SOMEONE TOUCHED ME

MAKING CONTACT WITH ONE ANOTHER IN CHRIST

And all who touched him

were healed.
Matthew 14:36

Touching begins something.
When one touches another,
some connection is made in that contact
that creates a relation between
the one and the other.
A power goes out from us to others
in the common yet precious miracle of touch.
To touch another person is a priviledge
that carries with it certain responsibility.
Initiating contact creates an expectation
on the part of the one touched:
What next?
Who touched me?


Part of one stays with the one touched,
part of one is passed on to the one who touches.
Strangers keep their distance from one another
for closeness begets intimacy.
Once begotten, this new relationship
demands continued attention.
Attending to one another
is the responsibility that comes of touching.
It is involuntary.
One may choose not to give on'e further attention,
but that choice is made of one's own volition.

The priviledge of being a stranger
is that one may ignore other strangers.
But, strangeness is fleeting -
we cannot remain strangers for long
in the presence of others.
We may play at being strangers
and, for pretense sake,
ask evasive questions:
What is an acceptable distance
for strangers to keep?
What does one do
if that distance is breached?
How may one move away
without giving offense?

It seems humans must

reach toward one another

or move away.

We cannot really keep our distance.

Impersonal touch is a myth.
All touch is personal.
The impersonal is
a conscious rejection of another person,
and all rejection
implies a personal choice.
One decides to accept the chance for relationship
or deny it.

Continual rejection of others

denies much more than those others

- it denies oneself.

We become ourselves
only in relation to others.
Touching and being touched,
we consummate our relationship to others
in the fellowship of creation.
Reaching out to or accepting
another person created in the image of God,
we begin to sense some contact with
the Person who created us.

Without others

to touch and to touch us,

we become desensitized,

unable to give or receive

those signals of humanity

that communicate personhood.

This desensitization

is the root of bitterness,

apathy,

cynicism,

tyranny,

treachery,

blasphemy,

and sacrilege.

The touching moment,

just as it is followed by

a decision for or against continuance,

is preceded by the intention

to touch or not to touch.

One may or may not be aware

of the particular tendency

that moves or inhibits a touch.

However,

if that tendency is informed by a mind

that actively considers

what is good and acceptable,

then one may be confident

in initiating contact with others.

There is, of course, risk involved in touching,

for the one who is touched

may refuse further contact.

It is hard when one's touch is ill-received.

the risk is well-taken, however,

if one is already in contact

with some other or others

who, one is confident, will remain in touch.

This is essentially the Gospel message:

God reached out by His Word

and touched us first in the beginning

by creating and breathing life into humanity;

yet,

rejection was our response.

The truth is,

all of us have rejected God's friendship

and are in need of reconciliation.

Through Jesus Christ,

God's only begotten Son,

we finally know and are able to

respond rightly to that gracious touch of God.

Jesus, filled with the touched of God's Spirit,

reaches out to to us and calls us

to be his friends,

revealing that

enmity with God was our choice,

not God's.

Confident then in this renewed friendship,

we may reach out and touch others

who are yet enemies of God,

thought they still may think themselves

to be merely strangers.

God knows us though we may ignore Him.

He already established relationship

between Himself and us

in that it was He who created us.

In Him we live and move and have our being.

We live in breach of that relationship

unless we touch the one point of contact

whereby we may be reconciled:

the Lord Jesus Christ.

He it was that came to live among us.

"That which was

from the beginning,

which

we have heard,

which

we have seen with our eyes,

which

we have looked upon,

and

our hands have handled,

concerning the Word of Life;

that which

we have seen and heard

we declare to you,

that

you also may have fellowship with us;

and

truly our fellowship

is with the Father

and

with His Son,

Jesus Christ."

Thus are we assured in Scripture

concerning our hope of reconciliation.

We need not fear touching others

for we know

God is faithful to keep in touch with us.

Touching others and being touched,

we sense,

if only for a fleeting moment,

the very touch of God.

THEATRETHICS

ENSEMBLE ACTING
BEFORE AN AUDIENCE OF ONE

The idea of theatre

is to put on a performance

produced before an audience.

.

The idea of ethics

is to conduct oneself in accordance

with the context of a greater community.

.

The idea of theatrethics

is to act with others

in full consideration of one God

who sees us,

comes before us,

and remains beyond us,

while being with us.

.

Created in God's image,

we have been called

to become imitators of God.

To imitate God is to act like God,

to be godly in our relationships with others.

All human action

takes place in the context of some relationship

and every human act

is held to the standard

of loving others as one loves oneself.

Prior to loving others, of course,

is the imperative that one loves God wholly.

Love never happens in isolation;

in fact, isolation is a rejection of love.

Even the One God

is a Trinity of Persons

in perfect relationship with one another.

Thus is the imitation of God

a matter of acting in careful consideration

of one's relationship with others.

.

What is God like?

God is revealed

through

face-to-face interaction,

faithful following,

and

textual reading.

.

Meeting God face-to-face is impossible

unless God allows such a meeting;

otherwise we follow Jacob's example

and see in our meeting with others

a reflection of God's presence,

seeing in the face of the other

"the face of God."

WHAT A SHAME:

A CLOWN or JUST A FOOL?
.

I have never mastered the clown's art

of turning my own misfortune

into comedy.

Perhaps laughter is the best defense

against the pain of shame.

The clown makes a trade.

Dressed in his traditional costume,

he behaves with all the foolishness

of a small child

pretending to be an adult.

Although people are laughing at him

(which is embarassing)

the laughter is under his control,

which makes him feel

powerful and proud

of himself

rather than helpless

and ashamed.

.

Most of us work hard to present ourselves to the world as competent and "cool." Any time people laugh at us, our self-esteem is reduced and we are embarassed. Any moment of embarassment is guarenteed to interrupt the flow of our day and reduce our ability to live comfortably among others, let alone feel comforable within ourselves.

.

The clown

gives up this very important piece of self-esteem

in order to gain

whatever sense of personal pride

that comes from his success

in getting us to laugh

at his command.

