713.
080507 THE STAR’S HEADLINE:
draft
In the entire history of Hindu theology, perhaps no more influential
figure can be named than Shankara, the 8th Century mystic who in his brief
life of 32 years reformed and rejuventated Hinduism after nearly a thousand
years of Buddhist ascendancy in India.
In a lineage begun by him, Swami Nishpapananda of the
St. Louis Vedanta Society will speak here Sunday on “Shankara, the Great
Teacher.”
In response to questions I sent Nishpapananda, he wrote
me that Shankara, by the time he was 12, had a mystical experience which
led him ultimately to travel “the length and breadth of India twice on
foot, debating representatives of the different schools of thought and
pointing out their deficiencies.”
Shankara’s key insight was that reality is “non-dual,”
ultimately undivided. The Sankskrit term for this school of thought is
Advaita.
For Shankara, there is no real difference between
the individual person and the “conscious principle underlying and sustaining
the universe” called Brahman — God, Nishpapananda said.
“This means that in the highest mystical experience, the
world disappears completely. There is no subject or object in this experience;
only the Divine Reality is. In the West mystics like . . . (the Christian)
Meister Eckhart, among others, had this experience,” Nishpapananda explained.
The perception of divine reality within the mystical experience
can be compared to awakening from the illusion of a dream.
I asked how one can achieve liberation from the illusion
that things are separate from the divine. Nishpapananda replied:
“Christ put it most succinctly: ‘Blessed are the pure
in heart, for they shall see God.’ A pure heart is without desire or enmity.
Purity comes from sustaining a moral course while pursuing secular goals.
The Sanskrit term is dharma.
“One learns from experience that the best that ordinary
life has to offer does not solve the knotty problems of life and death.
Then the mind turns towards God as an ideal, and to the path that leads
to liberation.
“Prayer and meditation can then help cleanse the subconscious
mind. But ultimately, liberation comes through grace.”
In the 12th Century, Ramanuja developed an alternative
philosophy, and in the 13th Century, Madhva produced a third view of how
God and the individual are related, but Shankara’s teachings are often
identified as the central message of Hinduism.
Nishpapananda’s talk begins at 10:30. The Vedanta Society
is located at 8701 Ward Parkway. The website is vedantakc.org.
712. 080430 THE STAR’S HEADLINE:
Classical Music's Spiritual Charms
Almost eight years ago in this space I called the loss of local radio
station KXTR-FM a “spiritual devastation.” An AM spot continued the call
letters, and programming from Boston was instituted.
With the return to local programming 24/7 at 1660 AM last
month, a follow-up is in order.
I asked Patrick Neas, program director and morning show
host, about the music he puts on the air.
“For me, ‘classical’ and ‘spiritual’ are interchangeable
terms,” he said, “because they both mean enduring, speaking from one generation
to another, to different people, to different eras. It opens us to all
humanity.
“Music need not have been composed for a church — it could
be ‘secular’ — but if it is classical, it nonetheless has power to transform
people’s lives, to help them overcome difficulties.”
Neas said that some works of music may be more spiritual
than others.
Beethoven’s isolation from hearing loss, disappointments
in relationships and other problems meant “he had to deal with these issues,
and he could not deal with his art as before. His last quartets show us
both the reality and the transcendence of suffering.”
But classical music can have a spiritual impact even at
an early age. Neas cited “The System,” a Venezuelan program that trains
thousands of poor children to play instruments, increasingly known through
one of its alumni, Gustavo Dudamel, who becomes the conductor of the Los
Angeles Philharmonic next year.
Neas said The System shows that classical music can “reduce
gang violence, lift people up, nurture them, train them to focus and give
them power to overcome obstacles.”
He laughed when I told him that I sometimes catch my son
listening to classical music. “Classical music is the rebellious thing
these days. It’s not what the corporations are telling kids to listen to.
Classical music inspires passion in them. It enriches their entire lives.”
Neas also discussed the station’s role in encouraging
local performances.
For example, Thursday at 10 am, Neas will host a one-hour
interview with Ward Holmquist, artistic director of the Lyric Opera of
Kansas City, about John Brown which receives its world premiere here Friday.
The opera includes Brown’s activities in Lawrence, foreshadowing
the Civil War. Brown invokes Moses and raises the perplexing and fundamentally
spiritual question, “When is violence justified?”
May I say “whew!” and “amen!” now that Neas is back doing
KXTR’s programming?
711. 080423 THE STAR’S HEADLINE:
Agnostic’s questions have biblical answers
In the church of his youth in Lawrence, with nearly every pew at capacity
last week, Bart D. Ehrman, chairman of the department of religious studies
at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, announced that he was
an agnostic.
He joked that atheists think agnostics are
wimpy atheists and that agnostics think atheists are arrogant agnostics.
How did he lose his faith? Ehrman said it
was from asking the persistent question, “If God is both all-powerful and
all-loving, why do innocent people suffer?”
His lecture explored three of many biblical
answers.
The dominant answer in the Hebrew Scriptures
is that suffering is God’s punishment for people’s wickedness, for their
failure to keep the covenant established between God and Israel. God had
intervened to bring the children of Israel out of Egyptian slavery, and
God intervenes to reward and chastise.
Erhman called this the prophetic answer. The
prophets, such as Amos, pronounced disasters on their own people because
they strayed from fulfilling their obligation to be just.
