child of Adam, child of God

In the world of language, logos, logic and human reasoning it seems impossible that a person can be 'dust' and also filled with God's love and power: infinite and eternal. And yet the model Jesus shows covers this spectrum of mortal and divine: he was servant, humble, powerful (healer and voice of God's will) and mostly under control (meek in the full and true sense) --all at the same time. He was learned (Rabbi) and skilled craftsman. He spent some meditative, quiet time and also social time among life's high and low. Thus as a model to follow, we, too, should cross boundaries of This World and Not-of-this-world; Worldly mingling and Not-of-this-world presence of mind. Be "in the word/spirit" but also be "of action."

One keyword is 'meek' (humble but powerful) and dictates how to act in the routines of daily life.

Another keyword is (agape or karitas) 'love' as in "these 3 remain: faith, hope, and love" (karitas/charity) and dictates how to approach the routines of daily life (world view).

measuring spiritual growth

One metaphor is "journey" --everyone heading to the same general destination (earthly extinction), many traveling the same road but stopping and shopping at different points and noticing different things and the conversations along different lines; some travel off-road or go on by-ways instead of the main road. And some go on foot or stretcher, while others go in sportscars or schoolbuses.

How can one intelligently talk about growth of spirit? Do we moderns mean the same thing that people of Dietrich Bonhoffer's circle in the 1930s-40s, or the purposes of the PIlgrims, or the penetrating gaze of Society of Friends (Quakers) and Anabaptists like the followers of Menno, or today's Catholics & Eastern Orthodox?

What is the scope of the idea: the development of one's reach and one's grasp [the hand metaphor], the depth or width of one's vision and understanding [a spatial image], something cumulative and chronological that steps up year by year of the life course? Is movement one-way or do some regress from heights once gained? Will the sequence of steps be fixed, although some skip over and others dwell at length on particular points of the continuum? And will one person's experience be comparable to another's way or is each path scaled to the salient events of each person's circumstances such that no crude indicators will point to one person being "more advanced" than another?

Some clues come from the Bible: things like discernment, wisdom [fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom] and the fruits of the spirit [manifest among those engaged and invested in the Way of God]. But how much is internal [of the heart] and how much is external such that others may perceive? Perhaps the monastery societies have developed ways to detect or self-detect a sort of inventory or spiritual audit in order to mark one's beginning [baseline measurements] and current point and then to indicate what direction to bear towards and what methods to use for the intermediate steps that lead to that end point.

One day there may be a way to do a quick litmus test to see how one is doing at the moment and to compare to one's place in the scheme of life in the past, as well as comparing to one's peers. But in the meantime it seems that a good place to enter the topic of "growth" is to recognize that all this study, thinking and talking accept the relational nature of the religion: love God with all your self, and love your neighbor as your self [neither diminish the one or the other since both are worthy of respect and love]. Thus we may ask of one's fitness or the state of one's spiritual growth, "relationship-wise how are things between you and your God? between you and your fellow persons?"

Here at least, in the field of relationships, we are accustomed to discussing, estimating relative strength or characteristics, and shape or direction of relationships. Certainly relationships involve others, by definition, and they are living, moving things of variable tensions and intentions. They need caring and attention and to some degree will perform according to the amount of energy invested in them. One-sides relationships are not satisfying for either party. Certain relationships you are born into, or otherwise come "as is" and given. But others are entered into and cultivated entirely voluntarily. This difference in basis (voluntary vs involuntary) will tint the quality of what can be undertaken together (pair or larger collection of persons). Relationships are sometimes discussed in terms of flexibility (some are brittle, others resilient), in terms of depth (some are casual and transitory, but others are enduring), in terms of trust (some are deep and unconditional; others not).

--
Guven Peter Witteveen, anthroview@gmail.com

; skype address: gpwitteveen

speaking in tongues

Last night I was at the community education building, formerly the middle school, where the monthly meeting of our town's educational foundation was taking place. Since our normal room was occupied, I went searching for a custodian with keys to let us into another room. Along the way, I found one room was set up with speakers mounted at head level and some sort of soothing keyboard music was playing while through the door's window I saw a man gesticulating and from his mouth came a string of syllables that seemed to be 'glossolalia' (speaking in tongues). About the same time a middle-aged woman let herself out from the room's other door in search of some water from the drinking fountain. In a quiet voice to herself she repeated, "thank you, Lord" and "hallelujah."

Needless to say, this seemed incongruous to my mission to find the custodian, although I did vaguely remember that Wednesdays there was a gathering of Christians without a church building of their own.

The experience made me reflect: for non-believers, or those who once believed but no longer practice any habits of the heart, perhaps the elements of church-attendance trigger a similar alien or unfamiliarity when they hear or see Christians expressing themselves in public places. The question arises: how best can one situate one's consciousness and mindfulness between the secular and the sacred world; is there an in-between space, or must one zig and zag between the one and the other?