.

Often one finds amusing something involving somebody's embarrassment.

Examples may range

from pratfalls

or clear, obvious flashes of unexpected stupidity

to subtle comments or allusions

that make one think

of something stupid one has done once oneself

but

that one didn't know

anyone else had ever experienced.

.

Shame always seems to involve a more-or-less sudden decrease in self-esteem, a moment in which we are revealed as somewhat less than one wants to believe. In a situation where people are friendly to one another, such exposure is in an atmosphere of interpersonal safety. When one's frailties or foibles are exposed before those in whose presence one does not feel safe or loved, this mild, humorous embarrassment gives way to the deeper forms of shame like humiliation or mortification.

.

Comedy, however, rarely does more than hint at the darker side of shame; perhaps some of its success lies in the delicacy of its success lies in the delicacy with which it plays around the edges of what is hidden within each of us. We all live on some line between shame and pride. The word of comedy is to make this border a bit safer.

.

The comedian stands alongside us, pointing at others, exposing the falseness of their self-esteem and so allowing us the safety of laughing at them, while the clown focuses our attention on himself and asks us to laugh at him. The only remaining performers who make us laugh are the jesters, who (to the extent they are given permission) can expose our secrets and make us laugh at ourselves. They live at the greatest risk, for the slightest slip will move them past the boundary of "good taste" into a realm where they incur only wrath. In the medieval court, the jest alone could tell the truth about the king. Usually deformed and therefore already "defective" and shame-worthy creature, his humor came from this ability to expose and embarrass within strictly defined limits. There are a lot of jokes about jesters sentenced to death for "going too far."

.

Shame can power all forms of humor.

There is, of course,

more to humor than shame,

and

more to happiness

than liberation from shame.

Nevertheless,

few experiences in life are so pleasant

as the moment of release from shame

or

the realization that

our foibles

are accepted

with love.

.

Adapted from Donald L. Nathanson's

SHAME & PRIDE: AFFECT, SEX, & THE BIRTH OF THE SELF

(pp 16-17)

FOOL OF WISDOM

MOROSOPHIA

(foolosophy: foolish wisdom of God)

This fellow's wise enough

to play the fool.

TWELFTH NIGHT, IIIi:61

I turned my mind to understand,

to investigate,

to search out

wisdom

and the scheme of things.

I turned my mind to understand
the stupidity of wickedness and
the madness of folly.

Applying myself to the understanding of wisdom

as well as of madness and folly,

I learned that
this is a chasing after the wind.

My mind still guiding me with "wisdom,"
I tried cheering myself with wine,
and embracing folly.
Loose laughter, however, is foolish.
What does such pleasure accomplish?

wisdom.

OUTWEIGHS

A little folly

Was ever one wiser than one's own weak wit?

Why would one ever dare to think, "Try it?"

When one's world is found empty,
God's word proves itself full.

Was one ever so wise to not fail as a fool?

There is more hope for a fool

than one wise in one's own eyes.

A proverb in the mouth of a fool

hangs limp.

Answer not a fool according to his folly

lest you become

like a fool yourself.

Answer a fool according to his folly

lest, in his own eyes,

he become wise.

Wisdom reposes in the heart of the discerning

and

even among fools

she lets herself be known.

Folly is loud

undisciplined

without knowledge.

Sitting at the highest point in the city,

Folly calls out to those who pass by:

"Let all who are simple come here! "

To all who lack judgment,

Folly says,

"Stolen water is sweet;

food eaten in secret is delicious!"

But little do they know

that the dead are there;

the guests of Folly

are in the depths of the grave.

The wise in heart accept commands,

but a chattering fool

comes to ruin.

The wise store up knowledge,

but the mouth of a fool

invites ruin.

Whoever conceals one's hatred

has lying lips,

and whoever spreads slander

is a fool.

The lips of the righteous nourish many,

but fools die for lack of judgment.

The one who brings trouble on one's family

will inherit the wind,

and the fool will be servant to the wise.

The way of a fool

seems right to him,

but a wise man listens to advice.

A fool shows his annoyance at once,

but a prudent man overlooks an insult.

A prudent man keeps his knowledge to himself,

but the hearts of fools blurt out folly.

Every prudent man acts out of knowledge,

but a fool exposes his folly.

A longing fulfilled is sweet to the soul,

but fools detest turning from evil.

He who walks with the wise grows wise,

but a companion of fools suffers harm.

The wise woman builds her house,

but with her own hands

the foolish one tears her house down.

A fool's talk brings a rod to his back,

but the lips of the wise protect them.

Stay away from a foolish man,

for you will not find knowledge

on his lips.

The wisdom of the prudent

is to give thought to their ways,

but the folly of fools is deception.

Fools mock at making amends for sin,

but good will is found among the upright.

Even in laughter the heart may ache

and joy may end in grief.

A wise man fears the LORD and shuns evil,

but a fool is hotheaded and reckless.

The simple inherit folly,

but the prudent are crowned with knowledge.

The wealth of the wise is their crown,

but

the folly of fools yields folly.

A patient man has great understanding,

but a quick-tempered man displays folly.

A fool spurns his father's discipline,

but whoever heeds correction shows prudence.

The lips of the wise spread knowledge;

not so the hearts of fools.

Death and Destruction lie open to the LORD

- how much more the hearts of men!

The discerning heart seeks knowledge,

but the mouth of a fool feeds on folly.

Folly delights one who lacks judgment,

but a man of understanding keeps a straight course.

Understanding is a fountain of life

to those who have it,

but folly brings punishment to fools.

For a fool

HONOR

is unfitting.

A longing fulfilled

is sweet to the soul,

yet the fool is determined

to return to his folly.

ON HEARING FAURE'S REQUIEM SUNG

by The Valley Forge Choir of Men & Boys

at Washington Memorial Chapel on February 29, 2003.

Silence.

Boys proceed with folded hands,

their fingers intertwined.

Men follow,

young, old, faithful, faint.

