Great post Michael. I have been thinking so much about these things of late. You help me to think it through and most of all give me the feeling that I am not alone.
Here’s a little encouragement for the difficult task of raising children....
Great post, Michael. Your poem brought to mind the ending of Miyazaki‘s movie “Princess Mononoke” where lady Eboshi decapitates the Great Forest Spirit in an effort to prevent nature from encroaching on her little industrial town. She plans to give the head to the emperor (who believes it will grant him immortality) in exchange for imperial protection. The main character, Ashitaka, is eventually able to reclaim the severed head and return it to the Forest Spirit. The Spirit dies but its form washes over the land, healing it and lifting Ashitaka's curse.
The whole film is deeply Shinto in its worldview, But I’ve always wondered if somebody could give it a charitable (and responsible) Christian reading…
It's a great film. Many of Studio Ghibli's work is worth looking into. Aesthetically pleasing and very, very enchanted due to its Shinto-focused worldbuilding.
I second the recommendation of "Princess Mononoke". I'm not even very into animations, but studio Ghibli is great, and this movie specially is one of my favorites.
My mom is Puerto Rican. I have a lot of pentecostal ministers in the family. I tried being atheist for a while but it seemed too much like a rejection of my heritage and culture... the laying on of hands is powerful. I'm Episcopalian now, because I'm a modern and liberal millennial, but the Spanish church has a hold on me. Signs and wonders. I think white Americans are disadvantaged in some ways. I worry for my toddler daughter, who will not see those powerful elders as they pass on...
I tend to think of the Burning Bush as emblematic of the phenomenological approach: the subject (Moses), the object (bush), and the Light shining forth, synthesized in the unity of an event. I believe you're completely right that without such a datum of direct revelation, Christianity would indeed be just an ideology among others, unworthy of anyone's ongoing devotion. I often see the classic problem of mistaking the map for the territory, or arguing about theories and abstractions while missing the central, life-giving point.
Also, I have always found it odd that the same folk who insist that "I give you the keys to the Kingdom" is a matter of literal, bureaucratic fiat also think that "Call no man father" must just be a passing figure of speech. A nice case study, I guess, in how people see what they wanna see. As Blake suggests, there is Scripture, and then there are the eyes that read Scripture.
About authority: One thing I'm not sure about is what to do with the, um, spiritually less gifted. I talked with a guy the other day who insisted that Jesus was a seventh-dimensional incorporeal entity, and I thought to myself, "Ah, so docetism still lives." And I once had the misfortune of drinking a beer with a pair of Presbyterian seminarians: wow, they were the worst. I wondered why they even bothered to call themselves Christians when they denied practically every line of the Creed. Point being, while surrogate fathers are no good, it also seems non-ideal to go through this centrifugal splintering, as people with little genuine intuition mistake their own egotism for truth. The chronos of the institutional tradition seems to guard against this latter problem—but often at the price of also cutting off access to the genuine kairos, which is certainly too great a sacrifice. So maybe the only way forward is through?
And finally, yes, "Princess Mononoke" is a wonderful film.
Great post Michael. I have been thinking so much about these things of late. You help me to think it through and most of all give me the feeling that I am not alone.
Here’s a little encouragement for the difficult task of raising children....
The Children’s Heaven
The infant lies in blessed ease
Upon his mother's breast;
No storm, no dark, the baby sees
Invade his heaven of rest.
He nothing knows of change or death-
Her face his holy skies;
The air he breathes, his mother's breath;
His stars, his mother's eyes!
Yet half the soft winds wandering there
Are sighs that come of fears;
The dew slow falling through that air-
It is the dew of tears;
And ah, my child, thy heavenly home
Hath storms as well as dew;
Black clouds fill sometimes all its dome,
And quench the starry blue!
"My smile would win no smile again,
If baby saw the things
That ache across his mother's brain
The while to him she sings!
Thy faith in me is faith in vain-
I am not what I seem:
O dreary day, O cruel pain,
That wakes thee from thy dream!"
Nay, pity not his dreams so fair,
Fear thou no waking grief;
Oh, safer he than though thou were
Good as his vague belief!
There is a heaven that heaven above
Whereon he gazes now;
A truer love than in thy kiss;
A better friend than thou!
