In Praise of the Holy Fool

"The soul prospers in the failure of perfection."--Thomas Moore

While we may perceive events either as immanent or as transcendent, the soul of a person knows no time but its own. When relating to others, it isn't always easy to open the soul to another, to risk opening the self, hoping that another person will be able to tolerate its sometimes rationality, and sometimes irrationality. It may also be equally difficult to be open, or receptive to the revelations of others.

The light of Oneness not withstanding, there is great temptation to separate, to judge, to make comparisons of these oddities of soul. Yet this mutual vulnerability is one of the great gifts of love. To give another sufficient space in which to live and express one's soul in its reason and unreason, and then to further risk revelations of your self, in all its potential absurdities may be perceived as quite loving.
The courage required for this process is not easy; it is infinitely more demanding than either judgment or comparisons. While most of us contain ourselves fairly well, the soul and its ways eventually surface bringing forth the unexpressed that we sense stirring inside.

We all have to some extent, a sense of the fearfulness of such an enterprise. Oneness by its nature asks that we move aside, that we move beyond with others to a place that may ask a share of soul in its completed form.
 In the story, In Praise of Folly, Erasmus says, "it is precisely in their foolishness that people can become friends and intimates. For the greatest part of mankind are fools... and friendship, you know, is seldom made, except among equals."

As modern thinkers, we may present to the world a well developed intellect, a sense of proportion, but the soul is more fertile in its own imagination, in its own earth, finding value in sometimes irrationality. Perhaps this is in part why great artists and inventive minds seem a bit eccentric or mad to the average onlooker. At times when seized by strong passions, our greatest anxieties often comprise the fear of being seen by others as foolish.
We fear in love, in Oneness that we appear irrational, foolish, but that is just the point. The soul is not the least concerned with reason or intellect. It operates more deeply, and more persuasively. So then, love in Oneness calls for acceptance of a Soul's less rational outposts, a recognition that a heart may contain both love and contempt.

We need not only to know more about ourselves, but also we need to love more of ourselves, in an unsentimental way; that is the way to oneness. Tolerance, "honoring that aspect of the self that may be irrational or extreme is the basis for intimacy," writes Thomas Moore.
We have fewer expectations of perfection, less judgement; less and less are we separated by these notions. We come to recognize that the soul, in its meanderings, tends to move into new and positive areas in spite of, and because of the oddities expressed.
In Oneness a beloved may be surprised by these developments, but not be undone by their unexpected appearance. The soul, the creative being, does prosper within the failures of perfection.

Jesus, the Subversive, the Radical

The Simple Mind is away from the computer

Today, this holy day in Christianity, Holy Thursday, is the day that tradition tells of Lord, the Christ Jesus, started his walk on the long road leading to crucifixion. His crime, among others explains Anthony Gittens in his book, Come Follow Me, is that the Christ advocated 'turning the other cheek' in an ancient world where 'an eye for an eye' ruled supreme.The G-d of the Jews, of the Greeks and Romans was a just God meting out both reward and punishment in measure. Their God was merciful, but he was unlike the G-d advocated for by the Christ. The entrance of this God into the world astounded; it defied. Citizens felt compelled to act.

"Turn the other cheek," Saint Matthew writes (Matthew 5:39). "Jesus seems to be saying something like this: even if a person has so little respect for you and so much aggression toward you as to add injury to insult by viciously striking you in the face, not only should you not retaliate, you should respond by assuming a stance of vulnerability... On the face of it, this act is indeed foolish... Unquestionably, there is risk involved, since we can never precisely predict another's behavior... It is all rather difficult to understand.

"Jesus, writes Gittens, 'surely knows that discipleship entails risk. But it is also intended to renew families, relationship and communities... Jesus' demand goes far beyond every specific situation. It is general..." He calls the disciple to a higher standard so that others may see and believe. His method is counter-culture. For example, by not seeking retribution for wrong doing or legal recourse, members of the community are called instead to reconcilliation."   To the Christ the notion of the 'zero sum game' was without relevance. His Father in Heaven, whom he called upon, was without prejudice. There is no competition. Winners and losers are totally unacceptable to the Christ. God's grace is not a limited good.

And so writes Gittens, "the Jesus movement was in his time, and thereafter breaking up households. Parents frustrated with their offspring, totally unable to dissuade their children away from this new, radical life built on love, unable to shame them out of their new commitment, often struck them on the cheek." The bold, radical love of the Christ advised the proffering, then, of the other cheek. "And the world turned on its head."