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November 02, 2004
Via Positiva
Via Positiva: Befriending Creation
October 3, 2004
A few weeks ago I talked with you about Original Blessing, the book by Matthew Fox about creation spirituality. I told you that there were four paths Fox recommends to experience creation spirituality. The first of these is the Via Positiva. I promised to share with you more about this and the other paths. Today I begin that sharing.
As I was re-reading this section of his book, I was struck by how similar Fox's language is to the writers of process theology. This subject has interested me for several years, and I have shared that interest with some of you. I think that Fox explores this subject from the side of spirituality, rather than theology, which makes it far more interesting and accessible to most people.
Fox says that, rather than the doctrine of original sin, upon which Christianity has been based for 2000 years, we should be teaching the doctrine of Original Blessing. The plants, animals, humans, earth and the cosmos are all gifts of great value. Creation is good. The earth is good. Humans are good.
Process theology says that God, or The Divine, consists of that which creates good, which includes people. Creation continues and humankind participates in it. When we participate in creating good, we are part of The Divine. I'll do a process theology sermon later. Today we will concentrate on The Via Positiva: Befriending Creation.
The overarching theme of Fox's work is that life/religion/and his religion, Christianity, should be a journey of life, not death. The Fall/Redemption theology he rejects concentrates on the inherent evil it claims is within each human. This theology is not present in Judaism, from which Christianity grew, and it is not present in the teachings of Jesus. It appears first in the writings of Augustine, who invented the art form, autobiography. Augustine wrestled publicly with the temptations of the flesh, which he came to believe were evil and inherent. Christianity adopted his philosophy, which became its primary teaching. It is a teaching that denigrates physical life in favor of spiritual life, envisioned as life after death. It denigrates pleasure in favor of asceticism, compassion in favor of judgment, and Eros in favor of Thanatos.
Fox follows a different tradition, a life affirming tradition that always existed within Christianity. However, it was a subterranean tradition, living on the margins of the dominant Fall/Redemption tradition. It is Creation Spirituality, and its first and basic path is that of the Via Positiva.
If we want to follow this path, we must first look at, recognize, and give thanks for the overwhelming Glory of Creation. From the tiniest ant to the overwhelming vastness of the cosmos, this creation in which we live is glorious. Unitarian poet Walt Whitman said, "I believe a leaf of grass is no less than the journey-work of the stars,/ And the pismire is equally perfect, and a grain of sand, and the egg of the wren…."
Creation is glorious however you believe it occurred--through the efforts of a Creator, or through the Big Bang that "just happened." The creative energy that brought it into existence, gifted we humans with a rich banquet of life on a beautiful planet.
Fox explores the meaning of the Hebrew word Dabhar, which is used in the Creation story in Genesis. Our bibles translate dabhar as word or spoken word. For example we say, "And God spoke, "Let there be light, and there was light." Dabhar is more complex, it means more than word, it means accomplished, it includes action--creative action. Creative energy, however one envisions it, is at the heart of the cosmos. And it takes more than left-brain words to accomplish, it also take right-brain creative action.
To follow the Via Positiva path we must learn to understand Creation as a blessing--a blessing placed into our care. Frederick Turner writes:
To those who followed Columbus and Cortez, the New World seemed incredible because of the natural endowments. The land often announced itself with a heavy scent miles out into the ocean. Giovanni di Verranzano in 1524 smelled the cedars of the East Coast a hundred leagues out. The men of Henry Hudson's Half Moon were temporarily disarmed by the fragrance of the New Jersey shore, while ships running farther up the coast occasionally swam through large beds of floating flowers. Wherever they came inland they found a rich riot of color and sound, of game and luxuriant vegetation. Had they been other than they were, they might have written a new mythology here. As it was, they took inventory. (quoted in Fox, Matthew, Original Blessing, Jeremy M. Tarcher/Putnam, New York, 2000, p. 43. [first published in 1983]).
Creation is good. As the dominant species on this planet, we reap the benefits or blessings of its marvelous, fecund, beautiful reality. However, every gift has its obligation. As the dominant species on this planet, we also have the responsibility of caring for this marvelous, fecund, beautiful reality. It is Fox's contention, and I agree, that because Western Civilization, which has conquered the world, relies on a Fall/Redemption theology, we are unable to appreciate the glory of creation. We are unable, even forbidden in some versions of Christianity, to appreciate pleasure.
Henry Hudson and his men were "temporarily disarmed by the fragrance of the New Jersey shore." No one would experience that now. Hudson and those that followed him "took inventory," and now the fragrance of chemicals and car fumes permeates the air. We who came to this land from European nations were afraid to be disarmed by beauty and pleasure. For most of us our faith told us that such things were sinful and would lead to eternal punishment. Let us reclaim Creation as a blessing filled with beauty and pleasure.
