The topic of this sermon was compelled by requests amongst congregants and within my own religious journey long before the events of September 11th. As Unitarian Universalists, what do we do with the concept of evil? This is my first public crack at the subject and I thank you for both the prodding and the supporting of my venture. I found, in my research, that the subject of evil is avoided by a good number of theologians, and, in looking up simple definitions, not even an entry in many reference books. But then again, that's part of the mystique of evil, it appears more powerful than our good will and intentions and most of us feel the subject is out of our league.
First, a story from a book lent to me by one of our resident theologians. It is from Deepak Chopra's work, The Way of the Wizard:
King Arthur of Camelot shared with his wife Guenevere a lesson he had learned from the wizard Merlin. "Let me show you something, "Arthur said. He asked Guinevere to leave their bedroom and return at midnight. The room was pitch black when she returned. "Don't worry," a voice said. "I'm here. I want you to walk toward me and describe what objects are around you, but don't touch anything." Walking cautiously so as not to bump into things, the queen described every detail of the room which she had furnished with great care. Arthur then lit a candle and to Guenevere's astonishment, the room was empty. "Everything you described was an expectation of what this room contains," Arthur explained, "Expectation is powerful. Even without a light, you saw what you anticipated and reacted accordingly. Didn't the room feel the same to you?" Guenevere nodded. "Even in the light of day, "Arthur continued,"we walk around according to what we expect to see, hear and touch. Every experience is based on continuity, which we nurture by remembering everything as it was the day before, the hour before, or the second before. Merlin told me that if I could see entirely without expectations, nothing I took for granted would be real. The world the wizard sees is the real world, after the light comes on. Ours is a shadow world we grope through in the dark."
Most of the distinctions we make, whether it is between spirit and matter or person to person are false distinctions. In fact, the boundaries that we create to distinguish ourselves from each other and our communities from other communities are more than likely walls that imprison us in counterproductive ways of being, walls that keep us from life affirmation and the unity of all things. Somewhere in there, in that reality that we have created dwells evil and countless self imposed hells.
"Evil is unspectacular and always human," W.H. Auden reminds us, "And shares our bed and eats at our own table."
"If only it were all so simple., "writes Russian author Alexander Solzhenitsyn, "If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds, and it were necessary to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart?"
Within our cultural psyche these days, it appears we have what Solzhenitsyn dreamed of, a defined enemy whose perimeters are unclear but whose identity is fixed. I don't know about you, but that makes me very nervous...on a soul level....because simple equations of evil lead to societal dysfunction on a massive scale breeding destruction and disintegration of morality.
For example, my offering that opinion, that I am not fully behind the "evildoer" rhetoric, could brand me "anti-American", which, by the way, is sounding more and more like an accusation of heresy. Setting aside that not too long ago folk were burned at the stake for heresy, it does not take much more imagination, or stifling of imagination as the case may be, to brand it as treason. I am increasingly aware that it is time for us all to embrace the ideals of democracy: in short, to pay close attention to what's going down and stay centered on individual responsibility toward the health of the world. Let us not forget, that simple evil branding and objectification just caused the violent death of some 6,000 people.
Let us not forget that McCarthyism was lived through by some of us, that apartheid was around during the lives of most of us, and that today we are still far from being a truly anti-racist, anti-oppressive society. Monopolizing our imagination on that evil other will assure our regression toward times when people burned for differing beliefs. Monopolizing our imagination on that evil other will complete the terrorists' mission. Because then we will live in fear, constantly reacting to another's will and giving over our personal power to a phantom danger.
Please do not mistake my words as meaning we should do nothing. That would be equally delusional. Please do not mistake my words as meaning a full rejection of our leadership. The extraordinary work engaged on countless fronts is a sacred testament toward the efforts of healing what has gone terribly wrong. There has been much heroism, much courage and much compassion in our day-to-day living.
What I am saying is that evil, or that which works to ultimately destroy life affirming power never fully reveals itself for attack. That which undermines, disables and corrupts action toward the greater good has a way of maintaining itself in the shadows...away from full view. Osama bin Laden and his followers are demonstrating these qualities, but we have in no way found the source of evil. It is a fallacy to believe that routing out these "evildoers" will bring us more substantive security. We need to stay in the work externally and internally with far more depth than that. We need to stay self vigilant and keep in mind that we are incapable of having all the answers.
We need to watch our own tendencies, our own priorities to see if they are feeding the beast, which is forever hungry.
"Evil is not committed by people who feel uncertain about their righteousness, who question their own motives, who worry about betraying themselves., " wrote Scott Peck in his bookThe People of the Lie, "The evil in this world is committed by the spiritual fat cats, by the Pharisees of our own day, the self-righteous who think they are without sin because they are unwilling to suffer the discomfort of significant self-examination."
Scott Peck's book, a recommendation from another resident theologian, defines evil as absolute refusal of guilt, absolute denial that ones' action is sinful.
Let's get to some definitions before we go on. The classic definition of "sin" is "missing the mark". When we sin we are removed from our best selves, we act in ways that defy our inherent dignity. Some define sin as separation from God, acting in a way that is contrary to life affirmation.
When I preach on inherent dignity, more often than not someone will approach me afterwards and ask, "How do you fit Hitler in this philosophy?" Now, I suppose, other names may be ascribed to that question.....My answer rarely satisfies the inquiry, that the best I can do about folk like Hitler is understand that I, too, could deteriorate to that state of human being and knowing this must be ever vigilant with myself and in relation to others to halt such disintegration of soul.
