Something Spiritual for Christmas?

.

Or, why our Immigration Policy is
The Hand Of God Moving in Mysterious Ways.

I have a new IPad app that lets me listen to British radio stations (oh yes, the thrill of it all!) and I recently caught the tail end of a conversation with an Anglican Bishop who was bemoaning the decline in Church attendance. He made the following comment:

"The Evangelical movement has failed as a reform movement within the Church."

I was amazed he had ever thought it could be one, when, to paraphrase my youngest daughter, it could best be described as "petri-dish mysticism" [i]. So, lest I be damned at Christmas, let me explain: First, churches operate at two levels:

1.     The communal and religious: the human urge to come together and sing uplifting songs, hear the word of their God expounded, and unite in worship and that warm feeling of virtue and connectedness. Enjoying communion - being part of a spiritual community.

2.     The individual and spiritual, or mysticism: an individual and direct personal spiritual connection to God, the Godhead, the Universal Soul (or whatever term works for you).

The first is the visible part of the church: the people it includes and all the charitable, generous, open-hearted and 'inspired' works they do. Which is the part of most Christian churches that's dwindling just as fast as their congregations are aging and dying.

The second is the personal spiritual connection that's always been distrusted and tightly controlled by Christian churches. Known as mysticism, it's about personally penetrating the 'cloud of unknowing' to reach and connect with the ineffable mystery of God. And that's why the Evangelical movement in Catholic and Protestant churches is a problem: it's a hybrid form of communal mysticism. All that speaking in tongues and spiritual healing and what looks uncomfortably like mass hysteria is the spirit of Christ, or the Holy Spirit, or whatever you want to call it, reaching down and overwhelming the faithful with bliss and rapture. It's a group orgasm of the spirit.

And if you think this doesn't have anything to do with you let me remind you that our Immigration Minister, Scott Morrison is a very senior Evangelical. His faith guides him, and therefore his attitudes and actions. And this is where the 'petri-dish mysticism' comes in. There are four levels or stages of transcendent experience involved in mysticism. They are:

1.     Bliss, or rapture.

2.     Illumination - the enlightenment bit, where you get new insights and a little humility.

3.     Exstasis, the separation of the soul from the body, and:

4.     Merging with the infinite, the Universal Soul, or God.

The problem is that Evangelicals aren't reaching beyond the first level. The 12th century Christian mystic and Augustinian monk Richard of St Victor described it thus:

"In the first degree spiritual feeling sweeter than honey
enters into her soul and inebriates her with its sweetness.."

That inebriation, being spiritually drunk (on the Holy Spirit), is what Evangelical services offer. Mass drunkenness, without alcohol. A cathartic emotional release which can wash away guilt and pain and regret without the understanding, insight or reflection of personal mediation or prayer. When people break out into babbling and gibberish it isn't a sign of over stimulation, mental intoxication and emotional overload it's a sign of holiness, of purity, of God's acceptance of who you are, with all your faults. And there's the rub. If this emotional and spiritual hot-tub washes only God's chosen vessels then we are, by definition, absolutely worthy, upright and deserving, true and correct in all our opinions and beliefs.

The Catholic and other traditional churches' long-held suspicion of this 'rapturous connection' is based on a genuine spiritual concern. People who are in this state of spiritual and emotional openness are enormously suggestible. And there's plenty of charismatic individuals in any generation willing to allow themselves to be first adored, then worshipped as beyond ordinary conceptions of morality, then obeyed to the letter in any despicable act or impulse. Cult leaders from Jim Jones to Charles Manson are notable examples of rapture followed by bloodshed. And while the Church may debate the degree of demonic influence involved the results here on earth are still bloody, appalling and socially destructive. 

Defensiveness, cults and reactionary politics

And it's not just religious cults that feed on this emotional and spiritual orgasm. When historian Robert Waite described Hitler as the 'Psychopathic God' this process is exactly what he had in mind; the cynical and systematic manipulation of people's emotional states to prey on their religious needs and instincts. The cult of personality around Lenin or Mao are similar extremes, but you can see the same fervour at an Obama rally, or in the cult of personality around Ronald Reagan among the conservative 'faithful'. People in groups will quickly connect and hype each other up emotionally, but intellectual processing drops to the lowest common denominator just as quickly. There is no need, or use, or room for intellect, discernment or logic. Just the rush, and the obedience of the herd.