By about 150 years before Christ, a new answer
developed within Judaism because the old one had failed to explain why
the wicked prospered and the righteous suffered and God was not intervening.
Ehrman called the new answer “apocalyptic,”
which means revealed. It characterizes the Christian Scriptures.
In this view, suffering is explained by a
cosmic evil power contesting with God by hurting people, so it is impossible
for humans alone to improve things. Instead we are called to place ourselves
on God’s side.
Ultimately God will vindicate his name and
his people. God will compensate them for their suffering and punish unbelievers
with eternal damnation.
Jesus said this redemption is at hand. Paul
thought his own generation would be the last. Ehrman gave examples of numerous
predictions of imminent fulfillment from the last 2,000 years, including
The Late Great Planet Earth and the Left Behind book series.
Ehrman’s own approach to the problem favors
the view of Ecclesiastes, a book of the Bible that begins by saying all
is vanity. The Hebrew word translated as vanity, hevel, means mist or vapor,
which compares with the Buddhist notion that everything is transitory.
Ecclesiastes says this life, often unjust,
is all there is, with no afterlife for rewards or punishments. We should
enjoy the simple pleasures — our companions, good food and good drink.
To this Ehrman adds that it is impossible
for him to enjoy life unless he also works to lessen the suffering of others.
710. 080416 THE STAR’S HEADLINE:
Islamic Society leader to speak in Topeka
A woman and a convert to the faith is the president of ISNA, the Islamic
Society of North America, and she is drawing Muslims and non-Muslims alike
to Topeka this Sunday to hear her speak.
ISNA describes itself as the largest Muslim organization
on the continent.
A Jew on the board of Interfaith of Topeka heard Ingrid
Mattson on NPR. She spoke to fellow board member, Ashraf Sufi, a Muslim,
who invited her. She wanted to hear Mattson discuss why the public does
not hear more Muslims condemning terrorism, whether Islam is compatible
with modernity and the role of women in Islam.
Rauf Mir, the Muslim member of the Greater Kansas City
Interfaith Council, served on the nominating committee that led to Mattson’s
election as ISNA president. Mir said her interfaith work, scholarship and
leadership are “compelling reasons for members of other faiths to attend
the gathering at Washburn University.”
I contacted Mattson at Hartford Seminary, where she is
professor for Islamic Studies and Christian-Muslim relations. I asked her
about interfaith work.
She said that we often speak about other faiths out of
ignorance and from bad information. She noted that her students from abroad
were sometimes surprised to learn how important ethics can be for Christians
since the images they had of Americans had come from TV, “which often depicts
dysfunctional families devoid of much religious faith.”
And Christians, she said, “have many misconceptions about
Islam.”
Despite our commitments to our own faiths, “each of us
is a flawed human being who can never realize the perfection of our religions,”
she said.
“We are ethically compelled to learn about each other
so at least we can fulfill our own responsibility to speak the truth.”
“The Qur'an,” she said, “teaches us that religious diversity
is God’s will, and that we should see the presence of the other as a challenge
to do better ourselves, to ‘compete in good works.’
“Religion in general has gotten a bad reputation as a
cause of strife and discord in the world. We need to show that that
does not have to be the case. We can remain committed to our (own)
traditions, yet still work together for a better society.”
There is no charge to hear Mattson speak at 2 pm at the
Washburn Memorial Union. Also at the event will be Keith Ellison of Minnesota,
the first Muslim elected to Congress, and Kansas Rep. Nancy Boyda. For
more information, call Ashraf Sufi, 785-608-5879.
709. 080409 THE STAR’S HEADLINE:
We can be alike, we can be different
The assignment offered me was to explain “Why what we have in common
is more important than our differences.” I accepted the speaking engagement
but said I would instead balance appreciating differences with similarities.
I began my speech by acknowledging the urge we have to
spotlight our similarities. Our world is in conflict, we are painfully
aware of religious differences. We think that if we could only agree, the
fighting would stop.
But another path to peace is celebrating our differences
rather than warring over them.
Actually we value differences all the time, I said. People
in love don’t usually emphasize how similar the beloved is to everyone
else, but rather on how special he or she is.
Consider the reverse. Suppose a husband said to his wife,
“I was intimate with your best friend last week. You are so similar, the
differences shouldn’t matter.”
Or we go to a concert or a sporting event and expect to
enjoy the skill of a great performer, but an announcer says that an amateur
has been engaged instead because we are more alike than different.
Or suppose you invite my son and me for dinner. I thank
you and say that in preparing the menu, please keep in mind that my son
has a severe cholesterol problem. When you serve BBQ and I ask that you
excuse my son from partaking, but you insist, “BBQ is food, and all food
is nutritious, so you should make him eat it,” you will lose my respect.
I tried one more example with my audience. Would you prefer
a town with restaurants offering many different cuisines or a town where
the only entrée was a pabulum produced by blending together whatever
might be on hand?
We can see the varieties of the world’s faiths not as
threats but as gifts.
From primal faiths, for example, we can be reawakened
to the sacred in the realm of nature. From Asian traditions, with introspective
techniques like meditation and yoga, we can know ourselves more deeply.
