Thank you for inspiring me with this post. I was writing something completely unrelated and your words inspired me and got me un-stuck. This post is probably in the top three of the most beautiful writings I've read. I can tell so much love and effort went into this.
Outstanding Ross! Admitting we are confused is not easy in private or in public. It’s quite humbling. But we know that humility is good. I love the imagery you’ve shown here, especially of the long arc as opposed to pausing the movie, and losing sight of the entire story. Thank you for this piece!
That was a good take, especially the first part, before the '3 camps'. Those camps do of course exist, but to throw realism in the Resentful camp seems very arbitrary, and I can think of other signs of simplification. Realism is a kind of rational thinking (not necessarily 'rationalism' as if rationality would be the only valid method of knowing). It means that one always stands with at least one leg in the harsh reality - that's how I experience my Christian life. From this, someone could easily derive the 'Confused' category - but that too isn't so obvious. I rarely feel confused, I just am obliged to stick with weak faith (which is probably the same as 'Christian hope'). "I believe, help my unbelief". Whatever picture the Bible paints of God, it's still (at least for a realist) seen through a dark glass (1Cor 13, ref. C.S. Lewis too), almost by necessity because all of the Bible's teachings about God are all too anthropomorphic: they are clearly human language for something hardly knowable at all. And there's no choice - how else would the Bible tell a story than through language. It could have been a book of wonderful paintings too, maybe - but apparently God did not choose painting prophets but speaking ones.
You clearly do your utmost to make sense of Christianity and help others to cope with what's essentially never going to be truly comprehensible. This is not blaming you, its just a 'realistic observation' that among the thousands of Christians who do their best to explain things, they all sound different, and by accident we find something here and there that makes some more sense to us. Those are nuggets one needs to find in a vast ocean of texts, much larger than the pages that compose the Bible volume we held in our hands when we were young and the world still looked a lot simpler than today. I suppose some revival is needed, one that makes waves of the non-textual, non-hermeneutic kind (some would call that a Pentecostal revival I suppose). And it seems to me that God will have to make it happen, because the floods of good intentions that we are facing today in the format of video, podcast, books and web pages seems to be numbing us into oblivion. (That may be too pessimistic, I now). Any thoughts about that?
Thanks for the comment! Gosh, so much to say on this topic. I would agree with you that things are not as clear as they might seem. As you might have been able to tell from the piece, though I am a Protestant, I am uncomfortable with Luther's doctrine of 'perspicuity,' that the meaning of Scripture is clear, unless of course we mean, "it is clear to those who have eyes to see its meaning," which I would agree with, but proves nothing either way about its objective perspicuity. And I also agree that the modern flood of "explainers" of Scripture in videos and podcasts, etc, have a numbing effect. Yet, at the same time, I don't think I share your pessimism about what can be known. I believe we who are in Christ are both preparing for the unveiling of God (in Christ through his Spirit) and are also currently living in that unveiling. The writers of the New Testament believed they were really experiencing this unveiling in real time, and Jesus himself promised that those who believed without seeing him would be even more blessed and that those who possessed his Spirit would do even greater works than he. I believe all of this, and I believe that I, as a member of his body, and actually experiencing that unveiling right now. Of course, as I have written about over and over again for the past year, God's unveiling is not straightforward. If you expect a modern push-button approach to seeing the unseen you will be sorely disappointed. Nevertheless, I believe the unseen can be seen. I'm not sure if this helps or adds anything to the problem you are struggling with. I can only speak from my own particular perspective on this. But for me, the dark glass--though still dark--is getting lighter and lighter with every suffering moment. And that is enough for me. I'd be curious to see what you think of this piece. It's perhaps the one I'm most proud of from this past year, and it deals with some of the things you're talking about. If you get a chance, read it and let me know what you think!
It feels miraculous encountering your writing Ross. My own confusion is beginning to cohere into itself, becoming acknowledged and asking for some trust and patience on my end. The knot in my mind is less insistent as I begin to recognize that it exists apart from the ideal that lies beyond my own understanding.
You're definitely right in bringing up Johnathon Pageau, the way in which he is able to translate the symbolic way of thinking into a language that is accessible and insightful is fairly representative of this whole conundrum you were speaking of where Christianity, purposefully, lacks clarity.
Your thoughts and writing continually allow me to feel this deep gratitude towards life even amidst darker moments. God-willing, I hope this appreciation will carry me forwards into doing good-works on this day and others.
What a glorious response. I'm so glad your confusion is slowly turning into deeper faith and commitment to the Lord. And that my words are fostering deeper gratitude in you. Praise God. Keep it up! And thanks for faithfully reading and commenting, man. I am grateful for you.
