Socrates

In one of the great ironies of history, Athens, which gave the world democracy, as well as famous Schools and Academies, is also the city which bears the shame of having put to death one of its finest citizens, the philosopher, Socrates.

The trial and execution of Socrates, is an irrevocable blot on Athenian history; for the man who taught the city's citizens to examine their lives, was essentially executed for expressing the truth which he thought and felt. His last words, as recorded by his pupil, Plato, still to this day echo the man's calibre of mind and spirit: "The hour of departure has arrived, and we go our ways — I to die, and you to live. Which to the better fate is known only to God."

Nearly half a millennium later, Jesus of Nazareth was tortured and crucified after a sham trial. Prior to his suffering he spoke to his disciples:

"A man planted a vineyard, and leased it to tenants, and went to another country for a long time. When the season came, he sent a slave to the tenants in order that they might give him his share of the produce of the vineyard; but the tenants beat him and sent him away empty-handed. Next he sent another slave; that one also they beat and insulted and sent away empty-handed. And he sent still a third; this one also they wounded and threw out. Then the owner of the vineyard said, 'What shall I do? I will send my beloved son; perhaps they will respect him.' But when the tenants saw him, they discussed it among themselves and said, 'This is the heir; let us kill him so that the inheritance may be ours.' So they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. What then will the owner of the vineyard do to them? He will come and destroy those tenants and give the vineyard to others.' When they heard this, they said, 'Heaven forbid!' But he looked at them and said, 'What then does this text mean: "The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone"?'" (Luke 20: 9-18, NRSV)

Christ's death and resurrection reverberates over all the Ages since, and epitomises the great struggle for Truth in this world, for goodness over evil.

A conspiracy of blindness...

Since Christ's death, the history of humanity is a record of men and women who have witnessed to His Truth, and paid for their lives by so doing. Whether it be: John Fisher in Henry's Tudor England, Martin Luther King Jr. in the seething racism of Georgia, Josaphat Kuncevyc in Polotsk, or Irene McCormack in Peru, it would seem that there is something inherently repulsive to the human psyche of hearing the Truth confronting our consciences. Nothing seems to sting greater than Truth applied to the open wound of a bad conscience. For this reason another martyr for the Truth, John Chrysostom, asked his audience about their personal courage to stand up for what they believe: "Are you willing to open that person's eyes? Are you willing to expose the excuses as false? Are you prepared to risk that person's wrath, as wounded pride rises up in anger? Or do you prefer to blind yourself to your friend's faults and so join a conspiracy of blindness?"

	St John Chrysostom

The task of the Christian in the world, according to Chrysostom is difficult. It is easier to partake in 'a conspiracy of blindness', not bringing attention to oneself, being comfortable in ignorance, than to grasp and defend a principle, even to the point of risking one's life. Thomas More's self-proclaimed epitaph: "I die the King's good servant, but God's first", says much. More died being the best possible friend Henry could ever wish for, a man willing to tell his friend the Truth, even to his own personal demise; but for this expression of Truth he was reviled, ridiculed and physically destroyed.

Sculpture of Adam Curle (1916-2006)

So why do we so often seek to destroy those very people who appear in painful hindsight as visionaries? Adam Curle in his work of 1972 entitled: Mystics and Militants: A Study of Awareness, Identity and Social Action (p. 108-109), perhaps best encapsulates the problem which the great Christian activists of history have faced. According to Curle, these Mystics are "a constant threat to people whose security depends on a belonging-identity. They threaten either to make them, too, feel uncomfortable and dissatisfied, or actually to disrupt their protective systems of belonging. Throughout history the aware have been ridiculed, disowned, hated, tortured, and killed by those who feared them. The persecution and crucifixion of Jesus is just one example. But they are hated so much precisely because they are also attractive. Few people are so blind that they do not feel the compelling force of awareness and with part of their hearts yearn for it. Thus our attacks on the more aware are violent because contact with awareness has aroused doubts in ourselves. We hate those who force us to question ourselves and we escape from having to answer by attacking. We project our inner struggle outwards and many suffer or die or kill because we will not acknowledge our blindness, or try to regain our sight".

In such a light it becomes easy to see why so many 'stones are rejected' — they challenge us; they seek to rouse us from our contented slumber in the hope of creating a better world. These people not only see the tangible realities of the world around them, but witness these machinations as effects of either spiritual health or disease. Astonishingly, these individuals take St. Paul's Letter to the Ephesians seriously: "For it is not against human enemies that we have to struggle, but against the principalities and the ruling forces who are masters of the darkness in this world, the spirits of evil in the heavens". (Ephesians 6: 12, The New Jerusalem Bible)

The salt which preserves human society from decay

Individuals such as, Dag Hammarskjöld of the United Nations perceive with unfettered vision the reality of the world they seek to tackle, they are far from being blind-idealists, they are driven by a passion for the Truth which springs from deep within. As Hammarskjöld penned in Vägmärken (Eng. Trans.: 'Markings'): "He who has surrendered himself to it knows that the Way ends on the Cross — even when it is leading him through the jubilation of Gennesaret or the triumphal entry into Jerusalem". Such people pursue the Truth in the hope of giving a higher form of life to humanity. Aldous Huxley noted, it is these men and women who are: "The salt which preserves human society from decay". Without them wherein lies the hope for humanity? Without those willing to die for the Truth, what would our lives be; perhaps a steady course of Social Darwinism, a mere pondering as to who on this small globe will survive to be the fittest.

IMAGE SOURCES: The keystone image used in the headline is sourced from www.stonecarver.com. Clicking on the other images will take you to the original source for each image.

©2007 Dr Andrew Thomas Kania

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