From the monotheism of Judaism, Christianity, Islam and
other religions, a sense of a Power moving through history toward justice
in covenanted community can correct the selfishness and greed of our age.
Different people and different cultures have different
spiritual needs. Even in the span of our own individual lives, our spiritual
needs may vary. Respecting those differences is itself sacred.
I asked the audience, how many thought we are all like.
Most hands went up. Then I asked how many thought we are all different.
The same hands were raised. In spiritual matters, opposite statements can
both be true.
708. 080402 THE STAR’S HEADLINE:
There are many sides to the bible, author says
Bart D. Ehrman may be the hottest biblical scholar in America today.
He’s been interviewed on The Daily Show, NPR, CNN, in The Washington Post,
and elsewhere. He chairs the Department of Religious Studies at the University
of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
In his book, Misquoting Jesus: The Story Behind Who
Changed the Bible and Why, he explains the texts that transformed him
from a believer into an agnostic. His most recent book, his 19th, is God’s
Problem: How the Bible Fails to Answer Our Most Important Question – Why
We Suffer. He also wrote a book debunking the historical claims associated
with Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code.
At the end of my interview with him, I asked what he’d
like readers to know about himself. He said, “I’m a Jayhawk by birth and
always root for KU — unless they are playing Carolina!”
He returns to Lawrence, where he was raised, Apr. 14 at
7:30 pm, to speak at the Plymouth Congregational Church, 925 Vermont.
I also asked him, Can you explain briefly how you understand
the diversity within early Christianity for those who think there is a
single authoritative “autograph” version of the scriptures and unanimity
among early Christian writers?
He responded, “Early Christianity was not one thing, but
lots of different things, with different Christian groups teaching ideas
that today would strike most Christians as absolutely ludicrous and even
blasphemous.
“But each of these groups claimed to be representing the
teachings of Jesus and his apostles (some of them taught that there were
30 gods, or that Jesus wasn’t really a human being, or that the Old Testament
was inspired by an evil divinity, or that this world was the result of
a cosmic disaster).
“You might wonder, why didn’t they just read the New Testament
to see that they were wrong?
“The answer, of course, is that there was no New Testament
yet, in the early centuries of the church. The New Testament emerged out
of these conflicts, and represents the books that the ‘winning side’ decided
should be considered scripture.
“The other sides also had books, though, books that claimed
to be written by the apostles of Jesus. Sometimes these alternative scriptures
get re-discovered, and that’s where scholarship on early Christianity becomes
especially fascinating.”
In my interview, available in full at cres.org/bart,
Ehrman complained that attacks on religion by “the new atheists” —
Sam Harris, Richard Dawkins, and Christopher Hitchens — are “surprisingly
ignorant about religion.”
707. 080326 THE STAR’S HEADLINE:
Agree on terms before debating
Several weeks ago I suggested that focusing on personal stories helps
people talk with each other about faith without arguing. Each person is
an expert about one’s own experiences of the sacred; by sharing them, we
understand each other better.
But what if you want to have a friendly argument? There’s
plenty to argue about.
Is there a God? When does human life begin? Should the
scripture of this or that religion be read literally? Why do the wicked
prosper? What happens after death? Is life worth living?
Here are four guidelines for arguments.
*Be sure you and your partner-in-argument know what you
mean by the terms you use. For example, God can mean the creator of the
universe, the ultimate judge we all face.
But for some, God is not a being at all, certainly not
a being supreme above all other beings, but rather the impersonal ground
of being out of which everything arises, like the blank rolls of paper
without which these words could not printed.
God can also mean the power or process that
can transform us as we cannot transform ourselves, as when folks of different
races listen to each other so well that they gain a sense of kinship unimaginable
before.
For some God is the word that summarizes all
of the laws of nature. And for some God is nothing more or less than perfect
love.
All these ideas of God, and more, are in the Western tradition.
Primal and Asian faiths offer other conceptions as well.
So if you are arguing whether God exists, be sure you
know what you mean by God.
*Discover whether you and your friend accept the same
authority and evidence for your opinions. Is it scripture? Is it tradition?
Is it ecclesiastical teaching? Is it a guru? Is it mystical experience?
Each of these has its own problems. The Bible, for example,
has been used to support many conflicting creeds. Reason can be clouded
by background and temperament. Senses can be deceived far beyond simple
optical illusions.
For some, the human body is evidence of divine design.
For others, it is clear proof of mundane evolution through trial and error.
*See how successful you and your partner can be in presenting
each other’s position. This is a good check to gauge mutual understanding.
*Finally, remember that if there were truly obvious and
compelling answers to theological questions, you probably wouldn’t be debating
them. Modesty about our own positions may remind us of the ultimate mystery
too great to be contained in any human argument.
706. 080319 THE STAR’S HEADLINE:
When is war a just war?
After five years, the moral, legal, political, military, diplomatic,
economic, humanitarian, security and other dimensions of the Iraq War deserve
reassessment, but this column focuses only on Christian “just war” theory
for the reader’s own evaluation.
Before the conversion of the Roman emperor Constantine
to Christianity, often dated to 313, most Christians would not serve in
the army. Early theologians Hippolytus, Tertullian and Lactantius condemned
military service, and Origin (185-254), one of the great “church fathers,”
promoted pacifism. Christians often would not serve as judges in capital
cases because they held killing to be wrong.
