Our Inconsistencies

There is a notion in our society that Science and Religion are at odds with one another, constantly fighting for the soul of the people.  Science and Religion simply are reflections of differing ways of interpreting reality.  We want to put Science and Religion at odds with one another because it is easier for us if our lives make sense, if everything is consistent, so much work has been put into trying to make whole and complete worldviews that are entirely consistent in every regard.

Yet we are not consistent, in fact, we as humans are entirely inconsistent.  Think of miracles. If we were to go out onto the street and ask 1000 random people if they believed in miracles, i would have to guess that majority of them would believe in Miracles.    Now lets go out and do that again, this time asking if most people believe there is value in Science.  My guess would be that most people also believe in the value of Science.  Science and miracles do not play well together, they are seemingly incompatible, yet most believe or value both.   Our whole beings are no different, souls are a mis-mash of viewpoints and understandings of the universe that are not always cohesive.

Miracles offer us a way into ourselves, into our own inconsistencies.  Religion also offers us a path to explore our own inconsistencies and place them in the light of day.   Think of the miracles of Christ, raising the dead, walking on water, healing the sick, turning water into wine, his own resurrection.  But isn't one of his greatest miracles the fact that he accepts us and loves us through all our inconsistencies?  In religion we can come together completely aware of our own internal mysteries, in fact we encounter in God the biggest mysteries of all.  In church, in community we can explore the Holy Mysteries of God and Christ and the Word and the Spirit, but we can also explore the Holy Mysteries of ourselves.

Impermanence

The nature of the universe is change.  Nothing in nature, in the physical world, lasts forever.    

Yet in God we are promised eternal life, we are told in the Gospel of John that Christ existed before the world with God.  In the face of constant change it appears the only constant is God. 

When we engage in community we have to remember that it is in our human nature to try and hold onto things, to disregard the nature of the universe, to ignore the inevitability of change.    Although traditions and a link to the past are important, holding on to the past to tightly can be dangerous and even destructive.  We witness it in many mainline churches today, shrinking numbers, empty pews, yet there is still a resistance to change.  

For those on the left handed path, we are in a unique position to remind those on the right handed path of the nature of the universe, of the constant of change.  We should be careful not to destroy the faith of those on the right handed path, for this can be easy.  But we must be willing to hold their hand as they face change, remind them of the importance of their work.  

It can be like a dance, a dancer's art exists in specific moments, it exist in the movements, in the smells, in the viewers of the dance.  In reality all things are like this, everything only exists for a moment, but is it still beautiful no matter what, even if the dance only lasts a few moments, the beauty of it will remain in memory.   The church that existed will remain beautiful in the eyes of history, yet we must be willing to acknowledge its impermanence.  Change is scary, if nothing else we can offer comfort.

Abundance

Each of us has areas of abundance, each of us has areas of need.

This applies to nearly all things, whether it be financial, spiritual, physical, etc.  

To find balance with ourselves, we can give away some of the abundances we have.  In doing so we are more likely to find the things that will fulfill our needs.

This is not petty talk to get people to give money to charitable organizations, no this is a key part of long term spiritual health, of finding wholeness, or reaching holiness.

When we give our time to volunteering or serving, or our money to charitable organizations, or simply even lending our ear to someone who has something they need to be heard, we will recieve something back.

I can speak to my experiences working with homeless in New York City, or rebuilding home in the Greater New Orleans area after Katrina.  You get back when you put it.   Those that you are helping have something to give you.  Its not just a way of saying, well if i help these people know, someone else will help me when i am in bad shape, no, you are helped in that moment, you are brought to deeper spirituality, much as those that are being helped gain new perspectives on what is possible.

So go, offer your service, and open your heart to whatever it is you will recieve.  The more we can be aware of our own needs, the more we will be willing to give, the more we will be willing to accept, the deeper we will go in our faith journey.

Death

When Christ calls out to the daughter of Jarius to get up, everyone is convinced that the girl is dead.  Christ tells us clearly, "She is not Dead, only sleeping" (mark 5:39).   Death does not exist, at least not in the way we think it does.  This little girl was never dead, only perceived as dead.

What is death.

Fear of death can consume us.  If you have ever been around people as they are dying, there are typically two ways of reacting (massive generalization i know), but people in the throes of death, at least those that are in a position to have some awareness and physical/psychological ability to confront it, will either fight it with every ounce of their being, gripping on to life past their time, or they will face it with a kind of calm that eases the fears of all those around them.  Again there are many shades, but it illustrates a point.  Few can face death graciously, compounded by our society's treatment of death as a failure of "progress".

But I ask again, what is death?  An inevitability?  A failure?  An End?

Or is it a transition, marking the passing of one place to another.

Christ calls us past death, with the promise of eternal life.

Buddhism acknowledges our place in the cycle of samsara, and acknowledges enlightenment as escape from the vicious cycle of rebirth.

Death, in the way that it truly acts in our everyday lives, is nothing more than the fear of the unknown.  Fear is a creation of our minds.  It plays a role, but can lead to Sin.

When we come to terms with the fact that there is unknown things in the world around us, mysteries we may never understand, then we over come that fear, we escape death.

For those on the left handed path, death is ever present, with the risks that are taken leaving the comfort of village, death could be lonely, possibly building the fear that can grip us.    Many don't leave the village for the very fear of death.    Yet the village usually deals with death more than the individual on the left handed path.  The village witnesses the realities of passing, the suffering and pain that can be associated with it, the very real experience of holding a loved one in their final moments.

Yet those in the village do not always come to terms with their own mortality the way one on the left handed path tends to.

For both Death is present, and yet abstract.

Both need to confront the fears though, both need to overcome death, and at least within Christian Theology, the individual needs to be willing to die.  

If we are to appreciate death, if we are to overcome it, to recognize our understanding of it as false, that is a true journey in faith.

Mystery

Mystery is dangerous, particularly to those on the right handed path, in the village.  Those in the village want definition, those in the village seek out concrete answers.

Yet concrete answers can lead to more conflict and in turn tear the village apart.   

A role of the left handed path is to bring mystery to the village, to those on the right handed path.  There has to be balance, to much mystery, and things fall apart, too little mystery and things fall apart. 

Those on the right handed path seek concreteness 

Those on the left handed path seek out mystery

For those on the left handed path, there is an internal drive, a desire to seek the unknown, to see what hasn't been seen.   Those on the left handed path recognize the role of mystery, of the unknown, of not understanding, of only being able to grasp at it.  Those on the left handed path revel in the Tao, for the Tao that can be known is not the eternal Tao.  

But on the left handed path, alone, mystery is not dangerous, it is curiosity, it drives us further and further away from home, where we can learn and we can engage.

The right handed path needs some mystery, which is why the Village must welcome the traveller, the village, those on the right handed path, must embrace the traveller and listen to their stories so that the Village knows there are other ways to exist, not that they have to cease doing things the way they are doing, but must realize that not all is set in stone, that creativity is important, that things should not and can not be done just because thats the way it was always done, some problems need new solutions, some old ways need to be reanalyzed.  

In our current religious context, we are losing the mystery, at least within the Christian context.  Western Christianity has ignored the mystery of the trinity, the mystery of resurrection, the mystery of the eucharist.  To often we give concrete answers to questions that do not actually have answers, we have forgotten how to dwell in the mystery of the events that occurred in the life of Jesus, in the way God works in the world.  

Those on the left handed path, continue to seek mystery, those on the right handed path, do not be afraid to listen to the stories of those on the road.