While sitting at the 3rd gas station for gas...30 cars deep (we have a gas shortage in Charlotte).
Are we
really the body of God or merely the shadow of man?
Shot of Thomas Merton:
We are all
more inclined to idolatry because we imagine that we are of all generations the
most enlightened, the most objective, the most scientific, the most progressive
and the most humane. This, in fact, is an "image" of ourselves
- an image which is false and is also the object of a cult. We worship
ourselves in this image. The nature of our acts is determined in large
measure by the demands of our worship. Because we have an image of
ourselves as fair, objective, practical, and humane, we actually make it more
difficult for ourselves to be what we think we are.
Since our
"objectivity" for instance is in fact an image of ourselves as
"objective", we soon take our objectivity for granted, and instead of
checking the facts, we simply manipulate the facts to fit our pious conviction.
In other words, instead of taking care to examine the realities of our
political or social problems, we simply bring out the idols in solemn
procession.
"We
are the ones who are right, they are the ones who are wrong. We are the
good guys, they are the bad guys. We are honest, they are crooks."
In this
confrontation of images, "objectivity" ceases to be a consistent
attention to fact and becomes a devout and blind fidelity to myth. If the
adversary is by definition wicked, then objectivity consists simply in refusing
to believe that he can possibly be honest in any circumstances whatever. If
facts seem to conflict with images, then we feel that we are being tempted by
the devil, and we determine that we will be all the more blindly loyal to our
images. To debate with the devil would be to yield! Thus in
support of realism and objectivity we simply determine beforehand that we will
be swayed by no fact whatever that does not accord perfectly with our own
preconceived judgment. Objectivity becomes simple dogmatism.
Abraham
Joshua Heschel as a chaser:
The primitive mind
finds it hard to realize an idea without the aid of imagination, and it is the
realm of space where imagination wields its sway. Of the gods it must
have a visible image; where there is no image, there is no god. The
reverence for the sacred image, for the sacred monument or place, is not only
indigenous to most religions, it has even been retained by men of all ages, all
nations, pious, superstitious or even antireligious; they all continue to pay
homage to banners, flags, to national shrines, to monuments erected to kings or
heroes
Everywhere the
desecration of holy shrines is considered sacrilege, and the shrine may become
so important that the idea it stands for is consigned to oblivion. The
memorial becomes an aid to amnesia; the means stultify the end. For things of
space are at the mercy of man. Though too sacred to be polluted, they are
not too sacred to be exploited. To retain the holy, to perpetuate the
presence of god, his image is fashioned. Yet a god who can be fashioned,
a god who can be confined, is but a shadow of man.
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