Advent 3, Year A - Matthew 11: 2-11

"Blessed is anyone who takes no offense at me.”

I wonder if John the Baptist (who was languishing in prison) sent his disciples to ask Jesus, “Are you the Messiah?” because he was perplexed why, if Jesus really was the Messiah, Jesus’ best friends were in prison! If Jesus is going to bring deliverance and mighty deeds of power, why doesn’t Jesus do that for his best friends like John the Baptist?

I once knew someone whose business was failing. This man was in church every Sunday. He is was and still is an exemplary Christian. I feel fairly certain that he prayed, “Please Lord, help my business to survive.” Next door to his failing business was a business that was thriving. I was told that the thriving business was owned by a man who was put in jail a few years ago because of his crooked ways. He has probably never set foot in a church, had been unable to stay married, and was, all things considered, a real degenerate. Curious. Faithfulness does not procure favor with God and how things shake out in our world. We can't control God. God confounds our expectations.

“Jesus, if you are the Messiah, if you have come to bring us the Kingdom of God, then why don’t you do it? Are you the Messiah, or should we wait for somebody else?”

Are we offended that there is a power loose in the world greater than us and our efforts? Are we offended that this power may not always work the way that you think it ought to?

No, you must not be too offended because if you were you wouldn’t be reading a reflection about the Third Sunday of Advent. But you are. You are expectant, eager for Jesus to begin his signs and wonders among us. By your engaging the 3rd Sunday of Advent you are preparing to meet the Christ, even if he might confound you at times. We are a people willing to let him surprise us, delight us with his work. You are not offended. Bless you in loving Jesus rather than taking offense at his wonder-working ways.

As we prepare during this third week of Advent let us not take offence even as we are challenged and confronted by this God we can’t control. In letting go of control…. Jesus blesses you.

Advent is about learning to embrace the unexpected work of God’s Incarnation among us in the birth of Jesus. In embracing the uncontrollable God in the unexpected you are blessed. “Blessed is the person who doesn’t take offense because of me.” On the 3rd Sunday of Advent - Jesus blesses you.

Advent 2, Year A - Matthew 3:1-12
A Gospel Reflection by the Rev. Canon Jason D. Lewis


I must confess, each year I am a little more than surprised by John the Baptist showing up in Advent. You know it is going to happen every year at this time; every second Sunday of Advent the Church introduces John to us and confronts us again with John’s startling message: “You brood of vipers, who warned you to come slithering down here to the river bank to get your snakeskins washed! Repent for the kingdom of God is at hand. The ax is at the root of the tree. If the tree bears fruit, it’ll be kept…if it is dry and withered, it’ll be thrown into the fire!”

Well, happy holidays to you too John! This is such a surprise because it is at stark “right angles” with where our society and culture is at right now as we gear up for Christmas. The culture is into the warm fuzzies of decorations, and chorals, and gifts, and parties. And I like all these things…there is a real joy is sharing in these festivities with family, friends, and co-workers. But here, surprisingly enough, each second Sunday in Advent we get John - this wildman: camel-hair-honey-and-wild-locus-eating wilderness prophet! “Survivor Man” and Bear Grylls from “Man vs. Wild” have nothing on John! And it is a surprise to find his wild ways and wild message here in this supposed serene season.

And quite frankly, some of mine and your surprise, come out of our really not wanting to deal with him. At least not now, not here. Part of my surprise is an internal resistance: “We have to read what on Sunday? Really?”

It is curious though, we are told his sermons were greatly popular with the crowds. All of Jerusalem and the town in Judea, and those from the backwater hamlets along the river were making their way out into the wilderness to hear him. Curious indeed. Especially if you take into account the great effort these folks had to make to go see John preach. This isn’t like going to the local church to hear the well-known speaker interviewed and then attend this book signing afterward; this isn’t like flip through the channels and then hearing something interesting enough to pause for a few minutes before you click onward to another channel. No. John wasn’t preaching at the local synagogue, nor did he go to the national and religious center of his people's faith (Jerusalem) to preach his message. He went way off to the outskirts of civilization, middle of nowhere, the wilderness to preach. And the amazing thing is folks were drawn to his message like a moth to a flame. They made their way through the heat and dust of the desert - some traveled for hours, a day, or even days, to make their way to the Jordan to hear him preach. He was causing quite a stir. Curious.

