[Music]
today I want to present to you some of
the things I've been thinking and
writing about as Easter approached I'm
going to do this in five separate parts
which hopefully will make up a coherent
whole I'm going to read all of this
because it's complicated
part one the nature of experience there
are two ways of looking at the world as
a place of things and as a forum for
action because we are living beings and
must make our way pragmatically in the
world
the second way of looking has to take
precedence this means that the world as
a place of things is nested inside the
world as a forum for action this means
that our conceptualization of the world
as objective must remain subordinate to
our conceptualization of the world as a
place of being this is from the first
part of my book maps of meaning quote
the world can be validly construed as
forum for action or place of things the
former manner of interpretation more
primordial and less clearly understood
finds its expression in the arts or
humanities in ritual drama literature
and mythology of the world as forum for
action is a place of value a place where
all things have meaning this meaning
which is shaped as a consequence of
social interaction is implication for
action or at a higher level of analysis
implications for the configuration of
the interpretive schema that produces or
guides action the latter manner of
interpretation the world as place of
things finds its formal expression in
the methods and theories of science
science allows for increasingly precise
determination of the consensually
validate able properties of things and
for if
utilization of precisely determined
things as tools once the direction such
use is to take has been determined
through application of more fundamental
narrative processes no complete world
picture can be generated without use of
both modes of construal the fact that
one mode is generally set at odds with
the other means only that the nature of
their respective domains remains
insufficiently discriminated adherents
of the mythological worldview tend to
regard the statements of their Creed's
as indistinguishable from empirical fact
even though such statements were
generally formulated long before the
notion of objective reality emerged
those who by contrast accept the
scientific perspective who assume that
it is or might become complete forget
that an impassable gulf currently
divides what is from what should be i
wrote this a little later it's also
relevant as introduction to what we're
going to discuss in a bit the world can
be validly construed as a forum for
action as well as a place of things we
describe the world as a place of things
using the formal methods of science the
techniques of narrative however myth
literature and drama portray the world
as a forum for action the two forms of
representation have been unnecessarily
set at odds because we have not yet
formed a clear picture of their
respective domains the domain of the
former scientific domain is the
objective world what is from the
perspective of inter subjective
perception the domain of the latter
drama and narrative is the world of
value what is and what should be from
the perspective of emotion and action
the world as a forum for action presents
itself in two stories the normal story I
was at point-a
and I was going to point B and the
revolutionary story I was at point a and
while going to point B something
entirely unexpected and earth-shattering
happened this meant I had to abandon my
story question my assumptions a lot of
my old beliefs to die and be reborn anew
the second story which is deeper is
essentially religious part to some
axioms of the Christian revolutionary
story number one to decide that and then
enact the proposition that being is good
despite its tragedy and malevolence
number two to work in consequence for
the continual and eternal improvement of
that being and to know that as love
number three to do such work in truth
number four to let everything inadequate
burn off in that pursuit and to welcome
its replacement by what is better number
five to know that as the sacred
imitation of Christ number six to
understand that although Christ's
sacrifice redeemed us all the work still
has to be done number seven to accept
that work as the sacred meaning of life
number eight to strive toward the
heavenly City on the hill in that manner
part three narratives and sacrifice from
my new book twelve rules for life rule
seven pursue what is meaningful not what
is expedient every man for himself and
the devil take the hindmost as the old
proverb hasn't why not
simply take everything
you can get whenever the opportunity
arises why not determine to live in that
manner or is there an alternative and if
so why should we bother with it
our ancestors worked out very
sophisticated answers to such questions
but we still don't understand them very
well this is because they are in large
part still implicit manifest primarily
in ritual and myth and as of yet
incompletely articulated we act them out
and represent them in stories but were
not yet wise enough to formulate them
explicitly we're still chimps in a troop
or wolves in a pack we know how to
behave we know who's who and why we've
learned that through experience
our knowledge has been shaped by the
interaction with others we've
established predictable routines and
patterns of behavior but we don't really
understand them or know where they
originated they've evolved over great
expanses of time but we didn't and still
don't understand what it all meant the
biblical narrative of Paradise and the
fall is one such story fabricated by our
collective imagination working over the
centuries it provides a profound account
of the nature of being and points the
way to a mode of conceptualization at
action well matched to that nature in
the Garden of Eden prior to the dawn of
self-consciousness so goes the story
human beings were sinless our primordial
parents Adam and Eve walked with God
then tempted by the snake the first
