In
this post I do not claim to offer a full spiritual or psychological
analysis of religious fanaticism. I wish I could. I am not an expert
on the subject. But in the spiritual realm, there are analytical
elements that can be added to the normal elements dealing with
fanaticism. It is some of these points, rather, that I would like to
share, that require us to pause, ponder and think, for in essence we
all in one way or another are very keen on certain things in life,
and this for many reasons (i.e. freedom for instance... Remember the
May 1968 French saying: 'it is forbidden to forbid').
Here
I will be trying to understand and analyse the mechanism behind
'christian fanaticism'. My interest, moreover, is not in what other
religions think on this issue as I believe in leaving each to his
own.
The
little Pharisee in us
First
and foremost, some might be tempted to think that they are not
fanatical, that they are cool, open minded,... That is all well and
good. But one important fact in the Gospel, it must be remembered, is
striking: the presence of the Pharisees. They are amongst the most
heavily criticised people in the Gospel. This should surprise us.
They are, after all, a group of followers within the Jewish faith
(and many will become Christians), rather akin to an elite group, of
the purest amongst the pure: the word "Pharisee" in fact
means "chosen". What is striking is that the Gospel - which
is written for us and not for those Jews who remained in the Jewish
faith - criticises them quite strongly.
When
we read the Gospel, the temptation is to keep our distance from this
criticism and say that it is not addressed to us, but rather to the
Pharisees, remarking: "look how awful there were". However,
in fact the Gospel is inspired by the Holy Spirit and written for us.
So why are the Pharisees mentioned? The reason is simple: inside of
every human being following Jesus there is a secret little (or
bigger) Pharisee, who often escapes from our grasp.
This
in fact affects the depths of the human soul and the religious
attitude: whenever we are presented with a desirable object
engendering possible worship, we have deep inside of us some
mysterious mechanism that triggers behaviour quite similar to that of
the Pharisee. It is in fact a mode of behaviour common to all human
beings, and not just to some Jews living in Jesus' time. One can be
perfectly Christian and yet have the attitudes and ways of a
Pharisee.
It
is worth bearing in mind, therefore, that all criticism (constructive
and positive criticism) that we find in the Gospel about the
Pharisees is very strong medicine that is being given to all of us, and
more precisely to that hidden Pharisee in us.
That
the Pharisee is always well-intentioned is important to remember! But
this is not enough. Although he wants to defend the purity of faith,
at the end of the day, the means he uses are not the right ones. In
this light one cannot refrain from thinking of the parable Jesus
recounts, which applies most significantly to the Pharisee:
“Why
do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay
no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your
brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the
time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the
plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove
the speck from your brother’s eye." (Matthew 7:3-5)
Jesus
was not displeased by the zeal of the person he was blaming. Rather
He encourages the person to take part in the sanctification of his
brothers. Jesus points to the "means" used ('you will see
clearly [how] to remove'): in other words, how do I help my brother?
This observation, I feel, is rather pertinent, for the result is:
"then you will see clearly [how] to remove"... It seems
that the overzealous behaviour shown here is rather based on the 'old
man' in us than the 'new man'. If the old heart of stone is removed,
and a new humble and meek heart is transplanted, then the Spirit of
God will be able to move the person to see more clearly and really
help his brother.
"Hypocrisy"
and "double standards" seem to be the characteristics of
this type of mentality. A greater importance is given to external
things (the outside of the cup (Matthew 23)) over internal things
(the inside of it). But above and beyond this, thank the Lord, is God
who sees only the heart of our brothers, and therefore only He can be
the Judge because He sees the truth therein and can assess its worth.
I
can consequently have great "fun" re-reading the best
Bible-thumping chapters ever written, allowing the Light of God to
shine in me, trying to fish out and corner that little escaping
naughty pharisee: chapter 23 in St Matthew. As a result then when,
for example, I am sitting close to a person whose body odour is
offensive, the thought can be nourished in me that my sins smell
exceedingly more in the eyes (rather in the 'nose') of God than the
smell coming from this person. I myself am merely annoyed by this
smell, while the truth is that it is God who is hugely offended by my
sins. In this way my sins will have a powerful impact on me. This
will calm down my hypocrisy and bring me to spiritual realism.
The
mechanism of fanaticism
I
would like to suggest a possible route to the birth of some types of
catholic spiritual fanaticism.
The
world we live in is quite chaotic, confusing and psychologically
impoverishing. Instead of elevating us, giving us a sense of
security, unifying our life around God's Presence amongst us, it
offers us few values and references, and all that we find is
unpredictability and random behaviour. This reality pushes us to go
on a Quest for the Truth, a search for things more stable and
long lasting and for a sense of security and peace. We search for our
'Messiah'.
