We spend so much time running from ourselves
Fleeing from what we know
about the goodness in our hearts
we think we can escape
the intelligence of our loving.
Imagine you are standing before a bodhisattva—
Jesus, Buddha, the first mother
it does not matter what you call the holy one—
he has dust on his shoes
chaff clings to her
the smells of being alive—
Shining from their faces is the beam of
all their questions
the compassion of their living
Can you see yourself through those eyes?
Can we know each other like this?
(We, who no longer believe in messiahs
can hardly believe in each other.)
Can we
know ourselves seen
and know each other this same way
until our restless hearts
learn to abide
in this knowing and this love?
Can we live in this gaze of blessing?
During the recent “Ministry in the Making” Rev Ant Howe, the principal tutor of Unitarian College, led an excellent workshop. His opening remarks chimed with concerns I often feel not just about colleagues, but an awful lot of people I meet and have met along the way of life. He observed how if he could have one super power it would be to help folk to see themselves as they truly are, the potential they have, what they are capable of being and becoming. I know myself how much it matters how we see ourselves, for how we see ourselves is how we will see all life. I am not merely talking about our physically being here, but in our hearts and souls.
What do you see when you look into the mirror, when you look into your own eyes? It matters you know, it really does.
It is said that if we could only live by The “Golden Rule of Compassion”, found at the heart and soul of all the great spiritual traditions states, in various forms, “do into others as you would have them do unto yourself”, then we might learn to live in love and peace with each other. It is certainly vital that when we look at each other we see a fellow human being and that we act with compassion towards one another. This would certainly be a good start, but there are some problems that stem from even the Golden Rule. I wonder sometimes if this is actually part of the problem; that we do live this way and for many of us this is where the trouble begins. I suspect that many folk see the world as they see themselves. The problem is how they see themselves and they see the world. That they see at the heart of themselves something or someone that is wrong at the core of their being. Therefore, they see this in the world around them.
The problem is that we see something wrong at the core of human nature.
During the introduction to his workshop Ant made reference to two pieces of Old Testament literature. The first from the first book of the Bible Genesis I v 27
27 So God created humans[e] in his image,
in the image of God he created them;[f]
male and female he created them.
He complimented this with the 8th Psalm V5
5 Yet you have made them a little lower than God[b]
and crowned them with glory and honor.
So not God’s, but formed in the image, a reflection, of the Divine. Born from love and with responsibility for the world and the people they share with the world, folk born from the same flesh and with the same spirit.
These verses suggest to me an “Original Blessing”, that humanity is formed in this, at least according to these foundational verses of scripture. If we saw this as foundational and then applied the Golden Rule, then certainly life would improve for all. The problem is that too often we do not. For too long the emphasis has been on what is seen as humanity’s fallen nature. This of course comes from the traditional understanding of second book of Genesis and the fall of humanity in the story of “Adam and Eve”. Of them eating from the forbidden tree of knowledge of Good and Evil and thus being cast out of paradise. From Augustine it has been understood, at least in orthodox Trinitarian Christinaity, that humanity is permanently stained and corrupted and can only be saved by the blood of the sacrifice of Jesus, through substitutional atonement. That the troubles of humanity and the troubles of life are due to our “Original Sin”.
Now of course this is an explanation for our troubles, but not one I share. We have the capacity for good, just as we have the capacity to cause great suffering. Depending on the eyes I look at life with, determines which one I believe.
I have felt sadness this week. I was shocked on Tuesday morning when I received a phone call from Liz Parkinson’s husband Neil to tell me that Liz had died suddenly on Monday. Now I know that Liz had lived with a variety of complex health issues for many years, but the news was still shocking. I have known Liz for over a dozen years and it has been wonderful having her become a member of the Altrincham congregation. She has given so much, especially keeping other physically isolated people connected from the Covid days until the last few days of her life. Liz found a home amongst our free religious tradition. She was always quite surprised by the freedom she was afforded, to explore her own faith, to find what she believed and didn’t believe. I remember a conversation I had with her a little while ago about suffering and faith and the rejection of the concept that anyone is born with the taint of sin and or wrongness. Something I know that she struggled with from an early age. Her daughter Lynne told that she found great healing and acceptance in our community and I know how much that meant to her and her family.