Others watch

and wait,

sitting in the wooden pews

or on stone benches

set along the chapel walls,

(some, having arrived late,

on folding chairs set up front),

all now a sudden congregation

set to hear a service sung -

an invocation to our God

that He

would grant eternal rest.

.

Requiem aeturnam ...

Organ chord sounds loudly first,

and startles some

who sit not knowing

what they should expect.

Rest eternal ...

sung in Latin verse,

the Lord beseeched with music,

God in Zion praised,

and we,

reminded that all flesh

shall die,

seek God's face

to favor us with mercy

in that coming moment.

.

Kyrie eleison ...

Lord Christ have mercy.

Surely you are able, Lord;

we pray that you be willing.

.

Rex glorie ... libera animas ...

From death deliver souls.

Oh Lord!

Is not the promise of the King of Glory sure?

Surely shall all faithful souls be saved

from being swallowed up

in deepest darkness,

from falling down forever

into abysmal obscurity.

Make those souls pass from death, O Lord;

deliver souls from death

to pass instead

to life.

.

Sanctus, sanctus, sanctus ...

Thrice holy God, Lord Sabaoth,

hear blessing from trebled voices

as organ plays with harp;

the highest hosannas sung

to the One who comes,

full of glory,

in the holy Name,

I AM.

.

Pie Jesu Domine ...

Please, Lord,

hear our prayer,

and, in your mercy,

grant eternal rest.

.

Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi ...

the world ... the sins ...

who takes sin away?

There is no one else

who can, who has, who sacrificed for us.

who ... who has mercy?

Only you, Lord Jesus Christ!

Oh, God ... like a slaughtered lamb you lay,

stretched out on a cross,

striped with bloody marks of malice,

miserable, suffering like we do,

and more,

and more,

and more ...

.

Libera me, Domine ...

lux perpetua luceat

Liberty! (Deliver me.)

Liberty? (Deliver me.)

From eternal death, deliver me.

Don't let death be dominant.

That fearful day approaches quickly

when all liberty proclaimed

in vain and bloody revolution

shall come to naught;

the wrathful truth is a bitter judge.

I tremble to consider the desolation of that day.

Those whose fantasy of perpetual luxury

will instead

be shut forever out

of Paradise,

suffering a second death.

.

in paradisum ...

In your coming ... be with us in your coming.

Be with us, Lord,

be with us now,

so that in Paradise we may be with you.

Help us find our rest, O Lord,

in you.

.

Requiem ...

requium aeturnam, dona nobis.

My heart, my flesh rejoice in God.

.

... exultaverant in Deum vivum!

To dwell with you, as you have come to dwell with us,

is bliss beyond imagination.

.

Laus et Jubilato ...

Hidden in your heart is home.

How dear your dwelling is, O Lord.

How delightful is your rest.

THE PROCESS OF INTERPRETATION ...

... is a circular one

calling for a movement

from a part to whole

and back to the part.

The paradigm
for this hermeneutical circle,
or, better, helix,
is the understanding of a sentence.

This requires

an understanding of individual words

which requires

an understanding of the sentence

which requires

an understanding of the paragraph

which requires

an understanding of individual sentences

which requires

an understanding of the language and social practices

with which it is interwoven.

Coming to understand a text

is a process of temporarily progressive feedback.

I understand the first word in a sentence

in the light of an expectation

regarding what kind of word will follow,

and likewise

for the words that do follow.

But

my expectations are not always fulfilled,

and they are usually fairly general.

By the time I have reached the full stop

or the end of the paragraph,

hitherto possible meanings

of later sentences or paragraphs

may have surprises in store for me

that will call for a revision

in my understanding of the text so far.

This is why

the so-called

hermeneutical circle

is really a spiral ....

John Llwelyn , Beyond Metaphysics?

The Hermeneutic Circle in Contemporary Continental Philosophy,

Alantic Highlands, NJ: Humanities, 1985.

A DREAM, A SHADOW

.

From of old it has been

that

the mirth of folly

is brief,

giddy joy lasts but a moment.

Though
his pride
reaches to the heavens
so that
his head may touch the clouds,
the fool,
like his own dung,
will perish forever;
those who have seen him
will say,
"Where is he?"

Like a dream
he flies away,
no more to be found,
banished
like a vision of the night.
The eye that saw him
will not see him again;
his place will look on him
no more.

The fool is of few days
and full of trouble.
Like a flower,
he springs up,
then withers away;
like a fleeting shadow,

the fool

cannot long endure.

The fool is like a breath;
his days are fleeting,
like a shadow.

When I tried to understand all this,
it was oppressive to me,
'til I entered the sanctuary of God;
then
I understood the final destiny of fools ...

As a dream

when one awakes,

so when you arise,

O LORD,

you will despise

the folly of the fool

as fantasies.

ADAM'S ANGUISH

THE CRY OF CLAY
.

If you probe my heart

and examine me at night,

if you test me,

what will you find?

Would it turn out well if God examined me?
Could I deceive Him as I might deceive others?
Would not His splendor terrify me?
Would not the dread of Him fall on me?
No godless man would dare come before Him!

If I conceal my sin as men do,
by hiding my guilt in my heart
because I am so afraid
(so fearing the crowd, so dreading the contempt of the clans
that I keep silent and withdrawn),
then let briers come up instead of wheat
and weeds instead of barley.

If I have been unfaithful, I will be judged.

He brings hidden things to light.

O LORD, you have searched me and you know me.
You are familiar with all my ways.
Where can I go from Your Spirit?
Where can I flee from Your Presence?
If I say, "Surely the darkness will hide me,"
the darkness will not be dark to You;
the night will shine like the day,
for darkness is as light to you.

My frame was not hidden from You

when I was made in the secret place.

Now I am hidden in the shadow of Your wings only.

I resolved that I will not sin,
yet my feet slipped.
I call on You, O God,
for You will answer me;
give ear to me and hear my prayer.
Show the wonder of Your great love,
You who save by Your right hand
those who take refuge in You.

Why am I angry?
Why should my face be downcast?
If I do what is right, will I not be accepted?
But if I do not do what is right,
sin is crouching at my door,
it desires to have me, but I must master it.