couple ate from the tree of the
knowledge of good and evil discovered
death and vulnerability and turned away
from God mankind was exiled from
paradise and began its effortful mortal
existence the idea of sacrifice enters
soon afterward beginning with the
account of Cain and Abel and developing
through the Abrahamic adventures and the
Exodus after much contemplation
struggling humanity learns that God's
favor
could be gained and his wrath averted
through proper sacrifice and also that
bloody murder might be motivated among
those unwilling or unable to succeed in
this manner the delay of gratification
when engaging in sacrifice our
forefathers began to act out what would
be considered a proposition if it were
stated in words that something better
might be attained in the future by
giving up something of value in the
present recall if you will that the
necessity for work is one of the curses
placed by God upon Adam and his
descendants in consequence of original
sin adam's waking to the fundamental
constraints of his being his
vulnerability his eventual death is
equivalent to his discovery of the
future the future that's where you go to
die hopefully not too soon your demise
might be staved off through work through
the sacrifice of the now to gain benefit
later it is for this reason among others
no doubt that the concept of sacrifice
is introduced in the biblical chapter
immediately following the drama of the
fall there's little difference between
sacrifice and work they're also both
uniquely human sometimes animals act as
if they're working but they are really
only following the dictates of their
nature beavers build dams they do so
because they are beavers beavers build
dams they don't think yeah but I'd
rather be on a beach in Mexico with my
girlfriend while they're doing it
prosaically such sacrifice work is delay
of gratification but that's a very
mundane phrase to describe something of
soul-shattering significance the
discovery that gratification could be
delayed was simultaneously the discovery
of time and with it causality at least
the causal force of voluntary human
action long ago in the dim mists of time
we began to realize that reality was
struck
as if it could be bargained with we
learned that behaving properly now in
the present regulating our impulses
considering the plight of others could
bring rewards in the future in a time
and place that did not yet exist we
began to inhibit control and organize
our immediate impulses so that we could
stop interfering with other people and
our future selves doing so was
indistinguishable from organizing
society the discovery of the causal
relationship between our efforts today
and the quality of tomorrow motivated
the social contract the organization
that enables today's work to be stored
reliably mostly in the form of promises
from others understanding is often acted
out before it can be articulated just as
a child acts out what it means to be
mother or father before being able to
give a spoken account of what those
roles mean the act of making a ritual
sacrifice to God was an early and
sophisticated enactment of the idea of
the usefulness of delay there is a long
conceptual journey between merely
feasting hungrily and learning to set
aside some extra meat smoked by the fire
for the end of the day or for someone
who isn't present it takes a long time
to learn to keep anything later for
yourself or to share it with someone
else and those are very much the same
thing as in the former case you are
sharing with your future self it is much
easier and far more likely to selfishly
and immediately wolf down everything in
sight there are similar long journeys
between every leap and sophistication
with regards to delay and its
conceptualization short-term sharing
storing away for the future
representation of that storage in the
form of records and later in the form of
currency and ultimately the saving of
money in a bank or other social
institution
some conceptualizations had to serve as
intermediaries or the full range of our
practices and ideas surrounding
sacrifice and work and their
representation could have never emerged
our ancestors acted out a drama a
fiction they personified the force that
governs fate as a spirit that can be
bargained with traded with as if it were
another human being and the amazing
thing is that it worked this was in part
because the future is largely composed
of other human beings often precisely
those who have watched and evaluated and
appraised the tiniest details of your
past behavior it's not very far from
that to God sitting above on high
tracking your every move and writing it
down for further reference in a big book
here's a productive symbolic idea the
future is a judgmental father that's a
good start but two additional archetypal
foundational questions arose because of
the discovery of sacrifice of work both
have to do with the ultimate extension
of the logic of work which is sacrifice
now to gain later first question what
must be sacrificed small sacrifices may
be sufficient to solve small singular
problems but it is possible that larger
more comprehensive sacrifices might
solve an array of large and complex
problems all at the same time that's
harder but it might be better adapting
to the necessary discipline of medical
school will for example fatally
interfere with the licensee estoppel
core undergraduate party animal giving
that up is a sacrifice but a physician
can to quote George w really put food on
his family that's a lot of trouble
dispensed with over a very long period
of time so sacrifices are necessary to
improve the future and larger sacrifices
can be better second question
set of related questions really we've
already established the basic principle
sacrifice will improve the future but a
principle once established has to be
fleshed out it's full extension or
significance has to be understood what
is implied by the idea that sacrifice
will improve the future in the most
extreme and final of cases where does