That rapture, for the solitary individual praying or meditating is a sign that you're becoming spiritually open and emotionally responsive. It's there to motivate you to engage in the hard work of reflecting on yourself and your place in the world. On honestly seeing yourself in a broader context, which should produce humility. 

Instead Evangelical Churches favour an anti-intellectual Biblical literalism whose status as 'the absolute truth' is directly proportional to the fevered fervour of their emotional and spiritual experience. Which is the greatest, most powerful experience of their lives.  So there are no questions which can't be answered by their 2000 year old book of fables, myths, eye-for-an-eye morality, xenophobia, selective editing and obscure metaphysics. 

The head-shaking and derision this elicits from the rest of us does not make them feel loved. It only serves to amplify their self-imposed cultish isolation. And with all cults isolation breeds defensiveness, suspicion and a pseudo-martyr complex. God knows, they know they're right (about everything no matter how ridiculously uninformed they may be). They have God's miracle of orgasmic spiritual fever to prove it. 

This is the mindset that inspires reactionary politics: suspicion of outsiders, possession of a Holy Truth that others lampoon, direct authority from God for their opinions, no matter how small, or petty or cruel, or selfish, or self-serving or .. well, you get the drift. And when they get the power to punish others for their temerity in questioning God's chosen people.. well, watch out, Buddy.

I once worked with an Evangelical Catholic and his most prominent trait was an astonishing level of spiritual arrogance. He truly believed he was 'chosen of God' if not chosen by God. He was, unsurprisingly, reactionary and conservative, and he closely identified with the authority structure of the organisation, becoming progressively more humourless and authoritarian the longer he held any organisational power over others. He went from being regarded with amused condescension, to mockery, to animus, to fear and eventually outright hatred for his punitive, bullying manner and acts of spite and petty revenge.

The 'holier than thou' reactionary politics of Evangelical Christians is consistent with history's worst religious excesses. Pogroms, massacres, jihads and crusades all stem from religious fervour and fear. Fear which morphs into hate, and hate which generates violence. 

The cumulative weight of micro-aggressions targeted at refugees and other outsiders makes our society uglier and more hateful. It isn't just the 'boat people' who suffer. We all do when they arrive here damaged and in pain, embittered by their treatment, angry and resentful. And while Scott Morrison and Tony Abbott may keep them from staying here we will all still have to live in a society with new norms of behaviour that are progressively more hate-filled, mean-spirited and extreme, less tolerant of difference and diversity, more abusive, authoritarian and violent. 

And no God worth a good goddamn could be pleased with that.

And A Merry Christmas to You All.

PS: If anyone would like to engage me upon the rest of the four levels of transcendent whotsit, mine's a very large rum.

---

[i] An acerbic and insightful young lady, she once memorably described the idea that pole-dancing empowered women through physical mastery as 'petri-dish feminism'.

A little Christmas blasphemy, and a Happy New Year.

Luke 7:37

 

 

 "Weeping, she wet His feet with her tears, and wiped them with her hair.."

Peter, John and Andrew, talking with Thomas, Judas and Matthew.

Peter is pacing up and down, obviously upset over something. Judas and Thomas share a bench and are leaning against the wall, relaxed and semi-reclining, a wine cup in front of each of them. Sitting opposite them is John, the youngest, and Andrew, leaning on the table. Matthew is across the room, resting his tall frame against the window frame, deep in thought. But it’s Peter who's holding forth.

“I can’t believe it!  He let that whore su.. su.. lick him. Lick his.. It’s disgusting! Outrageous! He just sat there! Just sat there and let her.. ”

“I thought you said she was washing His feet?” Says John.

Matthew looks at him, his face a picture of benevolent amazement,

“You really need to get out more.” He says, face creased in a wry smile.

“I think the word you’re looking for is slut.” Says Judas.

“What? What the hell are you talking about?” Says Peter.

“If she’s anything so terrible she’s a slut, not a whore.

  A whore would have charged him money for it.”

“You.. you.. hair-splitting asshole!” says Peter.

“Charmed I’m sure. But it’s important. Not the money, but being precise with the words.”

“Oh, shut up. Ever since He gave you five minutes of one-on-one ‘secret’ teaching you’ve been acting like you’re his one man fan club, and the rest of us are idiots.” Says Peter.

“Nevertheless, the words matter.”

“She’s disgusting, unclean, whatever the right word is.” Says John.

“Oh, and you’re not?” Says Matthew. “Being a virgin doesn’t make you pure, John. You can only reach purity via the long route, by being born in the flesh, born into this filthy world. It’s rising above it makes you clean.”