I have gone through each of the three stages or orientations that you write about. What I find somewhat amusing or embarrassing about the whole ordeal is that I knew that these stages were a part of the journey (my first exposure to the developmental stages of faith was 20 years ago through James W. Fowler's work). Still, knowing about this in a conceptual sense and living through a crisis of faith are two different things.
One thing I'm finding increasingly important is exposure to Christian thinking from outside Western Europe and America (although I acknowledge that perspectives within these countries and cultures can be quite diverse). American culture has a certain orientation toward suffering and privation that influences our spiritual life. When I started reading Valentin Tomberg's work, I was definitely struck by his comparison of Eastern European and Western European/American conceptions of suffering. Anyway, in reading your essay I am reminded of Tomberg's distinction between horizontally directed consciousness with vertically directed consciousness:
"... it is necessary to clarify the concepts of 'passivity' and 'activity' as applied to the spiritual life. The ordinary meaning of these concepts is this: 'activity' refers to a consciousness in the state of 'doing', and 'passivity' refers to a consciousness in the state of 'suffering'. This standpoint is entirely justified and useful when one has in mind the horizontal, the relationship of the human consciousness to its surroundings. However, if one is considering the vertical, that is the relationship of the incarnated human being to the spiritual world, then this standpoint is no longer valid. Then the opposite is true: the receptive attitude toward the spiritual world, the suffering and waiting, is the active side of the vertically upright consciousness, while the efforts of the will for the purpose of this or that exercise or task of cognition are the passive side. So, for instance, the words Christ Jesus spoke during the hour of Gethsemane: 'Not my will, but Thy will be done,' signify the highest possible activity of the vertically-directed consciousness. But this activity is not visible on the horizontal plane of life; there it appears as passive." (From Tomberg's Russian Spirituality and Other Essays)
Ha, yes, knowing about these stages and avoiding living through them are indeed two separate things! Well said. Fascinating quote you've shared. I love this and can definitely see how the active and passive get switched with regard to horizontal or vertical orientations. The prayer in Gethsemane is the perfect example. Very relevant to what I'm talking about.
Absolute. Masterpiece.
Wow.
Wow.
Wow.
Thank you for inspiring me with this post. I was writing something completely unrelated and your words inspired me and got me un-stuck. This post is probably in the top three of the most beautiful writings I've read. I can tell so much love and effort went into this.
Thank you, Gabriela.
Outstanding Ross! Admitting we are confused is not easy in private or in public. It’s quite humbling. But we know that humility is good. I love the imagery you’ve shown here, especially of the long arc as opposed to pausing the movie, and losing sight of the entire story. Thank you for this piece!
Thank you so much, John. Thanks for being such a faithful reader. Love your feedback.
That was a good take, especially the first part, before the '3 camps'. Those camps do of course exist, but to throw realism in the Resentful camp seems very arbitrary, and I can think of other signs of simplification. Realism is a kind of rational thinking (not necessarily 'rationalism' as if rationality would be the only valid method of knowing). It means that one always stands with at least one leg in the harsh reality - that's how I experience my Christian life. From this, someone could easily derive the 'Confused' category - but that too isn't so obvious. I rarely feel confused, I just am obliged to stick with weak faith (which is probably the same as 'Christian hope'). "I believe, help my unbelief". Whatever picture the Bible paints of God, it's still (at least for a realist) seen through a dark glass (1Cor 13, ref. C.S. Lewis too), almost by necessity because all of the Bible's teachings about God are all too anthropomorphic: they are clearly human language for something hardly knowable at all. And there's no choice - how else would the Bible tell a story than through language. It could have been a book of wonderful paintings too, maybe - but apparently God did not choose painting prophets but speaking ones.
You clearly do your utmost to make sense of Christianity and help others to cope with what's essentially never going to be truly comprehensible. This is not blaming you, its just a 'realistic observation' that among the thousands of Christians who do their best to explain things, they all sound different, and by accident we find something here and there that makes some more sense to us. Those are nuggets one needs to find in a vast ocean of texts, much larger than the pages that compose the Bible volume we held in our hands when we were young and the world still looked a lot simpler than today. I suppose some revival is needed, one that makes waves of the non-textual, non-hermeneutic kind (some would call that a Pentecostal revival I suppose). And it seems to me that God will have to make it happen, because the floods of good intentions that we are facing today in the format of video, podcast, books and web pages seems to be numbing us into oblivion. (That may be too pessimistic, I now). Any thoughts about that?
