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A Sagely Word
"I do not venerate matter, but the Creator of matter, who became matter for my sake, and accepted to dwell in matter, and through matter worked my salvation; therefore, I will not cease to reverence matter, through which my salvation has been worked.”
*St. John Damascene (ca. 675-750), Last of the Greek Fathers, Poet, Defender of the Use of Icons and Images
Scripture for Today
*I revise the following translation by supplying the “Divine Effulgence,” for Gr. Logos, at each mention of “he.”
15The Divine Effulgence is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. 16For by [or, in] this Divine Effulgence all things were created, in heaven and on earth [i.e. everywhere], visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through the Divine Effulgence and for the Divine Effulgence. 17And the Divine Effulgence is before all things, and in the Divine Effulgence all things hold together. 18And the Divine Effulgence is the head of the body, the church. The Divine Effulgence is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything the Divine Effulgence might be preeminent. 19For in the Divine Effulgence all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, 20and through the Divine Effulgence to reconcile to God (or, the Divine Effulgence) all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of the cross of this Divine Effulgence. (Colossian 1, ESV)
Commentary
In the 2004 movie “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban” (Warner Brothers), Professor Lupin, the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, has the students lined up for instruction on handling fear. Lupin informs them that they will learn how to handle the bogett. Bogetts draw on and become what a person fears most. Lupin asks for a volunteer. He asks what young Neville fears most. The young boy says, "Professor Snape." All the students laugh for, as Lupin admits, "He frightens us all." Lupin observes, "I believe you live with your grandmother as well." Startled, Neville blurts out, "Yes, but I don't want the bogett to turn into her either!" More laughter erupts. Lupin assures Neville that the bogett will not turn into his grandmother. He asks Neville to picture only the clothes of the grandmother and, then, whispers instructions into his ear. Lupin tells Neville to have his wand at the ready. Next, Lupin counts to three and opens the wardrobe to let out the bogett. To the surprise of everyone, an angry looking Professor Snapes emerges from the wardrobe. Everyone is frightened, and Neville seems petrified. The professor is urging, "Think, Neville, think!" Neville raises his wand and says, "Ridiculous!" The bogett, masquerading as Snapes, seems astonished to discover he is in the clothing of the grandmother. All the children laugh and behold the banishment of the fear. Lupin has the students repeat the experiment. Ron Weasley fears spiders, so he makes one of them wear roller skates. The students continue until the end of the lesson.
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Recently, I sat with a dear Buddhist friend at lunch. We spoke on the matter of fear. He remarked, calmly, “We all fear many things.” That is a wise observation. Likely, those among us most attuned to ourselves are most aware of how many gross to subtle fears we carry inside us.
Faith is an antidote to fear. But what are we faithing? Simply, faith in a philosophy, a religion, a dogma, an inherited belief system, or in human nature will not help us much when we are face to face with our bogett. Also, trying to maintain a positive attitude sometimes can be difficult. My claim is that there must be something more substantial to trust than my own positive thinking. Positive thinking has to have a connection to something other than my own brain. That is Mind; That is God.
I often speak of the Providence of God. I will share this with an image of how the Universe operates. This will connect the ancient teachings on Divine Providence with modern physics, as well as with mysticism. The Universe is a Body, an Organism, a Living, Vibrating, and Communicating Energy. What we call “matter” is a variable on the spectrum of Energy. The Universe is the Body of the Logos, the Divine Radiance; that is, the Universe is the expression of the Eternal Word wording all things into existence. We are each words of the Word. As sound and shout are one, for they are essentially the same, all things are one with the Word. Matter, as an expression of the Word, cannot be other than the Word, essentially, even though it is not all of the Word, either. The smile is not the Face, though the smile is an expression of the Face. The Face and the smile co-inhere but they are not the same.
I often see, inwardly, this Universe as a complex-yet-unified system of neural pathways. This Universe is comparable to a cosmic Brain. No wonder some teachers, ancient to contemporary, refer to God as Mind. And you and I are part of this Logos Saturated Universe. We are essentially participants in the Divine Efflux.
Fear can be transformed by faith in God, not through theory of God, but as we live into the lived, experiential realization of all things, including ourselves, all matter, as part of this Divinity Display. To trust God means to trust the universal principles, embedded by the Logos, or Word, in Creation. In the words of St. John Damascene, who presents a paradox, we do not “venerate matter,” but we do “not cease to reverence matter.”
We cannot trust God apart from trusting the processes of the Good Creation, for Nature is an expression of the Mind of the Creator. We cannot disrespect matter and respect God. Nature and God, likewise, are in agreement. Nothing can exists or happen outside God. We cannot, therefore, be free of fear and act contrary to Nature. We cannot be trusting toward God and feel we are living in Matter separated and contrary to God. Fear expresses through alienation from the Way things are and a felt separation from God. The Christian “Gnostic” picture of nature as separate from God and antithetical to the Christian path is antithetical to living faithfully in Creation and living in faith faithfully.
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