More or Less

“Ask, and it will be given to you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you. For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.” – Matthew 7:7-8 (NRSVUE)

We are a culture obsessed with bigger, better, faster, more.

I’m here to say: it’s OK to want more. As long as it’s a “more” that everyone else can have, too.

Like: more change. More good trouble. More bad trouble, too, come to think of it. More visions and vistas. More calls to action. More calls to sit in stillness. More disruption of the status quo. More being taken down a peg or twenty. More discovering that your worst enemy is yourself (incidentally, also: the person you find hardest to forgive).

More insight that the best things in life aren’t things. More nudges to sell all your possessions and give the money to the poor. More urgent memos that it’s time to quit: the job, the booze, the relationship.

More consciousness.

It’s hard to believe, but some people don’t want any of the above. They say they want change, but what they really want is a scapegoat for their problems, or collaborators to co-sign their version of events.

Because more is, well, MORE. Often, it’s too much. Staying sleepy and same-same is much easier.

The pioneer of modern psychology (and psychonaut hippie born a hundred years early), William James, suggested that wanting More would ruin our lives for the better. Being open to a consciousness beyond our current perceptions would mean we were not “prematurely foreclosing our accounts with reality.”

How about you, Beloved? What do you want? It’s OK. Say it out loud.

Prayer
God, I want More. Please open the door.

About the Author
Rev. Molly Baskette is the lead pastor of First Church Berkeley UCC and the author of books about church renewal, parenting, spiritual growth and more. Sign up for her author newsletter or get information about her newest book at mollybaskette.com.