As
we journey on this quest, we might come across a more alive
Christianity, a renewed discovery of Catholicism, and be overwhelmed
by some graces that God gives us. The initial lack of order in our
life, psychological instability, sense of loss, fear and weakness
will then start to diminish because of the action of the Grace of
God.
The
initial Graces we receive give us the peace we were earnestly longing
for. But what happens is that since we are still beginners, these
graces fall into the hands of the ' old man'. Thus we receive them
and understand them in a very base human way that prevents us from
treating God, the Truth, for who He is. There is an unconscious
deviation that occurs in us. Good intentions are always present. But
they are not enough!! One can inflict a lot of damage with good
intentions, starting with oneself!
When
Peter says to the Lord, when was announcing that He will suffer, die
and rise: "no never"... who was talking here? The Old Man
in Peter. When Peter says that he will follow Jesus despite Jesus
warning that he cannot do so, who is speaking here? When Peter cuts
the ear of the guard, who is acting here? The Old Man in Peter!
It
is not enough to have the New Wine, i.e. Jesus in our life. We also
need the Old Wineskin to be transformed, purified, changed, into the
New Wineskin!
When
Jesus performed miracles, fed the crowds, stopped the wind, healed
all illnesses, what was people's reaction? He greatly resembled a
Political Messiah, with all the necessary solutions : food, clothes,
shelter, and peace! They wanted to make him a King! The Messiah King!
But who is reacting in them here? The Old Man. How does he react?
According to the base human way.
The
'Pearl', the 'New wine' is being given to swine: the old skin. This
will not work, it will not bear fruit.
It
is worth stressing once more that Jesus is not questioning people's
zeal. Yet, it is not because we have zeal that validates the use of
baser human means. Emphatically not! When God's Graces fall into
soiled hands, old hearts of stone, old skins, they become Idols -
i.e. they are unconsciously worshipped like God! Our attachment to
them is true spiritual idolatry, where importance is given to what
we have understood, what we have felt, and not to God himself, the
Giver.
The
Old Heart tends to accelerate, rushing to conclusions, to interpret
according to human values, hopes and desire. One light, one grace, is
now given prominence according to the desire of the moment, the part
becomes the whole. One light is transformed into an entire doctrine
or conviction. We start to focus on things that matter to the Old Man
in us... but in fact they are only a part rather than the whole of
theTruth. We rush on, not wanting to wait until all the Truth is
revealed to us, until the entire picture is painted before our inner
eye. The attachment to such things is already the seed of fanaticism.
In
essence, it becomes evident that Graces which have been undermined by
selfish/subjective needs, can generate fanaticism, and lead us
astray from God's ways.
Strangely,
after having been 'poor', for a long time, in the spiritual sense, as
we search for the Truth, any crumb of light that enters into our
perception becomes the object of our new born fanaticism. If any
person comes and challenges us, or touches this newly received part
of the Truth, we become very confrontational, aggressive and
insistent. Our approach becomes radical and fundamentalist. We build
up in our mind the convictions we want, with the little we have, and
totally disregard the different thinking or behaviour of anyone else.
Ironically,
deep inside of us, we are unaware that our thinking and emotions are
dominated by fear: the fear of losing our grip on the little crumb of
light which has fallen into our hands, and which has become our
"god". There is a subtle but vibrant idolatry at work here.
A crumb of the Truth now becomes all the Truth. Now, into the
bargain, we became very zealous about it.
Total
blindness, total lack of humility! Who can save us? Nobody. Why?
Spiritual pride has already taken root in us and it is impossible to
convince a person who has spiritual pride.
A
person with common human earthly pride is open to redemption, because
an appeal can be entertained when it emanates from a higher point of
view or perspective: an established spiritual life, God. But if you
are dealing with a spiritually proud person, this is simply a
dead-end! In fact this person actually claims to spiritual knowledge!
Fear,
lack of full growth, a degree of ignorance, generate fanaticism and
the dogmatic self-righteous insistence that comes with it. A zeal
that does not emanate from God, for God is humble and meek.
Fear
of losing what was gained when the light was experienced is enough to
give him or her grounds for "certainty".
All
this shows a lack of growth. A fragmented and reduced approach to the
real God, the real Jesus, the real Gospel. It illustrates a very
superficial understanding of Christianity, and quite a serious degree
of spiritual blindness. "...you said, you see, therefore your
sins remain" said Jesus to the Pharisees toward the end of
Chapter 9 in St John's Gospel.
More
significant even than this is to know that all fanaticism bears a
degree of heresy in it, because one choses part of the Truth and not
all of it. The challenge of doing the latter - choosing all the Truth
- is infinitely harder, because grasping the whole Truth engenders
quite a different way of behaving, and is necessary. It is a humble
and meek way, and is founded on gratitude for the generosity and
mercy shown by the Lord.