that basic principle find its limits we
must ask to begin what would be the
largest most effective most pleasing of
all possible sacrifices and then how
good might the best possible future be
if the most effective sacrifice could be
made the biblical story of Cain and Abel
Adam and Eve's sons immediately follows
the story of the expulsion from paradise
as mentioned previously Cain and Abel
are really the first humans since their
parents were made directly by God and
not born in the standard manner Cain and
Abel live in history not in Eden they
must work they must make sacrifices to
please God and they do so with altar and
proper ritual but things get complicated
Abel's offerings please God but Cain's
do not Abel is rewarded many times over
but Cain is not it's not precisely clear
why although the text strongly hints
that Cain's heart is just not in it
maybe the quality of what came put
forward was low
maybe his spirit was begrudging or maybe
God was vexed for some secret reasons of
his own and all of this is realistic
including the texts vagueness of
explanation not all sacrifices are of
equal
quality furthermore it often appears
that sacrifices of apparently high
quality are not rewarded with a better
future and it's not clear why why isn't
God happy what would have to change to
make him so those are difficult
questions and everyone asks them all the
time even if they don't notice asking
such questions is indistinguishable from
thinking the realization that pleasure
could be usefully for stalled dawned on
us with great difficulty
it runs absolutely contrary to our
ancient fundamental animal instincts
which demand immediate satisfaction
particularly under conditions of
deprivation which are both inevitable
and commonplace and to complicate the
matter such delay only becomes useful
when civilization has stabilized itself
enough to guarantee the existence of the
delayed reward in the future if
everything you save will be destroyed or
worse stolen there's no point in saving
it is for this reason that a wolf will
down 20 pounds of raw meat in a single
meal he isn't thinking man I hate it
when I binge I should save some of this
for next week so how was it that those
two impossible and necessarily
simultaneous accomplishments delay and
the stabilization of society into the
future could possibly have manifested
themselves here is a developmental
progression from animal to human it's
wrong no doubt in the details but it's
sufficiently correct for our purposes in
theme first there's excess food large
carcasses mammoths or other massive
herbivores might provide that we ate a
lot of mammoths maybe all of them with a
large animal there's some left for later
after a kill that's accidental at first
but eventually the utility of for later
starts to be appreciated
some provisional notion of sacrifice
develops at the same time if I leave
some even if I want it now I won't have
to be hungry later that provisional
notion develops to the next level if I
leave some for later I won't have to go
hungry and neither will those I care for
and then to the next I can't possibly
eat all of this mammoth but I can't
store the rest for too long either
maybe I should feed some to other people
maybe they'll remember and feed me some
of their mammoths when they have some
and I have none then I'll get some
mammoths now and some mammoths later
that's a good deal and maybe those I'm
sharing with will come to trust me more
generally maybe then we could trade
forever in such a manner
mammoth becomes future mammoth and
future mammoth becomes personal
reputation that's the emergence of the
social contract to share does not mean
to give away something you value and get
nothing back that is instead only what
every child who refuses to share fears
it means to share means properly to
initiate the process of trade a child
who can't share who can't trade can't
have any friends because having friends
is a form of trade Benjamin Franklin
once suggested that a newcomer to a
neighbourhood asked a new neighbor to do
him or her a favor citing this old maxim
he that has once done you a kindness
will be more ready to do you another
than he whom you yourself have obliged
in Franklin's opinion asking someone for
something not too extreme obviously was
the most useful and immediate invitation
to social interaction and trade such
asking on the part of the newcomer
provided the neighbor with an
opportunity
to show him or herself as a good person
at first encounter it also meant that
the latter could now ask the former for
a favor in return because of the debt
incurred increasing their mutual
familiarity and trust in that manner
both parties could overcome their
natural hesitancy and mutual fear of the
stranger it is better to have something
than nothing it's better yet to share
generously to something you have it's
even better than that however to become
widely known for generous sharing that's
something that lasts that's something
that's reliable and at this point of
abstraction we can observe how the
groundwork for the conceptions reliable
honest and generous have been laid the
basis for an articulated morality has
been put in place the productive
truthful sharer is the prototype for the
good citizen and the good man we can see
in this matter how from the simple
notion that leftovers are a good idea
the highest moral principles might
emerge it's as if something like the
following happened as humanity developed
first were the endless tens or hundreds
of thousands of years prior to the
emergence of written history and drama
during this time the twin practices of
delay and exchange begin to emerge
slowly and painfully then they become
represented in metaphorical abstraction
as rituals and tales of sacrifice told
in a manner such as this it's as if
there's a powerful figure in the sky who
sees all and is judging you giving up
something you value seems to make him
happy and you want to make him happy
because all hell breaks loose if you
don't so practice sacrificing and
gerri until you become expert at it and
