OF GODS AND MEN

There is a painting by Simon Vouet (1590-1649) in The National Gallery in Washington entitled Urania and Calliope, (1634). The two Muses sit together near a temple of Apollo. Urania, who inspires those who contemplate the order of the heavens, wears her starry crown. To her left sits Calliope, Homer’s Muse, holding a copy of The Odyssey while to her left winged babies carry laurel wreathes of achievement heavenward. Urania has her hand on the shoulder of Calliope who in turn faces her, and so the Muse of Epic Poetry looks to the Muse of those who observe the heavenly order. Meanwhile Urania turns and looks directly into the eyes of the viewer of the painting as if to suggest the Delphic admonition to know thyself.

With St. Valentine’s Day approaching and Lent on its way I’m reading Plato’s Phaedrus. It is all rather wonderful. For Socrates, it is a rare romp in the woods as he and the beautiful Phaedrus sit together under a Plane Tree at mid-day along the banks of the Ilissus River in a place dedicated to the god Pan, rich with nymphs. As cicadas sound overhead the story is told of how these tiny, noisy, creatures report to the Muses and tell which humans honor them and how.

To the eldest, Calliope, and her next sister, Urania, they tell of those who live a life of philosophy and so do honor the music of those twain whose theme is the heavens and all the story of gods and men, whose song is the noblest of them all. 1

1.      Phaedrus, R. Hackforth (trans); Hamilton/Cairns (ed).

OUR RIGHTFUL MIND

We are seduced into thinking that the right to choose from a menu is the essence of liberty, but the powerful are those who set the agenda, not those who choose from the alternatives it offers. (Benjamin R. Barber, Consumed, 2007)

Little Protestant shopkeepers and players of golf take the meaning out of everything.

(Lewis Thompson, 1909-1949, Journals)

I think both of the authors quoted above would agree that if humanity has any hope of surviving we are going to have to come to see things in a whole different way. I’m talking about changing our perception of reality. We tend to discourage that sort of that sort of thing; it’s bad for business. Right now most of us perceive ourselves as needing a lot more stuff than we actually require. Our perception is that we need this, that or the other thing, and we cannot possibly be happy, fulfilled, whole, complete, cool, hip, or whatever without it, and in a consumer society we do not want those perceptions messed with. If the commercials during championship football games teach us anything it is that it takes time, talent, and lots of money to encourage our perceptions and we don’t want anyone waking up and questioning the insanity of our lives – not the quiet desperation, nor the fragmentation, nor even the way in which we spend so much time dwelling on the past or fretting about the future that we sleep-walk through our day relying on familiar patterns and routines to such an extent that even our most intimate moments run the risk of becoming formulaic. As near as I can determine consumerism is its own zombie apocalypse.

Sooner or later we’re going to have to criminalize prayer. It can lead us to recognize our true likeness, and the Market won’t stand for that. Prayer introduces us to our rightful mind; it enables us to see among other things that happiness belongs to our essential and eternal nature and is what we bring to people, places, and things, not what is produced by them. This knowledge changes us. What would life be like if we loved God with our whole heart? What if we really loved our neighbor? What would become of grasping and fear if we truly knew that nothing in this world has the power to rob us of our happiness?

SOTERIA (2)

The ego is, precisely, the impossibility of surrender. Only Reality in us can surrender to Itself.  This is already the centre of our being – pure being – for which there is no “nothing else.”

~ Lewis Thompson (1909-1949), Journals.

The Lord said to Moses, “thou canst not see my face: for there shall no man see me and live.” That sounds about right to me. After all, our response to the beatific vision is not to ask what’s next? It is not a vision from which one walks away; it is the fulfillment of all seeing. There is also the practical consideration that God doesn’t have a face, as in a body part, and so when Moses said: “I beseech thee, show me thy glory,” he was asking for something infinitely deeper. According to Philo, “the soul that loves God seeks to know what the one living God is according to his essence.” He says that Moses “entreated God to become the exhibitor and expounder of his own nature to him.” (De Posteritate Caini) To ‘see’ on this level is perfect freedom and the letting go of all that is false, desperate, contrived, and unreal. It is the end of what we thought we were and the realization of what we have never not been.

