Saturday, August 3, 2013

The divided mind

Mark 3:23-29

          Very often you hear a story in the news about someone, often with power and authority and they have been discovered to have a deep dark secret. Mistress, drug abuse, pedophile, embezzler, you name it. It seems as if they have a bifurcated personality. One side of them is saintly, the other a sinner. How can they live with such internal contradictions? At some point the sinner gets out of control and runs the risk of ruining both of their lives - the good and the bad. It's almost like a cancer. Cancer is not what might be considered a good parasite where both host and parasite live freely together. Cancer consumes the host until it is dead. I think this is very similar to the person with the split personality of sinner and saint. 

            I mention this in the broadest of terms because it's what I think of when I read this passage.  For example, one the reasons the Catholic church is in such trouble is not simply the child abuse but all the issues combined; issues that the hierarchy and the faithful have disparate opinions and beliefs on.  The divided church will not be able to stand. The hierarchy fails to see the answers that the faithful know in their hearts and minds, that the Spirit has revealed. The church seems snail slow at recognizing and adjusting to truth, scientific,  sociological or spiritual. When was the concept of Limbo abolished?

            The real issue that I would wish to address is the divisions within ourselves. I don't think we need to rise to the level of supreme saint and super sinners either. We all have some level of divisiveness within us. For example we mouth answers to "does God love you?" as if answering questions from the Baltimore catechism. The truth is though, what our mind has come out over our lips is not always what we feel in our hearts and so the divisiveness within us begins.  We become conflicted and such internal conflicts whether on a conscience or subconscious level has consequences. There are a whole range of emotions, actions and addictions that help us deal with the two competing voices in our heads. One solution many have taken is to ignore any voice that would allow them to admit their frailty, imperfection or dependence on the rest of mankind. I am strong and solitary! I am a self made man! I can do it by myself! No one matters but me!

           The real question is how do we integrate the divisions in ourselves, in the church and in the world? If no house can stand when divided against itself, how do we heal the divisions? A root question might be how do we avoid the divisions in the first place?

            I can offer only some basics that I hope would help. I am sure you may come up with other answers. First and foremost in my mind is where I started today. You must learn to know that God loves you. No question about it. No limits, warts and all. Whatever gets in the way of you knowing that in my mind is not a good and healthy thing. That would bring up the second thing. The church, any church, any religion is not actually God. These are human institutions, made of human revelations or human interpretations of God's very words. Man as a conduit is not infallible. We seem to have a penchant to make rules and swear that our vision is the only vision. If your church, or religions has rules or concepts that cause you to have divisions within yourself, place that beleive or if necessary the whole religion aside. Third on my list is to love everyone else as much as you love yourself, as much as God loves us. Love has the most incredible curative powers. Oddly enough the last item on my list, is therapy. Not terribly original I know but a good therapist is golden and can guide you through spots in life that seem harsh and unbearable. When you feel there are no options and that the sinner within is killing the saint within, therapy can be a lifeline. It can help you realize you always have options, no situation is that bad.

             I often say our lives are journeys to wholeness, it seems apropos to this passage. Perfection is not something we can ever achieve or conceive in this lifetime. Having said that, unity of mind , body and spirit is something God wishes us all to have.

And he called them to him, and spoke to them in parables, ‘How can Satan cast out Satan? If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but his end has come. But no one can enter a strong man’s house and plunder his property without first tying up the strong man; then indeed the house can be plundered.
‘Truly I tell you, people will be forgiven for their sins and whatever blasphemies they utter; but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit can never have forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin’— 

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