The imperative of making a choice is always before us and we make it every moment of everyday and most of us have chosen P-B as the context in which to make our choices. That paradigm is neither a sustainable choice nor the one advocated by the wisest teachers who have lived among us. “Palestine was a culture of storytelling, and Jesus was a master of the art. His stories were not moral or intellectual allegories that required exegetical [intellectual analysis] deciphering, but straightforward and concrete descriptions that drew his listeners into the drama and called for decision on their part.”[i]
Thomas Sheehan, who profoundly understands the teaching of Jesus, is an advocate for a new narrative for humanity. He understood that Jesus compared P-B with P-A, and like many other wise teachers, urged people to change the content of their existing narrative and thereby shift their identity. This, he knew, was the only way that human behavior could be profoundly changed.
[i] Sheehan, Thomas. The First Coming. New York: Random House, 1986, p. 72.
