NACHO LIBRE

The previous question was a theological loop:

Do you think it was okay for Nacho Libre to wrestle for money to get better food for the orphans at the monastery?

A loop brings you back to your original starting point.

It is a loop of hypothetical goodness. 

The loop creates the sensation of change because it rewards you with the feeling of thinking correctly, even though no actual action has taken place. It is a reflection of someone else’s goodness; you instantly feel different if you feel that you would wrestle for the orphans. Your view and ethics instantly become connected to a story.
It is a good story and you feel goodness by agreeing with it.

That is how we learn values.

Lucky for us I designed the loop to close with your initial response, because I am about to explain how I could have sent us anywhere.

Consider not why, but how the loop exists in the first place.

This is called theological context.

It exists because an orphan in the movie asks a simple question one day at lunch:

“Why can’t we ever just have like a salad?”

When we answer the question about whether or not we think it is okay for Nacho to wrestle, it does not answer the orphan’s question.

If you walk the loop backwards you will find what we are agreeing on: we don’t like the idea of these kids not having help.

If you keep walking the loop forward, you will feel disgust to know the problem still persists, even while we pass people with the same need on our way to become the solution.

We embark on a heroic journey to get a kid a salad.

Did you notice how fast we lost sight about who the question was about? 

It is almost instant.

If I would have said that “yes” was the right answer and applauded you, and said something too snarky about saying no, a new loop of the “wrong” answer would have appeared and two crowds would exist.

“Who doesn’t want to help the kids?!”

Even if everybody says yes, if I create the loop you will defend against it.

It could be a completely imaginary opposition. 

Let that sink in for a second.

This second crowd would want to voice logical reasons for their initial response being no to the question, and the more we do not let them explain the obvious, the further the paths get away from each other. If we can just wait a second, maybe let a little air leave our lungs, and a little more light in, we may see that not everybody is a great wrestler. 

Some people may just have the means to buy a salad.

If we are not careful we can find ourselves fighting against a simple answer because the complicated answer sounds better if the story has us as the hero.

Then the challenge becomes how to get us back on the same path. How do we get back to the clear answer?

How do we answer his question?

We can return instantly by seeing how fast we all agreed that help should take place.
Our initial response united us, it did not divide us.

It was not open for debate that the orphans need help.

Ignacio becomes Nacho Libre when his values get put into action; he does not become by thinking, he becomes by asking Chancho for some sweat pants and getting in the ring.

That is how we learn beliefs.

Now here is the problem with this loop, it is also only closed because we know that Jack Black is Nacho Libre and in the end he gets the girl, his new boots, and the orphans are well fed. 

But what if he loses the final match, gets excommunicated?

What if a local businessman donates to the orphanage because he both loves kids and wants the tax write off.

Isn’t that why the incentive is there?

Now they have salads but no hero, except the person that answered the original question.

“Why can’t we ever just have like a salad?”

He answered by buying salads.

Now let’s close all the loops. 

Did you notice the new conflict of what we should do with Nacho?

Especially in light of a well fed orphan.

Think about how many of us would support Nacho if he wanted to start something new.

Let’s say he wanted to start his own monastery, a wrestling school, etc.

He may even be inclined to reach out to the guy that had previously donated to his old monastery.

The businessman tells Nacho he will talk to the brothers, and that the monastery should have never excommunicated him.

“Wait! You are Nacho? I am a huge fan!
The orphans miss you! I will talk to the brothers at the monastery.”

The brothers take his meeting because he is the largest donor and the Mess Hall is named after him.

They explain they were put in a tough position with their tradition, doctrine, and reputation.

They also explain how he was a terrible cook (a new loop of possibilities).

The children cheer, Ignacio is honored. 

Encarnación makes eye contact.

Everything is restored.

Let us return to the opening of the loop, the paths, now that we know it can be constructed even against our best interest.

Let us return to the clear yes.

In Matthew 6 there is a bogus instruction that when we give to the poor we should not let our right hand know what our left hand is doing. Our Heavenly Father apparently is going to reward us in heaven.

The homeless lady my family knows by name is Cathleen with a C, she wanted us to know. 

She has a wicked mustache.
Lives by the beach.

We check in on her, help her with her needs.

The first homeless person I got to know was named Benny when I was 18.

The guy at the border of Arizona and California is named Dave.

The store manager at Trader Joes, Alex, has a son who is into photography, I gave him my cell so his son could me ask me any questions.

My Uber driver in Chicago was starting a non-profit, I reviewed his website in the backseat and gave him some advice, then I tipped him double.

The point?

I am damn proud of what my right hand and left hand are doing.

They are working in unison with my values and my beliefs. 

I have felt like the orphan wanting something better, I have felt like Nacho wrestling for good, and I have felt like the rich man giving freely, and if you will reflect on your story, so have you.

I am not interested in any heavenly reward, I have already been down that loop.

I have work to do.

The reward is that good was done, because goodness needed to be done.

That is what we all believe.
That is the work that is required by all of us.

Head up.
Light is coming in.

NACHHHHOOOOOOOO