things will go well for you
no one said any of this at least not so
plainly and directly but it was implicit
in the practice and then in the stories
action came first as it had to as the
animals we once were could act but could
not think implicit unrecognized value
came first as the actions that preceded
thought embodied value but did not make
that value explicit people watched the
successful succeed and the unsuccessful
fail for thousands and thousands of
years we thought it over and drew a
conclusion the successful among us delay
gratification the successful among us
bargain with the future a great idea
begins to emerge taking ever more
clearly articulated form in ever more
clearly articulated stories what's the
difference between the successful and
the unsuccessful the successful
sacrifice things get better as the
successful practice their sacrifices the
questions become increasingly precise
and simultaneously broader what is the
greatest possible sacrifice for the
greatest possible good
and the answers become increasingly
deeper and profound the god of Western
tradition like so many gods requires
sacrifice we've already examined why but
sometimes he goes even further he
demands not only sacrifice but the
sacrifice of precisely what is loved
best this is most starkly portrayed and
most confusingly evident in the story of
Abraham and Isaac Abraham beloved of God
long wanted a son and God promised him
exactly that after many delays and under
the apparently impossible
conditions of old age and the long
barren wife but not so long afterward
when the miraculously born Isaac is
still a child God turns around and an
unreasonable and apparently barbaric
fashion demands that his faithful
servant offer his son as a sacrifice
the story ends happily God sends an
angel to stay
Abraham's obedient hand and accepts a
ram in Isaac's stead that's a good thing
but it doesn't really address the issue
at hand
why is God's going further necessary why
does he why does life impose such
demands we'll start our analysis with a
truism stark self-evident and
understated sometimes things do not go
well that seems to have much to do with
the terrible nature of the world with
its plagues and famines and tyrannies
and betrayals but here's the rub
sometimes when things are not going well
it's not the world that's the cause the
cause is instead that which is currently
most valued subjectively and personally
why because the world is revealed to an
indeterminate degree through the
template of your values thus if the
world you are seeing is not the world
you want it's time to examine your
values it's time to rid yourself of your
current presuppositions it's time to let
go it might even be time to sacrifice
what you love best so that you can
become who you might become instead of
staying who you are there's an old and
possibly apocryphal story about how to
catch a monkey that illustrates this set
of ideas very well first you must find a
large narrow neck jar just barely wide
enough and
ammeter at the top for a monkey to put
its hand inside then you must fill the
jar partway with rocks so it is too
heavy for a monkey to carry then you
must scatter some treats attractive to
monkeys near the jar to attract one and
put some more inside the jar a monkey
will come along reach into the narrow
opening and grab while the grabbing is
good but now we won't be able to extract
his fist now full of treats from the jar
not without unclenching his hand not
without relinquishing what he already
has and that's just what he won't do the
monkey capture can then walk over to the
jar and pick up the monkey the animal
will not sacrifice the part to preserve
the whole something valuable given up
ensures future prosperity something
valuable sacrificed pleases the Lord
what is most valuable and best
sacrificed or what is at least
emblematic of that a choice cut of meat
the best animal in a flock a most valued
possession what's above even though
something intensely personal and painful
to give up that symbolized perhaps in
God's insistence on circumcision as part
of Abraham's sacrificial routine where
the part is offered symbolically to
redeem the whole let's beyond that what
pertains more closely to the whole
person rather than to the part what
constitutes the ultimate sacrifice for
the gain of the ultimate prize it's a
close race between child and self the
sacrifice of the mother offering her
child to the world is exemplified
profoundly by Michelangelo's great
sculpture the pie Aida Michelangelo
crafted married cradling the nearly
naked body of her adult son crucified
and ruined its
her fault it was through her that he
entered the world and it's great drama
of being is it right to bring a baby
into this terrible world every woman
asks herself that question some say no
and they have their reasons
Mary answers yes voluntarily knowing
full well what's to come as do all
mothers if they allow themselves to see
it's an act of supreme courage when it's
undertaken voluntarily in turn Mary's
son Christ offers himself to God and the
world to betrayal torture and death to
the very point of despair on the cross
where he cries out those terrible words
from Matthew 27:46 my God my God why
hast thou forsaken me that is the
archetypal story of the man who gives
his all for the sake of the better who
offers up his life for the advancement
of being who allows God's will to become
manifest fully within the confines of a
single mortal life that is the model for
the Honorable man in Christ's case
however as he sacrifices himself God his
father is simultaneously sacrificing his
son it is for this reason that the
Christian sacrificial drama of son and
self is archetypal it's a story at the
limit where nothing more extreme nothing
greater can be imagined that's the very
definition of archetypal and that's the
core of what constitutes religious pain
and suffering define the world of that
there can be no doubt sacrifice can hold
pain and suffering in abeyance to a
greater or lesser degree and greater
