Flakes of winter snow sift down outside my window as I write these words. Millions of them. Billions of them. Burying the bird feeder. Burying my driveway.
I go out to shovel. Each snowflake weighs next to nothing. It’s amazing how much a shovelful of next-to-nothing can weigh.
No two of those snowflakes are identical, I’ve been told.
Maybe it’s true. Maybe it isn’t. The only way to prove it, either way, would be to examine every snowflake that has ever fallen.
Experience tells me that if I capture individual snowflakes without causing them to melt, and peer at them through a magnifying glass, each snowflake does appear slightly different.
Mathematics shakes its head. The molecular structure of water dictates a six-pointed crystal. That means each frozen molecule in the star can only form into six more points, into six more points, into six more points….
How many is six to the power of infinity? Certainly enough to eliminate any necessity of duplicates.
Talking about “head stuff”
But if you lived in Australia these days, who cares? When summer temperatures soar above 50 degrees Celsius, when fires create their own weather systems, a snowflake wouldn’t have, umm, a snowflake’s chance in hell of surviving long enough to be examined.
So many of the things that we humans argue about, divide ourselves about, even go to war about, are what a friend calls “head stuff.” Interesting, but irrelevant.
Like the shape of snowflakes. Or which sacred text is superior.
By chance, recently, I picked up an old book by G.K. Chesterton. As usual, he spent his pages puncturing other people’s precious balloons.
One chapter dealt with rituals.
We live by rituals, he argued. We have rituals for getting up, dressing, making coffee, driving cars, working, playing, and falling asleep. One reason for imprisoning people, torturing them, and oppressing them is to deprive them of their own familiar rituals, to force them to submit to someone else’s rituals.
I maintain that I’m a member of a persecuted minority. I’m left-handed. I live in a world designed for right-handed people -- from jar caps to computer keyboards, from subway turnstiles to credit card swipes. The rituals that feel natural to 90% of people force me to make awkward moves.
So what? Even if I win my argument, will my next car be available with left-handed threads?
Religious rituals
The rituals we argue most about, said Chesterton, are the least meaningful ones. Whether a priest should cross himself from left to right, or right to left. Whether communion bread should be cut, torn, or pressed into bloodless wafers. Whether to say “Our Father Which Art in Heaven” or some other words.
Suppose someone actually found the Holy Grail with traces of Jesus’ saliva still preserved on its lip. And suppose DNA analysis showed either that
a) Jesus had a full complement of human genes – proving he had a human mother AND father. Or,
b) only half his genes were human, from his mother; the other half came from some non-human source.
How much difference would either fact make in your daily rituals? Would you stop paying for groceries? Quit drinking coffee? Cancel your charitable donations, or double them?
If it doesn’t affect your life, it’s just head stuff.
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Copyright © 2020 by Jim Taylor. Non-profit use in congregations and study groups, and links from other blogs, welcomed; all other rights reserved.
To comment on this column, write jimt@quixotic.ca
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YOUR TURN
A few of you suggested that I was taking too narrow a perspective when I wrote last week’s column about a reduction in cruelty.
Eileen Wttewaal in particular objected, “I find it astonishing and incredibly sad that you treat the issue of cruelty with the off repeated comparison of our current culture with the worse of past terrible cruelties.
“The global industrialization of land, water and creatures, as well as humans, has befitted a few and increasingly enslaved much of non-human and human life through our corporate systems. But the most cruel of all is the continuing of those systems that most go along with whether in denial or indifference that is already affecting what we drink and eat and the air we breathe. There is no greater cruelty than this endangering of all life on God’s good earth.”
Bob Rollwagen was another: “Cruelty is an interesting and challenging term. There are some horrific events recorded in past civilizations. Survival of the fittest might sum it up to keep the discourse brief.
“In today’s world, cruelty could be seen as forcing citizens to survive by using food banks, with no affordable housing, so children have to go to school without a proper breakfast and not able to learn, so the cycle of poverty can be maintained, resulting in people willing to work at less than a living wage and have a shorter life expectancy, from the combination of all these factors.
“As in the past examples you provided, the leaders live in relative opulence. When you review the statistics, millions are still dying at the hands of the leaders we have today.
“Maybe we are still looking for the best way to measure progress. This also suggests why global warming is accelerating still. The kitchen isn’t hot enough yet.”
Also Cliff Boldt: “Today we have different forms of cruelty like poverty, homelessness, child abuse, to name a few. That's progress?”
Isabel Gibson: “It's an interesting problem. I agree that moving away from cruelty is an essential element in moral progress, but I don't know how we assess or measure progress on this dimension.
“If it's by the cruelty that individuals with power are capable of, was Genghis Khan more barbaric than Hitler or Pol Pot? If it's by the cruelty that religions sponsor/promote, was the Spanish Inquisition more barbaric than ISIS? If it's by the cruelty that societies tolerate, was the treatment of suspected witches in Salem more barbaric than the flaming we see on social media?