I suppose, in light of what I’ve just written, I’m also reminded why Jesus told us not to rehearse what we’re going to say when persecutors haul us away for trial. This has always struck me as a tall order, and yet all three synoptic gospels have him saying it. I don’t know about you but if I knew I was about to be interrogated I’d have a hard time thinking about anything else. I’d be tempted to play through in my head responses to all possible questions, and then re-play them over and over until I had them exactly right and was off-book; ready to perform when the time came. Then again, Jesus also told us not to live as if we are actors putting on a performance to be judged by others. Our task isn’t to reinforce and make real any character we have invented. It is not about somehow solidifying the way we imagine ourselves. It is a matter of knowing our essential nature. It is about passing from the unreal to the real, out of the shadows and into the truth.

DEADWOOD

From time to time I enjoy playing with iambic pentameter. I don’t write poetry (unless that’s what you consider song lyrics) and have never attempted to compose a poem using iambic pentameter, even though several of my favorite Robert Frost poems use that meter. And then there’s Shakespeare. The Bard’s use of iambic inspired one latter-day genius, David Milch, creator of the Television series ‘Deadwood’ (2004-2006). While the dialogue in that series was not written in strict iambic pentameter it seemed nevertheless to be inspired by it. The result was a profane brilliance the likes of which we’re unlikely to see again.

I decided to write a short sketch featuring three of Deadwood’s characters, Mr. Merrick, editor of the Newspaper, Jack Langrishe, actor and director of a theatrical troupe, and Richardson, a simple minded, lowly, waiter at the Grand Hotel Dining Room. If you happen to be a fan of that series then you might enjoy this bit of nonsense. If not, then just scroll on by.

Only the dialogue is Iambic Pentameter (10.10.10.10.), and if I’ve done it right you should be able to sing it to “Eventide’ (Abide with me), or any other hymn in that meter. Try it:

Yes, Mr. Merrick, I seem to recall

You making mention of this when first we

Met on the day our weary troupe arrived,

Slowly descending from these great Black Hills

If you enjoy this post then please consider it my way of wishing you a Happy Epiphany!

Anyways …

Interior location – The Grand Central dining room in Deadwood, Dakota Territory, 1877

Merrick: May I say, Mr. Langrishe, that I am much in your debt for taking of your time to keep the readers of The Pioneer informed about the finer things of life such as the theater, art, and acting in which, with all due modesty, I must confess to having dabbled in the past, though strictly as a budding amateur.

Langrishe: Yes, Mr. Merrick, I seem to recall you making mention of this when first we met on the day our weary troupe arrived, slowly descending from these great Black Hills.

Merrick: And a great day that was for me as well.

Langrishe: You are too kind.

Merrick: I simply speak the truth.

(Richardson arrives, silently places plates of food on the table, and obsequiously backs away.)

Langrishe: Such a face!

Merrick: Richardson?

Langrishe: He has the look of a character born in Shakespeare’s time.

(Merrick glances at Richardson and is for a second at a loss for words.)

Merrick: May I ask, Sir, if you might be so kind as to offer some insights into the creative process – in particular, how authors and actors are so inspired?

Langrishe: That, Mr. Merrick, is a question which I have considered now for many years. The ancients spoke of daimons which inspired. There is no amusement without the muse. Writers create, and their words proceed forth and are made flesh by actors who become the incarnate expressions of those words, so much so, I am left to wonder if there is a moment when characters become living creatures independent of their creator. And might such a creature become in its own right a living thing?

Merrick: And cry 'Subsisto!'

Langrishe: Yes! Yes, I exist. Most writers will allow that they are led by characters who in turn drive the plot, the creature becoming the creator.

Merrick: And might such characters continue to live on long past the final curtain call?

Langrishe: I think they do. In fact, I think they must, to be enjoyed forever and anon.

YOUNG IN MIND

In Plato’s Timaeus an account is given of a visit made by that great Athenian Statesman, Solon, to a city in the Egyptian Delta. There he met an elderly priest who remarked on how the Hellenes were young in mind. “O Solon, Solon,” he said, “you Hellenes are never anything but children, and there is not an old man among you.” When Solon asked the meaning of this the priest replied: “I mean to say that in mind you are all young; there is no old opinion handed down among you by ancient tradition, nor any science which is hoary with age.” (Timaeus 22.b) The priest went on to observe that while the Egyptians keep the records of antiquity stored safely in their temples, other peoples, like the Hellenes, have suffered catastrophic destructions such as fires and floods in which such documents were destroyed. When the writings are gone learning is gone as well. Moreover, when this destruction comes through a flood the ones who survive are “herdsmen and shepherds who dwell in the mountains” while those living in cities are “swept out to sea.” Such a deluge leaves “only those who are destitute of letters and of education, and so you have to begin all over again, like children.” (Timaeus 23.b)

On this Octave Day of Christmas I cannot help recalling those Jewish herdsmen and shepherds keeping watch over their flocks by night. They were the first to see the renewal of humanity. Those unlettered shepherds were the first to adore the Word of God made flesh. They were witnesses of humanity’s new creation in Christ.