The Father's arms fold like a nest
Both thee and him about;
His face looks down, a heaven of rest,
Where comes no dark, no doubt.
Its mists are clouds of stars that move
On, on, with progress rife;
Its winds, the goings of his love;
Its dew, the dew of life.
We for our children seek thy heart,
For them we lift our eyes:
Lord, should their faith in us depart,
Let faith in thee arise.
When childhood's visions them forsake,
To women grown and men,
Back to thy heart their hearts oh take,
And bid them dream again.
George MacDonald
Thanks, Shari--and I love the poem!
Great post, Michael. Your poem brought to mind the ending of Miyazaki‘s movie “Princess Mononoke” where lady Eboshi decapitates the Great Forest Spirit in an effort to prevent nature from encroaching on her little industrial town. She plans to give the head to the emperor (who believes it will grant him immortality) in exchange for imperial protection. The main character, Ashitaka, is eventually able to reclaim the severed head and return it to the Forest Spirit. The Spirit dies but its form washes over the land, healing it and lifting Ashitaka's curse.
The whole film is deeply Shinto in its worldview, But I’ve always wondered if somebody could give it a charitable (and responsible) Christian reading…
Oh, man! I really need to check out that film! Thanks!
It's a great film. Many of Studio Ghibli's work is worth looking into. Aesthetically pleasing and very, very enchanted due to its Shinto-focused worldbuilding.
It - partly - inspired me to write a piece about what the West can learn from Japan to revive our own Dreamtime: https://elvengast.substack.com/p/the-way-of-the-kami
Thanks for sharing your post. It's great and I learned a lot!
I second the recommendation of "Princess Mononoke". I'm not even very into animations, but studio Ghibli is great, and this movie specially is one of my favorites.
My mom is Puerto Rican. I have a lot of pentecostal ministers in the family. I tried being atheist for a while but it seemed too much like a rejection of my heritage and culture... the laying on of hands is powerful. I'm Episcopalian now, because I'm a modern and liberal millennial, but the Spanish church has a hold on me. Signs and wonders. I think white Americans are disadvantaged in some ways. I worry for my toddler daughter, who will not see those powerful elders as they pass on...
I enjoyed this post, Michael. A couple thoughts:
I tend to think of the Burning Bush as emblematic of the phenomenological approach: the subject (Moses), the object (bush), and the Light shining forth, synthesized in the unity of an event. I believe you're completely right that without such a datum of direct revelation, Christianity would indeed be just an ideology among others, unworthy of anyone's ongoing devotion. I often see the classic problem of mistaking the map for the territory, or arguing about theories and abstractions while missing the central, life-giving point.
Also, I have always found it odd that the same folk who insist that "I give you the keys to the Kingdom" is a matter of literal, bureaucratic fiat also think that "Call no man father" must just be a passing figure of speech. A nice case study, I guess, in how people see what they wanna see. As Blake suggests, there is Scripture, and then there are the eyes that read Scripture.
About authority: One thing I'm not sure about is what to do with the, um, spiritually less gifted. I talked with a guy the other day who insisted that Jesus was a seventh-dimensional incorporeal entity, and I thought to myself, "Ah, so docetism still lives." And I once had the misfortune of drinking a beer with a pair of Presbyterian seminarians: wow, they were the worst. I wondered why they even bothered to call themselves Christians when they denied practically every line of the Creed. Point being, while surrogate fathers are no good, it also seems non-ideal to go through this centrifugal splintering, as people with little genuine intuition mistake their own egotism for truth. The chronos of the institutional tradition seems to guard against this latter problem—but often at the price of also cutting off access to the genuine kairos, which is certainly too great a sacrifice. So maybe the only way forward is through?
And finally, yes, "Princess Mononoke" is a wonderful film.
I love that "bureaucratic fiat" observation. 😅
Well written, as usual, Michael. Loved the "did I write this?" moment, of which I've had some.
thanks
I'm impressed! I usually just sleep in my deer blind....
I suspect that the more we stand against the fear state, the more we will become acquainted w the wild of God. It's a wonderful and inspiring concept.
Well, I also often fall asleep...😅
I think the churches were worried about people getting Covid. Just sayin'
Pretty sure a favorite saying of their founder was "Be not afraid."
Well said.