Monday, September 24, 2007
The Devil Made Me Do It!
Is the source of evil a demonic angel, the seed of an original sin, a psychological abnormality, or simply the product of our untrained minds?
Richard Beck has concluded his blog series on “Everyday Evil”. His conclusion suggests, what I’ve always stressed, that religion must contain practices to transform us at a psychological level. This is very much in tune with the Buddhist practice of meditation and its focus on transformation and development of compassion through mindfulness. This idea goes against the traditional Christian theological view that an external devil is the agent of evil and an external God is the agent of change. I posted this article by Pema Chodron last year, but I thought I would reference it again.
Sitting practice teaches us how to open and relax to whatever arises, without picking and choosing. It teaches us to experience the uneasiness and the urge fully, and to interrupt the momentum that usually follows. We do this by not following after the thoughts and learning to come back to the present moment. We learn to stay with the uneasiness, the tightening, the itch of shenpa. We train in sitting still with our desire to scratch. This is how we learn to stop the chain reaction of habitual patterns that otherwise will rule our lives. This is how we weaken the patterns that keep us hooked into discomfort that we mistake as comfort. We label the spinoff "thinking" and return to the present moment.It makes sense to address the psychological issues that are underneath our own problems rather than using the excuse “the devil made me do it” and focusing blame in a demonic cartoon character. Buddhist philosophy has helped me understand this practical aspect of faith which is applicable to all religions. In the Christian tradition, we have historically credited the holy spirit for this change and that has created a more hands-off approach on our part. But for me, the "holy spirit" is the anthropomorphic symbol of the life changing effect of living in a community of faith. We allow the fellowship and practices of that community to produce the fruits of compassion as modeled by Jesus and the early Christian community. In the end, I think both traditions have the same ideas about transformation, but I appreciate the fact that Buddhists seem less trapped by the literalization of their symbols. A symbol can easily become an object rather than a method for change. I agree with Richard Beck that we need practical methods to create change.
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3 comments:
I think the "Holy Spirit" is often conceived of by Christians as some sort of employer of mind control. How do we know that the Bible is the word of God? The Holy Spirit guided the writers. How do we know the canon is the true collection of the word of God? The Holy Spirit guided those who selected the canon. How do we know that the Trinity is true? The Holy Spirit made sure that the Church made the right theological decision.
Suddenly, when it comes to the Holy Spirit, Christians stop having free will. The Holy Spirit is credited with "guiding" people to make the right decisions, which is another way of saying that it mysteriously controlled the decisions that were made so that they were the correct outcome.
I'm a believer in the value of religious tranformation, but this idea of the Holy Spirit as using some sort of Divine Vulcan mind meld is a little hard for me to swallow.
Mystical seeker,
I actually do agree with Christianity when it says that the holy spirit does all those things. However, I would mean it as symbolic language for how the attitude of a faith community and the fellowship with people in the community can guide people, speak to us, and transform us. I only have issues when and if people try to take the symbolic lanuguage literally and turn this spirit/attitude/feeling into a literal ghost or supernatural being.
So I agree one one level and disagree on another level.
I find Richard's post challenging and informative at the same time. He is often above my level of thinking a several re-reads are often necessary before it begins to sink in. I am still amazed that his university (Church of Christ) allows such freedom of expression from one who seems to freely express his UR beliefs. Guess that stems from the fact that he is in the Dept of Psychology, not Theology...
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