It is clear that people can become so diminished in morality that they are unsafe to human community and must be stopped. And further, people can do things that I am unable to forgive, which has both to do with my limitations and the limitations of time.
But on thinking further for this sermon, I realize that evil is not as passive as missing the mark. Evil has intent about it, a mission, an instinct to devour anything that is different from itself. It is a dynamic with many allies and it derives from our most sacred gift of being: free will. Just as we can choose life and choose to see beauty and choose to affirm others, we can choose to decay, we can choose to deny love, we can choose to devalue goodness.
Aleister Crowley warned us in 1929, "The pious pretense that evil does not exist only makes it vague, enormous and menacing."
And Scott Peck some fifty years later: "The central defect of the evil is not the sin but the refusal to acknowledge it.
Evil does not dwell in the shadow side. Evil prevents us with every manipulation possible to acknowledge our shadow side to see any defect of character, or as Carl Jung defined it: evil is our failure to meet the Shadow.
Confession, in religious discipline, is not an exercise to keep the people's esteem low as many would think and as it has been used when used badly. Confession is an opportunity to safely and intentionally take a look at where we have missed the mark of our inherent dignity. Acknowledging that we are not perfect and have things to learn and have made mistakes is granting our full being room to grow. Part of the work of ritual, in fact, is to release the pressure of pent up emotions and musings otherwise unwelcome in the business of the day.
There are few cultural rituals which are meant to safely air our shadow selves. One is coming up this week: Halloween. It is a day to unmask, so to speak. An attribute to the shadow side. Mardis Gras is the other custom within this culture that provides an observance meant to release the unknown in good company.
Domestic violence arises from the lack of acknowledgement of our shadow. To avoid any sense of wrong doing we project onto loved ones and lash out at the devil seen. Substance abuse is another way we give room to our shadow, pretending abandon and allowing the beast its due. Because in order to have a balanced life, we must give our shadow some credence. Part of our work in community is to find ways that we can air our negativity so as not to harm. Punching bags, anger rooms, organized physical sports, forms of dance, types of music let us go free without disturbing the work toward the greater good. It is all about intention and acknowledgment
Each of us have ways that prevent us from realizing our full potential. Each of us have ways that we manifest fear. Each of us have struggles, have suffered, have felt lost. What is essential always, and especially in vulnerable times, is to be wary of absolutes, ever watchful of attempts to control within ourselves and among our leadership.
We must train ourselves to counter fear with love, hatred with defiance and righteousness with suspicion. We must honor our anger and find the source of the wound within to heal. We must keep the flow of information and not give over our focus to another's agenda. We must praise what is most sacred and test our beliefs in community.
Rita Nakashima Brock:
"In facing the ambivalent realities of our own lives and of the societies in which we live, we are led to heal ourselves and each other. In the self-acceptance and wholeness that come with healing, we are empowered to live by heart, to reach out to each other and to the whole aching and groaning cosmos in acts of honest remembrance and heartfelt connection. We are called to find the courage to face the destructive forces of brokenheartedness in solidarity with those who suffer....Traveling with heart is fraught with difficulties. To face our own brokenheartedness and to touch the depths of our fears and pains can feel like a lonely journey into death. Our dangerous memories are frightening. Yet they have the power to transform. If our species, our very planet is to survive, we must take heart. And our theologies must help us find it."
And I do believe we have the potential to be a leading voice in this search for a more wholistic theology, one that honors the whole self, each part given room, given credence, given challenge, given support until our best selves emerge and increase the light of truth and beauty in the world. So may it be. Amen.
Copyright © 2001 Lisa Ward. All Rights Reserved.To be alive today is to live with pain. For some of us, our pain is the daily struggle to survive and to find a safe place to live. Others of us work to lift oppressive barriers that silence us and batter us into submission. For those of us unable to ...find one sustaining, ennobling relationship, a quiet, desolate loneliness defines the center of our existence, a center sometimes hidden by intense, aimless activity or hollow friendships...We live in a world come of age, a world no longer innocent about the suffering human beings can inflict on each other. Auschwitz, Hiroshima, Bangladesh, Beirut, Afghanistan, and countless places have become poignant reminders of our continuing capacity for cruelty and despair. We must understand the roots of our suffering. We require some structure of meaning that empowers us to change our world to lessen suffering. Our very survival depends upon how we come to terms with our pain, not just as individuals, but as a species. For, blinded by our self-protective fear, we have invented means to destroy our entire earth home...
I take human evil and suffering and their consequences seriously, but I do not believe most doctrines of sin go deep enough to the roots of our ability to hurt ourselves and each other. For all our (their) discussions of pride, evil, alienation, greed, racism, war and so on, we (Christians) have not been able to deal fully with the presence of evil in our own (patriarchal) hearts...
Through the profound acknowledgment of our primal interrelatedness we can begin to find grace and to embrace and to heal the damage and suffering of our deepest selves and our society. Original grace is this healing gift, a reality that begins at birth...
Believing in our own goodness does not eliminate our need to take responsibility for our own capacities for evil. In fact, I believe that self-acceptance and attention to all our feelings and impulses empower us to change, to heal ourselves, and to understand the roots of evil.