sacrifices can do that more effectively
than lesser
there can be no doubt everyone holds
this knowledge in their souls
thus the person who wishes to alleviate
suffering who wishes to rectify the
flaws in being who wants to bring about
the best of all possible futures who
wants to create heaven on earth will
make the greatest of sacrifices of self
and of child of everything that is loved
to live a life aimed at the good he will
forego expediency he will pursue the
path of ultimate meaning and he will in
that manner bring salvation to the ever
desperate world part 4 from my blog on
the Ark of the Covenant the cathedral
and the cross Easter message one
abridged from Wikipedia the Ark of the
Covenant was a lidded gold-leafed wooden
chest containing the two stone tablets
of the Ten Commandments according to
various texts within the Hebrew Bible it
also contained Aaron's rod and a part of
manna God was said to have spoken with
Moses from between the two cherubim on
the Ark's cover the biblical account
states that the ark was created a year
after the Israelite exodus from Egypt
according to a pattern given to Moses by
God at the foot of Mount Sinai
thereafter the gold-plated acacia chest
was carried by its staves while enroute
by the Levites in advance of the people
went on the march towards the promised
land or at the head of the Israelite
army in transport the Ark was concealed
under a large veil made of skins and
blue cloth carefully hidden even from
the eyes of the priests and the Levites
who carried it when at rest
a portable building the tabernacle
meaning residence or dwelling place was
set up to house the Ark it was built of
woven layers of curtains along with 40
eight boards clad with polished gold
standing like vertical blinds Solomon's
Temple in Jerusalem superseded it as the
dwelling place of God some 300 years
later commentary there has to be a
bridge between the finite and the
infinite there has to be a place where
the ephemeral meets the eternal there
has to be a bridge between the knowable
and the unknowable and there has to be
bedrock at the foundation the Ark which
is the portal to God is to be carried on
the shoulders of those who are holy it
is not to be touched to touch the Ark is
to risk death there are holy things that
cannot be touched except at mortal risk
those things that cannot be touched are
at the very foundation of the community
the Ark must be placed at the center of
the temple the temple must be placed at
the center of the community the
community must be arranged around what
is untouchable and unshakeable the
untouchable and unshakable is what is
axiomatic the people following the Ark
have determined to journey together
toward the eternal promised land the
city arranged properly around the Ark of
the Covenant is eternal Jerusalem
something must be axiomatic or
everything shakes and Falls the
axiomatic cannot be expressed fully in
words instead the axiomatic untouchable
and unshakable is what makes
communication in words possible the
axiomatic is a spirit a process a living
force its manifestations however are
concrete that is the transformation of
the Spirit into matter that is the
generation of the tablets of stone
the Ark of the Covenant contains the
rules that are derived in the first
order from the axiomatic principle that
principle is the spirit that made the
rules manifest that spirit is the
ultimate inhabitant of the ark and the
rules the result of its action that
spirit is the creative logos the Ark of
the Covenant and the temple are replaced
by the cathedral at the center of the
community the cathedral is the cross in
architectural form the cross is where
the transformation takes place the
transformation is the incorporation of
the body of Christ that incorporation is
a dramatic ritual is the embodiment of
the decision not to believe in Christ
but to act him out which is to believe
in a much deeper manner than to merely
believe Christ is he who transcends
death by voluntarily accepting death
Christ is he who rejects the kingdoms of
this world for the kingdom of God Christ
is he who speaks the truth that creates
the habitable order that is good from
the chaos of potential that exists prior
to the materialization of reality Christ
is he who wields potential as the sword
that Cleaves death Christ is he whose
radical acceptance of the conditions of
life defeats the hatred bitterness and
vengefulness that the tragedy and
malevolence that taints being otherwise
produces without the acceptance of death
bitterness rules and hell triumphs
Christ is the potential of man and woman
it is said that man and woman alike are
made in the image of God and that God is
he who uses the eternal logos to
generate habitable order from the chaos
of potential this is the axiom this is
the diamond at the center of the world
this is the spirit in the arc that is
untouchable
this is the bedroom
of the culture that brings peace and
prosperity and that respects the dignity
of man this is the great truth this is
the responsibility whose acceptance
allows each of us to live despite the
catastrophic fragility of our limited
being our likeness to God gives each of
us a value that transcends the finite
individual and society alike are charged
with the ethical demand to respect that
value this is not only the presumption
that grounds the idea of the rights of
man
it is the presumption that lays upon
each of us the ultimate responsibility
that is the inevitable corollary of
those rights face the chaos of the
future employ the logos of which you are
a part to transform that chaos into the
habitable order that is good speak the
truth embody the truth accept impossibly
the limitations that make being possible
dispense in that manner with resentment
hatred and the desire for infinite and
unbounded vengeance and all the cruelty
and evil that accompanies it
pick up the cross of your tragedy and
betrayal accept its terrible weight
hoist it onto your shoulders and
struggle impossibly upward toward the