If we reclaim Creation as a blessing, and can truly see its glory, we are poised to explore panentheism. Pan-en-theism is different from both theism and pantheism. Theism sees the Divine as radically different from everything else. Pantheism sees everything as Divine and the Divine as everything. Panentheism hinges on a preposition. Panentheism sees that everything is in the Divine and that the Divine is in everything.
Fox writes that:
Panentheism is desperately needed by individuals and religious institutions today. It is the way the creation-centered tradition of spirituality experiences God (or the Divine.) It is not theistic because it does not relate to God as subject or object, but neither is it pantheistic. Panentheism is a way of seeing the world sacramentally. (Fox, p. 90.) (Parenthesis added.)
Panentheism is often expressed in maternal images of god by such writers as Julian of Norwich and Meister Eckhart, and in some images in the Bible. As Fox says, it expresses "the deep with-ness of God." (p. 92) Panentheism is often the spiritual expression of process theology.
Panentheist writer Wendell Berry says, "Nothing could be more absurd than to despise the body, and yet yearn for its resurrection." (Ibid, p. 58) And yet this is what classic Fall/Redemption theology teaches us. We are taught that our bodies are evil, that they will lead us into temptation. We are also taught that Jesus Christ triumphed over death by rising after being crucified. And we are taught that if we follow the teachings of the church that is named for him, we will also experience physical resurrection. Berry names this absurd.
Creation spirituality teaches that our bodies are part of the Glorious Creation--and that they are good. It declares that Eros is a powerful and good symptom of the power of creation. It teaches that no part and no function of our body is to be despised. Starhawk has been teaching modern pagans the same lessons. She, like Fox, recognizes the power of Eros, as do Beverly Harrison and Carter Hay-ward, modern feminist theologians. All such writers recognize the power of Eros and passion.
Thomas á Kempis, the great Fall/Redemption theologian "counsels people to 'fight against your passions,' to 'get rid of passion and desire,' pray to be 'set free from evil passions'." (Ibid, p. 60.) And so forth. However, Eckhart and the crea-tion tradition counsel us to "put on them the bridle of love." (Ibid.) A bridle is a steering mechanism, and a bridle of love does not imply unreasonable restraint. Passion and desire should be guided by genuine love, but not repressed.
Asceticism sets up dualisms--the good spirit or soul opposed to the wicked body and emotions. This is a false dualism under which the majority of Christians have lived for 1500 years.
Creativity is often a messy process, whether it is a child's creation of refrigerator art, or the creation of new life by two adults. Psychologist Carl Jung wrote:
Life itself flows from springs both clear and muddy. Hence all excessive "purity" lacks vitality. A constant striving for clarity and differentiation means a proportionate loss of vital intensity precisely because the muddy elements are excluded. Every renewal of life needs the muddy as well as the clear. … (Ibid., 61, 62.)
Creation spirituality recognizes that Eros and earthiness are holy. And it defines holiness in a very different way from Fall/Redemption spirituality. The Bible verse that is often used to define holiness is "Be ye therefore perfect, as also your heavenly Father is perfect." Holiness, according to this dominant theology is perfection.
As I reminded you on Yom Kippur, none of us are perfect. What, therefore, does it mean to define holiness as perfection, and perfection as impossible? Is that not a recipe for frustration? One prominent writer and theologian names this an ego quest, not a spiritual journey. (Fox, p. 110)
Fox proposes that rather than perfection, holiness means hospitality, a cosmic hospitality. (Fox, p. 112.) He says,
Hospitality comes from the word host or hostess. … (T)he Creator God is a gracious, an abundant, and a generous host/hostess. She has spread out for our delight a banquet that was twenty billion years in the making. A banquet of rivers and lakes, of rain and of sunshine, of rich earth and of amazing flowers, of handsome trees and of dancing fishes, of contemplative animals and of whistling winds, of dry and wet seasons, of cold and hot climates. But it is a banquet that works, this banquet we call creation, the human planet. It works for our benefit if we behave toward it as reverent guests. God has declared that this banquet is "very good" and so are we, blessings ourselves, invited to the banquet.
(Ibid, p. 112, 113.)
Hospitality requires relationship. To be hospitable, one must have guests. And the first proper response of guests is gratitude. The second response is imitation. When one is gifted with great gifts, and a banquet of plenitude and beauty spread before one, one is required to share the plenty and celebrate the beauty. Therefore, to be holy is to be hospitable, to share one's banquet with those who have not been so generously blessed, and to be thankful for the gifts of Creation.
