Chapter 1: The Divine Conspiracy by Dallas Willard

Entering the Eternal Kind of Life Now

“Recently a pilot was practicing high-speed maneuvers in a jet fighter. She turned the controls for what she thought was a steep ascent—and flew straight into the ground. She was unaware that she had been flying upside down.”

This “flying upside down” is a metaphor that Willard uses to launch into a conversation on the predominant views of reality. We live in a day where there is “no [recognized] body of moral knowledge.” So learning about good is encouraged, but not for the purpose of becoming good. Teaching one to actually be good is viewed as imposing, and thus frowned upon. Moreover, “good,” in and of itself, is in question.

Willard illustrates this point clearly in the story of a Harvard student who paid her tuition by cleaning the rooms of her peers. While working, many of her peers ridiculed her because of her economic status; one particular student, who happened to be the top student in one of her moral reasoning courses, repeatedly propositioned her for sex. After a while she decided to no longer attend Harvard. During somewhat of an exit interview she said to her professor, “I’ve been taking all these philosophy courses, and we talk about what’s true, what’s important, what’s good. Well, how do you teach people to be good? What’s the point of knowing good if you don’t keep trying to become a good person?”

Questions like these go unanswered by the greatest secular thinkers of our day. And if the greatest minds cannot provide an answer, what of those who derive ideas from them? A cursory glance at the ideas that govern our society will give a glimpse of the absurdity that is passed down through these “mere ideas.” A general understanding of life as meaningless saturates society; if you want proof look and listen to the ideas behind the popular media of our day. From The Simpson’s to Modern Family, the picture is painted clearly for anyone who wishes to scrutinize.

In the midst of this absurdity the human soul, like metal turning towards an unseen magnetic force, yearns for meaning in a world that seemingly promises none. Humans continually place their hope in things, hoping to be filled, but are left wanting. This lack of fulfillment seems to reinforce the message of absurdity, but it could also point to the fact that we are going about life the wrong way. Maybe we weren’t created to fly upside down, but right side up. But if one doesn’t know they are upside down, how would they know to turn?

The answer to this, according to Willard, is provided by an invitation into a new Way of life — Jesus Christ. Jesus came and lived an ordinary existence for 33 years. He submitted to the will of his heavenly father, and lived firmly planted in the kingdom of heaven. He came in ordinariness, mastered human life, and opened the door of the kingdom. Now he invites all to change their minds about their way of life, and enter into his way.

But the invitation is so pervasive in our day, so common place, that many who think they have heard it, actually have not. “They think they have accepted it—or rejected it. But they have not. The difficulty today is to hear it at all. Genius, it is said, is the ability to scrutinize the obvious.”

So our challenge is to hear the invitation properly, and understand the one who gives it. Indeed, this is the divine conspiracy. Because while seeking to understand God’s plan for humanity we find Jesus Christ standing at the center of history. So we must look thoroughly at the Jesus whom we thought we were familiar with. We must seek to understand his invitation and enter into this life with him, and fly right side up. Only then will we see reality as it truly is. Only then will we enter into the divine conspiracy with God.