In 410 Christian Rome was sacked by the Visigoths, who
were also Christian.
This, and other disturbances, led Saint Augustine of Hippo
(354-430) to borrow ideas about when war is justified from the Roman pagan
Cicero (106-43 BCE).
Cicero’s theory included these points:
* The purpose of war must be to establish justice and
peace.
* War must be waged by the legitimate authority of the
ruler.
* Violence must be restrained, not wanton.
* Prisoners and hostages must be treated humanely.
In 2004, Robert E. Johnson, Professor of Christian Heritage
at Central Baptist Theological Seminary in Shawnee, identified for this
space six components of Augustine’s “just war” theory, all of which had
to be satisfied:
* The purpose of war must be to restore peace and secure
justice with a reasonable chance of success.
* War must be conducted under the direction of a legitimate
ruler and be motivated by Christian love.
* War must be a last resort, after all other options have
been tried and failed.
* War must have limited objectives; the total obliteration
of an enemy is not permitted.
* Safeguards against unnecessary violence, massacres and
looting must be observed.
* Noncombatants may not be molested.
“Just war” theory developed further under Aquinas
(1225-1274) and Christians continue to refine it. Some consider the “Powell
Doctrine” a secular expression of the theory.
A further development in the theory
concerns whether pre-emptive self-defense is justified. In 2002, when the
Iraq War was still just a possibility, I asked Catholic scholar Garry Wills,
in town to lecture at Rockhurst University, about the “just war” doctrine.
He said that Iraq posed no immediate threat to us. Initiating war was forbidden.
“People have threatened to kill me, and some of the threats
are serious,” he said. “But I cannot take action against them until they
actually show intent to come after me.”
705. 080312 THE STAR’S HEADLINE:
Humanism is one solution to evil
When blameless people suffer, believers in an all-knowing, all-powerful
and all-good God have some explaining to do. Why does such a God not intervene
to prevent the individual agonies and the horrors of history that afflict
upright, decent people?
Countless explanations have been tried. The book of Job
defeats the argument that the victim must be denying one’s own wrong-doing.
John Milton’s Paradise Lost attempts “to justify
the ways of God to men” by invoking the idea that the God’s gift of free-will
involves the possibility of wrong choices and suffering.
Currently, a widely discussed solution is offered by John
Hick who contends that unmerited suffering gives the soul an opportunity
to grow.
Others like Billy Graham simply proclaim a faith which
says we cannot understand God’s ways.
Anthony B. Pinn, professor of religious studies at Rice
University and credited with over a dozen books, is uncomfortable
with any of these solutions.
Also executive director of the Society for the Study of
Black Religion, he is keenly aware of the suffering of slaves and their
descendents in America
In his book, Why, Lord? — Suffering and Evil in Black
Theology, he reasons that expecting God to generate good from evil
can promote a sort of passivity that keeps us from challenging oppressive
social structures. The idea that suffering can be redemptive lessens the
recognition that evil is completely evil.
The book concludes, “what are the true possibilities for
transformation when God’s intervention is not apparent, but is desperately
appealed to? How strongly does one fight for change while seeking signs
of God’s presence? Humanity is far better off fighting with the tools it
has — a desire for transformation, human creativity, physical strength,
and untapped collective potential.”
Pinn values human liberation over belief in God. He calls
his position a “Humanism,” and in an interview said he tends to capitalize
the word because it “isn’t an extension of my earlier practices and faith
claims. Rather it is a different religious practice.”
Some may think of Humanism as an abstract, intellectual
approach to issues of faith, but Pinn’s perspective arises from a heads-on
confrontation with the real experience of evil.
Islam is a religious alternative some blacks find to “meet
their spiritual needs” and provide “the disciplined life they desire.”
Pinn speaks twice this week-end at All Souls Unitarian
Universalist Church. Saturday at 7:30 p.m. he presents “A Religious Odyssey.”
Sunday at 10 a.m. he discusses “Islam in America.”
704. 080305 THE STAR’S HEADLINE:
'Bodies' exhibit reveals spirit
As I approached the “Bodies Revealed” exhibit at Union Station, I offered
a prayer something like this:
“Infinite source of all, as I enter this exhibition, I
honor the persons whose bodies I will see and revere. I give thanks for
the gift of learning. With this encounter, I vow to understand and care
for myself and others with greater compassion, and to use this opportunity
to benefit others, in the profound mystery of the body as a vessel for
life.”
Just as a cathedral or temple is designed for worship
but is not violated by tourists who may be inspired by viewing it when
the worshippers are gone, so the body, the temple of the spirit, when vacated
by the person, can inspire profound appreciation for the sacred gift of
life.
I recalled how humans have shown respect for the dead
for at least 200,000 years. Early graves show bodies oriented to the east,
bones placed in a fetal position, with tools and adornments, suggesting
belief in some sort of rebirth or immortality.
While some Middle Eastern cultures separated the living
from the dead body as “unclean,” megalithic cultures in Ireland, the Aegean
and elsewhere emphasized communion with ancestors whose spirits were embodied
in menhirs, upright stones, an idea ridiculed in Jeremiah 2:27.
Common in our own culture is viewing an embalmed body
before burial, but Jews and Muslims practice immediate burial.
Cremation is thought to be a dignity offered the dead
in Hindu and other faiths.