In addition to recognizing and celebrating the glories of the Cosmos, Creation Spirituality teaches us to trust. The Fall/Redemption Spirituality that dominates Christianity and the societies built upon it teaches fear. Fox writes:
It teaches consciously and unconsciously, verbally and non-verbally, fear. Fear of damnation, fear of nature--beginning with one's own; fear of others; fear of the cosmos. In fact, it teaches distrust beginning with distrusting of one's own existence, one's own spirituality, one's own originality, and one's own glorious entrance into this world of glory and of pain. (Ibid. p. 82.)
And then he asks, "What if, however, religion was not meant to be built on psychologies of fear but on their opposite--on psychologies of trust and of ever-growing expansion of the human person?" (Ibid.)
This is what Creation Spirituality does. When we study the cycles of nature, we know that all things live and then die. We know that even in the dark of winter, life exists below the ground, waiting for the warmth of spring to burst forth. We know that the glorious leaves of autumn now brightening our landscape are saying good-by as they dry and prepare to fall. We trust that life will return in the spring.
The culture of fear based on Fall/Redemption theology permeates our political as well as our spiritual lives. We fear for our safety, we fear for our economic well-being, and we fear change in our culture. Politicians of every stripe play on those fears.
If we learned from our faith communities to trust the abundance of creation, and to care for its gifts, we would be far less susceptible to politicians, salesmen, and media moguls.
No spirituality, however positive, can ignore sin and salvation. Fall/Redemption theology focuses all its energies upon sin and salvation. This is a grave error. However, no one who has lived in the 20th century and/or studied its history can ignore the fact that humans can and do commit evil acts. Even though Creation Spirituality starts with the premise that creation is good, evil still happens. Fox addresses this problem:
Sin, one learns from reflection on the Via Positiva, would consist in injuring creation and doing harm to its balance and harmoniousness, turning what is beautiful into what is ugly. In this sense all ecological damage is a sin against the Via Positiva and…such sin is a break, a rupture, in creation itself. It represents the most basic injustice, that of humanity to its own source, the earth. (Ibid, p. 119.)
It is possible to sin in this way when one submits to dualism, to subject/object thinking. Only then can we manipulate and control the other parts of creation. Fox continues, "Another sin of omission …is the sin of limiting, always guarding against or policing, pleasure. This sin of omitting Eros or love of life expresses itself in a preference for Thanatos, love of death." (Ibid.)
When we do this we cannot fall in love with life, nor recognize and celebrate beauty, nor fulfill our roles as Guest and/or Host or Hostess at the great banquet of Life. We will fall into consumerism, the buying and selling of the symbols of our egoistic search for perfection.
Just as the definition of sin in Creation Spirituality differs from Fall/Redemption teachings, so does the definition of salvation. Salvation means healing, healing the broken strands of life in the Cosmos. All justice-making work helps heal and is salvific. Building relationships among the beings that populate creation is sal-vific. I include in this human beings and animal beings and plant beings and cosmic beings wherever they may lodge.
Reverence for Life, proclaimed by Alfred Schweitzer, is salvific, and a return to Eros is salvific. All acts that help heal the individual, society, and the world are salvific. Recognizing the kernel of divinity within each person, which Fox names the Kingdom and Queendom of God, is salvific. Fox calls this the Royal Person-hood of every person.
Concentrating on the now, rather than seeking to return to a mythical past perfection can help us find healing. Working in the now, rather than waiting for an uncertain future can help us find healing. Martin Luther King, Jr. said: "Now is the time to make real the promise of democracy and transform our pending national elegy into a creative psalm of brotherhood. Now is the time to lift our national policy from the quicksand of racial injustice to the solid rock of human dignity. (Ibid, p. 104.)
Concentrate on now, while honoring the past and looking toward the future. Salvation is available to all.
Matthew Fox relates a story about the great psychologist, Erich Fromm, "who turned to his friend, Robert Fox and asked, 'Why is it, Bob, that the human race prefers necrophilia to biophilia?' A significant question, this. Why do we prefer love of death to love of life? Missiles to celebration? Power-over to power-with? Greed to letting go?" (Fox, p. 33.)
Fox believes, and I agree, that the answer lies in our long history of practicing a religion that has Fall/Redemption as its center. Today, I shared with you some aspects of the Via Positiva, the first of four paths in Creation Spirituality. I will return to Original Blessing and the other three paths later. On the Via Positiva we are called to celebrate the beauty and glory of creation, we are called to radical trust in the ever changing, yet always renewing natural world, and we are called to cosmic hospitality, eliminating dualism from our thinking and seeking to heal the world.
Let us go forth then, with joy into the glories of creation. Let us be grateful, and let us celebrate.
Amen.
Blessed Be.
Shalom.
Saalat.
Posted by nanak at November 2, 2004 01:21 PM