Caricatures

People who know me, have heard me make frequent references to "caricatures". This is not any sort of complex "theory" for sure, and in fact it is not original by any measure. What my notion of caricatures asserts, is that we all have unbalanced and unobjective impressions of things and categories around us, which either effect attraction (we find what we are looking for) or aversion (we tend to reprobate things which move in the direction of matters we have been conditioned to distrust.) We can find examples which tend to justify our viewpoints; for example, that the practice of formal religion is shallow, ritualistic and superficial, or "conservative" folks are monomaniacal warmongers and are not compassionate, or folks more "liberal" despise boundaries and live especially sinful lives.

The remedy for this is to possess, from a philosophical point of view, a sense of humor. We can see poetry in everything, look through reality around us, dance the general dance of the cosmos, view other people with innate reverence, follow our consciences honestly and closely (God IS speaking to us personally), but leave all ultimate judgement to Him, as we seek to be friends with everyone. Caricatures and stereotypes are signs of immaturity, like a person just out of school who seeks to apply the categories he/she has learned...to put people and things into them and so somehow validate his/her knowledge. Truth be known, we cannot see to know the beginning or end of the people and things we judge. It is best to be transparent and friendly...ghostly in fact. If we walk in the wisdom which refers all things into the hands of the heavenly dramatist, we will somehow draw our needy world onto a higher path. But it is important, for that matter, that we follow closely our deepest voice for guidance and not become wishy-washy and indifferent to the possibility of personal norms and standards to challenge and stretch us.

He Makes His Rain Fall....

One of the realizations inherent in all of creation is the constancy of God's Providence. We live in an ordered universe and we are able to perceive tangibly the actions of the Creator "providing" for all of His creatures. Within our human livelihood, we have experienced this many times, as things seem very often to fall into place quite nicely, according to our own expectations and wants (sometimes seemingly otherwise). Jesus mentions that God makes His rain fall on the gardens of both the "good and the wicked". It falls out from this that we ought not to consider this general providence of God as somehow giving a foundation for absolute confidence in a heavenly reward. If we seem to have things work out for us materially, or in terms of health and growth and prosperity, this is not sufficient evidence that we are numbered among the "good and privileged" in God's economy. Both the good and wicked receive gifts from God as He cares for all creation. Even if our prayers are answered, we cannot presume that our destiny is set in heaven, although it is a good sign that we are praying.

For me, such a hope is more substantially founded if in fact we have the sentiments of Supernatural Life and the Gifts of the Holy Spirit evidenced in out hearts. Such ideals as humility, piety, fear of the Lord, disdain for the world, desire for deepened prayer, instant and spontaneous kindness and unselfishness etc. tend to reveal to us that we possess a heavenly destiny....which really is all that matters. The elementary gifts of Providence, such as the "rain that falls" on our gardens and grows our plants can help us turn to God in gratitude and conversion of life, but these alone do not certify our supernatural standing. I believe that people tend to presume too much from such gifts and perhaps neglect to desire the more valuable ones.

"My Kingdom is not of this World"

One of the most revealing statements made by the Lord Jesus as recorded in the Gospels was his response to Pilate's interrogation asking if He were a king. One doesn't need to dig all that deep or interpret too far outside the literal to understand what he was saying. Here was a worn down, persecuted man, admitting that he was some sort of King in the presence of a political leader, but HIS Kingdom was (is) not of this world.

Jesus is King of another world than the one in which we live. Again, we are taking His words here literally. What we have here is the testimony of Jesus, the "Dreamer", the "Delusionary", the "Psychotic". I speak here of the impression of his audience, any time that he would refer to himself as a King of another world. But the same could be said of other's impressions of us when we assert that "it is not I who live, but Christ who lives in me". We are making known our belief that we are possessed of the Spirit of another Person than ourselves. This is a MYSTICAL assertion. The Kingdom in which Jesus is King is a Mystical Kingdom. But, I believe that Jesus' Mystical Kingdom is more real than the world which we perceive with our senses, because His Kingdom never passes away, while the "visible" world lives (obviously) towards an appointed end. And there are "citizens" of Jesus' Kingdom living in this present world, sharing in varying degree the same (dreamy) mind and outlook as their King; a good many of them when considered cumulatively through time.

I am a believer in Jesus as King of another world. If Jesus were King of this world, it would be vastly different than it is. And those who follow and worship Jesus the King, necessarily live as strangers to this world, waiting patiently for the consummation of the ages. Jesus has given us eyes to see and ears to hear.

Our Field of Reference

“The eye is the lamp of the body; so then if your eye is clear, your whole body will be full of light. “But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!

