|
Last year, a visit to Newgrange, north of Dublin, an ancient Celtic burial mound which pre-dates the Druids by a thousand years prompted this theological reflection. The connections I have made here accentuate the understanding that Christian faith can be seen as a lived openness to God’s self-revelation, centred in Jesus, as it unfolds in time. [i]
Even before Christianity, there existed a hope in an afterlife.
Stand inside the mound, in the pitch black silent, central chamber; imagine the last rites performed and prayers intoned, the priests withdrawn, the entrance sealed, the shrouded body laid to rest; watch the first shaft of light from the winter solstice which has entered the high aperture, a lengthening finger creeping along the ground to touch the hallowed place and behold what must be an ancient assertion in the continuation of life beyond death. Hewn into the stone at the tomb entrance, is a stylised triad, an organic motif like the tree of life symbol in a thousand year old crucifixion mosaic on the sacristy wall in the Medieval church of St Clement in Rome.
Natural recurring patterns of the seasons and plant life were artistically interpreted by other ancient peoples such as the Greeks and Romans to express a similar hope; examples of which abound in sculptures, frescos and architecture.
And one can find similar motifs in this so-called ‘young country’ Australia, in examples of Palaeolithic Aboriginal art profoundly spiritual and expressive of a sense of complete integration with the land which has a totemic significance, pointing to their belief in immortality. [ii] [iii] [iv]
 |
|
Identification through the visual recognition of subtle patterns is a human capability exemplified in the seemingly infinite capacity to recognise as distinct a seemingly infinite diversity of human faces. Even at the very beginning of genetic differentiation there appears to be some kind of recognition of patterns. Hope in an afterlife that lives deep within the human psyche can surface as a vague knowing, a sense of being born into the world, ‘trailing clouds of glory…’ [v] from a larger and more intimately familiar reality, a reality the character of which has been discerned in a specific pattern of relationships from primordial humanity.
A number of things stabilise humanity and propel it forward as a small group or as a whole through times of crisis and chaos and suffering which would ordinarily break the human spirit – such as an enduring belief in the human spirit itself, belief in a creative deity which is involved with creation; even in a God who in some inexplicable way suffers with God’s own creation, [vi] and faith in enduring life. Faced with suffering and death, there can even be joy which strengthens courage and endurance and provides peace wherein is born the creative impulse. The basis of joy in suffering when confronted by death, of suffering with a smile comes from a confidence that this death is not the end that there will be a light at the end of the tunnel, that life will continue; a confident knowledge of the resurrection of human life after death; life restored and transformed through the power of re-creative love. Above all else this gives to people the inner strength and insight to transcend all that is life-denying; if such people laugh in the face of adversity, it is a joyful laugh with a tinge of irony.
The inner depths of courage and fresh insight this knowledge brings allows people to choose to enter into experiences of suffering and death to help bring life. This spells a wholesome change of attitude in regard to serious problems and would be a measure of the possible assistance available for those with urgent needs.
How might a person arrive at such knowledge? When through the waters of baptism, someone enters into new life, he or she enters into the communitarian life of the Spirit. Knowledge of the resurrection is a process of growth dependent on openness to the revelation of God present in the mystery of lived faith within the Christian community; it is nurtured by trust and the kind of obedience of humility which faith demands; it is a hope in the promise of the resurrection which grows with the effort of living out a day to day dying to self for the sake of others. There is the expectation that through its communitarian dimension, it is an experiential faith. Once again, everywhere in Christian art this phenomenon has been expressed through the ages. We find it in the visual arts and in music. Frequently, what is expressed in such art forms is prophetic. Only much later, do we discern in it the pattern of things to come. Paul’s prophecy [vii] , two thousand years ago of the resurrection as a cosmic transformation co-extensive with the movement of creation in time, has telescoped for twenty-first century consciousness because the technological means are now at the disposal of humanity for enormous good or ill.