As I was thinking of Liz and her journey I was reminded of a conversation I had with another friend, who is herself on her own spiritual journey. It took place out walking and talking with Molly. We found ourselves walking in circles, side by side and sharing about our own journeys through life and our own understandings of faith and doubt.
We were talking about where this sense of wrongness we humans can feel at times comes from. Something we have both shared, something sadly so many do. Where does this rejection of life come from? We talked about the foundational stories in Genesis. Of course it is Mythos. It is not history to be argued over factual accuracy. Mythos is Universal Truth, the question to ask is does this speak to a deeper truth that we can find in ourselves, does it speak throughout time?
Now of course some reject the Bible as outdated and not only inaccurate but downright destructive. I do not, I think there is so much to engage with still. That said only in a symbolic sense. I explained to my friend how it actually begins with “Original Blessing”, in Genesis chapter one. This was the point that Ant was trying to make too. That God looked at his creation and saw that it was good. That life is a good thing, that we are formed from good, not wrong. There is no original sin, only original blessing, that blessing is formational, that life is formed from goodness. The concept of “Original Sin” was actually a creation of the later church, mainly Augustine and his self-loathing, Which I believe is a rejection of his own original blessing, something I can personally relate to at times, as sadly so many folk do. That the fall came after the blessing and that the spiritual journey is about returning to the blessing.
So it isn’t that there isn’t wrong, or suffering, sin in the world, it’s just that this is not the foundation, that we are born in and through “Original Sin”
The trouble begins in the understand of second creation story, in the Garden of Eden. That said if we look at this symbolically rather than literally there is so much beautiful mythos to be unearthed in this story too. The original human Adam meant born from the earth. Human, humus, humility all share same linguistic root, born from the earth, not God, but finite, limited, but beautiful. Yes we are born, but we also die. This is life.
Originally, we enjoy paradise, the fruits of life. There is no shame, no sense of wrongness no rejection of our lives, no destruction of ourselves and or others. We simply enjoy paradise. We have something else though. We want more, we seek more. This is where all creativity is born, but can also causes trouble. We are the only aspect of created life that experiences dissatisfaction. We want more.
So, we eat the forbidden fruit, we want the knowledge, we suffer Hubris. We lose that beautiful gift of innocence, we are cast out by a sense of shame, especially with our humanity. We leave paradise. We separate ourselves.
We can though return to love, to blessing, but the journey is long and arduous, not that we go anywhere. To quote Meister Eckhart, it could be of one inch, but a depth beyond any depth, layer upon layer. We return home, we go full circle, we don't go back on ourselves. We come home with treasure to share. This is the classic heroic journey. The truth of every great story, the Universal Mythos. The key is to return home to love. That though comes in later stories. I often think of the prodigal son here. With the boy returning home to the open arms of his father who greets him halfway, celebrates his return and embraces his son, with a kiss. An act of pure love. Can there be anything more intimate. It seems to me there is nothing considered wrong in this child born of love. Yet so often we do not feel we are formed from this, it is just so sad.
Now of course this is only my view of the mythos and it is certainly not orthodox in any way shape or form. My interpretation is life affirming, it celebrates life, the traditional view does not. As Joseph Campbell, that great mythologist, has said the orthodox interpretation is “a refusal to affirm life.” Life is seen as corrupt. It sees the serpent as the symbol that brought sin into the world and woman as the figure who handed the apple to man. As Campbell says “This identification of the woman with sin, of the serpent with sin, and thus of life with sin, is the twist the has been given to the whole story in the biblical myth and doctrine of the Fall.... I don't know of it [the idea of woman as sinner...in other mythologies] elsewhere.”
