Sunday, April 22, 2007

BLAST FROM THE PAST

I wrote this just about a year ago. I was rereading some of my old entries and I think I'll post it again.

I owe a lot of this to Joseph Campbell. Joe, wherever you are, I think someone just wiped the grime off that little pane of glass over in the far corner.

Christian apologists find something special in “God entering history” at a specific time and place. Somehow, this is unique and never to be repeated. That is, on a certain date and in a specific part of the world a specific person we now identify as God entered time and space. To enter the world, the Creator would have to have been absent, and I’m not sure the Creator was ever out of the world. Was a Gone Fishing sign left over the door or something?

This discrete identity doesn’t make the Creator any more accessible. In fact I believe it cuts us off. By confining a manifestation of the Creator to a discrete time and place, you get a freeze frame. THIS IS IT. THIS IS THE END OF THE STORY. IT’S FINAL, UNALTERABLE, AND NEVER TO BE QUESTIONED. This to a species that pokes, prods, touches, sniffs, tastes, takes apart everything in its environment, and (this is the irritating part) asks why. And as soon as one why is anwered another one pops up. At least until the world of the big people convinces you that this “just isn’t done” or “we don’t have time for this right now.” Not only are we confined to a specific time and place but to one face of Creation. We are told by too many who claim to speak for this unique face of creation that we are no longer free to find the other faces of the Creator in the here and now. And I believe we’re choking on it.

By claiming that this is what God said for now and all time, too many have put blinders on themselves and limited their freedom to perceive the changing face of Creation and left no room for any other creatures at the inn. Not only do they put blinders on themselves, they insist that the rest of us have to wear them too.

Now that I think about it, this is a powerful metaphor. I got what I can only describe as a jolt when I realized this. Talk about no room at the inn. Not only no room for Mary and Joseph, but no room for the rest of Creation either.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

"Because God says so!" is perfect for people who find thinking to be a painful process.  We've got a lot of those in the world.  SIGH

Russ

Anonymous said...

The human definition of god has more often been used as a control mechanism than anything else.  We have little understanding of the author of creation or our relation to it.  So we...make shit up.  Tsk.  Lisa  :-]

Anonymous said...

Gone fishing...hee hee. Hey, where does god go fishing? I'll bet he has some great spots. --Cin