“I think you're right that we've made some progress, and I suspect that it's a virtuous circle: individuals aspire to higher standards, causing their societies to set higher norms, leading to individuals expecting more of themselves. But I also fear it can go the other way.”
Deborah Lawson wrote that she tries to avoid images of cruelty, and for the same reason tries to avoid eating meat. She lamented, “the imposition of cruelty from one human being to another (or even from human beings to other living creatures)… I've never been able to understand how one person can purposely be cruel to another. The concepts of cruelty and torture are sickening, in the literal sense of that word. When I can't avoid being exposed to cruelty, I often feel nauseated, and I'm always so incredibly sad. Sad. What a weak word for how it makes me feel.
“I agree that we seem to have progressed from the cruelty imposed under some historic tyrants (although recent beheadings posted online by some fanatical groups might challenge this perception), but we still practice cruelty in emotional or psychological terms, and although this much easier to overlook, it is still dangerous, damaging and inhumane.
“So why am I even writing this? I don't quite know. Something in your column made me think about the fact that we still harm each other, but also made me hope that recognizing this will direct us toward a time when kindness becomes more common, more characteristic of human beings. A time when we make better attempts to understand one another. Perhaps (to borrow from a slightly outdated reference to popular culture) more of a ‘Gene Roddenberry/Star Trek’ world where poverty and bigotry and the conflict of wars and ideologies have been eliminated. I realize this is a fairy tale. But the fact that we can even imagine it removes some of the sting from the reality in which we live.
“Thanks for reading my blatherings. I write them in hope, which, I believe, lives up to the cliché that ‘Hope never dies.’ Hope is what keeps me going. Hope, and the love in which it's based.”
Morar Murray-Hayes connected the column to “a recent New York Times review of an episode in TV's The Good Place … I haven't watched this series (though it's 'hot' in our house right now) but did watch this episode and it really challenged our understanding of cruelty. After reading the article, I realised the program is unique in addressing philosophical and ethical issues. Still have to see how it might impact my preaching.”
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PSALM PARAPHRASE
The NRSV describes the opening verses of Psalm 27 as a “triumphant song of confidence.” I don’t hear it as triumphant. More like trusting.
4 All I ever asked for was peace and harmony.
I would love to live serenely in God's presence.
But instead of protecting me from the tragedies of life
God gives me strength to cope with them.
1 When wild-eyed beasts with slavering jaws glare at me out of the gloom, God gives me fire;
Its flickering brightness keeps fears at bay.
5 When the fiery furnace of petty tribulation consumes my tolerance,
God offers a cooling breeze.
When daily duties clash like ignorant armies
God raises my sights above the swirling dust of strife.
6 I can see clearly again.
I don't want to fight anyone.
I would rather praise the one who loves me.
7 So don't stop now, Lord of life.
When monsters with glowing eyes get me down,
Come to my rescue.
8 "Turn to me," you say. "Do things my way."
From the bottom of my heart, my God, I have turned to you.
9 Don't turn away from me.
You are my only hope.
For paraphrases of most of the psalms used by the Revised Common Lectionary, you can order my book Everyday Psalmsfrom Wood Lake Publishing, info@woodlake.com.
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TECHNICAL STUFF
If you want to comment on something, send a message directly to me, jimt@quixotic.ca.
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And for those of you who like poetry, please check my webpage .https://quixotic.ca/My-Poetry I posted some new poetic works there a few weeks ago. If you’d like to receive notifications about new poems, write me at jimt@quixotic.ca, or subscribe yourself to the list by sending a blank email (no message) to poetry-subscribe@lists.quixotic.ca (If it doesn’t work, please let me know.)
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PROMOTION STUFF
To use the links in this section, you’ll have to insert the necessary symbols. Some spam filters have blocked my posts because they’re suspicious of some of the web links.
Wayne Irwin's “Churchweb Canada,” an inexpensive service for any congregation wanting to develop a web presence, with free consultation. http://wwwDOTchurchwebcanadaDOTca He’s also relatively inexpensive!
I recommend Isabel Gibson’s thoughtful and well-written blog, wwwDOTtraditionaliconoclastDOTcom. She also has lots of beautiful photos. Especially of birds.
Tom Watson writes a weekly blog called “The View from Grandpa Tom’s Balcony” -- ruminations on various subjects, and feedback from Tom’s readers. Write him at tomwatsoATgmailDOTcom (NB that’s “watso” not “watson”)
ALVA WOOD’S ARCHIVE
I have acquired (don’t ask how) the complete archive of the late Alva Wood’s collection of satiric and sometimes wildly funny columns about a mythical village’s misadventures. I’ve put them on my website: http://quixotic.ca/Alva-Wood-Archive. You’re welcome to browse. No charge. (Although maybe if I charged a fee, more people would find the archive worth visiting.)