And why? If I am so off-put by him; if his message seems so out of step and out of key with the season of the year, what did these folks see in him? There must be something more here that we are not hearing, seeing, getting. Curious isn’t it?

You know the three most important things in real estate don’t you? Location, Location, Location. The same is true here. They made their way to Jordan because this was a central place for them as a people. The Jordan marked movement from a people in the wilderness to a people with a home. Jordan marked them becoming a new people of God. This is a renewal place. And they are going out to hear John because his message is ultimately a renewal message - it is a message of transformation for those who know they are in need.

I wonder if the reason I am surprised, and the reason I at first resist meeting John on this 2nd Sunday of Advent is because I don’t think I need to meet him or need to hear him.

So, I need to try to listen again. It is a matter of context, situation, and perspective. It is not easy to hear and be confronted by those things that we know are true but are hard to face. No one promised the truth would be easy. I’m surprised by John on this second Sunday of Advent because I am not in the place to hear what he has to say…but, it is true nonetheless.

Gandhi, in his autobiography called his life “an experiment with truth.” Gandhi was persecuted for being a person of color in South Africa. He had gone to England, got his law degree, and went to South Africa to practice. He couldn’t ride on trains, couldn’t go to public places with insult or fear of personal harm. He was told, “color people can’t be lawyers.” He confronted the system to see if the society could bear the truth he knew: that his color didn’t define him.

Martin Luther King Jr. read Gandhi and was inspired to carry out civil rights rallies in US. He carried on this, “experiment in truth.” He was convicted that truth would win out. He lived out the willingness to bear the load and continue onward knowing the truth was true nonetheless.

John the Baptist is one who is an experiment with truth. John comes with the message of renewal. It is true, we all need renewal. John is God’s first step in “an experiment with truth” in Jesus. We need to turn toward the promise of love shown to us in the life of Jesus. Look to him.

The difference between hearing John or being offended, put off, resisting John, is seeing ourselves as a people who need to hear his message. Look to Jesus.

He is calling us to life change. Transformation. To bear fruit in our lives. To have what we believe in our hearts, say with our lips, match up with how we act in the world. But, if I don’t think I need to change, to be transformed, then I certainly won’t have the ears to hear.

This is the very charge he brings against the Pharisees and Saducess who come to see him. His words to them are the most difficult: “You snakes, who warned you…God doesn’t just want your snake skins washed, get the outside clean, he want to clean you from the inside out…so you’ll bear real fruit in your lives…just not on the outside in appearances, but real life change!” The religious leaders came, but John saw that they just wanted the outside cleaned, to do another ritual, hear another spiritual teacher. He was calling to them for something deeper - bear fruit! But, if I don’t think I need this, then I won’t hear. If can’t see my need, then I won’t try to have it met. If I can’t see I’m hungry, I won’t look for food.

The masses came to what seems to us to be an unwanted message because they were hungry, thirsty, a people knowing their need and a people seeking to get it satisfied, seek renewal.

We need “John moments” to point us to our need for “crossing the River Jordan” moments. We need John, despite the surprise this wild man brings, because he prepares us to encounter new Life. So, let us welcome him as we learn to welcome the new Life given to us this Christmas Season. Amen.

Advent 1 - Year A, 2019 - Waiting Awake

Advent 1, Year A - 2019 

“Keep awake” - Jesus (Matthew 24:42)


“The Christian hope is to live with confidence in newness

and fullness of life, and to await the coming of Christ in

glory, and the completion of God's purpose for the

world...By the coming of Christ in glory, we mean that Christ

will come, not in weakness but in power, and will make

all things new.” - Catechism (Book of Common Prayer, pg. 861-62)

________________________________

The advent cry, “Come, Lord Jesus,” means that we live in the purposeful awareness of a present non-fulfillment. We await a future that is not our own, nor of our own making. Staying awake, therefore, moves us from the illusion that we are at the center of a world defined by our desires and expectations. When we reduce our experience to what we would demand of others or the events of our world, then we refuse to acknowledge the full picture that is a gift from God. The advent discipline of waiting, of crying out with the generations that preceded us, “Maranatha,” is a relinquishment of our control, and an embrace of the freedom and surrender that is constituent to the Christian practice of hope.

