Thursday, February 28, 2013

Born from Above


Fragment of a letter of encouragement to one who defined his religion as the Church of Do Unto Others as You Would Have Them Do Unto You, and deprecated the exclusivism  of certain  "Born Again" Christians:

That sounds good to me. A Sufi friend told me of some wise man who said that if you follow just one practice faithfully, you will become enlightened.

As for being born again, one has to ask what that means.[We know what it DOESN'T mean: saying "Jesus is Lord", like a magic formula. Jesus, Himself told us that: "Not everyone who says to me 'Lord, Lord' will enter the Kingdom...' "] So what DOES it mean?

It helps to look at the original Greek, where, as usual, there is some interesting ambiguity. The passage in which "born again" is found is John 3: 1-21, in which Jesus receives an important night visitor, Nicodemus the Pharisee, who was apparently an eminent scholar and member of the ruling religious council (Sanhedrin). Everything turns on the adverb, "again". As it turns out, this is just as well translated as "from above". And then Jesus goes on to talk about "perception" and "light" and "spirit" or "wind". No one can perceive the Kingdom of God unless s/he is "born from above." 

Modern evangelicals take this to mean an individual conversion to a particular doctrine or confession of faith. But while the text may be patient of such an interpretation, it is not the only possible meaning.  Nor is it the most interesting possibility, in my opinion. Clearly the Birth From Above is some kind of change in that which is born in the usual way. Something that changes the fundamental nature of the creature.  But what? 

How about this: that which is born of water (amniotic fluid) is selfish. Look at babies. Their new consciousness is all about "me". Me and my needs. We are born into a consciousness of separation from everything and everyone else. Tillich called this "sin" (see attachment). It has nothing to do with immoral actions; it is the pervasive condition of estrangement from all that is other to the self. We have to learn - slowly and laboriously - that this sense of ourselves is an illusion. 

In the Gospel story, Jesus gently chides St. Nicodemus, who had come to him by night (i.e.: "in the dark"). "You are a teacher of Israel and you do not know these things?"

To be born of the Spirit may well mean to enter the vast new consciousness that accepts relatedness as the fundamental fact of our existence, and which affirms that relationships must be loving, because otherwise they are death-dealing.  We are not born with this consciousness; we have to acquire it "from above", because  It is a consciousness "higher" than the one we are born with. As soon as we are able to understand it, we are taught to love our neighbor as ourselves (the commandment that Jesus elsewhere equated with the love of God) and to "Do unto others as ye would have them do unto you". 

Jesus gently mocks Nicodemus for not getting it. After all, he is an eminent religious scholar, a "Teacher of Israel", and this is pretty basic stuff ("earthly things"). The practice of these commandments leads, sooner or later, to a kind of mystical enlightenment, in which what Dr. King called the Beloved Community becomes one's conscious identity. Jesus called this Community "My Body". All of this happens as a result of the mysterious operation of that which, in this passage, Jesus called "the Spirit". 

This "Spirit" (pneuma, wind) "blows wherever it wants", which means it is not restricted by anything. Most importantly, the Spirit is not confined to earthly institutions like the Sanhedrin or the Church. The Spirit may be found in these institutions, but She is certainly not confined to them. Nor is She confined to particular dogmatic professions, such as "Jesus is Lord".

But didn't Jesus say, in this same passage, that only those who "believe in Him" can enter the Kingdom of God? Well, not precisely. He said that fidelity to the "Son of Man", and to His Name was the necessary qualification.  "Belief" means "trust" and  "fidelity".  [Remember that fidelity does NOT mean: simply to say that He is Lord - even if you really mean it!]  "The Son of Man" refers to the Messiah, and His "Name" is His reputation - what He stands for - what He means in the world.

What the Messiah means for the world is liberation, and a completely new social order that Jesus calls the Kingdom of God: the reign of peace and justice, founded upon love of God and neighbor (the Golden rule that you accept). Now, if a person does not think that possible, then, of course, s/he cannot enter it! Far from some kind of sentence punishing those who do not call Him Lord, Jesus simply observes the tautology that those who don't place any trust in the real possibility of a Reign of Peace and Justice cannot enter it!

So, to be "born from above" must mean - at the very least - a change in consciousness characterized by a new hope that the reign of Peace and Justice is possible on earth. We express that kind of consciousness when we pray, as He taught us: "your Kingdom come...on earth as in heaven".

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