kingdom of God on the hill the
alternative is death and hell part 5 the
psychological meaning of the death and
resurrection of Christ Easter message -
this is a somewhat extended and altered
version of a commentary that I wrote for
the London Sunday Times Magazine in the
beginning only the king was sovereign
then the nobles became sovereign then
with the Greeks all men became sovereign
then came the Christian Revolution and
every individual male/female beggarman
tax collector prostitute
thief became so impossibly equally
sovereign then our cultural and legal
systems wrapped themselves tightly
around that ultimately unlikely
narrative of individual sovereignty and
made it their central unshakeable pillar
now we all give each other the respect
of individual citizens who are sovereign
without remembering or noticing that we
are simultaneously accepting the
proposition that every singular one of
us is a divine center of logos a divine
center of the eternal word that brings
habitable order into being through the
voluntary truthful confrontation with
chaos and the unknown and if any one of
us is not treated in this manner
if anyone no matter how powerful reacts
to any of us no matter how downtrodden
as if our free will is ilusory or our
role in choosing the outcomes of our
lives non-existent then we get offended
and angry and agitated and insulted and
rightly so our spectacularly and
miraculously functional Western legal
systems are predicated on the acceptance
of the intrinsic value of the individual
predicated on the idea that each person
can step forward voluntarily accept the
burden of being transformed positively
in consequence and share the results of
that transformation with everyone else
it is in that manner that each of us
pushes everything away from the abyss
and a bit more heavenward is the
apparent necessity for such insanely
high regard and illusion it is certain
that it is at least functional and
therefore not so obviously illusory it
is also equally certain that we have not
outlined any more viable materialistic
alternative you might well ask is the
hypothesis of intrinsic human value
justified is our apparent ability to
face the as of yet on manifest future
and decide on the nature of its
realization in the present genuine and
real is it true
despite its
prehensile ility that we are free
conscious beings and then our conscious
freedom plays a role in constructing the
cosmos it could merely be as the cynics
and reductionists hold that
consciousness is an epiphenomenon of
materialistic processes that there is no
free will or at least none of any
genuine import that there is no
accompanying moral responsibility or
freely chosen destiny
there are however valid and not so
simply dispensed with reasons to avoid
too premature and casual acceptance of
such conclusions even the greatest of us
do not understand consciousness not a
bit much less comprehend the role it
plays in being we have no idea currently
seriously no idea how the material
substrate of the brain produces the
awareness and more the self-awareness
that seems so vital to the existence of
the cosmos if there is no center of
experience to experience something
anything then it is very difficult to
say in what manner that something or
anything exists reality requires an
observer and as far as we can tell that
observer is consciousness even more so
self-consciousness our awareness our
self-awareness appears to confront the
unformed potential of the future and to
cast it into the concrete reality of the
present our consciousness acts on
possibility like the logos of the
farther acted on the pre cosmogonic
chaos at the beginning of time it is in
that manner that we are made in the
image of God and we all demand to be
treated as if that were true and who
would dare to deny that such a demand is
made for valid and perhaps even
ultimately valid reasons consider the
evidence from our actions when you treat
yourself as if you matter then you
thrive when you treat those around you
as if they are inhabited by a spark of
divinity then your relationships
stabilize and grow some
Dainius lee when we produce society's
predicated on the great idea of the
inherent value of each individual from
saint to criminal then men become free
and productive and capable of living the
meaningful lives that lend dignity to
the tragedy of their limited existences
and when we fail to do so then our
society's degenerate into the tyrannical
and murderous tribal structures that
seem to exist as the only certainly
manifest alternative is this not all
indicative of the existence of some
profound truth obviously we are
constrained and severely so by the
manner of our corporeal being we are
subject to deterministic rules in a
seriously profound manner we do not have
the power to shape things in any old way
whatsoever at any time or place but we
can certainly and demonstrably and
apparently willfully advance in the
direction of our imagination and in
quite a staggering and compelling manner
is this not indicative of who we
genuinely are is this not a perhaps the
primal existential truth we are in
danger in the west of abandoning our
culture of leaving our great
foundational stories to die on the altar
of our inquisitiveness cynicism and
carelessness of degenerating into
nihilism or returning in a reactionary
manner to an archaic and destructive
tribalism of the right or the left it
matters not these twin dread paths will
not lead us to where we would want to be
if we decided to be conscious and
careful such abandonment will weaken us
fatally as individuals it will lay us
open to possession by all manner of
demonic conceptual alternatives it will
make us vulnerable to our enemies within
and without it is psychologically true
that each of us should open ourselves up
to the tragedy of being it is
psychologically true that
should pick up our tragic burdens and
crosses die continually
and renew our souls continually it may
be more than psychologically true as
well it may be a truth of cosmic
significance that is the death and