NB
If you want to read about Spiritual Sins, read the First book of
“The Dark Night of the Spirit" of St John of the Cross
(Chapters 1-7), where the author addresses the seven spiritual
capital sins: a reflection of the usual seven capital sins
transposed onto the Spiritual Realm: spiritual greed, spiritual
gluttony, spiritual lust, spiritual pride, spiritual laziness,
spiritual jealousy,... All momentous sins!
The
healing process
The
needed purity
If
a fanatic has a little seed of humility and repentance, he or she
can find a way to heal and grow spiritually.
As
a first step it is important to trust God and entrust ourselves to
Him. This attitude is essential. It comprises a sincere wide and deep
act of Faith in God. We are not the managers of our Spiritual Life,
we did not call God, we do not deserve even one of His innumerable
Graces. Everything flows from His immense Mercy, calling us to follow
him. He Called us, it is not we who called Him.
It
is God who knows that the greatest part of our being still needs to
be purified and changed; that the Old Man is still very alive in us;
that a big part of our make-up is still raw material. The work is one
of transformation, of daily effort, of daily steps to take, of daily
growth. Therefore it is extremely advisable, everyday, to place into
the hands of God one end of a figurative woollen ball by
concentrating on doing Lectio Divina as well as possible. If,
everyday, we repeatedly ask Him to hold one end of the thread, if,
everyday, we put it back into His Hands, He will finally possess the
entire ball in his hands, but more importantly, the thread will be
absorbed by Him to subsequently become the means of transforming us.
It
is important to realise that spiritual life is like human growth: it
takes years to become an adult. It takes years for a small seed to
become a big tree! This means that we should not cease trying to
achieve our first victories, but consider that everyday there will be
a battle, and that we need to win it. We should not be satisfied with
a few crumbs but aim for the abundant Table of Food God has ready and
waiting for us. This means that patience, resilience and perseverance
are the unavoidable keys to success in this situation.
It
must also be kept to the forefront of our thinking that rushing,
jumping to conclusions, taking short cuts over important steps,
forgetting the daily spiritual realism, make us go astray.
Every
day entails its own effort, pain, and growth. Spiritual realism
dictates that 'today' is what matters the most. It is not beneficial
at all to discard the necessary steps. Neither is it beneficial to
look behind, or be attached to the "old edifice". Let it
fall if it has to - and unavoidably it has to!
It
is important as well not to mix and confuse one light with the
Uncreated Light, Jesus himself, and to forget also the thousands of
other lights the Lord wants to send us. As mentioned before, it is
important to avoid transforming a grace we have received into an
idol... into a "god". Only God is God, and anything created
that falls into the narrow space of our mind cannot be idolised. God
is infinitely wider that our little brain and understanding. One
truth calls for another truth until the Truth is formed, until the
whole picture of the Truth is formed. And remember, the Truth is not
a theory, it is a person: Jesus.
Jesus, the Good Shepherd |
It
is also useful to remember that fanaticism is fiercely insistent. On the other
hand Jesus was meek and humble. He said to the Samaritan Lady (St
John chapter 4): 'I am thirsty.' He did not start by saying: 'you
have the wrong religion, you are an adulteress,...' Conquering others
for Christ requires a lot of delicacy and forethought as well as
patience, both of which constitute a purer form of Love.
The
Church, in the final analysis, provides a better and more balanced
judgement. Why try to out run the Church? Why run in a different
direction to the Church? Why claim that the Church makes various
assertions when it is you who make them, and do so in your own way?
After all, who gave you permission to do so? What are your
credentials?
It
is of the utmost importance to believe in the Church. "To
Believe" is not to stop at what we see. It is to go deeper, with
pure intentions, to find Jesus and the Holy Spirit instead of seeking
out trouble! St Francis of Assisi confessed to a known adulterous
Priest. Why? To show us how his faith was stronger than appearances,
that he saw and believed in the sacred Priesthood of this Priest! Do
we have such faith?
It
is important, also, to have recourse to the deposit of God's Wisdom
which the Church holds in trust. Submitting to the Holy Spirit who is
alive in the Church, who speaks through the Church and in the Church
is a true wise choice. Thus it is beneficial to have recourse to the
Church for solid doctrine in order to find in her, God. Likewise it
is always very good to humbly consult God through his Priests, such
behaviour, in fact, being endorsed by St John of the Cross who says
that God loves this way of acting.
As
a final reminder, let us remember that the Lord did not blame us for
wanting to remove the speck from the eyes of our brothers, but He
stressed the fact that we need to learn how do it: by removing
first the beam in our own eye! The Lords wants us to really learn
what is true love, true Mercy, true compassion, so we are more
qualified to remove the speck from our brothers' eyes, not with
aggressive fanaticism, but with peaceful, meek, compassionate Mercy.
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