generalspeaking

Opiate of the Spirit

That good fellow is on about his duty again, spreading the promise of inclusivity, tenderness and agape among his followers, those for whom religious observance and belief is a panacea for whatever ails their spiritual essence and corporeal presence. More power to him, good man that he is. More hope for his followers, in an uneasy and too-often hostile, and obviously frightening world many struggle to cope with.

They seek too the comfort of a Jewish mother. She whose fabled place in the Abrahamic religions is of hallowed memory. She appears in visions of shining splendour to young girls, emotionally enamoured of miraculous stories, given, in certain times of hormonal disruptions, to hysteria and the comfort of certain neuroses. Repeat a miraculous sighting often enough, rendering splendid details of certainty and they will come.

Belief is the order of humankind. Faith the opiate of the spirit, bought through the promise of everlasting love from on high, the assurance that a powerful essence, a universal paterfamilias of divine intelligence, forgiveness, omniscience, promises salvation and a coveted space in heaven. Thereby is humankind's most desperate fear; oblivion, death, the long black night, allayed.

Pilgrims in Lithuania flock to a shrine to the virgin Mary. Four hundred, fifty years ago, shepherd children witnessed the sight of a weeping presence, a young woman with her baby. "This is one of the main sites to give thanks to Mary in Lithuania. People come here also because they have different problems, sufferings, and we know this is a miraculous place."

The pope's emissary, Archbishop of Cologne, attended the ceremony there. Pope Benedict himself, however, appeared in Lourdes to speak before the faithful, the pilgrims who bring their aches and their pains, their deformations, absent limbs, disease-ridden bodies, their hopes for transformative cure to the world's most famous shrine that so many believe heals broken bodies.

There, in Lourdes, one hundred and fifty years ago, a 14-year-old girl stood transfixed, in the presence of the Virgin Mary, a young woman "beautiful, more beautiful than any other". There were then no fewer than eighteen apparitions of this peerless beauty, a little Jewish mother of a baby Jewish boy whom Christians the world over worship as their Saviour.

(Ah, what a strange world this is. The world's eternal scape-goats somehow managed to produce a universal Messiah, one who would save the world. From itself, presumably. In whose name believers then proceeded to further persecute Jews. They, who produced the Christ also dispatched him. Anti-Semitism reached its nadir in Nazi Germany. A German-born pontiff pays obeisance to the spirit-healing prowess of a little Jewish mother.)

"It is enough to love", the pope tells the faithful, the Lourdes pilgrims, and by extension, the world at large. And he is right, is he not? They come in steady droves, certain that they will discover in that miraculous place, a solution to their grief, for their physical and psychic incapacities; hope for their future. The pope, a highly rational man, transcribes the experience thusly:

"How many come here with the hope - secretly perhaps - of receiving some miracle? Then, on the return journey, having had a spiritual experience of life in the church, they changed their outlook upon God, upon others and upon themselves." To reporters, his message was clear: "Naturally, we don't go to Lourdes for miracles. We go there to seek the love of the Virgin Mother, which is the true healing."

In the pope's exchanges with the president of France, a nominal Catholic, Mr. Sarkozy pays his due respects to the socializing effect of religion, admitting the "folly" of overlooking organized religion's efficacy in pacifying the heart of humankind, in co-ordinating the evolution of moral effect, in creating a common denominator of cultural and social normatives.

Nikolas Sarkozy, wise man himself, despite himself, concedes the role of religion in its capacity to "respond to man's need for hope ... the search for spirituality is not a danger for democracy, not a danger for secularism". And as the pope articulated, religion is fundamental in the process "...for the formation of consciences [and] the creation of a basic ethical consensus within society".

It would be absurd to argue against that reality. The simple fact is that the majority of people passionately require the comfort inherent in their belief in the supernatural, their faith in the presence of a spiritual mentor from on high, one who sees and knows everything, and whose unconditional care for his frail supplicants renders hope eternal.

Those capable of dealing with the vicissitudes of life, of accepting personal responsibility, of acknowledging that life is a transitory opportunity to become what one will, what one becomes capable of through personal effort, through the belief of possibilities, through the exercise of curiosity, through the understanding of the impermanence of being, need no further assists.

But for those whom the travails of life become a burden which, without the fervent belief and trust in the Almighty would become intolerable, that faith becomes the vessel that will lift them to safety through the shoals of adversity. Human beings are basically social creatures. We take comfort in the presence of others whom we presume are like ourselves.

When people gather in the communion of religious belief, they give comfort to one another. When religion does not become a distorted mission whereby the faithful allow themselves to violate the essence of the message of love and turn instead to our natural endowment of fear, suspicion and hatred, it serves a good and useful function.

And so be it.

Labels: Realities, Religion, Traditions

posted by Pieface @ Monday, September 15, 2008