Dear Editor,
In the public imagination, Easter often revolves around bunnies, new chicks and Easter egg hunts - not necessarily in that order and not necessarily a bad thing. There are layers of history to this tradition though, that go unnoticed even as we shop for Easter treats. Wherever you start, the history of that tradition is fascinating in itself, involving expectations, surprises and earth shattering claims, and a deep exploration of what is real or as Pontius Pilate, the Roman Procurator in Judea from AD 26–36 asked "What is truth?"
In our political environment, with 24-hour news cycles and endless information of all kinds available on the internet, it would seem that the answer to what is real and what is truthful are fundamental questions.
We know for ourselves that a lot of spin happens in virtually any environment and the question remains throughout the spectrum of experience: Who do we trust?
Easter seems to me to be an exploration of that phenomenon, at different levels: What do we trust about our own and the experience of others? And how important and essential is that in our lives?
Spin doctoring has become a refined art that is sometimes difficult to recognize. What, therefore, do we recognize as legitimate claims, whoever makes them, and how do we discern where truth lies?
All of this, no doubt, is a personal and a lifetime project both secular and spiritual.
George Jason