A Map of the Soul - Week #4

(8) Projections - We encounter the world through the projections of our unconscious. A woman walks in the room and a man is struck. He is projecting his anima onto the woman. What is the active element within the woman? The projection of the anima within the man. A key dilemma within life is when we find we have married our projections. As we mature, the illusion of the projections fade and we encounter the distinct object of the other in the “real world.” Maturity is adjustment into relationship with the true object of the other, and integration of shadow projections into the individuated true self.

Anger or hatred toward another man or woman usually indicates an aspect within in ourselves that we hate or hold animosity toward. Do you have teachers that you remember and hold in high regard? More then likely, this is a self-projection onto the teacher/scholar. These were projections of your ideal self onto the instructor/mentor.

Let us now go through classic projections illustrated in the drawing, and describe characteristics of each in turn:

Nature = animal, seasonal, weather, vegetable, etc. associations with the human; endowing nature with agency and human qualities/characteristics 

Sun = the light of illumination, seeing, revelation, insight, secret knowledge, gnosis, untimely revealed knowledge from a perceived source from “without” 

Ideal Male (Father) = projections upon the “father” figure of abstracted ideal qualities; female projection onto the man; daughters often project this onto fathers (and like figures), male friends, and unto love interests; sons project this onto father (and like figures), companions, and possible love interests; IDEAL = King, Scholar, Warrior, King, Knight, Philosopher, Civic Servant for common good; SHADOW = Disinterested, Disconnected, Uninterested, Abandoning One, Cruel, Violent, Unsober, Dangerous, Fire-breather, Tyrant

Ideal Female (Mother) = projections upon the “mother” figure of abstracted ideal qualities; male projection onto the female; sons often project this onto mothers (and like figures), female friends, and unto love interests; daughters project this onto mothers (and like figures), companions, and possible love interests; IDEAL = Queen, Sophia, Muse, Courtesan, Erotic Lover, Self-Giving Domestic Servant, Nurturer, Caregiver, Madonna

The Family, the Tribe = tight closed community over against the “other,” strong association with commonly held values in a social group that offers identity, meaning and purpose; often oppositional in approach to those not in the tribe; the tribe enforces the boundary of the self; “folk ideas” are generated here, this is our primary school in provincial mythology 

The Government/Political Identity = competency in organizing and creating desired change within society and city/state - identity and status in upward mobility 

The Religious/Ritual Tradition (Spiritual Technology within Tradition/Society/Community) = 

a process that produces meaning-making and allows for a transcendence in spiritual competence 

The City = neighbors and society - “What will the Johnson’s think?” 

The Lover = the ideal mind, body, spirit in a love/eros interest 

Erotic Feminine - the man’s desire to be united with his anima projection acted out within the pleasure of enjoying the body of the woman 

Erotic Masculine - the woman’s desire to be united with her animus projection acted out in enjoying and the pleasure of her body via the man 

The Dragon/the Moon/Night-Energy = The danger of encounter with the repressed anger, hatred, resentment, unbridled desire, etc. hidden within the deep recesses of the Shadow. Will appear in dreams/art in many forms. Can be a very creative and energizing force. Can appear as the hairy man, or the witchy woman. 

Tribe Warrior - shadow of the tribe projection which seeks murderous annihilation of the other - often tribe against tribe (nation state vs. nation state), sometime man (the men) against a woman (or the women), or woman against a woman or (the other women), or man against a man (or the other men) 

The Transcendent/All Seeing Observer = transcendent, eternal goals, highest values, idealized nature, abstracted, omni-presence, omni-knowledge, omni-power, goodness, beauty, truth 

___________________________________________

Two Kinds of Mythological Paths: 

The Right Hand Path - keeps you in the fixed context of your world - living within the social roles as they have been given to you (the known). Aligned with the ideal projections of society and the tribe. 