The traditional Parsi disposition of corpses in “towers
of silence” offers the bodies to vultures, a practice that may shock those
unfamiliar with the world view of that faith.
But eating the flesh and drinking the blood of the Christ
to honor him in the Eucharist is shocking to those unacquainted with Christian
tradition.
Of all forms of body disposition, I wondered, except for
organ donation, could there be any greater honor offered the deceased than
the sharing of our humanity in reverent intimacy through such an exhibit?
When, at the end of the exhibit, I was invited to touch
and hold an actual human organ, I selected the brain. I silently said a
prayer, then my fingers touched the holy convolutions of tissue which once
housed ideas, sensations, desires—a personality. I was struck anew with
the mystery and fragility of awareness.
A statement by the Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh spoke
of the “dignity and miracle of human creation” revealed by a similar exhibition.
We spirits are made flesh. This exhibition proves this
awesome truth.
703. 080227 THE STAR’S HEADLINE:
Right qustions open dialogue
How can you discuss religion without getting into an argument? How can
you listen to others without feeling they are trying to convert you, and
how can you present your own faith without appearing aggressive?
Can two people with different levels of knowledge about
religious matters have a discussion on an equal basis?
Can an Israeli and a Palestinian discuss religion in a
way that sets aside religious and political conflict?
The answer to these questions is yes — if the conversation
focuses on not who is right and who is wrong but rather on personal stories.
You cannot dispute someone’s own life experiences.
A structured exercise can get the process going. In a
conversation between you and your friend, start with five minutes each
to speak without interruption as the other listens.
It is sometimes helpful to begin with question. Here are
some examples:
*Can you tell me a story when the universe seemed to make
sense to you or when you were overcome with a sense of awe?
*What experiences have you had that point to the
ultimate source of life’s meaning for you?
*Was there a turning point in your life as you considered
spiritual questions that helped shape who you have become?
*Have you ever seen a painting or heard music or walked
on the beach or in a forest or played sports or seen a sunrise or learned
about science or worked a math problem or held a child or made love when
you felt lifted out beyond your ordinary sense of self?
I like such questions because they welcome atheists, agnostics
and humanists as well as believers into the conversation.
In listening to someone answering such questions, it is
important just to listen. It is not useful, even in your head, to criticize
your friend’s choice of words or theological framework.
What you want is to understand the experience as a genuine
expression of what is precious or even sacred to your friend.
Spiritual ideas cannot be fully comprehended except as
they are embedded in stories. Religious terms can mean one thing to you,
another to your friend. By listening to how your friend uses words in the
context of your friend’s experience, your own ability to use the languages
of faith will be expanded.
Religion is really about stories. There are the stories
in the sacred texts, and there are the stories of your own and your friends’
adventures in seeking to find guideposts within the overwhelming mystery
of existence.
It can be a privilege and a treasure when you and a friend
exchange intimate details of that adventure.
702. 080220 THE STAR’S HEADLINE:
Medicinal Marijuana is a topic for study
Suffering is the first fact of life that the Buddha taught, and his
teaching is sometimes called a therapy. The “medicine Buddha” is a familiar
image in the faith.
Other religions also seek to relieve spiritual and physical
distress. New Testament Christians prayed by laying hands on the afflicted.
American Indian healing practices, such as Navajo sand painting and chants,
are integral to the faith.
Still, I was surprised to learn that Jewish, Methodist,
Episcopalian, Presbyterian, Baptist and other religious bodies are supporting
some form of “medical marijuana” to relieve the suffering of those for
whom no other drug is effective.
This is not the place for political or even medical disputes,
though I did talk with Dr. Eric A. Voth of the Institute on Global Drug
Policy, who testified last week before a Kansas Senate committee against
a bill that would create a defense for those whose suffering is relieved
through marijuana when a physician writes that marijuana could help a patient,
just as codeine, cocaine, morphine and OxyContin are available by prescription.
One of the reasons Dr. Voth opposes the bill is because
he believes marijuana has no medical value, the official position of the
FDA. He was unaware of religious groups supporting his position, which
he says is based on scientific study.
Testifying in favor of the bill was former Kansas Attorney
General Robert T. Stephan who emphasized he was not advocating legalized
marijuana but urged Kansas to join with the 12 other states encouraging
removal of marijuana from the FDA’s Schedule I to Schedule II to permit
adequate research.
Stephan, a cancer survivor himself, endured seven years
of chemotherapy. For 15 years he visited cancer patients in Wichita and
Topeka, he told me.
In his testimony he said, “Some patients said
they resorted to marijuana to relieve their nausea. It is not right that
they should be subject to incarceration because marijuana was their last
resort for relief.”
Stephan sent me a note from a woman whose sciatic nerve
is exposed.
“I have been through basically every pain medication
as well as surgery for placement of a spinal cord stimulator which quickly
became ineffective and resulted in another surgery for placement of a morphine
pump.
“I also take methadone on top of morphine, and I
still suffer with extreme pain.
“Using marijuana strictly for relief of severe debilitating
pain, I am completely pain free for approximately 6 hours or slightly longer.”
She had considered suicide. No wonder religious
groups are studying the issue.
701. 080213 THE STAR’S HEADLINE:
True listening an act of love
When I realized that last week’s column was the 700th in this series
and that tomorrow is Valentine’s Day, I thought a little love letter to
you, dear readers, would be in order.