resurrection celebrated by Easter and it
is time for us to wake up become
conscious and recognize it as such it is
not possible to encapsulate within any
finite written account the total import
of the idea of Christ's death and
rebirth the impossible claim of the
bodily resurrection of one man conjoined
with the notion that this event was both
of world redeeming and cosmic
significance simply cannot be understood
once and for all within any singular
frame of interpretation even for
die-hard atheists of the scientific type
think Richard Dawkins and sam Harris a
great mystery remains
why has this strange and thoroughly
implausible story exercised such immense
impact it is because each life is a
tragedy tainted by malevolence it is
because life is suffering as we all are
each of us vulnerable and ignorant made
all too frequently bitter resentful and
angry because of just that and more than
willing to make things worse in that
anger but we all admire courage and the
accompanying willingness to abide by the
truth no matter how terrible in the face
of that suffering we all recognize in
such courage and truth at least by our
admiration of it an antidote to the
catastrophe of life we all know that in
the absence of such courage and truth
mere catastrophe degenerates all too
frequently into hell
imagine that acceptance of vulnerability
and ignorance is the precondition for
growth imagine that confrontation with
the terrible unknown with its paralyzing
manifestations of tragedy and
malevolence is necessary to catalyze
both wisdom and maturity imagine finally
that human consciousness plays some
central
as of yet poorly understood role in the
reality of the cosmos at least as
necessary observer imagine all of that
then ask yourself what is the absolute
hypothetical limit of human attainment
when vulnerability and ignorance are
fully and completely accepted when the
unknown is squarely confronted and when
consciousness is given its due as the
very center of the world
that's Christ's acceptance of the
crucifix
that's his willingness to be betrayed
subject to the evil of his closest
companions and the state and his embrace
of brokenness and death it is pure truth
that even a small leaven of humility and
courage engenders resilience progress
and growth it is pure truth that
resentful rejection of the price of
finite being multiplies suffering
endlessly and unnecessarily what is the
ultimate expression of those truths
taken to their final conclusion who is
to say who we are and what we might be
capable of achieving if we develop the
courage to accept our terrible fates
live in truth and stumble uphill this is
the question posed by Christianity in
its very essence would you put
everything you have and everything you
are on the line so that you could learn
to conduct yourself in the best possible
manner would you be willing to allow who
you might be to continually and
painfully triumph over who you currently
are in the most ancient religious
language would you sacrifice what you
love most to God to find out who and
what you are we are in the final
analysis
neither structure nor chaos each of us
is instead best understood as a process
as a living dynamic process as the very
process by which what we know what we
know so insufficiently is transformed
into what could yet be that is the
process by which our continued forward
movement through life is constantly and
inevitably depend
to understand that and to welcome it
that is voluntary acceptance of the
necessity of eternal transformation as
an alternative to nihilistic despair or
desperate and fatal identification with
the state this is the idea enacted
during the ceremony of the Christian
Eucharist incorporation of the body of
Christ is the symbolic transformation of
the participant not into a believer of a
set of facts religious though those
facts may appear but into the act of
imitator of Christ into the person
willing to undergo whatever death is
necessary to bring about the next and
better state of being into the person
willing to embrace his or her
confrontation with the tragedy and
malevolence of life to learn from that
process of embrace and to move one step
closer in consequence to the eternally
receiving City of God
the idea of the dying and resurrecting
God is one of the oldest ideas of
mankind widespread and exceptionally
variant in its forms it forms part of
the set of presuppositions that underlie
the most ancient shamanic rituals
carried over perhaps from the Stone Age
itself it is echoed in the foundational
stories of ancient Mesopotamia Egypt and
Greece it manifests itself in
allegorical forms in the figure of the
Phoenix for example which immolates
itself regains its youthful form and
rises in triumph from the ashes it
recurs repeatedly in the tropes of
popular culture as well bringing even
those entirely devoid of religious
education under the spell Marvel's
iconic Ironman plummets like Icarus from
sky to ground after saving the world
from demonic serpentine other world
forces and then arises from his death
the child wizard Harry Potter must
ultimately die and be reborn to defeat
Voldemort a very thinly disguised Satan
all of that creative variation on a
theme speaks of a deep in eradicable and
eternally re-emergence psychological
reality
we all see this in our day to day lives
and we all know it because we see it a
small failure a small disappointment
frustration or disenchantment engenders
within us a small death a small descent
into the underworld a small requirement
for rebirth a large failure produces a
proportionately large catastrophe and
transformation when you are compelled to
talk to someone because you face divorce
or the failure of a treasured ambition
or the illness or death of someone close
you are walking yourself through the
eternal narrative stability crisis death
transformation rebirth that's the story
of our lives
that's the fall and the re-establishment
of paradise the idea that the Savior is
the figure who dies and resurrects is a
