Purity VI

. . . they left everything and followed him.


 - From Luke 5

There's a standard of all things, that is so high that few people attain it. A narrow way. A road less traveled. It involves sacrifice and commitment. You are willing to do without some nice things, in order to achieve some higher goal which brings more than enough satisfaction to make the want worth it.

It's why Mother Theresa, and Gandhi, chose poverty.

It's why Dr. King chose prison.

Tom Brady just won his sixth Super Bowl, at an advancing age. His secret is to eat smartly, avoid harmful food and habits. No smoking. Very little drinking. No sugars, very little fats. A consistent regimen of fitness, and regular sleeping hours and routines.

But did I just say his "secret"? There are no secrets.

I once asked my brother the secret to his weight loss. He said "It's not a secret. Eat less, and burn more fat."

Likewise, I asked my sister once about the secret to financial health. She said "There is no secret. Spend less than you make."

Nothing good comes easy. And the pure lifestyle isn't easy. But no matter the practice, or goal, or aspiration, or behavior, there is always a point of perfect conduct that can only be called "pure." A Shakespearean purist will read only Shakespeare. A cardio purist emphasizes running, but not weights.

A caffeine purist will never drink coffee.

A gambling purist won't even join the weekly office NFL pool.

And a sexual purist abstains from all sexual behavior, except perhaps within certain parameters.

It isn't easy. It's rare. And that's the point.

A society that values purity doesn't require all of its citizens to be pure. But it does recognize the high status of people that aspire to purity. You can celebrate something without being a practitioner of it.

And at some point in these post-modern times, a few people wish that we could openly admit that there are standards of purity, and that to talk about them doesn't make one judgmental, or a hater.

My cousin's son just bowled something like his 8th straight perfect 300 game. That's purity. We can honor and praise that. And it doesn't require us, for even a second, to believe that people that can't bowl 300 are less human.