Writing about what you hold sacred, revealed in politics,
work, sports, science, history, the arts — and even religion — is a weekly
thrill. I like presenting perspectives that I myself might not share, and
on occasion saying how things look to me.
But the real thrill comes from the relationship we’ve
developed, you and me. Some of you write me, some of you mention the column
when you see me, some of you have invited me speak to your groups.
Some have been less generous, like the reader who called
the column, “pitiful, pusillanimous pabulum,” or the folks who want me
to condemn Islam or Catholicism or atheism.
To them, and all, I want to say that what we hold dear
is much bigger than can fit into any words in this space.
Religion is less about words than about experiences of
awe and duty and despair and triumph and love.
It is about the great questions. Who am I, really? How
are we alike and different, and how can we live together? What does the
great longing that I feel mean? How can I make sense out of disappointment
and suffering? Is there a purpose or destiny for us? Am I respecting or
violating the creation, the harmony of nature? What does death mean? How
do I want to live my life?
Our answers are often expressed in stories, personal stories
and the stories of traditions.
It may be the story of Moses or Jesus or Muhammad or Durga
or Buddha or the Buffalo’s Wife or even evolution.
You, dear readers, may cherish one story as sacred and
at the same time understand that other folks take great meaning from their
stories. Because we are a community, you want to appreciate their stories,
too.
An ancient story tells of blind men who encounter an elephant.
One who feels a leg says the elephant is like a tree. Holding the tail,
another says the elephant is like a rope. A third grasping the ear says
the beast is like a hand fan. The one touching the tusk says the beast
is like a solid pipe.
But unlike the blind men in the story who argue the truth
of the beast from their own limited vantages, you, dear readers, while
affirming the integrity and power of your own experiences, are eager to
hear what others say.
We may not be blind, but faith is about the infinite,
and that is too large to grasp.
Still, reaching beyond oneself into the mystery of existence
is certainly a species of love. Happy Valentine’s Day.
700. 080206 THE STAR’S HEADLINE:
Sufism a school of mystical love
Perhaps no American spiritual movement is more identified with the experience
of mystical love than Sufism.
Sufi orders developed in Islam shortly after the death
of the prophet Muhammad in the 7th Century. Early in the 20th, the Indian
musician and Sufi master Hazrat Inayat Khan came to the West and developed
what is called “Universal Sufism.”
His American student, Sam Lewis, founded the “Dances of
Universal Peace” which use materials from many faiths with chanting and
movement as meditation.
Wali Ali Meyer, the personal assistant and “esoteric secretary”
to Lewis will lead a workshop in Kansas City Feb. 22-24 for the Shining
Heart Sufi Community, founded here about 25 years ago.
I asked Wali Ali about love.
“Sufism has been called the school of love, but it is
not a school where it is particularly important to conceptualize
what love is. What is essential is to make it more and more a reality in
one’s life, to realize it in all one’s relationships,” he said.
“Ultimately one may come to feel as (the Sufi poet) Rumi
has said that the Beloved (God) is all in all, and the lover but a veil
over the Beloved. It is a universal phenomenon that pulses through every
particle of the universe and connects everything.”
Wali Ali is the head of the esoteric school for the Sufi
Ruhaniat order, based in San Francisco.
Sufi orders are important because the teachings are transmitted
from master to student through a lineage, more than by reading books. Mystical
love is an experience more than an intellectual attainment.
Mystical love involves abandoning attachments to ways
we identify ourselves that separate us and isolate us from others.
Wali Ali is working with several others on the Wazifa
Project, an exploration of the psychological and mystical meanings of the
99 names or characteristics of God traced to the Qur’an, used in meditation
practices to experience the dissolution of the false self into the divine
embrace.
Of his visit to Kansas City, Wali Ali said, “The workshop
will combine dances, walking attunement practices and sitting contemplation
practices on Sufi themes based on classical and contemporary approaches.
We will work a great deal with the 99 names of God as means for uncovering
the potentialities in our soul and healing the places of disconnection.
“There will be opportunities for questions and discussion.
There is no prerequisite for attending. All are welcome.”
Information is available at www.shiningheartcommunity.org.
699. 080130 THE STAR’S HEADLINE:
The Abbey is a place to feel at home
Why
do people leave ordinary society for a life set apart in a monastic setting?
Can we learn from those who appear to have separated themselves from us?
William Claassen traveled the world exploring such questions.
His first book, Alone in Community: Journeys into Monastic Life Around
the World, examined Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, Jain, and Sufi sites
and the practices of their inhabitants.
But his new book, Another World: A Retreat in the Ozarks,
takes
us just down the road to Assumption Abbey near Ava, MO, about 90 minutes
southeast of Springfield.
“Rocket,” a rock’n’roll musician quoted in the first chapter,
compares visiting Branson with the Abbey: “Well, at one you come back with
souvenirs, and the other, you come back with a different perspective.”
One of 40 some writers Claassen quotes about the monastic
experience is Joan Chittister, OSB, who suggests that “it may be only from
a distance that we see best. It may be those who do not have money who
best know that money is not essential to the good life. It may be those
who each have only a bed and books and one closet full of clothes in one
small room to call their own who clearly realize what clutter can do to
a life. It may be those who vow obedience to another who can sense what
self-centeredness can do to corrode a heart.”
