Humiliation of Myth II

Alright, let's see what I can muster after a couple hours of therapy:

So-- as my post title suggests, I'm thinking about C S Lewis' idea about the "Humiliation of Myth", that is, where "what is everywhere and always, imageless and ineffable, only to be glimpsed in dream and symbol and the acted poetry of ritual becomes small, solid," for the purpose of connecting with us in our limited form, and connecting the realm of the holy with our earthly one. 

Now, I am not a myth or an angelic being, and neither is anyone else, but I do believe that in some ways, if we are baptised in Spirit and thus sent out into the world to act accordingly and make disciples, then it makes sense to me that there is still some stooping going on, and that our baptisms have the potential to put us in a place between the "now and the not yet" in a similar way. We get to participate through Christ, though, not as or completely like him. 

For instance, when we successfully sublimate our wills, do God's, and put the teachings we have taught into practice, we are reaching "up" out of our earthly sphere and even past our limitations with God's help, in order to do that. And as earthly beings thus ensouled, we have been given the task of using said power for stewardship of the earth and each other.

On the other side of this, when we lose our footing on this concept of living in the realm or Spirit or flesh, either because of extreme asceticism/detachment or hedonistic attachment, I think this is where we can go wrong, with consequences that affect our connection not just to the world and each other, but:

1) our ability to have a necessary, holistic sense of self in relation to God or others, 

2) to wield full capacity to exercise dominion to the extent we are entrusted/capable under God, and; 

3) a proper exposure to the challenges that help us grow to be more like Christ, since both hedonism and asceticism involve separation from the challenges of living in community-- either through superficial pursuit of pleasure that denies true intimacy or (inter/)personal difficulties, or personal separation from said difficulties.

That is not to say that occasional indulgence or personal withdrawal in their proper contexts may not be acceptable, but we have such a penchant for clinging to absolutes and forgetting balance. This I am guilty of, and express without judgement. 

And so... If we are to acknowledge our embodied selves and Spirit-ual empowerments through our relationship with God for His purposes, and acknowledge having one foot in each world.. Well, that makes things different, doesn't it? Different than imagining that the more pious one is, the more withdrawn and minimalist they become. Because I could be wrong, but to my mind there are disciplines, and personal sacrifices that can be made, and that God may call for, but to what end, if we may have certain assets that allow us to evangelize in ways that living on the streets entirely could not? This is a real question. And I can only speak from experience that there does seem to be a correlation between accepted poverty, reliance on the kindness of others, and relative freedom that allows for this sort of movement where it may otherwise not be available, but I think it really depends on what you want to achieve. I have, at various points, done just that, but there are certain necessities or eventualities that one needs to be prepared for. For instance -- are you interested in eating a lot of uncooked, spoiled, or charity meals? How will you keep your clothes clean? Where will you sleep? How will you survive winter? Everything in my own experience points to at least an openness to couch surfing at lowest, if you do not own your own land or a small apartment, where again, minimalism is key, but asceticism is nearly impossible alone. And what more of an argument toward how we are called to community?

Jesus said to the rich man "sell everything you own and follow me", and "it is easier for a camel to get through the eye of a needle, than a rich man to get into heaven", and I don't want to say anything that sounds like a copout, and certainly I have struggled with this for a long time, but this is my working theory: that there is an irrefutable truth to this, as much as it was a statement directed at the rich man himself. There is a difference between a rich person and people who are getting by day to day, and the people at the very bottom, the helpless, the weak, the poor, are in God's hands already. If I understand correctly, all things except God and our relationship to him should comparatively be garbage, but... I also feel that that doesn't mean that by human standards they really are. We can have treasures (of the heart, etc, not necessarily piles of money), knowing that a bigger one trumps the others. And it can even be the little ones that, when handled properly and not made into idols, can help us catch a glimpse of God's kingdom, pointing to Him, though hardly in fullness. 

And so... this is our operating baseline: As thin as you can go, practically, emotionally, mentally, etc, gets you closer to the "thin places," but it's not going to do anyone any good if you're tripping face in the woods because you're starving and cold and got too experimental with your foraging; especially if your talents do lie in an areas and you can offer expertise with a bit more moderation in your life. Participation in it, too, should not be mistaken as a measure of holiness in itself. Maybe it is choosing part time work, sticking to personal priorities, cutting distractions out ruthlessly, and being honest with whether we are sticking to them, etc. Let's not get sucked in by excess, or feel pious over self-neglect. 

God put us on this earth to love Him, each other, and to be co-labourers. Part of that power was discernment, and I think that... a little self-knowledge is useful here: Are we doing our best, or not? If not, why? If so, don't worry, God's got you. 

This has become long, but I think I've gone far enough now, and it does feel accurate enough to move forward. One can only ever have enough information to build working-hypotheses, and pray that they are not totally off-base... this is what I have found. Ha.