A Christmas Carol

This time of year, being the time of Christmas, between the varieties of distractions still brings opportunity for reflection. Last weekend we watched the Classic Dickens story with our granddaughter, who saw it for the first time, and vicariously through her eyes we saw it again for the first time. There are so many versions playing on the airwaves (cable). We opted to view a remake with George C. Scott cast as Scrooge.

One of my favorite scenes and dialog is below.

(Jacob Marley’s ghost wrapped in chains appears to Scrooge)

"Oh! captive, bound, and double-ironed," cried the phantom, "not to know, that ages of incessant labour, by immortal creatures, for this earth must pass into eternity before the good of which it is susceptible is all developed. Not to know that any Christian spirit working kindly in its little sphere, whatever it may be, will find its mortal life too short for its vast means of usefulness. Not to know that no space of regret can make amends for one life's opportunity misused! Yet such was I! Oh! such was I!"

"But you were always a good man of business, Jacob," faltered Scrooge, who now began to apply this to himself.

"Business!" cried the Ghost, wringing its hands again. "Mankind was my business. The common welfare was my business; charity, mercy, forbearance, and benevolence, were, all, my business. The dealings of my trade were but a drop of water in the comprehensive ocean of my business!"

It held up its chain at arm's length, as if that were the cause of all its unavailing grief, and flung it heavily upon the ground again.

"At this time of the rolling year," the spectre said "I suffer most. Why did I walk through crowds of fellow-beings with my eyes turned down, and never raise them to that blessed Star which led the Wise Men to a poor abode! Were there no poor homes to which its light would have conducted me!"

A time to ponder, and carry on with the business of the common welfare.

Merry Christmas and Good Journey!

evolution

Some friends and I have been doing some reading (Alan Jamieson’s ‘A Churchless Faith’, some of Fowler’s ‘Stages of Faith’, and more recently ‘Dark Night of the Soul’ by St. John of the Cross) and email discussions on spiritual growth. Much like biological development (and maybe even attached to, so as not to create an unnecessary dualism) spiritual development or transformation is a complex topic for study, even more so when you try to make it intentional in your own life. Somehow I seemed to grow up, or at least older without much fuss; how is it that so much energy and attention are required to move forward in the realm of the inner life?

Some choice scriptures from various traditions here highlight my reflections:

“Birth does not lead to greatness; but cultivation of numerous virtues by a man leads him to greatness. It is a pearl that possesses real greatness and not the pair of shells in which it is produced.” Jainism, Vajjalagam 687

“Practicing step by step,
One gradually fulfills all Buddha teachings.
It is like first setting up a foundation
Then building the room:
Generosity and self-control, like this,
Are bases of enlightening beings’ practices.” Buddhism, Garland Sutra 10

“Through constant effort over many lifetimes, a person becomes purified of all selfish desires and attains the supreme goal of life.” Hinduism, Bhagavad Gita 6.45

“Life is like a hill.
Mawu the Creator made it steep and slippery,
To right and left deep waters surround it,
You cannot turn back once you start to climb.
You must climb with a load on your head.
A man’s arms will not help him, for it’s a trial,
The world is a place of trial.” African Traditional, Fon Song

“By degrees, little by little, from time to time, a wise person should remove his own impurities as a smith removes the dross from silver.” Buddhism, Dhammapada 239

“We rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us because God’s love has been poured into our hearts.” Christianity, Romans 5:3-5

“And all of us, with unveiled faces, seeing the glory of the Lord as though reflected in a mirror, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another; for this comes from the Lord, the Spirit.” Christianity, 2Corinthians 3:18

In pondering this I’ve determined that the perception of energy and attention required is proportional to the impatience that one experiences in reaching some ‘ideal’. For those of us who are persuaded by the message of and about Jesus, that ‘ideal’ is daunting, and the journey requires undaunted courage. Like the Traditional African song mentioned above, you cannot turn back once you start to climb.

-more to come later-