Assumption is a Trappist monastery, like Gethsemani in
Kentucky, made famous by Thomas Merton. In Claassen’s book, illustrated
with his own photos, we learn how the Trappist monasteries originated,
how they relate to each other, how they employ the Rule of St Benedict,
how they support themselves, what the daily schedule is and how they welcome
visitors.
The book is a week’s diary, each chapter combining an
account of each day’s activity with the reactions within Claassen, himself
a guest.
In addition, Claassen includes biographical sketches of
five particular monks. In an interview, he explained why: “they represent
to me the archetypal figures, . . . the abbot, the guest master, the business
manager, the hermit, and the woodsman (laborer).”
Claassen believes that the monks “have much to teach our
society.” Examples include “living simply, practicing the art of listening,
honoring ritual and ceremony, being good stewards of the land, maintaining
a daily meditative spiritual practice, emphasizing cooperation rather than
competition and honoring the value of silence.”
More people visit monasteries than call them home. Claassen’s
book shows why such visits can offer spiritual refreshment.
Claassen's first book was published in 2000. The new book
was published by Sheed & Ward in November, 2007. He lives in Oakland,
CA but was raised in Kansas. He has a masters in journalism from MU in
Columbia.
698. 080123 THE STAR’S HEADLINE:
Speak your mind in church
Americans venerate the First Amendment. On one hand it prohibits the
government from establishing religion while on the other it protects “the
free exercise thereof.” But how can this balance be put into practice?
This month many of us have attended events commemorating
Martin Luther King Jr. a religious leader whose voice renewed the American
dream for all citizens. He did this by shining the light of morality on
immoral laws and practices in such a way that governments at many levels
responded. He did not seek office. He sought to change hearts.
The Rev. Thomas Are Jr. senior pastor at Village Presbyterian
Church, examined the relationship between faith and politics in a recent
sermon.
He reminded his congregation of this passage in the Lord’s
prayer: “Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”
The work of the church includes both heaven and earth, Are said.
Are noted that “prophets from Nathan to Jeremiah meddled
in foreign policy. Paul tells us to pay our taxes because the state exists
to uphold the good . . . . And Jesus—in some ways the most political of
all — tells us that when we pray, we are to pray about kingdom matters.
The Bible speaks to the whole human condition. There is nothing in our
lives that God fails to care about.”
Are picked a counter-example from Are’s own Presbyterian
tradition.
The theological giant at 1861 General Assembly of the
Presbyterian Church of the Confederate States of America was James Henley
Thornwell.
Are says, “Thornwell told the Assembly that the church
was to focus on spiritual matters alone, that slavery was a political decision,
and God does not speak to such issues through the church. It is not our
duty to question slavery; we must devote ourselves to spiritual matters.
“Arguably (slavery) was the most significant moral issue
. . . and the Presbyterians said we should not talk about it.”
Are’s point was that the church should be a place of conversation,
neither limited to concerns of the hereafter nor should it be a branch
of earthly government.
“We have become keenly aware of how dangerous it can be
when church and state are joined together, when one’s commitment to God
is collapsed with one’s commitment to the state,” he said.
Without aspiring to hold the reigns of government, King
knew how to generate conversation. His eloquent words and eloquent non-violent
actions brought this nation closer to realizing the nation’s promise, that
all of us are created equal.
697. 080116 THE STAR’S HEADLINE:
Let a candle light your way
Martin Luther King Jr taught the path of "nonviolent direction action"
in seeking justice but religion and violence are horribly linked throughout
history and today.
Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin was killed by a fellow
Jew, Gandhi was murdered by a fellow Hindu, Egyptian President Anwar Sadat
was killed by a fellow Muslim and Christians killing Christians in Ireland
is still a painful memory. What makes people of faith violent?
"History is filled with examples of violence committed
in the name of God," said the Very Rev. Terry White, dean of Grace and
Holy Trinity Cathedral, when I asked about a program the cathedral is offering
Jan. 22 and 23.
"Sacred stories in various traditions proclaim that
God wreaks violence on the ungodly, and that God empowers God's people
to do the same to those who do not believe correctly," White said. "Serious
study of Scripture and examination of belief are essential if the cycle
of violence, particularly so-called divinely sanctioned violence, is to
cease."
On Sept. 11, 2005, "the fourth anniversary of a
day of great destruction and blasphemy, when horrible violence was claimed
to have been done in God's name, and when, in response, calls for revenge
and retribution were heard throughout the country and even in houses of
worship," the cathedral inaugurated an "Altar of Reconciliation" in its
tower entrance, White said. "We must not return evil for evil."
Whatever the cause, the cathedral responds to community
violence by burning a candle noting each murder in Kansas City.
"The candle calls the faithful to pray for every victim,
the alleged perpetrators of the crime, the families of victim and accused,
friends, and too often due to age of victim and accused, classmates and
teachers," White said.
Next week's program, "Religion and Violence: Untangling
the Roots of Conflict," moves beyond the community to consider the problem
everywhere. It will combine a live webcast from New York with discussion
groups at the cathedral.