O LORD, by Your hand
save me from the evil one crouching in cover.
Let me find my rest in You,
so that, in righteousness, when I awake,
I may see your face,
satisfied with seeing your likeness.

Search me, O God, and know my heart;

test me and know my anxious thoughts.

See if there is any offensive way in me,

and lead me

in the way everlasting.

WHO TOLD YOU?

.

Who told you that you were naked?

When I created you,
when I brought you both together
because it is not good for man to be alone,

you were naked

and you felt no shame.

Yet

when you heard me now in the garden,

walking in the cool of the evening,

you were afraid

because you knew you were naked

- who opened your eyes?

To make coverings for yourselves,

you sewed fig leaves together;

you hid.

Did you eat from the tree
from which I had commanded you
not to eat?
I commanded you
not to eat
from the tree of the knowledge of good & evil.
That tree,
like every tree I caused to grow out of the ground,
including
the tree of life in the midst of the garden,
was pleasing in appearance
and good for food.

Why would you wonder whether I really said
that you cannot eat from any tree in the garden?
You even said
that you may eat the fruit from the trees in the garden.
I did say,
"You are free to eat from any tree of the garden."
I also said,
"But
you must not eat
from the tree of the knowledge of good & evil,
for
on the day you eat from it,
you will certainly die."

Yet you said
that I said this
about the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden.
That tree is the tree of life.
That tree I included among the trees
pleasing in appearance
and good for food.

You however
looked upon the other tree,
the tree of the knowledge of good & evil,
and looking upon that tree,
you said that I said,
"You must not eat it or touch it or you will die."

These are not the words I said.
Even the serpent, that most cunning
of all the wild animals that I had made,
said no!
It was the serpent who had said to you, the woman,
"Did God really say,
'You can't eat from any tree of the garden'?"
But
after saying no to your reply,
the serpent said,
"You will not die."

I said you will certainly die
on the day you eat
from the tree of the knowledge of good & evil.
You said I said this
of the tree in the middle of the garden.
The serpent cunningly confused the two
and deceived your with his words.
That deceiver said,
"God knows that, when you eat it,
your eyes will be opened,
and you will be like God,
knowing good & evil."

I know what I know.

.

I know that

I created the heavens and the earth

and that it was good.

.

I know that

I said,

"Let us make man in Our image,

according to Our likeness."

.

I know that

I formed you from the dust of the ground

and breathed the breath of life into your nostrils,

and that you became a living being.

.

I know that

I planted a garden in Eden

and placed you there.

.

I know that

I placed you in the garden of Eden

to work it and watch over it -

to be fruitful, mulitply, fill the earth, and subdue it,

to rule

the fish of the sea, the birds of sky,

and every creature that crawls on the earth.

.

I know that

I have given you

every seed-bearing plant

on the surface of the entire earth,

and every tree whose fruit contains seed,

to be food for you

and for everything having the breath of life,

the breath I myself breathed into them.

.

I know that

I commanded you

not to eat

from the tree of the knowledge of good & evil.

.

And

I know this thing that you have done -

You, the woman,

listened to the serpent's words,

and

you, the man,

listened to your wife's voice,

and

you both

ate from the tree about which I commanded you,

"Do not eat from it."

.

You, the woman,

because of what the serpent said,

wondered about what I really said,

and looked upon the tree

of the knowledge of good & evil.

You saw that the tree

was good for food

and delightful to look at,

just as every tree was

that I caused to grow in the garden I planted for you -

but

this tree, from which I commanded you not to eat,

you saw as being very desirable for obtaining wisdom.

From this tree

you took some of the fruit and ate it.

From the fruit of this tree

you gave some to your husband who was with you,

and he ate it.

.

When then the eyes of both of you were opened,

knowing you were naked,

you hid from from me.

But

the coverings you have made for yourselves

are not enough to hide your shame,

for you must be clothed by me.

.

Curses will come because of what has been done.

.

I will curse the serpent

more than any livestock and

more than any wild animal.

.

You, the woman, will bear children in anguish -

I will intensify your pain.

Your desire will be for your husband, yet he will dominate you.

.

You, Adam, were there with your wife

when she spoke to the serpent,

when she saw the tree from which I commanded you not to eat,

when she reached out her hand and took some of the fruit,

when she ate it, then gave some to you as well.

You, too, ate from that tree,

listening not to my voice but to the voice of some other.

Painful labor will be yours as well -

as the woman in bearing children,

so you in bearing responsibility to feed your family.

Because of you, the ground is cursed -

it will produce thorns and thistles for you,

and you will eat the plants of the field.

By the sweat of your brow you'll eat bread

until you return to the ground.

.

I will send you away from the garden of Eden

to work the ground from which you were taken.

For you are dust, and you will return to dust.

.

Yet there is hope

and the one who loves me

will put faith in the promise of that hope.

.

There is One who will come

to bring relief

from the agonizing labor caused by the curse.

I will put hostility between the serpent and the woman,

between the seed of the serpent and the seed of the woman.

The seed of the woman

will strike the serpent who will strike his heel.

.

This promised One

will redeem you from the curse

by becoming the curse for you.

.

By faith, receive the promise of relief

from the pains of childbirth

and responsibility of life.

The promise refers to the Seed which shall be formed in you

to reconcile you to me.

I, the God of peace,

will crush the Serpent under your feet.

.

Then, conformed to the image in which I created you,

you may become like one of Us,

not only knowing good & evil,

but wise enough to discern between good & evil.

.

Then may you reach out and take from the tree of life,

and eat,

and live forever.

PLAYING ON THE FACE OF THE EARTH

GOD AMONG US

Now the LORD God had planted a garden in the east,
in Eden;
and there he put the man he had formed.

"It is not good for the man to be alone ..."

The LORD God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep;
and while the man was sleeping,
the LORD God began to make a suitable helper for him;
he took one of the man's ribs and closed up the place with flesh.
Then the LORD God made a woman
from the rib he had taken out of the man,
and He brought her to the man.

