“laws are up to interpretation.” That is, those laws that are in my way, in the way of what I want or what my client wants. (Did I just interpret, re-interpret, or mis-interpret what she said?) The casualness of dining...and killing and greed.
If the law is good for me, if I like it, if it opens up and facilitates what I want, then I’ll obey. But if I don’t like it, because it imposes on or impedes against my will, then I’ll do what I want. So ultimately what I want determines what or who I will or won’t submit to.
Recently my family and I were eating dinner outside in the backyard. The younger kids had finished and were swinging while the older ones were still hungry and eating. My son came and asked me if he could have ice cream. I knew two things. One, there wasn’t enough for everyone. Two, the younger kids had already had ice cream earlier in the day. So I said he could have what was left, but to eat it in the house. I assumed that he knew what I meant: “Eat it inside the house out of their sight, because otherwise they’re going to see you and want more.”
He went inside, got what was left, and ate it in front of an open window overlooking the backyard.
Later that night, my wife asked my daughter how her afternoon and evening had gone. Like I did with my son, she assumed my daughter would know what she meant: “Tell me the details of what you did today.” My daughter did what I often do and summarized five hours in four words. So I replayed for her the earlier scenario with her brother and asked, “What do you think I meant by asking him to eat the ice cream in the house?” Of course, she knew exactly what I meant to say to him.
What we hear is often garbled by what we want (or don't want); what we want (or don't want) interprets, re-interprets or mis-interprets the meaning of what is said. Even though we hear the exact words that are spoken, we take those words to mean something else. We end up hearing what we want to hear. A foreign interpreter could change the meaning of what the speaker has said without the speaker ever knowing. Which is why it is good to know and trust your interpreter.
Can you, do you, should you trust your heart?
How my heart interprets what is asked or required of me cannot depend ultimately on what I want to hear, what I want it to mean, because my heart might ignore what was said or twist what was said or deny what was said. And if everything is open to my self-interpretation, then gradually and eventually obedience, trust, loyalty, commitment, love, service to others becomes the means that will either get me what I want or get in the way of what I want.
What is asked or required of us is rarely misunderstood due to a lack of understanding – “I didn’t know what you meant.” It is "misunderstood" in relation to our proclivity for self-realization, self-rule, self-seeking, and self-love. Last time I counted, twice if my kids hadn’t understood what I meant by the word “stop”, drivers with their own meaning of the speed limit would have had no time to break. Of course if I leave my words in the ordinary, mundane moments of the day to my children’s own interpretation of them, then they will always do what they want to do, but worse they will find it harder and harder to trust in me – in someone other than in themselves.
No, somethings are not up to my interpretation of them, and they shouldn't be.
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