“You have to start from a pure heart, and undefiled body.” Says John.

“Oh, grow up!” says Thomas.

“You think he doesn’t shit like the rest of us?” says Judas, “What do you think he does when he wanders off in the morning? Lets out a little scented puff of wind and a stream of white wine? ”

 “It’s not right. That’s all I’m saying. It’s not right.” Says John.

“No it bloody isn’t.” Says Peter. “She’s a slag. A worthless piece of garbage.”

“What’s not right for you isn’t what’s not right for Him, John. Or me or anyone else for that matter. If we all had to live within what you could cope with we wouldn’t last five minutes.” Says Matthew.

‘You really don’t get it do you?” Says Judas. “You really think it’s about performing miracles and being worshipped by the mob, by the well-meaning but clueless, all desperate to see the Messiah so he can sort out their petty little problems. Like Solomon with time on his hands. If he’s really God in one man none of that matters.”

“Well how else are we supposed to know, you arrogant ass? It’s all been written, been prophesied. He’s the One because he fulfils the prophets.” Says Peter.

“Wrong way round. He fulfils the prophets because He’s the One.” Says Thomas.

“Oh, don’t you start! I’m sick of the pair of you.” Says Peter.

“It’s still the truth, or haven’t you noticed? He’s doing it deliberately, checking off all the things the prophets foretold, turning up at the right time, being in the right place, doing what there is to do, just so people know, so it’s obvious even to someone as thick as you, Peter.” Says Thomas.

“But that could mean anyone could be Him. Anyone could just go around ticking off the prophesies like it was a shopping list. He could be anyone!” Says John.

“Yes. That’s the point, for God’s sake.” Says Thomas. “Don’t you get it? That’s what He’s doing. It’s sad and foolish, but only because we’re sad and foolish and need to have it spelled out, put on a plate, shoved in our idiot faces. Until we can see what’s right there in front of us.”

“You don’t actually believe at all, do you?” Says Andrew. “You don’t love Him at all. You’re just hanging on for your own intellectual pleasure, playing your stupid mind-games. It’s all a big joke to you, you pompous windbag.”

“No, that’s not true. I have trouble with blind faith that’s all. Blind faith could believe in any old rubbish; flying carpets, djinns and giants, and genies in bottles, and silly stories to frighten children. I prefer to deal with truth I can see in front of me, thanks, not wish-fulfilment and fairy-dust. That, and the application of mind and principle to problems of a spiritual nature. What’s wrong with that?” Says Thomas.

“Ah yes, the comforts of Greek philosophy. What a load of bullshit.” Says Andrew.

“I still say she should be thrown out, she has way too much influence on Him.” Says Peter.

“I agree. She’s a bad influence, and she should go.” Says John.

“You do know she’s been paying for everything you’ve eaten this week, don’t you?” Says Judas, quietly.

Peter’s face is reddening, rage comes off him like steam, little bits of spittle flying out with his words,

“Oh, here we go. It’s always about money with you, isn’t it, Judas? Sooner or later it comes down to money, you grubby little man. How do we know you’re telling the truth, eh? How do we know where you get the money from? Or where it all goes, for that matter..”

“So what if she does pay, she should be grateful just to be allowed to even be with us.” Says John.

Judas is on his feet now and turns towards Peter, his hands balling into fists.

“Listen, Mister Moral-High-Ground. He gave me the job of looking after it. It means bugger-all to me and I could well and truly live without the hassle, thank you very much. Why don’t you ask Him to give you the job? Or maybe you can’t be trusted? Or maybe you just can’t count!”

He turns to face John,

“And as for you, you pathetic little virgin. Been away from Mummy too long, have we? Scared of the big nasty women and what they might do to you? Afraid she might have teeth and circumcise you a second time? You’re a long, long way from being a man and you should hold your tongue like a woman, or the little boy you are. You make me sick. Little Miss Run-After-The-Man they should call you.”

Thomas, puts a hand on his arm,

“Pack it in, Judas. Don’t let them wind you up with their nonsense. It’s not worth it, you know that. And it’s beside the point anyway.”

“Yeah, well it’s always ‘Judas get this, Judas get that’ whenever we travel, isn’t it? Always me has to find somewhere for everyone to stay, find food for us all, find the cash, pay for it all, and what thanks do I get? Bugger all from these clowns.”

