if I may... (part 2)
Submitted by Nathan on January 13 2001 02:13:31
In reply to if I may... (part 1) submitted by Nathan on January 13 2001 00:16:23
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If you've gotten this far and you're still interested, thank you. I find the stuff fascinating; I don't know why so many people think it's boring. Now: on to how this relates to the question at hand. Suppose I show you a hologram of a bridge. In itself, no big deal. There's nothing evil about a hologram-- in fact, it's kind of cool. But if you make the mistake of thinking that it's a solid bridge, you're setting yourself up for a big Fall, so to speak. We've all heard of those poor unfortunates who try to escape their lives by watching TV until the boundaries between reality and fantasy become blurry and they can't tell the difference between the soap operas and their own lives. We kind of laugh at this but it's a real problem for some people (and it's becoming more of one, by the way.) Think about how painful it must be for someone who is trapped in a fantasy. You are absolutely CERTAIN that you are right and yet the world does not seem to act the way you would expect it to. You would spend you're whole life trying to be understood, trying to make others see things the way you do, and trying to figure out why the world doesn't make sense. I'm sure none of you know what THAT's like. ;) Well, that is the reality of the world of the Fall. The actual physical world is not the problem. The problem is that we think it's something other than what it is. We think that material things will last, so we spend our lives chasing after them, and some of us are willing even to cause great pain to others in order to get them. BUT MATTER DOESN'T LAST. So no matter how hard you try you just cause more suffering for yourself and others and never really get anywhere. Enlightenment, in Platonic and Buddhist thought, is a very powerful and mindblowing experience wherein your whole way of seeing things is changed, and you are somehow rewired so that you don't identify with material things as real anymore and instead relate to Ideas as solid entities. A Zen master once said, "If it were easy to explain, everyone would have told his brother about it." But it is a real experience. I have personally encountered it, at least in part, and I know many others who have, as well. So this is the first part of the answer. The ancient debate over flesh vs. Spirit is not, I think, understood in its proper context because the language is archaic and the metaphysics of the modern world is different. (Or maybe "lacking" is a better word.) The issue was not about the filthy, animal body vs. some lofty entity called the soul, although that is often how it is experienced in actual practice. The problem is that we are eternal Ideas who think, feel and act in symbols, yet we live in physical matter which absolutely refuses to behave the way we want it to. Only by techniques like fasting, abstinence, and self-restraint can we force ourselves to get over our addiction and release ourselves into the Clear Light of Mind. So that is what enlightenment is for philosophers. But the whole point of Christianity is that it is a NEW WAY to be saved- that's the central point of the New Testament. By baptism in water and in the Holy Spirit and by confession and conversion to Christ the believer is washed of spiritual impurity and instantly enlightened-- at least that's the theory, although many of the so-called "born again" Christians I have met have not, in my opinion, really been enlightened. (That's an issue that I'll save for another time.) So how does this work? Well, remember that everything that exists is in two worlds simultaneously: the changing world of matter/flesh and the unchanging world of Word/Spirit. When you change the meaning of a thing you are actually changing its spiritual essence. This is the part of Catholic/Orthodox theology which was unfortunately forgotten when Protestantism split, and it's the major reason why the two theologies can never seem to be reconciled. For example, when a Catholic priest blesses a bowl of water, it becomes *holy water*, which is an entirely different kind of thing. Water and holy water may have the same chemical properties (although I don't suppose anyone has ever tested this) but they have entirely different spiritual properties. This is why there are reports that during exorcism the demon is actually *burnt* at room temperature by holy water and communion sacrament. The flesh of the victim is not damaged but he acts as if he is on fire because the demon inside him is an unholy spiritual entity. It is also why there are specific demons of lust, anger, etc. Lust is not CAUSED by a demon the way breaking glass is caused by dropping it. That is a material change. In the unchanging world of Spirit the concept of Lust IS the demon; they are identical. And until you are either saved or cast into Hell, your spiritual essence is vulnerable. The meaning of your life is neither ultimately good or bad, but has the potential to be either. (By the way, we Buddhists do believe in Hell; we just think it lasts a long time instead of forever.) When you think of Adolph Hitler, what do you think of? Violence, cruelty, pain, etc. So he is a symbol of evil. Until his death he had the choice to become an image of holiness but he chose not to, so for the rest of time the meaning of his life will be demonic. You see, the flesh, being matter, passes away. But the Idea that you are does not. So Hitler is an evil Idea-- that is to say, a demon. I'm sure you've heard of cases where people became possesed by Hitler. That is because he is now living in the spiritual world as a demonic entity. Now, the ancients believed that the power that governs all things is so vast that it cannot be spoken of or understood. The Jews were so adamant about this that their first commandment was ABSOLUTELY NO IDOLS. They weren't even allowed to speak God's name, although they claimed to know it. But the people had become superstitious about their laws and forgot what they meant. An idol is an object, fashioned by a human, that is worshipped as though it were a god. An icon is a symbol that is deliberately chosen to *represent* God even though it is known to be imperfect. An idol is made of matter, an icon is made of Ideas. The Jews had forgotten the Spirit of the Law and clung instead to a literal interpretation. In this way they made an idol of the Law, even though the Law specifically states NO IDOLS. When Jesus came He allowed Himself to become an icon of the Most High. His lifestyle, teachings, death and resurrection were a symbol of the nature of the ultimate essence of Reality. He was quite careful to evade the issue when people asked Him if He was God-- in a way He was, in another way, He wasn't. But the hypocritical Jews of the time (no offense to modern Jews) had the audacity to accuse HIM of idolatry. That's why they wanted Him dead. (John 10:30-38) Now, when the Holy Spirit descended on Him at His baptism He was transformed spiritually in the same way as the holy water we talked about. Even if He had never committed sin beforehand, it wasn't until He was blessed that He became an icon of the Most High and therefore an eternal Savior. In the same way, even if you have never committed a sin (they say that's impossible but that's not the point) you are still only a human until you experience being saved, i.e. baptism in the Holy Spirit. Then your spiritual essence is transformed. You become an eternal truth: your life is the manifestation of an aspect of the personality of Christ. That's why it's actually meaningful to say that you can only escape death by being saved. If you are not born again you are just a body which dies. But if you are born again into a spiritual body you will live forever as a radiant expression of God's joy. Many people think the spiritual body is just another lump of flesh that we'll get the second time around. That's not it at all. Spirit is NOT material. A spiritual body is rebirth into a body made of an eternal concept, but while you are still in the flesh, your body actually does feel and sometimes look different.... So to close the issue, veneration of the saints is idolatry IF you worship the actual person. But if you believe that a saint is an image of Christ who is in turn an image of the Unnameable Most High, and worship THAT, then it's iconography, which is ok. (John 14:19-20) For that matter--don't flame me!!-- you are practicing idolatry even if you worship the man Jesus instead of the Word that He embodied. Thanks and love to all, Nathan P.S. Please give me some feedback. I've been working on this theology for like 10 years and you're the first people I've shared it with. |
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