Advent 1: Hope Reconsidered

Last Sunday was the first Sunday in Advent.  Yes, this is the season of the church year which prepares for Christmas and does not actually jump right into the secular Christmas season after Thanksgiving- the American, or worse yet, the Canadian.  That mini-rant aside, we lit the first Advent Candle on the Advent wreath which is the candle for Hope. 

Hope seems to be something that we can always use more of – particularly in these times when we begin to see the light at the end of the COVID tunnel and another variant raises its ugly head and throws up more tunnel.  This time, it is the Omicron Variant which looms large in the COVID scene with possible threats of being more transmissible and perhaps being vaccine resistant.  But we live in hope that all will be well and all manner of things will be well in God’s time if not ours.

However, is there perhaps a less positive aspect to hope?  I am a strong believer that in most things there is a negative as well as a positive.  So, is there an aspect of hope that we should reconsider and not embrace fully - an aspect of hope that is not what God intends?  I was led to this cautionary thought when I tuned into an episode of On Being on National Public Radio in the United States.  The episode is entitled the Future of Hope https://onbeing.org/programs/pico-iyer-and-elizabeth-gilbert-the-future-of-hope-3/. 

The program is a wonderful exploration of the possibilities of hope – both positive and negative.  The thing that resonated with me the most listening to the program, was that living in hope can lead us to not living in the present.  The example that was used in the program was the experience of the interviewee, Elizabeth Gilbert, who was not as fully present to her loved one who was dying.  Rather than being fully present she was living in hope for a miraculous healing.  This idea was summed up in a poem by T S Eliot which was quoted by Gilbert:

“I said to my soul, be still and wait without hope, for hope would be hope for the wrong thing; wait without love, for love would be love of the wrong thing; there is yet faith, but the faith and the love are all in the waiting. Wait without thought, for you are not ready for thought: So, the darkness shall be the light, and the stillness the dancing.”  ― T.S. Eliot

This does not mean that we give up on hope.  I believe that we do still need to live in hope.  The challenge for me is to hope for the right thing.  In Advent we live in the hope that the Prince of Peace will be born in us and to the world.  We can hope for peace by doing things small and large to bring peace rather than hate into our lives and the lives of those around us.  And we will live in the knowledge that in  the words of Julien of Norwich, “All will be well, and all manner of things will be well.”

May you be blessed this Advent to have hope for the right things on your journey.

What, Me Change?

 

There is a great scene at the beginning of the Red Green Show from a few years ago – well more than a few years now.  The show opened with a meeting of the Possum Lodge – a men-only organization in the fictional town of Possum Lake.  The members of the lodge take what must be the Possum Lodge Pledge (although I don’t think it was ever named that) which goes:

“I’m a man and I can change - if I have to - I guess.”

That is something men are notorious for – not changing, but I think it is more of a human trait which applies to all races, creeds, colours, or genders.  People just don’t want to change and resist change perhaps above all else – except perhaps survival – but then again I think even survival in many cases.  The members of the Possum Lodge didn’t say the pledge with much conviction as I recall. 

I have titled this edition of News and Views, “What, Me Change?”  as a riff on the cover character from Mad Magazine, Alfred E Neuman, whose tagline was “What, me worry?”   As I recall, reading Mad Magazine all those years ago, that good old Alfred probably had a lot to worry about.  In the same way, people could benefit from changing things about how they approach life and the world. 

The topic of change came to mind when I read a short poem by W. H. Auden this week:

W. H. Auden (1907–1973)

“We would rather be ruined than changed,

We would rather die in our dread

Than climb the cross of the moment

And let our illusions die.” [1]

Richard Rohr addressed this resistance to change in a recent Daily Meditation which quoted the Auden poem:

What the ego hates more than anything else is to change—even when the present situation is not working or is horrible. Instead, we do more and more of what does not work, as many others have rightly said about addicts. The reason we do anything one more time is because the last time did not really satisfy us deeply. 