The man said,

"This is now bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh;

she shall be called 'woman,'

for she was taken out of the side of man."

The man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God
as He was walking in the garden in the cool of the day ...

For God so loved the world

that

He sent His Son to play with us.

Then I was by Him,
as one brought up with him:
and I was daily His delight,
even at play in His presence,
playing on the face of the earth He had finished,
delighting to be with children of humanity.

LIFE IS SO FUNNY ...

I feel like a clown.
The crowd sees just make-up
that smiles when I'm down.

But,

deep inside,

I hurt so much, and

that's when I need you.

I know you care;

you know what's there,

and you know what to do.

You take my hand
and dry my tears
every time I cry alone.

You help amend and
calm my fears,
and now I sing
this song.

Praise you, Father;

praise you, Holy Ghost;

praise you, Jesus,

Lord above all hosts.

God and Savior,

you've set my spirit free.

Now I'll sing this song out loud

to you

eternally.

Thank you, Lord,

my God, my Friend -

you're everything to me.

THE FOOL'S PRAYER

By Edward Rowland Sill (1841-87)

The Royal feast was done; the King
Sought some new sport to banish care,
And to his jester cried, "Sir Fool,
Kneel now, and make for us a prayer!"

The jester doffed his cap and bells,
And stood the mocking crowd before;
They could not see the bitter smile
Behind the painted grin he wore.

He bowed his head, and bent his knee
Upon the monarch's silken stool;
His pleading voice arose: "O Lord,
Be merciful to me, a fool!"

"No pity, Lord, could change the heart
From red with wrong to white as wool:
The rod must heal the sin; but, Lord,
Be merciful to me, a fool!

"'Tis not by guilt the onward sweep
Of truth and right, O Lord, we stay;
'Tis by our follies that so long
We hold the earth from heaven away.

"These clumsy feet, still in the mire,
Go crushing blossoms without end;
These hard, well-meaning hands we thrust
Among the heart-strings of a friend.

"The ill-timed truth we might have kept -
Who knows how sharp it pierced and stung!
The word we had not sense to say -
Who knows how grandly it had rung!

"Our faults no tenderness should ask,
The chastening stripes must cleanse them all;
But for our blunders - oh, in shame
Before the eyes of heaven we fall.

"Earth bears no balsam for mistakes;
Men crown the Knave, and scourge the tool
That did his will; but Thou, O Lord,
Be merciful to me, a fool!"

The room was hushed, in silence rose
The King, and sought his gardens cool,
And walked apart, and murmered low,
"Be merciful to me, a fool!"

SPEAKING AS A FOOL

TAKING ON THE JOKE OF CHRIST

The joke is on us.
But we still don't get it.
We would like to believe,
with Kierkegaard,
that the laughter is on our side,
but we keep finding ourselves
in the shadow of God's smile.
The benediction that His face shine upon us
sounds so promising,
yet the chill we feel
remains untouched by that radiance
as long as we make our own madness
the standard for the sanity of all others.

Jesus' friends and family

went out to lay hold of him:

for they said,

"He is beside himself."

Mark 3:21

Festus said with a loud voice,

"Paul, thou art beside thyself;

much learning doth make thee mad."

"I am not mad, most noble Festus;

but speak forth

the words of truth and soberness."

Acts 26:24-25

COME UNTO ME, ALL YOU

WHO ARE HEAVY-LADEN,

AND

I WILL MAKE YOU LAUGH.

TAKE MY JOKES, & PUNS, TOO.

FOR MY JOKE IS PLEASING,

MY PUNCHLINE'S JUST RIGHT.

JESHUA jogulatore

THE FOURTH GOSPEL
presented spoudogeloically*

I am the way.

True,

this life is full of folly,

but

I am wise to it.

Come and eat,

come, drink.

Hunger and thirst after righteousness.

Bless you!

Breathe from your belly;

feel the Spirit

spring up from within you.

*from Greek spoudogeloisos ("serious-smiling"):

serio-comical genre of ancient theatre.

The serio-comical posseses the unique and transforming vitality

of laughter that can unify culture because it is accessible to everyone.

Serios-comico theatre undermines

the serious, unmediated discourse of power & authority

in humorous, ironic, and satiric accents

through the voices of rogues, clowns, or fools.

Such marginal characters

decenter the ideological world of other characters.

THE FOOLISHNESS OF GOD

WISDOM FROM WAY BACK WHEN

God does things His own way

and we would be wise to follow His way of doing things;

it may seem to someone to be a bit foolish at the time,

but He is God.

We may think that there is a wiser way
to do what God is doing,
but what we think about what God does
is not as important as what God actually does.

Sometimes
what God has done makes us laugh,
sometimes cry,

sometimes jump,

sometimes fall down,

sometimes run,

sometimes stand still,

and

sometimes what God does makes us wonder

what in the world is going on?

The Bible is full of stories
of people wondering about what God is doing.

Adam was tickled to find Eve when he woke up,
then both giggled to find themselves alive
in such a Garden full of life.
although they wondered
why they couldn't have what they thought they wanted
rather than thinking about what God wanted them to have.

Their own "wisdom" made them act like fools;
instead of living in the Garden,
they had to leave to go out on the ground
and begin to die.

But
through their children

God began to work out a way for life

to conquer death.

First was Cain and Abel,
offering to God
the best of what their own work had produced.
Cain wondered why Abel pleased God,
then got mad when God wouldn't tell him;
after killing Abel,
Cain kept on wondering
as he wandered farther and farther away.

Civilization was built

in cities full of questions Cain kept asking,

but the answer could be found

only in the son born after Cain was gone.

Adam knew the third son born to Eve
would take the empty place left by Cain,
and many generations followed,
fruitfully fulfilling God's funny way of wisdom.

Noah built an Ark in the middle of the desert
just in time before the rain came
to float away to safety in his two-by-two waterproof zoo.

Abraham was very, very old, as was Sarah, the wife he loved;
both of them just had to laugh
when God promised they would have a son!

But that is just what happened,
and the laughter went on and on.