I suppose the ancient Greeks were “always young in mind” in that they sought to know the reason in things and to contemplate the eternal which is never old but always new and known only here and now. My hope as this year begins is that we all may remain young in mind as we grow in the newness of life.

Happy New Year.

CHRISTMAS SONG

 A manger bed at night in Bethlehem

The time and place for God and man to meet

An infant cry greets trembling outstretched hand

While swaddling clothes keep warm those tiny feet

The stillness of the night erupts in love

The kind of love that comes through pain of birth

A star surveys the scene from high above

While angels sing a song of peace on Earth

The Word of God within a cradle lies

Enthroned in arms of human flesh so mild

Attendant shepherds can’t believe their eyes

The hope of countless ages is a child

~ Dale Petley 1987, Richmond Corner, N.B.

ADVENT

It is a genuine shame that the first four weeks of the Church calendar are overlooked each year in our annual gadarene rush to celebrate the Holiday Season. I suppose, given the traditional Advent themes of death, judgment, heaven, and hell, it is not hard to see why people would rather focus on the light-hearted festivities of the yuletide. Besides, most places hold their Santa Claus parades shortly after Halloween just to get us consumers in a shopping mood. It is all rather sad and appalling, really, and I’ve come to understand why the Puritans banned Christmas celebrations altogether. I know … I know; humbug!

The Season of Advent speaks of judgment and the end of time. Jesus declared that before ‘the end of days’ great signs and wonders would appear on the earth characterized by massive upheaval and destruction virtually impossible not to notice. On the other hand, Jesus also said that the end of time would be like the days of Noah, before he entered the Ark, when people were “eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage.” Just as people in Noah’s day didn’t notice the flood coming, so likewise the end of time shall happen suddenly and seemingly without warning when we least expect it. So which is it? Is Judgment Day ushered in with cataclysmic, ‘can’t miss’ warning signs or does it occur all of a sudden while we are going about our lives like it’s business as usual? Surely both things are true.

It seems to me we give ourselves too much credit when we assume that if there are obvious warning signs we will (1) notice them as such, and (2) respond accordingly. What is it about human history that would lead anyone to believe this? Don’t we tend to do just the opposite? Are we not in fact experts at ignoring the obvious? Doesn’t history teach us that we refuse to learn from history? It is a willed ignorance on our part. Having self-identified as temporary creatures with an impending sell-by date we want our shot at life, our piece of the pie; our chance to shine. Desire blinds us to the lessons of the past and in our hubris we think things will be different this time, with us. We stubbornly refuse to learn from our mistakes; we callously ignore the plaintive cries of poisoned earth; and when it comes to the economy, we’re always partying like it’s 1928. We are the all-time heavyweight champions when it comes to missing the point. You see, the problem with warning signs is that you have to be awake to see them. Advent is about waking up.

If you go to a bookstore today and ask where they keep the volumes on spiritual awakening and enlightenment, chances are you’re going to end up in the Eastern Religions section, or in an area labeled New Age. While I’m happy that lots of people are interested in such matters I also remember a time when these terms were part of the common Christian vocabulary. After all, ‘Mindfulness’ and ‘Present Moment Awareness’ used to be understood as essential components  in Christian spiritual discipline back when there really was such a thing and we were interested in more than commiserating over our precious causes and cherished grievances. ‘Sleepers Awake’ is the theme of Advent, as Bach so beautifully knew.

In Advent we have the shortest day of the year, with the least light, followed by a gradual increase in illumination with each successive day. Advent is about the coming of the light in which we awaken, and when we awaken, we notice the signs. As T. S. Eliot wrote, “we arrive where we started and know the place for the first time.” We desire to wake up to something unique and spectacular but the truth is better than that. The good news is that we awaken to what is always, already here … as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be.