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I am a string in the concert of God's joy.
- Jacob Boehme
I love this quote. I cannot define what I am refering to when I use the term "God". For me it is shorthand for the ultimate flowing core energy of being, something that contains all of reality including me, but that's a pretty vague statement. Whatever it is, I think its defining characteristics are love and joy, and both of those characteristics involve relationship, interaction between all the elements of reality.
Boehme's image of a divine concert captures that interaction. No single musician or instrument, let alone a single string, makes sense outside of the entire orchestra, and the orchestra makes no sense unless it is making music. But the musicians, their instruments (and the instruments' strings) are not passive servants of the music; they are not some sort of big player piano. In fact the music is the orchestra in the act of playing.
OK, this is all sounding pretty head-in-the-clouds, but I thought about all this after listening to a few AAs share about their homes being foreclosed. What struck me was that as much pain and loss as they felt, they felt more guilt. We, as a society, are taught that we are pure (or 'rugged') individuals and ultimately whatever we experience is our fault. I lost my house, so that means I was an irresponsible borrower and therefore I deserved what happened. While there probably is an element of truth in that statement, it ignores the role of the banks, the state of the economy, the materialistic values of our society, etc., etc. Reality is not a tune plucked on a single banjo string. Pretending it is constitutes pride, putting yourself at the center of the universe. Worse, that pride has you pretending you rule the universe. And, ironically, that pride generates passivity, because when it places all responsibility on the individual it saps any anger at injustice that might contribute to social change.
I think this is one of the places where AA swims against the tide of our times. We strive for true humility, for seeing ourselves in context. As the old AA saying goes, the only thing I need to know about God is that I am not one. While I have to accept my true level of responsibility for my condition in life, I have to see myself in the context in which I live. I'm just one string, trying like mad to stay in tune.
Thursday, February 17, 2011
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Wow, that's some poetic prose Brian.
ReplyDeleteIn the end I agree with what you are saying though. It's not the "things" so much as our "attachment to things" that demonstrates our level of humility or pride.
I remember one story by The Desert Fathers where a monk's cell is robbed and the thieves take almost every items the monk owns save his Bible. The monk then spends days trying to hunt down the thieves so he can give them the Bible as well.
I personally read that story as illustrating the monk's realization of his "attachment" to his "things" and to his Bible. And his further realization that his "work" on himself was not done yet.
I have learned that when I try to define "God, as I understand Him" I simply put my artificial limits on Him.
ReplyDelete"There is no struggle with God." - Peter M.
ReplyDeleteConcept 1 allows me to see my part, my note in this great harmony, and allow others to play theirs.
The ramification of Tradition 4 also allows me to see that I am autonomous, but that my decisions affect others. And, though theirs affect mine, steps 10-11 address this fear in me, and guide me to act appropriately.
Social change, if made at a superficial level, only changes the content. New regime, so to speak. Seeking causes and conditions, the root of the problem, once made apparent, can be addressed, uprooted. This uprooting results in changing "all my affairs."