The son had sons and they had sons and their sons had sons, too.

Like grains of sand on the ground,
or stars up in the sky,
the sons and daughters that were born
became more than could be counted!

Some were good,
some were not,
but still God's promise was fulfilled
that His way of Life
would remain open
for those who would be willing
to follow faithfully.

One son of the many sons of Abraham
was David
and he became a king!
He danced in front of everybody
and sang about how wonderful was God's way.

Loving God like he did,
David, though not perfect,
became known,
not just for what he did,

but for the reason why he did it -

to please God.

The prophets all agree
that pleasing God is what counts,
come Judgment Day,
not sacrifices or services
or such silly stuff
as smoking up a room with smelly incense.

Jesus, son of David, said,
Serving God first means
loving God
the way
He wants us to love Him,
with all our heart

and all our mind

and all our strength.

"Wisdom is proved right by all her children."

Faithfully following God

even when it seems foolish

to follow where He leads -

that is wisdom.

SYMMORPHOTIC SYMMIMESIS

Syschematic hypocrisy

Be not conformed
to
the pattern
of this world,

(by the exertion of the power that lust has)

like
many walking
according to the pattern
of this world,


but


Symmorphotic symmimesis

Become transformed
by
the renewing of your mind,

(by the exertion of the power that He has)

like
those walking
according to the pattern
you have in us.

Ro 12:2 syschematizo
Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind …
1Pe 1:14 epithymia
do not conform to the evil desires you had

Phlp 3:10 symmorphos
Becoming conformed to his death
Php 3:21
The Lord Jesus Christ will transform the body of our humble state
into conformity with the body of His glory,
by the exertion of the power that He has
even to subject all things to Himself.
Ro 8:29
Predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son

DIE SEELENMASKE

CONSIDERING PERSONA

Exerpted from Jolande Jacobi’s “Man in His Mask,”
Chapter 2 in MASKS OF THE SOUL (Eerdmans, 1976)

One is obliged to play various roles in life
and consequently to wear a mask.

For man is a social being,

involved in the community life
of one’s family, profession, and nation.
If this were not the case a mask would hardly be necessary.

Being a social being
means being involved in community life.

Community involves family, vocation, and the ordering of society.

One’s role in community life is determined by how
one is expected to participate in that community.

To play various roles in life one is obliged to wear a mask, a persona.

Each individual person, while participating in a variety of roles,
puts on a persona consistent with each role.

When one is alone
there is no need of a mask,
but the more one shares one’s existence with others,
the more vital a mask becomes.

UNMASKED

private SELF public

MASKED

In the intimate life of one’s family,
one may perhaps afford to take it off
and run around without it.
The moment a stranger appears, however,
one quickly puts it on again.
It is astonishing how completely
a person’s behavior can change
when he is confronted with people outside the family circle.
Quite suddenly he seems to become someone else.
In mass society, such adaptation is necessary
if one is not to be singled out as an eccentric or even a rebel.

When confronted with people outside the family circle,
a person’s behavior can change.
The person seems to become someone else.

Different circumstances demand different modes
of behavior, dress, and expression.
From this there results a personality split of greater or lesser degree.

The more varied the demands of civilization and culture,
the more varied a man’s masks come to be.
Different social environments
require different ways of behaving.

One is not being a deceitful poseur, devoid of character,
but someone who means to pass
for a well-adjusted, well-brought-up person.
Yet someone who is too ready to adjust himself
to everybody and everything
will either never develop a strong character,
or, if he had one, will lose it.
A degree of adaptation is necessary
as long as it does not manifest itself continuously of its own accord.
But it must not be allowed to degenerate into total mimicry.
There is great danger of assuming the persona mechanically,
without realizing its presence or its way of behaving.

Total mimicry is a way of behaving
that does not recognize the presence of an assumed persona.
Identity is lost to imitation.

If one identifies with certain roles
or imitates other people’s roles,
one becomes blind to the effect this identification has on one
and is powerless to remedy the situation.

The persona is a concept unique to Jung’s psychology.
By “persona” Jung understands a psycho-physical attitude
that mediates between the inner and outer worlds,
a kind of mask we develop
to maintain a relatively consistent front to the outside world,
through which those we meet may relate to us fittingly.
It is the only concept in Jung’s psychology
which embraces psychic as well as physical aspects
including such things as dress.
Given the kaleidoscope of interweaving and constantly shifting
moods, sensations, and modes of expression
with which nature has endowed us,
it becomes essential to wear a mask,
if all human relations are not to lapse into chaos and instability.
The formation of a persona
is then an important part of our education,
for it regulates the relationships between people
and makes harmonious contact possible.
It is implicit in what is meant by a good upbringing.

The word “persona”
derives from the Latin personare, to “sound through.”
The idea comes from Greek theater,
in which the actor’s voice,
with all its individual nuances, modulations, and vibrations
could be heard behind his mask,
the face of which was fixed in a firmly outlined, typical expression
allowing for no display of personal happiness or grief.
This was because
Greek drama was concerned to depict universal human conflicts
rather than the fate of individuals.
It was in order to emphasize
the generalized nature of the feelings being portrayed
and to make them clear that the actors’ faces were masked.
The masks expressed the typical character of the part
and disguised the individual traits of the actor.
The sound of his voice,
issuing from the openings in the mask,
gave it a certain life.
Thus it is from the “sounding through”
of the individual behind his typifying mask
that the word “persona” comes.

The word “persona” comes from
the “sounding through” of the individual
behind his typifying mask.

In Chinese drama as well as Greek,
and wherever the commedia dell’arte still survives as an art form,
what is significant is not the fate of the individual
but the personification of a typical figure
such as the hero, mother, sister, king, priest,
murderer, shepherd, messenger, seer, etc.
The collective reactions and opinions of the crowd
were conveyed by the chorus.

Each character in the drama personified an archetype,
and the drama itself had an archetypal groundplan.
The fate of each player could have befallen every single human being,
could have belonged to any individual.

According to another version,

the word “persona”
derives from the Etruscan god of the underworld,
the masked Persu,

who can be seen on the great fresco at Tarquinia.

