Tag: pleasure

Spiritual Warriors: Beyond Patriarchy and Pleasure

In medieval royal courts, the joker/jester

was seen as a symbol of Christ –

pricking the balloon of patriarchal pomposity

overturning people’s applecarts

and worldviews –

Christ was and still is the glittering joker

dancing in the dragon’s jaws –

laughing at the precariousness of life

when Eternity is at hand

when we let go of patriarchy

we do not abandon ourselves to evil

we come home to a relational God

who created relational human beings

who enjoy pleasure

but “If we abandon ourselves to pleasure alone

the pleasure principle leads to despair 

since life becomes meaningless” 

– Seneca, Stoic philosopher

we also need to reclaim the warrior archetype 

from the military

we need to fight against the war machine and injustice

for the true warrior is spiritual –

true mystics and prophets are spiritual warriors

Mohammed was a spiritual warrior

and, by the grace of God, a genius of literature –

it is not just the message

but the fusion of poetry and prose

that makes the Quran a masterpiece

Mohammed, like Moses and Jesus

created not just a ‘revival’ but also an ‘awakening’ –

revivals are personal/emotional conversions 

of individuals –

awakenings are cultural revitalizations

that restructure not only social institutions

but also the very purposes and goals 

of civilizations.

THE TRUTH ABOUT HUMANS

To be responsible human beings

we need to make responsible choices

and to do that we need to seek and face the truth

and reality is the first principle of truth

and to be fully human is to be fully connected to reality

particularly our humanness/vulnerability –

we need to ask “what is real here- what is really going on?”

“what am I capable/not capable of?”

and “what are the dangers?”

to be real as a human being 

means to abandon the loneliness 

of being caught 

in illusions/dreams/ideologies

frightened of reality

part of our human reality

is the tendency to be distracted 

from the truth 

in the first mansion of Teresa of Avila’s Interior Castle

it is dark and dangerous 

because those who inhabit it dwell

in the first stage of the spiritual journey

and are still so preoccupied 

with worldly riches and pleasures

they are distracted 

from moving into the second mansion – 

the only way out of the first mansion

is to beseech Mary 

and all the saints

to rescue you 

thru the power 

of prayer/meditation/contemplation

so you discover the truth 

that our vulnerability

is grounded

in the reality of God.

 

 

THE SOURCE OF VIOLENCE AND PLEASURE

According to Teilhard de Chardin

religion itself is the fruit of evolution

and has spread across the globe by peace and violence

because the world has been converging

on Christ throughout its history

as its personal center of fulfillment.

 

Christian faith takes hold when people look at the Cross

and can no longer deny their chains of sin/guilt/death

and when complete individuation/autonomy/irresponsibility

for others fails to fulfill them.

 

Beyond not being their brother or sister’s keeper

aggression, like a drug for an addict

gives temporary relief but then

the nightmare and hatred continue to grow inside you –

violence is picking up burning coals with your bare hands

and throwing them at your enemy.

Whether you hit them or not, you are guaranteed

to burn yourself.

 

The biggest source of violence from religious people

is a colossal modern problem:

the pressure cooker of science has kept a lid on faith

so people feel pressured to give up their beliefs

to be part of the modern/postmodern world

and some rebel with violence.

But some gifts of religious people

to the modern/postmodern world involve seeing:

sin/darkness is an inescapable part of us

there can be joy in imperfection

and Jesus built community not hierarchy

circles not pyramids.

 

Our sins come out of our God-given desires

which are healthy in themselves

but God is the only real fulfillment of those desires –

godless luxury wants over-abundance to fill its soul-hole

but God is

an inexhaustible treasure of incorruptible pleasure:

“At your right hand there are pleasures forever”

– Psalm 16:11