How I Changed My Mind - 6: A Parable of Huts

This may have first occurred to me, in a rudimentary version, in 1992-93 when I was doing a graduate program in missiology and world religions.

I imagine living in a lovely, well-constructed thatch hut. Everything I need is right there. It's a simple and good lifestyle. It is connected by covered passageways to many other similar huts. The inhabitants of all these huts are constantly coming and going.  There are windows. As I peer through them, I see that the world outside is a filthy mess. The people who live outside are evil, and the surroundings are chaos. They are confused and deluded, and need help. My friends from my network of huts and I speak often of how lucky (blessed) we are to be in our huts and not out in that horrific world.

There is a door to the exterior in my hut, hitherto unused. I decide one day to go out to help the poor, misguided people outside. There is indeed dirt and messiness out there, but the place doesn't look very much at all like what I had been seeing through my hut's windows. I saw many acts of kindness, and many of the people were easier and more enjoyable to be with that those in my network of huts.    

I go toward them and introduce myself. As I begin to tell them the good news of how excellent life is in our home, one of them silently points over my shoulder to my dwelling. When I follow his finger, I am surprised to see that my hut doesn't look all that great. It actually looks kind of rundown and unkempt.

I turn back to check it out more closely. To my surprise, the windows through which I had been looking for years were opaque. I couldn't see through them into my hut! I ran back inside, and there they were, as transparent as ever, showing me all that transpired on the outside. I ran back out, and what my eyes saw in the daylight bore little resemblance to the films magically appearing in the interior windows. My perception of the outside world had been seriously distorted since I had settled in the hut.

I began to explore the outside world. There were many other networks of huts. Some had closed doors and opaque windows just like mine. But others had transparent windows and open doors, some more than one! The passages connecting them were often just open paths. I was warmly welcomed in many of these and made to feel at home.

I wanted to stay out there exploring the places and the people and learning from them and sharing things that I had learned. There were some scary realities (and confused people, and bad ones) out there, but I preferred to see and deal with them rather than return to the illusory safety and comfort of my own hut. It no longer fit. It was no longer comfortable or reassuring. There was something better outside. Something truer. Something real.