In either case, persona is connected with a role.
In the mask, the primitive encountered the impersonal,
the depersonalized, in animal or divine form.
A similar encounter took place
in drama between the actor and the spectator,
and in the Greek mystery cults
between hierophant and candidate for initiation.
Hence in ancient Greece masks were magical instruments
through which man could relate to the divine in its uniqueness
and the human collective with all its terrors,
to experience a transcendental oneness with those powers.
The mask was the exteriorization in concrete form
of the universally human archetypal background of the soul,
and symbolized the unification of the individual ego
with the hidden ancestors dwelling within him.
They bestow on the wearer of the mask
a higher kind of being with greatly increased power and freedom.
For him who wears the mask all taboos are abolished.
He belongs to a world of another order and is, in this sense, free.

One exceptional situation, which acts as a moral safety valve,
a sort of legalized anarchy, has survived till the present day
in the form of the carnival.

At carnival time in Basel
one can observe all the medieval demons of the Swiss
and, in Cologne,
what seems the whole collective psychic background of the Rhineland.
The forerunners of the carnival
are to be found in the masked cult of Dionysus,
the world of the satyrs and the orgies of antiquity.
It seems as though some deep needs of the soul
had found expression and satisfaction in such rites and cults
and still do today.
For the contemporary parallels serve the same purpose,
allowing one “to be somebody else for once,”
if possible
somebody rather primitive corresponding to the world of the instincts.

The wearing of masks
has been from time immemorial
a magical practice,
and it has exactly the same effect on us today
as it had on primitives,
namely, release from fear.

The conscious ego disappears
behind the contents of the collective unconscious
and is thereby absolved from all responsibility.
As long as man had not developed
a clearly defined conscious personality,
as is the case among the primitive cultures and races
who still live close to nature,
he was driven by fear of solitude and isolation
to identify himself as closely as possible with the collective.
He found himself forced to put on a typical mask
fashioned in accord with traditional patterns.
Whether the masks depicted
grimacing demons, wild animals, or terrifying human faces,
they always conveyed something of the archetypal and numinous
in the suprapersonal strength and power they radiated.

Being so rigid and death-like,
masks linked the living ego with the world of the dead
and through it with the now-divine ancestors.
The body, forever dead, and the spirit, eternally living
– the ego and the ancestors –
were fused by the mask into a single whole, so that
the wearer became transformed
and the gulf between the living and the dead was bridged.
The collective background moved into the foreground,
bestowing on those who identified with the archetypal level
both freedom and security.

The anonymity of the individual
lasted approximately until the Renaissance.
Although Christianity had granted men an individual soul,
it was only gradually that he discarded
his longing to be united with the souls of his ancestors.
As the cult of the mask slowly died away,
leaving only fragments behind,
man became prouder to be, not just a type, but an individual.
The development reached its peak
during the Enlightenment in the eighteenth century,
and has been declining at an ever-increasing rate since then.
The natural and technical sciences,
the mechanization of life and work,
the growth of population
with its concomitant urbanization and militarization
are some factors threatening man’s new-found individuality.
Once again he is, like the primitive, full of fears,
shirking every danger, risk, and decision.
His desire to be like everyone else
and suppress his individuality behind a mask
has become more general, more pressing, and indeed more conscious.
“The [State] is responsible for everything,”
is what collective man says with a shrug of the shoulders.
A tendency on the one hand to regress to a primitive state and,
on the other hand, to stagnate intellectually
results in an often unbearable tension,
which makes man reach once more for his mask, his persona,
until today masks have become universal.

With the advance of civilization,
the mask,
originally connected with the gods and animated by them,
has become through constant use an everyday necessity.

Because man put it on before any encounter with others
it became a part of himself.
Worn this way,
the mask no longer symbolizes
psychic and spiritual communion with ancestors,
or those inner powers in the depths of the soul
which give a man courage
to face the dangers that surround him in his unstable life,
but is turned instead outwards for the sake of his social environment
and shaped in conformity to its tastes and requirements.
In other words it has become the persona.
Every age and every stage of cultural development,
every nation and group develops its own persona:
the romantic,
the aesthete,
the libertine,
the gentleman,
the tyrant,
the melancholic,
the rigidly formal,
the man who is always smiling or always polite.

Since the basic purpose of the persona
is to protect an ego that is still weak and underdeveloped,
it can be regarded with some justice
as a product of fear of the environment.
Just as fear of God or the gods impelled man
to offer sacrifices and develop mystery cults
in which he dared not appear unveiled before the deity,
so fear of his fellow men, of the Thou,
forced him to develop a persona, a mask
to beautify his outer appearance
and, if possible, make him popular.
The weaker a man’s ego and the less sure he is of his own worth,
the more he craves the acceptance
that a pleasant and positive persona can bring him.

What is a weak ego?
One which, lacking its own experiential convictions,
is at the mercy of external influences.

With no individual standpoint
it compensates for irresolution by seeking to present a solid outer front.

It would, however, be mistaken to conclude from what has been said
that a strong ego, free from haunting fears, has no need of a persona.

To the extent that everyone
is part of an organized world and member of a social group,
he has to have a persona.
The development of the persona
is, in fact, a universal, human, archetypal process,
which forms the growth of the soul
and is essential to the attainment of maturity.

The persona, being an empty shell, needs no brains.
It is, nevertheless, a highly important shell.
A certain rigidity and uniformity distinguish it fundamentally
from the natural human face with its mobility and animation,
which it aims to render unrecognizable and invisible.

The living, natural face
with its individual expression
&
the mask of the persona
complement each other, need each other,
and
should be related
in a dynamic polarity of mutual support.

That may sound surprising, but
as long as the persona develops naturally,
remains flexible,
and is sufficiently differentiated
for the individual to put on and take off at will,
it is helpful.
One has to distinguish between
a persona which is stiff and formal,
proof against all emotion, a sort of corset for the face and behavior,
and one which is under full conscious control, for use when needed.
We must learn to recognize the difference between
a persona developed and worn naturally
and one which is unnatural, studied, and mechanical,
either because it was chosen wrongly from the start
and has never developed properly,
or because, in the course of time, it has become one-sided, detached from the whole,
and completely predictable.

