Nathan,
As we live our lives in the physical realm, our senses allow us to perceive various objects and actions of this world. The moment we enter this world as infants our minds and bodies are constantly engaged with the lights and textures, smells and sounds of our immediate environment formulating our perceptual understanding of this world. Once internalized our perceptions, paired with the influence of other’s perceptions, consequently serve as primary building blocks that influence our rational and overall understanding of this physical world. In theory, the more we experience, the more we perceive the more we grow.
Morrow’s story of the hermit in chapter 5, and the description of his altered perception of the hermit, drove me to wonder how often my own perception of this world is skewed by the philosophies of this world, rather than the teachings of Christ. How often I seem to fall way to popular perceptions of this world due perhaps to insecurities, fears, and a desire for comfort, that I fail to see people, experiences and this life through the eyes of Christ. In reference to the gospel, Leslie Newbigin wrote, “At the heart of the Christian message…God had acted in a way that, if believed, must henceforth determine all our ways of thinking. It could not merely fit into existing ways of understanding the world…it provided…a new starting point for all human understanding of the world.” As Christians our perception of this world, and more specifically of people in all walks of life, must begin with the message of the cross.
I am left with the question, however, of how does one separate himself from the influences of this world that inhibit our ability to perceive as Christ did? Christ did not call us to live lives as hermits, cut off from the world, in order to separate ourselves from the evil of the world. Quite the contrary he called us to take the light, His light, into the dark corners of this world through love, service, and sacrifice.
Morrow concludes the chapter stating, “but it is important to have hope.” The presence of evil in our world pushes humanity to hope for something better, however I often wonder what people find hope in; hope in an idea, a theory, an existence? I am sure that in a pluralistic, multicultural world, you could pole 100 people on individual hope, and get nearly 100 different answers. I think one would find however, that many, if not most answers lack the believable conviction from which true hope is manifested. Morrow’s tone in the final words of the chapter even lacked the conviction that the hermit was not the child molester that the rest of the community perceived him to be.
True hope, in a world embodied with evil, is beyond an intellectual concept, spiritual idea, or a human existence, but is deeply rooted in a faith in something that is not contained by the philosophies and theories of this world.
Hopefully I will get to Chapter 6 this weekend. I know that the pace of our dialogue has been slower than we intended. Let me know if this is frustrating you at all.
Looking forward to hearing your thoughts.
Shalom aleichem
Sam
1 comment:
Sam,
First, I want to comment on something that I brought up in a previous post. I said that evil is both a force (also an intention or disposition) and the act that makes this force known or able to be seen. I said that it would become important in a future chapter. Chapter 5,"The Hermit's Tale" was that chapter. I feel chills when I read this story. I also feel disgust, disdain, and sadness for the lonely man living in the cabin. What kind of person secretly violates dolls in this way, and what else is he capable of? But then I read the Morrow's alternate explanation. What if this was a story of evil (as in the force of evil or disposition to evil) resisted? Even with Morrow's explanation, there was deep sin wrapped tightely around this man's soul (as well as around the soul's of all of those people around him who thought him weird but never considered trying to meet him or get to know him) that made him feel such a deep urge to find sexual satisfaction with children. But if Morrow's explanation is true, that this man was using dolls to resist the temptation to hurt real children, then, although sin is no doubt there, evil was resisted. The force of evil was never joined with its ultimate manifestation in reality and therefore it did not materialize. There may have been another way to resist this evil, but maybe not if this guy had to do it by himself. In Morrow's explanation, I think the Hermit felt the best way he could affirm the "light" in the world was to separate himself from the world in order not to spread more darkness.
On to some of your comments...you start out with an explanation for how some of our modes of thinking and perceptions are formed. I agree with this. I think the fact that we learn and develop in this way in connected to God's call to His people to live in community. The Church as a community is meant to be apart of this socialization process and to pass down the stories and memories of what God has done and is doing so that we can be formed by them. This is no doubt an imperfect process.
I like your Newbigin quote; it is very relevant here. Sometimes we don't realize how our lives point to starting points for understanding that are far from the Gospel. You seem to be struggling with how to shed the influences of this world in order to have the "eyes and heart" of Christ. Please keep struggling. The first step in opening up to God is the recognition that you are struggling with shedding the influences of this world. I am not trying to be an elitest even though this may sound like I am, but most people never take this step. And if they do it takes a major life event or tragedy for them to do it. Most people stay comfortably immersed in the deception of their own cultural conditioning. In some ways we choose to stay immersed and in other ways we are so blind that we stay immersed without even knowing it. This is another reason why I think much truth can be discovered in serving the "least of these." I believe there are two reasons for this. One, it is countercultural (in almost any culture) to serve people who are different than me and to do it via the sharing of my own material resources. Second, in serving the poor in the way that Jesus calls us to, we are to serve the whole person, building relationships and sharing experiences. This allows for the one who is serving to learn from the one being served and to catch a glimpse of life from a perspective that otherwise would be unattainable. This too is countercultural to think that someone who is not as "successful" has much to teach me about life.
One way to look at your Newbigin quote is to think about the attributes of the Kindgom of God and that it is available now, since this is the Gospel message. How are we a reflection of the Kingdom's ways and its reality with our lives? I have no doubt that this can lead us closer to this "new starting point for all human understanding of the world." In what ways do we forgive endlessly, in what ways do we treat the last as though they are first (in what ways do we define "last" and "first"), in what ways are we generous beyond our means, in what ways do we pray to God on behalf of those we dislike (or hate), in what ways do we seek justice on behalf of the oppressed, in what ways do we confess our own sins before we condemn the sins of others, in what ways do we recognize that people (or "flesh and blood" as the Bible words it) are never our enemies but instead our enemies are dark spiritual forces, the principalities and powers, in what ways do we affirm the value of this creation and God's promised restoration of it, in what ways do we truly worship and lift up the name of the Lord every day...
Your discussion of hope is a good point. Morrow does not articulate much here. But I would say that since Morrow is affirming that existence of evil it is simply not possible to avoid affirming the existence of absolute good. Even though he does not articulate the hope he alludes to, for the purposes of his essay, the opposite of evil is all he wants to say about the thing that he claims hope in. Hoping for diminished evil or even its absence is not necessarily the same as the many false hopes that exist in the world.
You wrote: "True hope, in a world embodied with evil, is beyond an intellectual concept, spiritual idea, or a human existence..." I agree, but honestly acknowledging the existence of evil can be the first step to recognizing Christian hope.
The pace is fine. No worries about that.
Blessings,
Nathan
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