The words of Jesus quoted above refer to our way of looking at things.

One of the fundamental characteristics of our human personalities is the tendency to judge people or circumstances merely upon our own limited presuppositions and experiences....our internal blueprint for right and wrong. Not to say our judgments are necessarily flawed or wrongful for this tendency, but it is well for us to be aware of how limited we are in our appraisals. The pattern is universal, but the amount of truth and wisdom which any individual is blessed with varies. Jesus' internal blueprint, the eyes with which he looked out upon the world and each soul was flawless and balanced; without error or "caricature". Wisdom not only enlightens the judgment of the individual, but also moderates or blocks the inclination. The thrust of wisdom moves always towards friendship on the highest level of moral integrity. To put it another way, perhaps with greater "poetry", one might say in all wisdom, "everyone is invited into my house". But that doesn't mean that one's house has no rules written on its walls. The rules, if they are written in wisdom, were therefore written by the hand of God and cannot be erased. So those invited into one's house have their choice to remain or stay (in friendship), in response to the prescriptions of Wisdom. But our position maintains the invitation ongoingly if we are living in Wisdom, even if we suffer for it.

Often times it is "safe ground" for us to remain neutral rather than pass sentence. That doesn't mean that there are not rights and wrongs in terms of categories and behaviors considered in the abstract and, as such, revealed by God for our safety and wellbeing. And these principles need to be upheld and communicated. It is just that, in the legislative application of such standards we often error, or we are prone to error. For example, it is sometimes said that, "the faults that we most readily identify in others are in some way native to ourselves". This, of itself is no big deal. We identify things most inwardly familiar to us. It is just that our propensity to pass judgment comes into the picture, as we give a cold shoulder or produce some degree of uncharity in the presence of other's faults. Some psychologists would say that we do this in order to leverage or justify ourselves. If we are outspoken about the faults of others, many times we reveal our guilt in the same moral areas to the audience we are speaking to. The blueprint which we reference in our judgments is very likely our own(fallen) selves....and how imperfect is that blueprint? It is better to remain neutral in a spirit of charity than to judge our neighbor. It is allowed to us to make known in charity what has been revealed, but it is the position of God alone to judge or to pass sentence. It follows that everyone needs to be honest and careful in following their own inner lights of conscience, but also to remain friendly, tolerant and generous in their relations to others....leading by example

The Angelus

The primary image which graces this blog, showing the man and wife at prayer in the field is named "The Angelus". It is just loaded with content and symbolism. Looking carefully at this painting one sees the church steeple in the background. At that point in history there were no clocks as we know them today. Rather, for the simple man and woman, time was maintained through the tolling of the monastery or church bell, and as this bell was rung, this became a reminder or impetus to prayer. The Angelus is a prayer which recalls the basic mystery of the Incarnation. In the Middle Ages, cities were built around monasteries, and the monks with the ideals they pointed to were the primary role models for the citizens of each city. Today we don't very much esteem such kinds of role models, but for the most part, through the powerful prompting of the media, we are enamored by exemplars who "image" or witness to the ways and means of "human" life which, unfortunately, turn us away from true and wholesome human identity and the proper recognition of "who we are", "where we stand", and "what we need".

A Poem of Great Depth

Francis Thompson, it is said, was discovered inebriated and on the verge of death, sleeping under a cart in a merchant's bizarre in England. He had a remarkable treasure on him: a poem he had just completed. He was taken in by benefactors, was cared for without ever really overcoming his ills, and went on to write other poetry not as famous but beautiful. The symbolic imagery in this work applies well to each soul in its contemporary plight. The whole poem is extensive, so I have included a few more accessible stanzas.

239. The Hound of Heaven

By Francis Thompson (1859–1907)