The Jewish speaker, Susannah Heschel of Dartmouth
College, spoke here at an interfaith Martin Luther King Jr observance in
2005. Tariq Ramadan, author of Islam, the West and the Challenges of
Modernity, will present a Muslim perspective. Christians include James
H. Cone of Union Seminary, author of Black Theology and Black Power, and
James Carrol, who wrote Constantine's Sword.
The program will explore whether the solution to violence
can be found within or outside of faith.
To learn more contact Grace and Holy Trinity Cathedral
at ghtc-kc.org or 816-474-8260. To access the webcast, log on to www.trinitywallstreet.org/education/?institute-2008&p=telecast
.
696. 080109 THE STAR’S HEADLINE:
Bud Fiedler, in fond memory
Like everyone who knew Msgr. Ernest “Bud” Fiedler, I loved him, but
I did not know him as long or as well as one of the casket-carriers, Jim
Houx Jr.
The ring on Bud’s little finger pictured in the 24-page
booklet for his obsequies last Thursday at the Cathedral of the Immaculate
Conception, where he had been rector, has a story.
Bud served as an advisor at the first session of the Second
Vatican Council and then was assigned to a Warrensburg parish where in
1963 he and Houx, then a student, met a high school event. They became
friends.
In those days Protestants were suspicious of Catholics
who worshipped “in a strange language.” The Protestant churches were often
antagonistic to each other as well.
Bud began inviting his fellow clergy to coffee, one by
one, and ultimately spread the spirit of friendship all around. Bud transformed
the town.
In 1968, the bishop approved Fielder presiding at the
wedding for Houx and his bride, both not Catholic. After the two exchanged
rings, Houx gave Fielder the ring which like the other two, was inscribed
“one in Christ.”
Bud often joked about going on their honeymoon as well.
Bud’s Karmann Ghia was stranded in Springfield, so the happy couple gave
Bud a lift on their way to New Orleans.
Bud was later reassigned to Kansas City and Houx’s business
brought him here was well.
Houx says, “You could not not have a good time with
Bud. He was preaching, teaching and healing without recognizing his power.
He loved everyone as a child of God, and embraced Muslims, Jews, Hindus,
Buddhists—everyone.” Houx often referred to Bud as “a ball of light and
love disguised as a priest. He was a community treasure.”
In the early 90s, Bud and Houx talked about the culture’s
placing profits above people, with spiritual values uplifted on Sunday
and greed ruling the rest of the week. This led to the creation of what
is now the Center for Spirit at Work, with speakers from the best of Kansas
City business leaders.
I cannot capture here the wonder of the things said about
Bud at the wake and funeral. But the feeling with which Bishop Emeritus
Raymond Boland presided, the glory of the music and the extraordinary arrangements
by Msgr. Robert Gregory created a fitting and magnificent celebration of
Bud’s life.
Although the Catholic faith is not my story, the liturgy
placed Bud’s life within the Christian narrative of love, service and community,
enacted and confirmed by the people receiving the Eucharist, in the promise
of eternal life, with Bud a precious parable of the cosmic story.
695. 080102 THE STAR’S HEADLINE:
Rumi a reed of spirituality
This column is a couple days late for the 800th anniversary of the birth
of Jalaladin Rumi in 1207, but I expect the celebration of this mystic
will continue to the end of time.
Mark di Suvero’s sculpture, “Rumi,” is outside the north
end of the Bloch Building at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art. He is one
of the most popular poets in America today.
While the heap of books on my night stand constantly changes,
there seems always to be at least one Rumi.
I’ve written about him several times before, though not
since I visited his shrine in Konya, in modern Turkey, where I also saw
the order of “whirling dervishes” he founded.
In what was then Anatolia, he had become a respected scholar
in the post held previously by his father when he met and fell into a mystical
love with an older man, Shams-e Tabrizi. We do not know if they were physically
intimate, but we do know their friendship was a scandal and apparently
led to Shams being murdered four years later, perhaps by one of Rumi’s
sons.
Rumi was shattered, and his laments were mixed with praise
for a divine love that persisted:
“I laugh like a flower, not just mouth laughter./ From
non-being I burst forth with gaiety and mirth./ But love taught me another
way of laughter./ The neophyte laughs according to profit and gain./ Like
a shell, I laugh when broken.”
The mystical transformation was so complete that in his
longing for Shams, he found the body of his beloved everywhere — in a stone,
a field, a jug of water, even within himself. The divine source of love
penetrates the world, and when our eyes are open, everywhere we look we
will find God.
But this is possible only when we abandon the ego, when
we surrender utterly to the love that, in the words of Kansas City Sufi
musician Allaudin Ottinger, “turns grass green, puts the fresh look in
babies’ faces, and makes the sun come up.”
Rumi perhaps comes as close as anyone in pointing to the
unexplainable union of yearning and satisfaction. “Every thirst gets satisfied
except/ that of these fish, the mystics,/ who swim a vast ocean of grace/
still somehow longing for it.”
In the words of J. W. N. Sullivan writing about Beethoven,
“suffering is accepted as a necessary condition of life, as an illuminating
power.”
In the metaphor of the reed flute, Rumi suggests how we
are separated from God, yet that separation makes song possible: “Listen
to the story of the reed:/
Since I was cut from the reedbed, separated,/ I have made this crying
sound./ The reed’s song is pain and comfort as one.”
Vern Barnet does interfaith work in Kansas City.
Reach him at vern@cres.org.