Integrated then, with the concept of dying and rising is the principle of relationship. No created thing exists as an isolated entity. From the furthest depths of the cosmos to planets to persons to the most microscopic life-forms and all that is electrical and gaseous in between – all exist in some kind of relationship; whether this relationship appears static or as movement towards or movement away. The principle of relationship is apparent and a generative factor in the Genesis accounts. It is profoundly manifest in Eastern religious art and it is the object of research in the new science.
The Christian concept of God is a dynamic of relationship, a love triad that radiates life. As pointed out, a triadic motif appears also in pre-Christian art expressive of life beyond death, of new life and exemplified in the organic image of plant life. Relationship pre-supposes unity; whether on account of its consummation or its disruption. Complete unity displays harmony expressive of peace. Between disunity and unity are varying states of tension and excitability. All these varying states are discernable in musical composition making it a universal language, providing its enduring appeal, giving it global relational symbolic scope. Eastern Christian mysticism has already discerned and pro-claimed the Trinitarian God as a perichoriesis, a divine dance. [viii] In this sense God is pure relationship. Such relationship can evocatively express the presence of the Holy Spirit.
So, what we have before us now is the ideal of life through death and resurrection and the phenomenon of relationship which may be entered into or withdrawn from, various elements of which have been artistically and poetically rendered in all countries and all religions throughout the ages. Is it possible to draw together anything from this which might be helpful to us, could be a vehicle of discernment as we endeavour to steer our way through the unknown deeps of a new era?
Understanding God as relationship, brings as we have suggested above a sense of interconnectedness, of the web of life, whereby the author of all life imbues all that is created; and all that is created affects and is affected by all else. The resonance of the dynamic of the God-life is most well received, reflected and transmitted in accordance with a will to openness to receive and transmit, not by isolated, individual activity which can bar reception and impede transmission. This kind of openness is engendered by an awareness of the larger whole and corresponding dependency of the single unit. It also anticipates a conscious preference for a kind of value system based on a recognition of the importance of each individual unit for the well-being of the whole, of a structure in which the emphasis is on the spatial rather than linear, the interactive/co-operative rather than the hierarchical, where biggest may be least effective, and that which is hardly discernable may most benefit all. This will mean a different way of viewing history and peoples, not linear/evolutionary, but as interconnected patterns like the looping, weaving threads of a complex tapestry. The resonance of one pattern exists in relationship with all others. All of this is life and none of this exists outside of the divine.
In view of this, we may now like to make some assumptions regarding principles of morality and ideals of justice.
We can begin by assuming that a movement towards relationship, sensitive to the individual units but also taking into consideration the larger pattern is a movement towards wholeness, and well-being, in a word goodness.
A movement away from relationship or which is hardened towards the individual unit and ignores the larger pattern is a movement towards brokenness and illness, in a word evil.
At a purely objective level, utilising the conscious mind only, human beings are limited in their judgment of such differences. At a purely subjective level they are just as limited. However, when through self-knowledge, judgement is made in accordance with the integrated working of the conscious and sub-conscious minds and based upon the recognition of such a divine reality, balance an be achieved for the good of each and of the whole. Better equipped today with knowledge in psychology, many people are investigating the areas of dream imagery in cooperation with ancient wisdom for healing and wholeness. All people should be encouraged to a new understanding of this dimension of human self-knowledge; it could be central to the call for self-knowledge rather than limited to the margins.
Acknowledgement of the need to respect and learn from dreams and be empowered by this and a better exercise of the imagination should lead Christians to challenge consumerism with its related symptoms of stress, a major societal disorder that should not be permitted to dull people into apathy.
Globally, many signs are pointing to a more positive movement. It can be discerned in a correspondence between disciplines and in a whole variety of art forms. What is discernable in the conversation with so-called gifted children and child prodigies, in certain conversations and life-styles of both young and old and in the watershed condition in the Catholic Church is that human consciousness has already crossed the thresh-hold into a new era.
It is up to the people as a whole to insist that the leaders in all walks of society but most especially in the church which as the body of Christ is by nature prophetic – amend and change the structures which determine everyday living, so that humanity can begin to live the new consciousness which is universally felt as a vague and undefined apprehension of something life-giving.
