Perhaps one of the most ironic parts of my negative outlook on life and on the world is that my blood type is B+. And my brother always reminds me that this type is for optimists. ("Remember to be positive just like your blood," he tells me. Give me a break!
The most recent diagnosis of this pathology of pessimism was pronounced when family came to visit for Kasey's graduation (by the way, she is now Kasey M. Price, Ed.D.). When I was taking my parents around town, I found myself complaining about the city in which I live, its traffic, its residents, etc. And I realized that I do not have a very positive outlook on the world around me.
Don't get me wrong. I appreciate the beauty of nature. Kasey and I go hiking in trails near our house, and I love the rays of sunlight that pierce through the trees and illuminate the ground cover. I marvel at the way the torrential rains wash away the dirt and leave intricate carvings into the ground. I love the smell of the outdoors, even though my allergies flared up and knocked me down for a few days (oops, there's that pessimism). So, I do appreciate the world around me. But I do not appreciate the physical and social setting of my current city.
Perhaps the reason that I have such a negative opinion of my city is that I do not consider myself a resident of this town. Kasey and I have been here for three years. We arrived to go to school. We have not enjoyed parts of what this town has to offer either because we were absorbed in our studies or because we were attempting to save money. Kasey has graduated, and she is now looking for a job. That means there is a good chance we will not be living here by the end of the summer. So, I guess I look at this town with some disdain because I am ready to leave it. I have emotionally severed ties to this city because I know that I will be leaving soon. One could make the argument that this emotional separation is a wise decision to prepare myself for moving away. Others would say that is defense mechanism. And it is. I guess the downside is that I have less difficulty leaving somewhere that I despise rather than somewhere that I love. But the fact still remains that I choose to have the negative opinion. So, there is a need to correct my outlook.
Here is the problem, as I can best tell: I do not appreciate the saturation of God's presence in His creation.
I got a good sense of this problem when I was reading a couple books on Catholicism and the Catholic worldview. The first is The Seven Storey Mountain by Thomas Merton. Merton was a Catholic Convert who spent nearly 25 years as a monk who lived in silent contemplation about his spirituality. He was a prolific writer, and one who artfully crafted his words. The Seven Storey Mountain is Merton's autobiography. In one place, he wrote about a French town in which he lived as a boy. The quote below shows how Merton did not appreciate his environment and its emphasis on God's presence, but years later reflected on how ever cubic inch of the town pointed to God's glory. Writing about the town of St. Antonin:
Here, in this amazing, ancient town, the very pattern of the place, of the
houses and streets and of nature itself, the circling hills, the cliffs and
trees, all focussed my attention upon the one, important central fact of the
church ans what it contained. Here, everywhere I went, I was forced, by the
disposition of everything around me, to be always at least virtually conscious
of the church. Every street pointed more or less inward to the center of the
town, to the church. Every view of teh town from the exterior hills, centered
upon the long grey building with its high spire. ...
The whole landscape, unified by the church and its heavenward spire, seemed
to say: this is the meaning of all created things: we have been made for no
other purpose than that men may use us in raising themselves to God, and in
proclaiming the glory of God. We have been fashioned, in all our perfections,
each according to his own nature, and all our natures ordered and harmonized
together, that man's reason and his love might fit in this one last element,
this God-given key to the meaning of the whole.
Following reading this passage by Merton, I began reading The Catholic Imagination by Andrew Greeley. Greeley's thesis is based on an earlier book by David Tracey called The Analogical Imagination. In the simplest terms let me explain what these two books mean.
1. The Catholic Tradition has maintained a worldview that the relationship between God and His creation, including humans, is best understood as an analogy or metaphor. Therefore, to understand God's love, we can use analogies in human love. Only God's love is more perfect that human love. God is also present in His creation as a way of communicating with humans and expressing His love to them. This explains why Catholics have a high appreciation for the material world and express their love for God through artistic outlets. This also explains why they believe that God is actually present in physical rituals: the sacraments.
2. The Protestant Tradition instituted a new worldview. They feared the superstition of Catholicism and de-emphasized the material world. Instead, people do not relate to God through physical rituals, but through His revealed word: the Bible. God is not actually present in His creation due to the fall of humanity. Nor is He actually present in the rituals of the Church. Instead, he is symbolically present. Protestants understand their relationship with God not in terms of analogies, but as a sort of dialectic. That is, humanity is the antithesis to God's thesis, and salvation and holiness are the syntheses that bring humanity back into harmony with God.
I am not certain I completely buy the thesis here, but it is definitely thought-provoking. It begs the question about liturgically and sacramentally-oriented Protestant traditions like the Lutherans and Anglicans. It would seem that there is a high value placed on the material world as a manifestation of God's glory and on the sacraments as the presence of God. Also, I am not so certain that the Bible actually supports the demystification of the world. David wrote in Psalm 24 that the "Earth is the Lord's and everything in it." Psalm 72:19 says, "Praise be to his glorious name forever; may the whole earth be filled with his glory. Amen and Amen." Habakkuk declared, "For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea" (Habakkuk 2: 14). If we accept the Protestant presupposition of the authority of the Bible over all other sources, then we must nod to the fact that God's Word makes known that He is present in all the earth and His glory is present with us in any environment. So, there is a lesson we could learn from Catholicism about the worldview.
I find myself encouraged by these observations. The world is fallen and corrupt as a result of human sinfulness, but that does not mean that God is absent from this world. Instead, He has allowed his creation to point us to Him. We must, therefore, search for the good in this world and how He is present with us.
What does this outlook mean in practicality? I am not certain about all of this, but let me take a stab.
1. Appreciate the beauty of God's creation and the glory present in it.
2. Appreciate the image and likeness of God in humanity.
3. Find what is redeeming and redeemable in the world and in humanity.
Let me share a prayer for myself and for others as we meditate on these ideas and attempt to put them into practice.
Father, help us to see the world around us as you see it. Help us to see the world as a banquet of your glory, love, and grace. Help us to see how it is a reflection of you and guide to seek after you. Help us to see what is redeeming in your creation. And help us to see what is redeemable and where you seek to work out that redemption. And finally help us to be your presence in this world, through Christ your Son. Amen.
Be blessed. And be positive.