I FLED Him, down the nights and down the days;
I fled Him, down the arches of the years;
I fled Him, down the labyrinthine ways
Of my own mind; and in the mist of tears
I hid from Him, and under running laughter.
Up vistaed hopes I sped;
And shot, precipitated,
Adown Titanic glooms of chasmèd fears,
From those strong Feet that followed, followed after.
But with unhurrying chase,
And unperturbèd pace,
Deliberate speed, majestic instancy,
They beat—and a Voice beat
More instant than the Feet—
‘All things betray thee, who betrayest Me.’
I pleaded, outlaw-wise,
By many a hearted casement, curtained red,
Trellised with intertwining charities;
(For, though I knew His love Who followèd,
Yet was I sore adread
Lest, having Him, I must have naught beside).
Nigh and nigh draws the chase,
With unperturbèd pace,
Deliberate speed, majestic instancy;
And past those noisèd Feet
A voice comes yet more fleet—
‘Lo! naught contents thee, who content’st not Me!’
Naked I wait Thy love’s uplifted stroke!
My harness piece by piece Thou hast hewn from me,
And smitten me to my knee;
I am defenceless utterly.
I slept, methinks, and woke,
And, slowly gazing, find me stripped in sleep.
In the rash lustihead of my young powers,
I shook the pillaring hours
And pulled my life upon me; grimed with smears,
I stand amid the dust o’ the mounded years—
My mangled youth lies dead beneath the heap.
My days have crackled and gone up in smoke,
Have puffed and burst as sun-starts on a stream.
Yea, faileth now even dream
The dreamer, and the lute the lutanist;
Even the linked fantasies, in whose blossomy twist
I swung the earth a trinket at my wrist,
Are yielding; cords of all too weak account
For earth with heavy griefs so overplussed.
Ah! is Thy love indeed
A weed, albeit an amaranthine weed,
Suffering no flowers except its own to mount?
Now of that long pursuit
Comes on at hand the bruit;
That Voice is round me like a bursting sea:
‘And is thy earth so marred,
Shattered in shard on shard?
Lo, all things fly thee, for thou fliest Me!
Strange, piteous, futile thing!
Wherefore should any set thee love apart?
Seeing none but I makes much of naught’ (He said),
‘And human love needs human meriting:
How hast thou merited—
Of all man’s clotted clay the dingiest clot?
Alack, thou knowest not
How little worthy of any love thou art!
Whom wilt thou find to love ignoble thee,
Save Me, save only Me?
All which I took from thee I did but take,
Not for thy harms,
But just that thou might’st seek it in My arms.
All which thy child’s mistake
Fancies as lost, I have stored for thee at home:
Rise, clasp My hand, and come!’
Halts by me that footfall:
Is my gloom, after all,
Shade of His hand, outstretched caressingly?
‘Ah, fondest, blindest, weakest,
I am He Whom thou seekest!
Thou dravest love from thee, who dravest Me.’

A Tale of Two Cities

It is often theorized, and perhaps not without a healthy measure of truth, that the life and mentality of the Middle Ages, in Western Civilization, was directed and informed significantly by the writings of St Augustine of Hippo, who lived only a few centuries after Christ. In particular, his book entitled "The City of God", was a very powerful influence in shaping the Middle Ages, in the enormous void left behind beyond the dissolution of the Roman Empire. (One must keep in mind that EVERY empire and political construct, no matter how wonderfully blueprinted, will tend towards dissolution in the end, while other fleeting forms will take shape to rise and fall...all of recorded history bears this out). Augustine wrote this book largely as an "apologia" or defense of the Church, which was being accused by many as being the reason for the fall of Rome....the Christian religion, according to the mind of these "accusers" became an insult to the gods of Rome, with resultant sentence being passed by these gods leading to the death of the empire. Augustine spent himself explaining that the demise of Rome was caused by the inordinate pride of the empire through its imprudent expansionistic leanings beyond its means, and also, more directly by the moral cultural decay which, according to Augustine, was an offence to the true God of heaven and earth. In the second half of this unbelievably influential writing, Augustine speaks of two cities or "camps" coexisting in this world: The camp of those living the life "informed" by original sin...self centered, worldly, vicious, impious...and the camp, largely hidden and comparitively smaller, of the Redeemed, living the New Life of the Gifted Spirit of God. He goes on to foretell, according to his own research, what will be the final disposition of this coexistence.

The Middle Ages, in terms of Christian Philosophy and doctrine, safeguarded an otherworldly mentality....living as if in an alien place....not clinging to the world but looking beyond it in a spirit of piety, prayer and humble work. This was the abiding substrate of Christian Life in the Middle Ages. One problem which evolved, with good intention, was that this faith-based mentality became "imposed" and "legislated" in so many ways, under a leadership which more often failed to live out its spiritual ideals. Despite the "truth content" of the age, original sin yet raised its ugly head in countless ways, especially in the leadership. Nevertheless, the ideals proposed by Augustine are still tenaciously safeguarded by "charismatic" peoples within various cultures, in particular, those influenced by the traditions of the monastic, agrarian and contemplative life.

It cannot be spotlighted enough, just how much our Western Culture has changed in the past 500 years, and in particular in the past 150 years. It boggles the mind! Are we being tested in relation to the world and its seductions, as St. Paul, Augustine and many others have stressed? If so, faith then calls us to a narrow path indeed, relative to the general trends. It is as if God were asking us "will you love Me, or will you choose the passing world"? Which "city" or "camp" do we choose to have our citizenship in?