Developing Global Consciousness - Diarmuid O'Murchu
#8 Awakening Consciousness
Paschal Paradox:
Reflections on a Life of Spiritual Evolution
By Diarmuid O’Murchu
From the Precis by Helene O’Sullivan, MM
The Middle Part of Chapter 4
Engaging the Power of Paradox
The key word here is paradox, which may be described as “a contradiction with meaning written underneath.” On the surface, it makes little or no sense. Only the discerning eye or heart can perceive the underlying meaning. A familiar example occurs in the writings of St. Paul: “When I am weak then I am strong” (2 Corinthians 12:9–11). At a rational level, the statement makes no sense, yet many among us can recall experiences within which the statement rings true. It is the mystic more than anyone else that can entertain and embrace this paradoxical wisdom.
This alternative consciousness, with its capacity for deeper perception and under-standing, is not merely a feature of human life but an evolutionary endowment that characterizes all creation at the cosmic and planetary levels alike. Birth and death are not merely human experiences; they characterize the whole of God’s creation.
On the planetary scale, earthquakes serve as a good example. Metaphorically, an earthquake can be described as the earth-body releasing its pent-up energies, so that it can continue to grow and flourish in a more creative way. Without earthquakes, we would have no earth, nor would any of us be around even to speculate on this baffling paradox of birth-death-rebirth.
So, does God will the death of 240,000 innocent people, as happened in Pakistan in 2005, or of wholesale environmental catastrophe resulting from the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami?
There is no logical or rational answer to this question because we are engaging a form of wisdom that is beyond rationality. Worthy of note, however, is the fact at an 8.0 earthquake (Richter scale) in the island of Guam in 1991 resulted in no human casualties, while that of Pakistan (7.4 on the Richter scale) led to 240,000 deaths. When we note that the island of Guam is a colony of the United States, with all earthquake-resistant buildings, and that Pakistan is a country too poor to afford such structures, we begin to see a way through the paradox.
It quickly becomes obvious that the problem is not with the earthquake, nor with God, but with the avaricious humans who choose not to share resources equally and justly across the human population.
The Meaning of Suffering
A universe without pain and suffering is simply impossible. Suffering in itself is endemic to every evolutionary break-through, desired by our creative God. Suffering is not the problem; it is our faulty perceptions that causes the problem. It is we who need to change, not the messy world that has been messed up in the first place by our reckless interference. Terry Eagleton (On Evil, Yale University Press, 2010) goes on to make a crucial observation about the meaningless suffering that surrounds us on a daily basis. Contrary to the claim that the fundamental flaw of original sin is a major contributory factor, Eagleton writes:
“The point is that most wickedness is institutional. It is the result of vested interests and anonymous processes, not the malign acts of individuals.”
To which I would like to add: It is the corruption and usurpation of power within all of our major institutions that cause most, if not all, the meaningless suffering in the modern world. It is when we cannot see or do not wish to see, the need to step back from (die unto) our irrational need for domination and control that we contribute most to the meaningless suffering in the world.
The insidious nature of human angst and misery is partly due to the Christian notion of atonement. First introduced in the Middle Ages by St. Anselm, the basic argument goes like this: God was angry with humankind’s waywardness (sin) and like a feudal lord, God demanded that satisfaction and reparation should be made. And God’s son, Jesus, was chosen (or persuaded) to be the necessary scape-goat. Jesus paid the penalty of humanity’s sin, bringing forgiveness, imputing righteousness, and reconciling us to God.
The Denial of Death
We need a radical reconstruction of death and its universal meaning. To that end I make the following key points:
1. Death is an integral dimension of the great paradox of creation-cum-destruc-tion, the recurring cyclic process of birth-death-rebirth, outlined in this chapter. If we get rid of death, we have immediately terminated life as well.
= 4 =2. Death cannot be properly understood without a deeply integrated awareness and internalization of the great paradox described above; the foundational outline of the paschal journey understood in universal terms.
3. Death is not a limitation or an evil in any sense. Death is a necessary good, an evolutionary, God-given imperative for the development and flourishing of all life-forms.
4. The negative preoccupation with death is largely the product of imperial patriarchal consciousness, the insatiable desire to conquer and control all life forces, to the deluded advantage of the patriarchs themselves.
5. Monotheistic religions, heavily Influenced by the patriarchal value system, reinforces the negative and problematic dimension of death.
6. The violent glamorization of death in public media is a perverse defense mechanism against the self-induced horror of death. We will need to clear away this perverse rubble before rehabilitating death in a more integrated way.
7. Despite all the utopian hope of the various religions, most humans do not die with dignity or with responsible love and care. Million each year die anonymously and are not given a proper burial.
8. Theologian Elizabeth Johnson draws an important distinction between personal death and social death, describing personal death as a biological reality that must be maturely integrated, and social death as a disaster we must ethically resist.
The Cross and Resurrection of Jesus
In the last chapter, we outlined the liberating and empowering mission of Jesus encapsulated in the notion of the companionship of empowerment (my suggested renaming for the kingdom of God). To this dream Jesus gave everything, primarily in his life, lived to such a depth of commitment that it cost him his earthly life.
Because he was empowering so many people not merely by preaching and teaching but primarily through healing and the practice of the open, inclusive table, the forces of imperial domination (Roman and Jewish) felt enormously threatened, to a point where they could tolerate his presence no longer. They set out to trap him, and eventually did so, in the dark of night (when his followers could not safeguard him).
According to some scholars, he was crucified and had died before any of his followers or family knew about it. Because the Gospels were written decades after the events they describe, details may have been added by the authors for theological reasons. His death was quick, brutal, and vindictive, completely devoid of any human or sacred meaning. He did not choose to die, nor did he die for our sins.
He was killed by crucifixion, the death penalty specially selected for subversives who posed a threat to the Roman imperial system.
Christians have long considered the cross to be the primary symbol of divine deliverance and of God’s ultimate loving sacrifice for humanity.
For St. Paul, there is only one Gospel, that of the death and resurrection of Jesus. Some scripture scholars in the late 1800s claimed that this is the central feature of the Gospels, and all the other material about the life of Jesus is merely a preface for that which is really important.
From a transpersonal perspective, I opt for the opposite interpretation:
It is the life of Jesus that is all important, particularly the cosmic empowering dispensation of the kin-dom of God. The death is a very small part, the consequence of a life fully and radically lived. To highlight, glamorize, and celebrate such a cruel, barbaric event verges on blasphemy.