I have called the ego, God’s greatest gift to humankind and its greatest curse.  We can’t live without our egos and we can’t live with them – at least we can’t live fully as God intended unless the ego finds its correct role which is to serve God rather than it wants which is for God or the gods to serve it. 

As Auden puts it so succinctly, we need to climb the cross of the moment and let our illusions die.  In Christian terms we need to pick up our cross and follow Jesus Christ.  We cling to those illusions which seem to form the prism through which we see and understand the world and make us who we believe we are.  Putting them down may not be easy but it will be the way to life which is full of joy and full of meaning.

May you be blessed to pick up your cross and put down your illusions on your journey.  

 

Ape and Essence (1)

I came across the phrase “monkey brain” again this week.  Monkey brain is a phase used to describe how our brain often works when we are trying to meditate or focus on one thing.  It seems to have a mind of its own – and it actually does.  The mind jumps from one thought to the next just when you want to quiet your mind and focus on one thing- God in the case of meditation or to empty the mind in the case of Centering Prayer.

Thinking about the monkey brain also brought to mind the idea of the monkey trap which I first encountered in a Tarzan comic when I was a pre-teen.  The monkey trap is a container with a small opening into which is put sweet morsels to attract a monkey (this would be in places where monkeys roamed wild).  The monkey would grab the sweet morsel.  However, the catch was that the monkey would be unable to pull it’s fist out as it is now too big to be extracted from the container.  The monkey would not be willing to let go of the morsel to extract its hand and was therefore caught.  The monkey trap was secured to the ground and the monkey would be eventually caught by the owner of the trap and used for whatever brought the greatest reward.  Below is a drawing of a monkey trap in operation which I found on-line.    

The use of the terms monkey brain and the monkey trap is apt because, if you have observed monkeys, they seem to always be in motion moving from one thing to the next.  Now honestly, I have not had enough direct experience observing monkeys to know if this is an accurate assessment or if they have been given a bad rap in this regard.  Like the monkey brain, we supposedly evolved human beings can display traits that seem to be very similar to our simian cousins.  We can hold onto beliefs and habits and ways of life which are not in our best interest or what God intends for us. 

However, thinking about the monkey brain, also brought to mind a novel that I read many years ago or, in this case, many summers ago.  The novel is After Many Summers by Aldous Huxley.  This is not one of the better-known works of Huxley and is probably not one of his better books.  However, it resonated with me in my youthful interest in fantasy and science fiction. 

As I recall it, the story concerns a rich man who is obsessed with trying to ensure he doesn’t die – the motif of the search for eternal life.  He spends much of his wealth in pursuit of this goal through the wonders of science.  One of his hirelings discovers a way to extend life in a significant way.  The only catch – as there always seems to be a catch in these scenarios – is that the person may have an extended life but would regress to become more ape-like, a sort of devolution of reverse Darwinism.  The last scene of the novel particularly resonated with me.  The protagonist is looking at the result of the experimentation in which two subject have reverted to a more ape-like existence.  The protagonist says something to the effect that, well, at least they seem to be enjoying themselves. 

Although I didn’t appreciate it at the time, this seems to be a strong critique by Huxley of the perhaps blind belief that science would solve all our problems. This seems to be gaining strength in parts of society as we live in hope that there will be a scientific or technological breakthrough that will mean we don’t have to change our lives dramatically to address climate change.  In effect, we are making a god of science that will answer our prayers – a long standing theme in fiction.

The thing that ties the monkey-brain and monkey trap and ape-like long life together is the understanding that monkeys/simians do not have self awareness.  Being conscious and self-aware is a God given gift but if we do not use this gift to know what God intends for us and for all of God’s creation, we will end up like the monkey in the monkey trap holding on to that sweet promise of what we desire but cannot obtain. 

One your journey may you be aware of what you are grasping in life that does not offer eternal life. 

