Good tabloid headline: Philosopher "kills" God…

Ingemar Hedenius (1908-1982), a Swedish philosopher, announced to his fellow Swedes in the 1950's that he had killed God. How God reacted to this pronouncement, heaven knows, but as for Hedenius, he proudly remarked: "We shall not believe anything unless there is reasonable cause to believe that it is true". God unwilling to speak up in the debate had seemingly forfeited the right to exist.

Today, two decades after Hedenius' own death, Sweden enjoys one of the highest material standards of living in the world. Sweden also is currently attempting to rapidly rewind their sexual, social and drug revolutions of the 1960's. Spiralling divorce, one of the highest suicide rates in the world, problems with recreational drug use, and a slow dismantling of the family unit, are now the by-products of their revolution. A society which had killed God, is now searching for meaning in existence. A society with all things tangible now wonders if there is any purpose to living. The voice of Christ now redounds with even more import: "One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God." (Matthew 4: 4, NRSV).

In light of the Swedish experiment, it is not surprising to see a report from prestigious Columbia University in the United States examining the prevalence of drug use and other forms of vice in the western world. Incorporated as part of its conclusion it stated that: "Compared to teens who attend religious services weekly or more, teens who never attend religious services are twice as likely to drink, more than twice as likely to smoke, more than three times likelier to use marijuana or binge drink and almost four times likelier to use illicit drugs. Adults who never attend religious services are almost twice as likely to drink, three times likelier to smoke, five times likelier to use illicit drugs other than marijuana, seven times likelier to binge drink and almost eight times likelier to use marijuana than adults who attend religious services weekly or more". (The National Centre on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University, 2001, p. ii) The authors of the report concluded that the greatest defence the individual has regarding social vice, is the awareness of the presence of God in their lives – a personal spirituality. The researchers took pains to distinguish between religion and spirituality, stating that the mere blind obedience to religious tradition holds little defence, rather one has to explore and foster a relationship with God.

Dr Kania's conclusion would seem to sit very comfortably with the point Fr Alex Caughey made yesterday in our forum and which I suggested ought be broadcast to the world via a 40' high neon sign on the front of St Peter's Basilica. See Fr Caughey's comment at: www.catholica.com.au/forum/forum_entry.php?id=10892 …BMC

The Christian mystical tradition…

Long before Stephen Covey invited business executives to determine the weather outside by how they feel inside; the Christian mystical tradition existed. For two millennia the great spiritual writers have conveyed the message regarding the need for living always within the knowledge of the presence of God, irrespective of the highs and pitfalls of life, irrespective of material possession or particular life circumstance. The Christian has always been exhorted to be in the world, but not of it, to take the weather of the world to come, into their world of today.

From the earliest days of the Church, Christians were not called to be followers of Christ by legalistic adherence to the Law, but by being born anew, by showing witness to their faith, by their enhanced capacity to love their God as well as their neighbour. Christianity was to be more than the religious code of the Pharisees, it was to be a way of life as integral to living as the air which we breathe. The 'Way' as Christianity was first known, was in essence a path to the presence of God by becoming one with the Father, Who gives life; one with the Son, Who gives the example of living; and one with the Spirit, Who nurtures life. To be a Christian was to live one's faith and not merely to subscribe to an organization.

Living within "the presence of God"…

Jean de Gerson (1363-1429)

So what is the importance of living within the presence of God? The French academic Jean Gerson has provided us with one of the most lucid defences of the value of the spiritual life. In his famous work, Speculative Mystical Theology, Gerson describes, that living in the presence of God was to have an "experiential knowledge of God". What Gerson was attempting to make his readers understand was that there are ways of knowing God other than from books, that there is the way of knowing which relates directly to experience. A child knows that his mother loves him, not from reading a book about her, but from experience. Similarly the Christian is called out from the world to relate to God, not only through the intellect but also through the senses. It is this sensual understanding of God, which is the launch-pad for the spiritual life; an awareness of God in one's life. In such a light it is understandable that there are many examples of knowledgeable atheists, such as Hedenius, but no examples of knowledgeable mystics who have become atheists.

To fully take your weather with you, you must have a purpose to living which cannot be easily destroyed, you must base your life on an eternal principle, rather than a material possession. Common sense dictates, the more tangible your treasure the less secure your reason for existence. As Christ reminds us: "Make purses for yourselves that do not wear out, an unfailing treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also". (Luke 12: 3-34, NRSV) God is the best foundation on which to base a relationship, for God is with you in this life and beyond, and the only way one can lose with God, as the French mathematician, Blaise Pascal warns us, is to bet against him.

Re-affirming this point, Viktor Frankl, a psychologist and survivor of Auschwitz, describing his experiences of the concentration camp, postulated that if you give a person a reason to live they can endure anything which is dealt them. To live as spiritual beings necessitates that when all the trappings of our faith are torn from us, when the very churches are razed to the ground, and the ornaments we wear around our necks our stolen from our person – we still have faith, hope and love.

Some of the Church's greatest saints have shown us the importance of living with and in God. Blessed Roman Lysko is reported to have died in a Soviet prison, in the second half of the 20th century, in the following manner. Refusing to turn from his Catholic faith, the NKVD (KGB) officers chained him and sealed him up in a wall, while he was still alive. His spirit undeterred, Lysko was heard by other prisoners singing within what was to become his tomb.

It is the experience of God in our lives which gives us the ability to ground our lives on solid foundations, to face the realities of living and to shield us from the tempests. All else are but temporary elixirs of varying longevity.

Image Credit:
The background image for today's headline comes from stock.xchng. Titled "D.light 3" the image is by Martin Jans of Dusseldorf, Germany.

©2008 Dr Andrew Thomas Kania

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