The traditional understanding sees life as the problem, especially human life and sees the female, the bringer of life, as the root of the trouble. How long have we all suffered as a result of this rejection of life and woman as central to it. We see it clearly today, it has not gone away, in fact if anything the trouble seems to be intensifying. For me the problem stems from this fear of life itself. Surely though life is good.
Sadly, it seems that so many folk are as afraid of life as we are of death. It seems to me that these ancient stories, in their essence at least, are trying to teach that death is in life as life is in death. This is the story of existence of which we are all a part of. Yet for me some reason we reject life in so many ways, we are frightened of being cast out of it, we crucify it, we torture it we persecute and distrust. We fear our own humanity, our mortality. We say there is no good in us and no good in the other. In so doing we do in fact treat others as we would wish to be treated. This is of course is not what the Golden Rule of Compassion was meant to be like. It was meant to help us see ourselves in the other, and other in ourselves and to act with love and compassion to all.
Ant made a vitally important point, one I agree with. It matters how we see ourselves and I firmly believe how we see ourselves will reflect on how we see others and the world. It certainly has in my life. I have at times in my life lived with feelings of self loathing, that there was something wrong with me. This a conversation I shared with my friend in Accrington recently as we shared childhood memories. I know I was told many times that people like me would not last long in this world. That I needed to be different kind of person a tougher one than I was. On dark days, when my mood is low I can feel like that again. I can believe that there is something wrong with me, at the core of me. I know I am not alone. Maybe this is not such a terrible thing as it does breed empathy in the heart of me, as I know many others can feel this way too.
I am not alone in these feelings. So many folk feel this way. Not everyone though. It can be hard for folk who have never felt this way to relate to those amongst us who have. It can make it difficult to understand if you have never felt this way.
It is only humanity that seems to be cursed with a sense of shame, maybe this is where the mythos of eating the fruit of the tree of knowledge is about. I certainly don’t see it in animals. As I watch Molly playing and loving and enjoying her existence, it’s the same with the other dogs too. They enjoy the fact that they live at all, it is a pure blessing.
I was chatting with someone the other day who was singing the joy the of living. They were telling me how they were going to the gym after work, enjoying the privilege of being alive. This is a person who has never suffered this sense of being wrong, at least this is what they tell me. They are a delight to be around, although they do tell me that they struggle to empathise with others and that it can make them both impatient and intolerant. This brings its own troubles. I know a sense of joy in my being mostly these days. I love to sing the joy of living in all its mystery. I also know the other feelings too and I do not forget, for it helps to breed empathy. If I never felt them I wonder if I would truly be able to do this work. It allows me serve and has enabled me to find my place in this world.
As I journey on, as I have done this week, despite sad feelings of grief and concern for others, I have remembered to keep on singing that joy of living. I have noticed that despite the very real suffering that is part of existence, both natural and that caused by our inhumanity, that there is music too. I have been thinking of Ant’s words to the new ministers. I have been remembering that life itself is a blessing, it is a privilege to be alive. Grief has remined me just how precious life is and how I get to share my life with some remarkable people. That we are born from “Original Blessing”. That this is our natural state, that too often we lose sight of this. We are all formed from the tree of life, the tree of renewal, the tree of re-birth. We need to recognise this. Sometimes this comes when we lose something or someone precious to us, somehow in this suffering we turn back home again, we return to paradise. We find wholeness once again, we recognise our own sacredness and that of others. We return to love and care compassion. We care for one another and we let others care for us too.
This I believe is how we are meant to live. It is certainly how I am meant to live. It is the only way that someone like me can live in this world.
I’m going to end with a bit of Mary Oliver, perhaps her best known poem “Wild Geese”
“Wild Geese” Mary Oliver
You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
for a hundred miles through the desert, repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body
love what it loves.
Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.
Meanwhile the world goes on.
Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain
are moving across the landscapes,
over the prairies and the deep trees,
the mountains and the rivers.
Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,
are heading home again.
Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting–
over and over announcing your place
in the family of things.
Please find below a video devotion based on the material in this "blogspot"