The Left Hand Path - you “flip out." Live a life that gets away from the roles out of a sensed incongruity of the self with the roles offered to you. This is a life of danger and courage (might not be respected by others), but it will be creative and an adventure! (A life lived into the unknown).

A Map of the Soul - Week #3

The Map of the Soul - Week #3


This week we continue our exploration of the Map of the Soul by taking a look at: (1) the Persona-ae that we “project”, or “wear,” in connecting to our personal relationships and relationships within society, (2) the different ways these function in Eastern and Western societies/cultures, (3) the distinction of elemental ideas and folk ideas, and (4) the Animus/Anima aspects of the person as understood by Jung and subsequent analytic psychologist.

Perona-ae/The Masks We Wear 

The Mask(s) We Wear 

(6) Persona-ae are the roles and tasks to do within society. (Persona-ae is based upon the Greek root word “prosopon,” meaning “masks.”) These are the *“folk” ideas with local particular inflections. Persona answers the question: how do we relate to nature and character? The answers provided by engaging and utilizing the various prosopons are conditioned by and change with each culture and society. 

For example: Western societies allow for separation from the social role. We may discover our "bliss" (Campbell's word here) and are free and mobile to move into different roles within our societies. In Eastern society, you are your social function. In these societies "bliss" is an integration of one's self while fully in the social role (cast systems).


This is why many in the West have difficulty with the eastern tradition. The breaking down of the ego is difficult for the western person. In the East, you are your role (i.e. the wife throws herself on the husband burning grave as her character is fully identified with him).

Side Note: Bastain, Element/Ethnic Ideas, Archetypes 

Adolf Bastain was an important cultural anthropologist who influenced Carl Jung. A basic concept of Bastain's was the function of two different "ideas": (1) elemental ideas - universal across time, and (2) ethnic/folk ideas - different inflections of universal ideas expressed through local variations. The ethnic ideas are at times the elemental ideas in their particular “clothing.” That is to say, elemental ideas are collective representations that are broken down into constituent ideas within a particular culture. Geographical regions often exhibit similar patterns of folk ideas. Bastian called these “idea circles” which described the collective representations of particular regions.

Joseph Campbell understood his primary work to be as an exploration of what is universal and what is provincial. Historians and scientists focus on the “difference" in emphasizing the distinctions. The examination of the universe is a sociological and anthropological problem (who often ask, "why do these 'things' seem to show up everywhere?"). This comparative work is often downplayed or seen with disdain within the academy which emphasizes continuous footnoting, adolescent appeals to “authority,” and emphasizes distinctions down to the their small components. 

Carl Jung studied the universals and sought to articulate and make workable for the development of the human person the elemental ideas. He later called them, “archetypes.”

Animus and Anima 

(7a) Anima -  The unconscious feminine element of a man. The experience of the anima issues forth from the man’s relationship to a woman (women), born out of the mother of the environment; the male baby is born and put at the mother’s breast; the first object of the animus projection in the mother. KEY QUESTIONS: how was the mother? Calm, anxious, respectful, skillful or resentful, anxious, incompetent; all of this forms a foundation into the larger environment and creates to within child (around 2 years old) the capacity or lack of capacity to answer the question of the developing self, “I am this, or I am that.” See Projections analysis for further description.


(7b) Anima - The unconscious masculine element of a woman. The experience of the animus issues forth from the woman’s relationship to a man (men), born out of the post-mother environment in relation to the father; the female baby is born and put at the mother’s breast, develops within this environment, and then moves to the second object of the animus projection in the father. KEY QUESTIONS: how was the mother? Calm, anxious, respectful, skillful or resentful, anxious, incompetent; all of this forms a foundation into the larger environment and creates to the child’s (around 2 years old) capacity or lack of capacity to answer the question of the developing self, “I am this, or I am that.” How was the father? Present, loving, compassionate, skillful in emotional intelligence or absent, anxious, angry, dangerous, cut off from the world of emotions, etc.? See Projections analysis for further description.