One way that people can join in such an insistence is to point out emphatically, withdraw and avoid where evil in the web of relationships is occurring and on the other hand to point out and celebrate and join in where the reverse is happening; it will be a useful gauge in questions of poverty and wealth, sexuality, diet and exercise, politics and government, church leadership, ecology, abortion, euthanasia, contraception, gender equality, war and peace.
There is a risk involved which has to be balanced with a living faith in the resurrection. To live the Christian calling and make a stand on the side of openness to patterns of relationship wherein God dwells and to openly challenge whatever militates against the movement into God and towards wholeness is to invite resistance and even attack from an opposing position. In this, in different modes and degrees, is an experience of dying.
There are those already involved in this arduous work and it would be reprehensible were they left to carry the burden alone.
Recognisable in the church itself, a divisive spirit of criticism among church members and also a lack of transparency and accountability with a tendency to cover-up in order to preserve the dignity and authority of the hierarchy at the expense of help and support for vulnerable members – is a double sin against the divine dance of pure relationship, against the created pattern of relationships sustained by God which is at odds with the pastoral compassion of Paul, and the humility of Peter the acknowledged leaders of the early church. Necessary changes in structure made in respect to church leadership and community should emphasise the need for complete honesty, conciliation and humility and disarm the present power-play.
The movement would be towards a church which demonstrates by its Easter living that every member is valued and that the hope in the Reign of God on earth is firmly anchored in the experience of God’s presence through highs and lows of relationship in creation as a permanent reality. Through the ages, this hope is not merely sustained but heightened by the realisation that God in and as relationship exerts deep within the human heart an intense longing for recognition and reciprocation. The less this longing is appreciated for what it is, the more it is denied, the greater the distortion of the human personality and correspondingly the greater the joy in relationship when the barrier is removed and healing takes place.
The practical consequences of proclamation of God as relationship, recognisable from time immemorial in all peoples and cultures and of active healing outreach to a global humanity in light of faith in the resurrection will benefit all people, individually and collectively and the whole of creation.
[i] Monika Hellwig, What are the theologians saying now? (North Blackburn: Collins Dove, 1993). In this work, the author agrees that while we understand that Jesus is the complete revelation of God’s word, nevertheless this word is always unfolding in time and we are called to interpret it anew according to different cultures and eras, both before and after the Jesus event.
[ii] James Cowan, Mysteries of the Dreaming (Lindfield: Unity Press, 1989).
[iii] Dacre Stubbs, Prehistoric Art of Australia ( Melbourne: Sun Books, 1979) 39.
[iv] Robert Edwards and Bruce Guerin, Aboriginal Bark Paintings (Brisbane: Rigby, 1969).
[v] William Wordsworth, Ode: Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood
[vi] Jürgen Moltmann, Theology of Hope (1964).
[vii] In the Letter to the Romans 8:22, we see Paul’s understanding of the Reign of God on earth as a tension between its presence both ‘now and not yet’.
[viii] Vladimir Lossky, Mystical Theology of the Eastern Church (St Vladimir’s Seminary, 1976).
Bibliography
Capra, F, Steindl-Rast, Matus T. Belonging to the Universe. London: Penguin Books, 1992.
Cowan, J. Mysteries of the Dreaming. Lindfield: Unity Press, 1989.
Edwards, R. and Guerin B. Aboriginal Bark Paintings. Sydney: Rigby, 1974.
Gleick J. Chaos. London: Sphere Books, 1988.
Greek-English New Testament. Ed. Nestle-Aland, Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellshaft, 1985.
LaCugna, Catherine. God for Us: The Trinity and Christian Life. San Francisco: Harper, 2000.
Lossky, V. Mystical Theology of the Eastern Church. St Vladimirs Seminary, 1976.
Hall, G. Reimon Panikkar's Hermeneutics of Religious Pluralism. Washington: Catholic University of America, 1993.
Hellwig, M. What are the theologians saying today? North Blackburn: Collins Dove, 1993.
Moltmann, J. Theology of Hope. 1964.
Stubbs, D. Prehistoric Art of Australia. Melbourne: Sun Books, 1978.
 |
|
