Why don’t CEOs have offices on the ground floor?
In my experience, the senior officers of any large corporation have their offices on the top floor of the building.
Boardrooms are on the top floor.
Penthouse suites are the most expensive.
Let me suggest that these architectural symbols reflect society’s belief that anything important comes from the top down.
When nations negotiate, they negotiate at the highest levels. It’s taken for granted that change starts with the king, the president, the prime minister.
Granted, they’re the gatekeepers. You have to get through them to reach anyone else. And they have a lot of influence. But they’re rarely in favour of change. After all, the status quo got them there.

A belief about how things get done
We like to talk about change bubbling up from the bottom. But we don’t really believe it. We never have.
In every village along the St. Lawrence River, the church always occupies the highest ground.
In Europe and the British Isles, castles perch on rocky outcrops or promontories. Where there’s no higher ground, the castles themselves tower above their villages.
The Greek Acropolis stands on a hill, looking down on the Agora, the marketplace. The Temple in Jerusalem was built on Mount Zion. According to biblical legend, humans built the Tower of Babel so they could ascend to the height of the gods. Moses went up a mountain to receive his Commandments.
So classical Christianity put God on the top floor, in heaven. From up there, somewhere, God looks down on us poor mortals.
Many people might now reject that view. But do they really? No one ever says that God looks up at us!
The top-down mentality may be our most pervasive and unexamined belief.

Applying the lesson of evolution
Much of the hostility to Darwin’s exposition of evolution, I suspect, came because it up-ended top-down thinking. It didn’t just boot “man” off the top of the natural order, or challenge a biblical explanation of creation.
Traditional Christianity had set up the ultimate top-down model -- God designed everything, God made it happen, God controlled it.
By contrast, evolution argued that change came from the bottom up. Creatures adapt to their environment. They aren’t told to do it, they just do it.
Societies also evolve. But, as Rudyard Griffiths commented  in the Globe and Mail, about a year ago, “It took a long time to realize that biological evolution wasn't a top-down phenomenon, and we're taking a long time to realize that social evolution isn't a top-down phenomenon [either]. We still think the way to success is to order other people about and to get into positions of power yourself.”
Wars, it seems to me, are top-down conflicts; one leader trying to topple another. Most revolutions, on the other hand, start as bottom-up reactions  -- even if they soon revert to top-down tyrannies. France and Russia are obvious examples.
Even the Christian infiltration of the Roman Empire morphed into the central authority of the Vatican.
As Griffiths wrote, “The evolution of free societies runs up against the problem of people still [clinging to] instincts of control and power.”
Top-down may be a practical necessity, to get some things done. But resorting to it won’t change the belief that it’s the only way to get things done.
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Copyright © 2016 by Jim Taylor. Non-profit use in congregations and study groups, and links from other blogs, welcomed; all other rights reserved.
        To comment on this column, write jimt@quixotic.ca

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YOUR TURN

Last week I ventured into a revised set of the Ten Commandments. Helen Arnott liked them: “Jim, this one is good, a real gem. I must look up "numinous" and Rudolph Otto. And then the question you ask us at the end -- wow! Most thought-provoking. I don't know if I could come up with my own ten commandments now that I've read yours! Perhaps I'll try...”

Jim Henderschedt also approved: “Bravo.....not so much for what you wrote but for the courage to step outside the lines and your willingness to share your thoughts. I also appreciate your invitation to follow suit. Even the Divine being would not be limited to 10 nor would they remain the same.”

Ralph Milton had a similar response: “My first reaction would be to add respect and care and delight in those who see the world differently, and those who walk to the beat of a different drummer.”

Steve Roney thought I was discarding the original Ten Commandments: “Interesting idea -- the Ten Commandments being obsolete. I certainly disagree. They are universal, and I see none that might have application only to a remote desert tribe. Thou shalt not steal? Thou shalt not bear false witness? Now all passe?
“I suspect that just about anything ‘missing’ can already be construed from what's there. As they traditionally are in any Catholic ‘examination of conscience.’”
Having said that, Steve then sent along his own supplementary command: “Thou shalt not outsource thy morality. If you make the sacrifice of giving some of your wealth to charity, that is a moral act. Publicly demanding that others give some of their wealth to charity is not a moral act. Too many suppose that by doing this, they have done their bit. If given any moral weight at all, the latter act is immoral.”

