stay inside, to listen, to write. I gladly oblige.

The last few days I have been meditating on what it would mean to approach the way of Christ honestly, in nakedness, without the lens of my presuppositions or preferences tempting me to prove my point or state my case. I know that complete and total objectivity is an impossibility, but I can - and must - try. To be a student in the school of life I ought to remain teachable, and in order to remain teachable I need not hold too tightly to the world and the ideas that I have thus far constructed for myself. In the words of Thomas Merton: ‘We do not want to be beginners. But let us be convinced of the fact that we will never be anything but beginners, all our life!’

In any given field of human knowledge or communication one has the dual ingredients of form and freedom. These two are interrelated in such a way so that the one cannot really exist without the other, yet they remain distinct enough so as to be clearly differentiated.

It's Saturday late morning as I write these words. My friend Jean and I are sitting in a Cafe Fino as part of our coffee hopping expedition around Johannesburg today. Jean is one of those special people in my life whose mere presence in my life invites me to be a better person, to say yes to all that is good within me.

In one of those epically memorable moments in cinematic history, The Joker (played by the late Heath Ledger) responds as follows to Harvey when asked about his plan (now, if that intro didn't make sense, do yourself a favour and watch Batman: The Dark Knight):

"Do I really look like a man with a plan, Harvey? I don't have a plan. The mob has plans, the cops have plans. You know what I am, Harvey? I'm a dog chasing cars. I wouldn't know what to do with one if I caught one."

I am continuing on my journey of exploring the possibility of moving beyond tribalism towards a better alternative. I do this because I believe that the way of Christ calls us out of our tribal identities into a greater reality and way of life.

I must admit that this is by no means an easy thing to get my head around. Maybe some people find no difficulty with the issue whatsoever, and these will look upon my quest for clarity with a sort of 'uh, duh!' attitude as I seek to come to a conclusion of sorts that seems rather apparent to them. Bear with me, not all of us are blessed with simple minds.

Definition: Tribalism: (thefreedictionary.com)

1. The organisation, culture, or beliefs of a tribe

2. A strong feeling of identity with and loyalty to one's tribe or group.

'For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.' - Galatians 3:27-28

I am currently exploring an idea that was birthed in my some weeks ago, which focuses on the following simple premise: Jesus came to establish, amongst other things, a new world order - a new way of being in this world. Now I know that some conservative Christian folk who suffer from apocalyptic fewer shudder at the very expression 'a new world order', writing off such expressions as New Age propaganda and what not. Seriously, I don't know how they live with themselves being so naively narrow minded, but let me leave it at that.

The last week or so I have been mulling thoughts in my head without the ability to express them in a way that is adequate or sensible. When this happens, which is rather frequently, I become quiet and even sullen, shutting out the people around me as I try and make sense of what is going on inside of me. In such times it is best that I be left alone, until by chance or providence I stumble upon something that causes my conflicting thoughts to shake hands and reconcile.