Next week we'll look at the drawing of the map in its complete form (as shown in week one) and explore each classic project in turn. 

Look forward to completing this journey with you, 

Jason+

A Map of the Soul - Week #2

Following the themes from last week, within this post, we’ll look at the Ego, the Shadow, and begin with a basic exploration of the function of dreams as a way of growing in self-understanding and integration.

The Map of the Soul: 

the Ego, the Shadow, and Dreams

(4) Ego - The ego can be understood as the system of controlled interpretation and illusion of
possessing the full self. It is not in accord with the body or with nature. Within the drawing, the ego is represented as a square to symbolize constructed thinking. Squares do not occur within nature. They are fully constructed by human intention and design. The ego participates in the deception that it has the capacity to fully know and engage (and act on behalf of) the whole person.

The ego is good in that it enables "persona" projection to achieve social, political, and economic ends. The ego instructs us as to how to live and function in society and is necessary for this aspect of the self’s development. However, for proper (“healthy,” “sound,” “good”) individuation and full integration of the self, an awareness of the ego’s controlling illusions is necessary.

The ego system has to learn from the fuller self. This is achieved through gained competency in observation, growing openness to experience the full range of the self and the cultivation of awareness. The ego is in need of “going to school” as it listens to the mythology that comes from what “lies beneath” within the whole self (and the collective unconscious). Body knowledge must be received with humility and a basic trust in what is being discovered and revealed by the whole embodied self as it moves in and is encountered within the world.

(5) Shadow - The shadow can be understood as the unconscious deposit (Freud) from deep within the body experience. Represents experiences that have been repressed (both within the individual’s bodied history, as well as from within the collective as it is received via human collective unconsciousness from the beginning of human history). The “shocks” from the shadow set up a state, a system of response (or perceived non-response), that results in a “posture” that one takes on throughout life. The personal shadow is the shocks/experiences that are unique to the person in all their particulars. The self is a function of the biology of the body. The body “stores” the shadow impressions and the body/shadow experience is a constituent component of the whole self as it is received and experienced within this deeper universal grounding.

Present within the shadow also lies the fundamental experiences of humanity throughout our evolution - the collective shadow. Within the arts (literature, film, storytelling, myths, visual arts, music, poetry, etc.) human beings are "playing out" the dramatic narrative of coming to terms with the collective shadow - encountering the fear, danger, and dread associated with the "darker" side of our existence.

A Side Note Regarding Dreams

Within the dream life of the individual, an unfolding drama of our personal experiences is being represented in symbols (often haphazardly "plucked" from recent daily experiences/images/occurrences.) The chaotic nature of this construction is the result of the ego’s controlling “defenses” being down during the sleep state. Often the symbols themselves have no intrinsic meaning and only function instrumentally to contact and communicate with the person’s conscious mind. In the dream state, the unconscious is offering up "material" to be "worked out." By remembering dreams, the symbols offered to us within them, and the dramas being played out in their narratives (what is at "stake"), we can begin to integrate our shadow. Guided reflection is helpful here.

(N.B. Reflection is possible by the aware "self," or through analysis we a psychoanalyst. Exercise with caution individual analysis; however, limited self-analysis is possible at times within the individuation process.)

There are two different kinds of dreams: (1) personal associations - generated from personal experience, and (2) social associations - generated from the collective unconscious and offered in mythological/archetypal symbols and images. 

Jung spoke of both realities within dreams: (1) small/little dreams - presenting material from personal experience, and (2) large dreams - presenting material from mythological symbols and dreams that are working on societies shadow/embodiment. Larger dreams are received from the collective unconscious.

Next week we’ll look at the Persona(-ae), and the Anima/Animus.