Isabel Gibson condensed her ten into one: “"Love every thing. And everyone. Even yourself." She added, “Got any titanium sheets handy?”

Charles Hill took my challenge seriously. “I think I might elaborate a bit more on some of them,” he wrote.
This is his list of amended Ten Commandments:
1. Let your spiritual beliefs be your God. Don't worship possessions, including money.
2. Don't worship your house, car, social status, or anything else that replaces love, kindness, respect for all others.
3. Do not use "God" to support your own ideas, or in profanity.
4. Remember to take a day off. Working 24/7 will lead to health problems. Use that day to consider your
 spiritual life.
5. Remember that your parents treated you in a manner taught by their culture and /or their own childhood experiences. People aren't born evil. 
6. Don't murder anybody, either physically or emotionally. 
7. When you get married, keep your vows. If the marriage isn't working, get out. Sex is a powerful motivator but can ruin everything for you. If you took the marriage vows [and don’t keep them], you become dishonest in every respect. 
8. Don't steal. That includes not paying enough to someone to increase your own wealth.
9. Be truthful, even if the truth is going to get you into trouble.
10. Don't spend your life trying to have what someone else has. Be content with what God has given you.
 
Art Gans recommended a favoured author: “I don't know if you are aware of Harry Kemelman's book, ‘Conversations with Rabbi Small’ but your discussion of the 10 Commandments reminded me of it. If you haven't been introduced to Rabbi David Small, you should meet him. He is a Conservative rabbi in a small Massachusetts town of Barnard's Crossing. I think you would enjoy him.” 
In a second e-mail, Art clarified, “Kemelman is a mystery writer whose principal character is a Conservative Jewish rabbi, David Small. The rabbi is very studious and solves cases by Talmudic reasoning. Kemelman has a number of rabbinical friends who advise him, and he is knowledgeable in traditional Talmudic reasoning himself.”

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PSALM PARAPHRASES

The recommended reading for this Sunday is Psalm 96, which begins “Sing a new song…” I can’t help wondering why, in the church, we have such fear about singing a new song. Now music, yes; new ideas, heavens no! This paraphrase tries to colour a little beyond the conventional lines. 

Strike up the band! Cue the cheerleaders!
Bring on the seventy-six trombones!
We need something special to show our appreciation
for a new understanding of divinity.
This is not about an old man with a white beard
   sitting on a cloud in the sky idly strumming his harp.
This is about the presence that surrounds us,
   that fills us,
      that shapes every fibre of our being.
We call it “God,” but it is not just an image manufactured by our fertile imaginations.
The presence is around us, in us, through us.
Nothing that exists,
   that has ever existed,
   that will ever exist,
     lives outside this universal presence.
How then do we praise this presence?
What can we offer up
   that is not already incarnate in this holy unity?
We can only present ourselves,
   all races, all faiths, all genders,
   trembling in anticipation –
even if we miss an occasional note.

For paraphrases of most of the psalms used by the Revised Common Lectionary, you can order my book Everyday Psalms from Wood Lake Publishing, info@woodlake.com.

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YOU SCRATCH MY BACK…
Ralph Milton has a new project, called Sing Hallelujah – the world’s first video hymnal. It consists of 100 popular hymns, both new and old, on five DVDs that can be played using a standard DVD player and TV screen, for use in congregations who lack skilled musicians to play piano or organ. More details at www.singhallelujah.ca
Isabel Gibson's thoughtful and well-written blog, www.traditionaliconoclast.com
Wayne Irwin's "Churchweb Canada," an inexpensive service for any congregation wanting to develop a web presence, with free consultation. <http://www.churchwebcanada.ca>
Alva Wood's satiric stories about incompetent bureaucrats and prejudiced attitudes in a small town are not particularly religious, but they are fun; write alvawood@gmail.com to get onto her mailing list.
Tom Watson writes a weekly blog called “The View from Grandpa Tom’s Balcony” – ruminations on various subjects, and feedback from Tom’s readers. Write him at twatson@sentex.net

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TECHNICAL STUFF

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