christianmystics.com

 

"Hate not atheists, the teachers of evil, materialists, even the most wicked of them, let alone the good ones among them...Remember them in your prayers thus: "Save O Lord, all who have no one to pray for them and save those, too, who do not want to pray to thee."

Father Zossima, The Brothers Karamazov

 

You'll notice that the character of Father Zossima in The Brothers Karamazov does not urge us to go out into the world and pummel the atheists and the teachers of evil with Bibles. It's not even suggested that they be forced to watch gospel cable television shows. Interestingly enough, what is required is nothing of them, but something of us.

We're used to traveling in our own tight little orbit in life, passing through the orbits of those we know and love, those who make us feel safe and appreciated, those who are quick to praise our talents and abilities and silent on our shortcomings. We gather as church communities or study groups or online and relish in our sameness. There's no reason to assume one shouldn't do that from time to time -- we all need to have our batteries charged up.

But somewhere outside our familiar path there are others who, as Jesus knew and spoke of often, would curse you for any attempt at that old-fashioned word, righteousness. Righteousness, after all, means being in the right -- not in the sense having the correct answer, but rather being right with the world, in the flow, living and breathing in God.

Take a moment to visit AOL's religious chatrooms. Whenever I make a trip into one of the rooms such as Atheists or God is a Myth, I find the one thing that seems to unite those who would call themselves "unbelievers" is their intense, burning anger against those who do. If you want to feel your blood pressure rise, if you want to find a way to survive fires of irrational criticism, just slip into one of those rooms for a few minutes!

In the life of the Christian mystic, the presence of God becomes evident in all things by God's imprint, and when we arise from prayer and contemplation, it is easy to leave this realization behind. To say we see God in the world can be what I call "bumper sticker theology" -- a catch-phrase, a pretty concept, but not a reality that is experienced in each moment on every street, on every corner?

Yet behind most anger of this type are two things. The first is fear. While it's said that some people take to religion because of fear (and this certainly happens), how different are those who dig their heels in, proclaiming the supreme power of their certainties? The second, I believe, is that the people who scream the loudest and with the most obscenities against anyone of the Christian tradition are asking, hoping, wishing to be proved wrong.

The anger and verbal violence is proportionate to the desire to be convinced, to discover that existence is charged with meaning, not devoid of it; that life has purpose and direction both here and beyond, not a brief flash between two infinite moments of darkness.

We are all born with the innate knowledge that this world is not all there is, that things happen that we cannot see or answer with the language of science and pure (as if it's possible) reason. There is nothing wrong with science any more than there's anything wrong with, say, French. But speaking French in a country where the language is Chinese won't bring much understanding. The conclusion would be that all these people are ignorant and refuse the face the hard facts of life.

So, what are we to do with these people? First, it's not particularly our job to demand that they do what we think they should do. That is between God and them. We become an instrument of peace when we live our lives and choose our words with as Christ-like an intent as we can muster. We bring about the most revolutionary changes in others when we become what we are -- inhabitants of the Kingdom of God, peacemakers, those who love those who persecute or ridicule us.

The Buddha understood the psychology of life as well as anyone when he said, "Not by hatred is hatred ended...but by love." We find that as we sit in prayer or contemplation, those who vex us or disturb us will come into our consciousness. All we can do is to pray for them, to hold them in the light of Christ. This practice calls on us to expand that circle, to include those who have no one to pray for them, no one to love them, who do not even find it possible to voice that desire from their pain and hatred.

There is a kind of contemplative practice that works wonders. It involves selecting those people in our lives who give us the most trouble, who are the most difficult to deal with, who seem the most angry and unhappy.

May all people be filled with your loving kindness.
May all people be well.
May all people be peaceful and at ease.
May all people be happy.

Then, sitting, one goes on to think a person who has done wrong, who is alone, who is angry and challenging and says, using the person's name:

May that person be filled with loving kindness.
May that person be well.
May that person be peaceful and at ease.
May that person be happy.

We're very good at praying for those who love us and whom we love -- but, as Jesus said, what's the benefit in that? As we repeat these words and let them flow out from our very depths, we discover the intense experience of liberation that love brings, both in ourselves and, don't be surprised to discover, in those for whom we pray.