representation in dramatic or narrative
form of the brute fact that
psychological progress indeed learning
itself requires continual death and
rebirth of lesser and greater magnitude
if you are engaged in the serious
interpersonal conflict or argument or
facing a true crisis in your life the
new information confronting you cannot
be incorporated without the oh so
painful demise of your previous
conceptions and all of the resistance
comprehension of that pain necessarily
entails that's part and parcel of the
process so famously described as
assimilation and accommodation by the
great developmental psychologist John
Piaget we each confront the world with a
set of pre-conceptual ization x'
whose function is simultaneously to
delimit and render pragmatic are varied
perceptions thoughts and actions in the
absence of this a priori
we simply cannot function nonetheless it
is still insufficient no one ever knows
enough and what we each do not yet know
will at some moment of crisis become a
vital importance when something new and
Hydra like confronts us and shakes us to
our core what is old
anachronistic within must therefore
immolate itself and die
it is very rare indeed to learn
something profound without suffering the
terrible pain of - dreams and the soul
shaking terror of uncertainty and doubt
this means that none of us should
identify in the most fundamental sense
with what we currently know and presume
means as well that we should all come to
understand that so that we do not remain
confused about who we are this means
that it is never sufficient to be
conservative or to identify with the
past or to become ideologically or
dogmatically committed or to remain
stubbornly anachronistic and unchanged
the environment transforms headlong
around us and we all must run as fast as
we can
as Ellis's Red Queen well knew just to
stay in the same place it is not
sufficient either to abandon tradition
and structure entirely in a headlong and
irresponsible rush towards the anomalous
and revolutionary structure is
insufficient but it is still necessary
and the ethical requirement for
respecting and maintaining it is still
of paramount importance as well
similarly avoid falling prey to the
temptation of identifying with the
chaotic depressing anxiety ridden and
nihilism inducing state of affairs
engendered by the terrible confrontation
with the genuinely unknown even when
thrust into the underworld by the dread
events of our life we must not
characterize ourselves as permanent
inhabitants of that dark and dread place
lest we lose hope despair and seek
revenge to progress psychologically you
must let go sacrifice time and again in
the face of success of obstacles you
must abandon those things that and often
those people who are impeding your
progress despite the fact that you may
have held them very close to your heart
when you're wrong when you've missed the
mark when you've sinned because that is
the meaning of sin you must let the part
of you that is wrong and aiming
improperly die then you
must allow the new spirit manifesting
itself within to spring to life that new
spirit that's the terrible information
contained in whatever error you
committed in living conjunction with the
now transformed structures you
originally employed to frame the
situation that new spirit it's a
manifestation as well and in other words
of the potential within you that had not
yet been called forth by the previous
travails of your life
Christ is symbolically the way and the
truth of life and no one comes to the
Father except through him embracing the
process of voluntary death and rebirth
that is identical with psychological
development means determining to move
forward and upward despite the horrors
of life it means as well symbolically
speaking rejuvenating the dead father or
rescuing him from stagnation and
deterioration in the eternal underworld
forthright individual confrontation with
the unknown renews the individual but
also catalyzes cultural revitalization
this is the essence of Christian ritual
and belief articulated as a
psychological principle we must identify
with that part of ourselves that is
always stretching beyond what we
currently know and has the faith to let
go of old certainties so that new
patterns of being can be brought into
place it is through identification with
the process symbolized by Easter that we
are each redeemed and our culture
revivified and salvaged we are all the
slaves of Pharisees and lawyers of those
who place Dogma above spirit at the cost
of spirit we are all subject to betrayal
by ourselves and by all those who
surround us we are all facing extinction
in the most torturous of manners but
there is a spirit within us with
sufficient courage to confront the true
horrors of existence forthrightly to
allow the transformation even death that
such confrontation catalyzes to occur
and to leap forward renewed
how is it that life might prevail in the
face of death and hell with arms open
embracing its fate we are all fallen
creatures and we all know it we are all
separated from what should be and thrown
into the world of death and despair we
are all brutally crucified on the cross
that is the reality of life itself to
rebel against that fate merely worsens
it transforming what could be mere
tragedy into something indistinguishable
from hell to argue bitterly and despair
around the deathbed of a loved one to
take a single example is to turn all the
pain of death and loss into something
far worse to accept instead is that
simultaneously to transcend it's
certainly courage and truth and perhaps
even love and these three forces are
something to behold
are they more powerful than despair and
the desire for vengeance that is the
Christian suggestion and the Christian
command to act out the proposition that
courage and truth and love are more
powerful than death and despair and to
accept what transpires as a consequence
that is Easter and the death and
resurrection of Christ we forget or
remain blind to such things at our great
peril