Look forward to continuing this exploration with you all, 

Jason

A Map of the Soul - Week #1

A Map of the Soul - Week #1

Introduction

Over the next four weeks, I will unfold a diagram of a “map of the soul” with basic descriptive comments. These reflections are based upon: (1) lectures given by Joseph Campbell in his Mythos series (founded upon the work of Adolf Bastain and Carl Jung), (2) informed by various personal drawings and notes on readings in the field of analytical psychology, and (3) a reading of Erich Neumann’s The Origins and History of Consciousness.

The “map” is a graphic representation intended to help us in our encounter and understanding of the constituent elements of our experience: of our “self,” our embodiment, our relationship to others in our environment, and our relationship to the larger world. Obviously, the map is not intended to be an exhaustive description of the soul’s reality and our total experience of it; rather, it is a referent point to aid in the understanding of our own experience, the “goings on” of the variable dynamics of our person, and our connection (or disillusionment) with others. The diagram and comments are an attempt to offer a conceptual model and put into words the interplay of our inner experience and our relationships.

Let’s begin with a look at the diagram in its entirety and then, in turn, begin with our first series of comments. 

The Map of the Soul: 

the Body, the Self, the Threshold of Consciousness, the Conscious, the Unconscious, the Ego, the True Self, the Shadow, the Anima and Animus, the Persona(-ae), and our Projections. 

Over the next 4 weeks, I will give a description of each element within this representation, seeking to explain each element in part, its relationship to the larger whole, and how we may be aided by the unfolding of the map’s meaning. Let’s now begin with the first movement. 

The Threshold of Consciousness, Wisdom of the Body, and Self 

(1) Threshold of Consciousness - The “dividing line” that demarcates the “conscious” from the “unconscious.” The conscious domain constitutes the narratives of the constructed self as it places words to the experience that arise from encounters of the interior and exterior world through the body. The conscious mind contains habitual thought patterns concerning perceptions of the “self” as well as the perceived phenomenon of the world. An initial awareness of the unconscious often begins with low-resolution encounters of internal and external “objects” that seem to be “causes” of thought patterns, perceptions, urges to act/motivations for action, and behaviors. The representation of the unconscious domain as occupying a greater area of the circle of the self is intended to indicate the large degree to which our unconscious influences and affects our lives. At times we may ask ourselves, "Why did I do that?" And we very well may not know. 

(2) Wisdom of the Body - The outer line of the circle is to represent “where” the person ends and the world begins. The wisdom contained herein is the knowledge formed from the physical embodiment of the person located in a particular history - in space and time. This is the most fundamental knowledge. There is no “disembodied” human experience. All is apprehended, experienced, and interpreted through the function and prism of the body’s "knowing." “As the forest trees, so the universe peoples.” - Allan Watts. The person is necessarily and causally related to the multifold distinctions of full embodiment in the world - longitude, latitude, height of sea level, familial/social relationships, masculine/feminine, ethnicity, economic/social standing, political affiliation, culture, perceived history, tradition, mores, ethos, etc. We are our bodies - located in space and time. All knowledge, even supra-natural, or “spiritual” knowledge, is only known in and through experiences mediated via the body.

(3) Self - The condition of our embodiment. The Self is represented in the map as the integer that is fully the surface of the complete circle (both conscious and unconscious domains) and the line of the complete outer circle which is the body’s boundary within the world. The Self is fully conditioned by the particulars of the embodiment within which it exists: young, old, healthy, decrepit, male, female, etc. The Self is the bounds of our experience - the line of the circle inward. The “True Self” at the center of the circle is the integrated center. The “True Self” is in part an inner awareness not to over-identify with the narratives of the Ego, the Anima/Animus energies/projections, Persona(-ae), the Shadow, or our Projections. Theologically, this is the center of the belovedness within which we are held.

Next week we’ll look at the Ego, the Shadow, and begin with a basic exploration of the function of dreams as a way of growing in self-understanding and integration (in relation to our unconscious).  In week three we’ll look at the Persona(-ae), and the Anima/Animus. In our final week of the series, we’ll walk through the reality of our Projections and how they are manifest in our relationships with others in our environment.

Look forward to sharing this journey with you all, 

Jason+