If you’ve ever been away from home to engage with another culture for any length of time, you know that there is a period of readjustment. The more different from home the culture you visited was, the more intense the dissonance will be when you return. Culture is a powerful thing; it is the organizing force by which we make sense of the world around us. Encountering other ways of seeing life and interpreting reality can be a wonderful experience that opens our eyes to wider world and helps us catch a true glimpse of Truth, that is the person of God Himself.
We return back to our home culture however, we can often feel a sense of disquiet because our old answers and frameworks are no longer adequate to contain the new knowledge and awareness that we possess. We feel pressure to either reject our experience or become angry at our home culture. The struggle is to integrate our broadening understanding of life with the day to day demands of living at home. If we can manage to master that ‘noise’ or disquiet we feel, we can own a deeper understanding of truth. If we can’t, we’ll probably end up frustrated.
There is no simple solution to the problem. It takes prayer, awareness, and a community of people with whom you can share your experiences and frustrations. Most of all, you have to understand what is happening to you, so you can know to take appropriate steps toward dealing with it.
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