He glares at John,

“She’s twice the man you’ll ever be, little boy. And He loves her, has that thought never occurred to you? HE LOVES HER. And she loves Him in ways you’ll never be able to. Even if you were a girl.”

“You can’t say that! You can’t get away with that, you pig!”

John is angry now, his voice shrill. He’s on his feet and ready to push back, should nudge come to shove,

“You can’t imply that and just walk away, you foul-mouthed swine!”

Even at his full five feet two inches and red-faced with rage John isn’t a very scary sight. But Thomas has a firm hand on Judas, and Peter and Andrew have hold of John.

“Who’s walking?” Says Judas.

They’re tired, weary and fractious, all of them. It’s been a long day in a long week. Miriam of Magdala upsets them all in one way or another. There’s something about her that looks deep inside you and says,

“I know what you think, in your heart of hearts, in your secret fantasies. I know what you want, what turns you on. And I can do it. I can do anything. Anything you can imagine, I can do it. So what do you want, little man?”

And it’s been wearing on them as He drew closer to her by the hour. The more time they spent together, the two of them, talking into the night alone. When it used to be them He’d sit up with, them He talked the night through with.

She scares them. And tonight, after dinner, when they’d gone into where He was without knocking, without checking to see who was with Him, what they might be doing. Well, that had shocked most of them to the core. And when the others heard, when they arrived and found out what had happened, well, it was a tale that was only going to get bigger with the telling wasn’t it? Every time, every iteration was going to make it all sound worse.

“Oh, knock it off, the pair of you.” Says Matthew. “Judas, say you’re sorry.”

“Why me? It’s not as if I’ve said anything that anybody with half a brain could take as offensive.”

They exchange looks. They look ridiculous, the pair of them.

“Oh alright, I apologise .. Princess.”

“You bastard!” Said John, and lunged at him.

John’s wild swing misses Judas, who sways back with a grin on his face. John is furious, but he isn’t a match for Judas, or any of them for that matter. He’s too young to begin with, too short and inexperienced, and it only takes a few seconds for the scuffle to die down. And after it’s over and enough time has passed, Matthew, who’s been leaning against the window frame the whole time says,

“What did you mean, ‘it’s beside the point’?”

“What?” Says Peter.

“Not you. Thomas. What did you mean when you said ‘it’s beside the point anyway’?”

“I meant it doesn’t make any difference what Peter or John or any of us think. About her, I mean. We’re not Athenians. It’s not a democracy. We don’t get to vote on it.”

“But He’d listen to us, wouldn’t he, Peter?” says John, “He’d see that it wasn’t right, that she’s trouble, that she’s always pushing herself forward, poking her nose in .. ”

“It’s not her nose was the problem.” Smiles Judas.

“You really are a gutter-mouth, you know that?” Says Andrew.

“The point remains.” Says Thomas. “We can’t tell him what to do.”

“He’ll see reason.” Says Peter. “If we explain ourselves well, He’ll know that we’re saying it for the right reasons. He’s just too compassionate sometimes, that’s all, too willing to let people impose on His time, to monopolise His attention when He should be doing other things.”

“Wow, you really do think that don’t you?” Says Judas, “Nothing anyone says gets into that thick head of yours, does it? Haven’t you been listening? The Master loves her. He loves her more than any of us. I wouldn’t be surprised if He threw you out and told you to go back to bothering fish. What the hell, go for it. I might like to see that.”

“He’s right Peter,” Says Matthew, “He does love her. That’s pretty clear.”

“But she’s disgusting!” Says John, “How could He love a woman like that!”

“I don’t think you understand what love is, John.” Says Thomas.

“Glory, Hallelujah! You got that right.” Says Judas.

“I don’t claim to either, Judas, and I daresay you don’t, for that matter.” Says Thomas.

“So what are we going to do?” Says John.

“What’s this ‘we’, little man?” Says Matthew, “You can include me out if you want to confront Him. I think I’ll just keep my peace until events unfold. You want Him to turn her away, you go right ahead and tell Him. Just don’t ask me to join in with your petty bullshit.”

“Well that’s just cowardice.” Says Peter.

“No, I just don’t think I understand what’s unfolding very well, and I’d rather find out before I draw any conclusions.” Says Matthew.

“Oh, so it’s intellectual cowardice then?” Says Judas.

“No, I agree with Matthew,” Says Thomas. “She’s important to Him in ways we don’t understand yet. She makes me nervous, but I don’t think she has malice in her.”

“How very generous of you.”

“Oh, shut up Judas.”