Thanks for the comment! Gosh, so much to say on this topic. I would agree with you that things are not as clear as they might seem. As you might have been able to tell from the piece, though I am a Protestant, I am uncomfortable with Luther's doctrine of 'perspicuity,' that the meaning of Scripture is clear, unless of course we mean, "it is clear to those who have eyes to see its meaning," which I would agree with, but proves nothing either way about its objective perspicuity. And I also agree that the modern flood of "explainers" of Scripture in videos and podcasts, etc, have a numbing effect. Yet, at the same time, I don't think I share your pessimism about what can be known. I believe we who are in Christ are both preparing for the unveiling of God (in Christ through his Spirit) and are also currently living in that unveiling. The writers of the New Testament believed they were really experiencing this unveiling in real time, and Jesus himself promised that those who believed without seeing him would be even more blessed and that those who possessed his Spirit would do even greater works than he. I believe all of this, and I believe that I, as a member of his body, and actually experiencing that unveiling right now. Of course, as I have written about over and over again for the past year, God's unveiling is not straightforward. If you expect a modern push-button approach to seeing the unseen you will be sorely disappointed. Nevertheless, I believe the unseen can be seen. I'm not sure if this helps or adds anything to the problem you are struggling with. I can only speak from my own particular perspective on this. But for me, the dark glass--though still dark--is getting lighter and lighter with every suffering moment. And that is enough for me. I'd be curious to see what you think of this piece. It's perhaps the one I'm most proud of from this past year, and it deals with some of the things you're talking about. If you get a chance, read it and let me know what you think!
https://www.patientkingdom.com/p/why-god-hides
It feels miraculous encountering your writing Ross. My own confusion is beginning to cohere into itself, becoming acknowledged and asking for some trust and patience on my end. The knot in my mind is less insistent as I begin to recognize that it exists apart from the ideal that lies beyond my own understanding.
You're definitely right in bringing up Johnathon Pageau, the way in which he is able to translate the symbolic way of thinking into a language that is accessible and insightful is fairly representative of this whole conundrum you were speaking of where Christianity, purposefully, lacks clarity.
Your thoughts and writing continually allow me to feel this deep gratitude towards life even amidst darker moments. God-willing, I hope this appreciation will carry me forwards into doing good-works on this day and others.
What a glorious response. I'm so glad your confusion is slowly turning into deeper faith and commitment to the Lord. And that my words are fostering deeper gratitude in you. Praise God. Keep it up! And thanks for faithfully reading and commenting, man. I am grateful for you.
I have gone through each of the three stages or orientations that you write about. What I find somewhat amusing or embarrassing about the whole ordeal is that I knew that these stages were a part of the journey (my first exposure to the developmental stages of faith was 20 years ago through James W. Fowler's work). Still, knowing about this in a conceptual sense and living through a crisis of faith are two different things.
One thing I'm finding increasingly important is exposure to Christian thinking from outside Western Europe and America (although I acknowledge that perspectives within these countries and cultures can be quite diverse). American culture has a certain orientation toward suffering and privation that influences our spiritual life. When I started reading Valentin Tomberg's work, I was definitely struck by his comparison of Eastern European and Western European/American conceptions of suffering. Anyway, in reading your essay I am reminded of Tomberg's distinction between horizontally directed consciousness with vertically directed consciousness:
"... it is necessary to clarify the concepts of 'passivity' and 'activity' as applied to the spiritual life. The ordinary meaning of these concepts is this: 'activity' refers to a consciousness in the state of 'doing', and 'passivity' refers to a consciousness in the state of 'suffering'. This standpoint is entirely justified and useful when one has in mind the horizontal, the relationship of the human consciousness to its surroundings. However, if one is considering the vertical, that is the relationship of the incarnated human being to the spiritual world, then this standpoint is no longer valid. Then the opposite is true: the receptive attitude toward the spiritual world, the suffering and waiting, is the active side of the vertically upright consciousness, while the efforts of the will for the purpose of this or that exercise or task of cognition are the passive side. So, for instance, the words Christ Jesus spoke during the hour of Gethsemane: 'Not my will, but Thy will be done,' signify the highest possible activity of the vertically-directed consciousness. But this activity is not visible on the horizontal plane of life; there it appears as passive." (From Tomberg's Russian Spirituality and Other Essays)
Ha, yes, knowing about these stages and avoiding living through them are indeed two separate things! Well said. Fascinating quote you've shared. I love this and can definitely see how the active and passive get switched with regard to horizontal or vertical orientations. The prayer in Gethsemane is the perfect example. Very relevant to what I'm talking about.