[1] I have borrowed the title of another novel by Aldous Huxley that seems to be appropriate for these musings

Masked and Unmasked

 

Sunday, Lorna and I attended the worship service at St. John’s by the Lake Anglican Church in Grand Bend, Ontario.  The service was marking Remembrance Day and the service was well put together and had much of the content displayed in their relatively new screens.  I am still getting used to screens in church that are not Rood screens and it was nice to see that the screens were well-used for more than “just” hymn lyrics and prayers.  The videos related to Remembrance Day were very moving.  However, there were technical difficulties with stops and starts which interrupted the flow but I am sure that the kinks will be worked out with time and experience.

Unrelated to all this, was the presence of masks on the service.  We are still required to wear masks during the worship service – with the exception of those leading the service.  As people who were leading the various aspects of the service – preaching, prayers, scripture readings, announcements – they removed their masks so that the congregation could better understand what they were saying.  This was all well and good.  When members of the congregation – including me – happened to be speaking to one another wearing masks it was difficult to always hear them clearly.  As an aside I didn’t have any trouble as my hearing is pretty good despite what Lorna maintains. 

It seems to me that wearing a mask is a form of persona which all of us wear when we are out and about.  The mask will make what we are saying less clear to those we are speaking to.  In a similar but perhaps less obvious way, the persona which each of us wears and presents to others prevents that other person from clearly apprehending who we truly are. 

Let me clarify what a persona actually is.  The term was first used in psychology by Carl Jung.  It is derived from the Latin persona, referring to the masks worn by Etruscan mimes.  The persona is the personality which an individual presents to the outer world which will, to a greater or lesser extent, affect how someone will perceive you.  A priest who is wearing their priestly garb – even just a clergy shirt and collar will be perceived by others in particular ways.  The impact of this perception will be greater or lesser, more or less positive or even negative depending on the attitude of the perceiver towards organized religion in general and clergy in particular.  To see the persona-bearing individual as an individual will necessitate the perceiver seeing through the persona to the individual to enable them to see who they truly are more clearly.  Of course, I don’t believe that any of us see others as they truly are, but we can see others more fully or as fully as possible by being aware of their persona and how that affects our perception of them.  

On your journey, may you be blessed to see others more fully as they truly are – children of God. 

 

Making the Crooked Paths Straight

 O God of Compassion,

I cannot undo the past, or make it never have happened!
— neither can You. There are some things that are not possible even for You
— but not many!

I ask you, humbly, and from the bottom of my heart;
Please, God, would You write straight with my crooked lines?
Out of the serious mistakes of my life will You make something beautiful for you?

Teach me to live at peace with You, and make peace with others and even with myself.

Give me fresh vision. Let me experience your love so deeply that I am free to
face the future with a steady eye, forgiven, and strong in hope.

I came across this prayer a few weeks ago – unfortunately I didn’t note the source.[1]   It resonated with me because it addressed the experience I have which I call the “ghosts” that sometimes haunt me in the witching hours of the night.  The ghosts are memories which arrive unsought and unasked for.  In religious language they are the things I have done which I ought not to have done and the things I have not done, I ought to have done.  I could go on with there being no health in me but I won’t go that far – at least this morning.   At base they are regrets which I wish I could change but as this prayer states, I cannot undo the past, or make it never have happened!  

Even God can’t or perhaps it might be better to say won’t – I truly don’t know which.  But I do know what is possible is forgiveness.  It is possible through God in Jesus Christ to forgive – forgive myself and others for all those things in life that I regret happened.  Those ghosts are actually given by God to let me know that forgiveness for these things is not complete.  The crooked path has not yet been made straight.  Forgiveness – true forgiveness does not come easily to me and I expect it does not come easily in most cases.    However, it is a gift from God that those ghosts come to let me know that the process of forgiveness is not yet complete.  I had not originally planned to write about those ghosts on All Saints Day after a traditional night in which the ghosts and goblins roamed so freely but perhaps, I can see God’s hand in that.

May you be blessed to have reconcile with your ghosts on your journey. 

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[1] One of my biggest and closest fans informed me that it is a prayer by Ignatius of Loyola