A well-fitting persona results from
the harmonious interaction of three factors:
(1) the physical and psychological constitution;
(2) the ego-ideal:
what one would like to be and the impression one would like to give;
(3) the collective ideal of the period
according to which one wishes to be seen and accepted in one or another form.

If only factors (1) and (2) – ego-ideal and constitution –
are included in the make-up of the persona,
the result is a failure to adapt to reality and to the environment.
The individual then lives in a fantasy world,
becoming a rebel or an eccentric.

If only factors (1) and (3) are present – constitutional adjustment
and the environment’s view of an individual –
the neglect of one’s own individual needs will lead in time to neurosis
and the birth, from this over-adjustment, of the mass man.
The characteristics of such a persona are
superficiality, boringness, stiffness, and mediocrity.
One has the impression of having encountered a walking cliché.

Finally, the conjunction of factors (2) and (3)
– ego-ideal and mass ideal –
leads to neglect of natural limitations and potentialities
and in turn to neuroses and often psychosomatic disturbances.
The fat man wants to be thin; the small supple;
the docile milksop longs to be regarded as a tough fighter.

If factor (2) alone applies,
there is no real persona, as the individual is completely self-centered.
If only factor (3) is present
the person is fully merged into the collective
and devoid of any combined note of his own.
Only when all three factors are combined together in the persona
is it “in order.”
This means that in regard to constitutional factors,
individual as well as collective dispositions
are necessary for the persona, but none should be prominent.

Collective consciousness, represented by the so-called “super-ego,”
the collective commands and prohibitions of the parents
that one has absorbed as a child,
naturally helps to form the persona attitude.
Any deviation from this norm
can lead to strong guilt feelings and chronic anxiety,
for the persona has little freedom of conscious choice.
The persona is usually the result of a “becoming,”
of a more or less conscious process of development,
except when there is a neurotic and deliberate desire to act a part,
an insecurity that seeks refuge behind a conscious mask.

In relatively normal cases
the persona develops from the age of puberty, in conjunction with the ego.
If for some reason this does not occur,
one becomes a weakling, a prey to every influence,
perhaps until the day of death.
If one is always trying consciously to disguise himself,
and, instead of allowing the persona to grow naturally,
selects and imposes on himself
a persona that is exceptionally forceful and rigid,
he will make a disagreeable artificial effect on others.
People who do this are also rude and inconsiderate.

A person’s awareness of himself
depends in many cases on how far the ideals of his youth have been realized,
and this in turn is related
to how appropriate they were to him in the first place.
One identified with his persona can allow all the disturbing elements
that would spoil it be manifested [elsewhere]
without being aware of it himself.
A one-sided image of perfection cannot be maintained indefinitely.
What lies hidden behind it must one day sound through,
and the collapse of a too rigid persona is not without it dangers.
Like the bursting of a dam,
the repressed fantasies it concealed may flood consciousness
and lead to psychosis or near psychosis.

Many people pass through life as though on the stage,
convinced that nobody notices they are acting a part.
In their enjoyment of themselves in the role,
they deceive both themselves and those around them.
The urge to show off
spurs them on and on, often into repellent behavior,
as can be readily observed in the hysterical personality,
both male and female.
Examples of this
are often to be seen in the famous star or the demagogue.
For the persona is, up to a point, something unreal,
or, like a part in a play, at one remove from reality,
the natural man with his many layers being, as it were, overlaid
by a second, more polished version.

A typical persona is that of unselfishness,
and it always suggests neurosis when it is over-flaunted.
A closer look at the private lives of idealists, moralists,
and would-be saviors of the world
and at the opinions of those who have to live with them
reveals strange things about them.
One often hears how, far from practicing selflessness,
they are not even capable of normal tact and consideration.
Any judge of human nature can see through their duplicity,
though the person concerned may only learn about it
through his own dreams or those of others.

Per Schopenhauer,
three levels constitute the life of man:
(1) what a person is
– his personality, excluding his outward appearance;
(2) what a person has
– the possession of certain attributes;
(3) what a person represent in the eyes of others
– including his rank, title, honors, reputation, and so forth.

The persona is an indispensable part of man and belongs to him.
An impressive persona can provide an excellent means
of displaying the qualities of [the inner person]
and satisfying its longings.

“Loss of face” is the worst fate that can befall [one in certain cultures].
It can lead even to suicide.
For to show the face naked is taboo and must end in catastrophe:
loss of persona has to be expiated by death.
The decisive part played by fear in all this hardly needs emphasizing.
Still, the question can be rightly be posed:
“Why are people so afraid to show themselves as they really are?
Why do they think that perfection is expected of them?”

Why do people suppose that mistakes and failures are not allowed
but deserve to be heavily punished?
Perfectionism is the driving force that makes the fear-ridden man
ever more dependent upon his mask
and leads either to constant self-punishment
or to all kinds of desperate behavior.
For, in fact,
most worry, fear, strain, ill-will, resentment, self-criticism,
are directly related to the opinion of the people in our environment.
All this makes us oblivious to the shortness and relativity of our life.
Reason is blinded by ephemeral success,
which assumes over-riding importance.

It is not easy to distinguish the persona from the man behind it,
because it includes everything to do with him.
His works deeds, behavior, manners, demeanor, statements
– all his actions belong to the persona,
just as much as
his clothes, facial expression, hair style, walk, and gestures.
Fashion in all its aspects is a living expression of the persona
of which, indeed,
everything connected with our outer appearance forms a part.

Perhaps the first persona was the fig-leaf.

It would be wrong
to assume that the persona expresses itself exclusively in clothing.
Our whole upbringing
is directed towards developing a pleasant persona.
We learn how to behave properly,
eat nicely, greet people courteously, and sit up straight,
recognize and respond appropriately to certain special occasions
such a weddings or funerals,
all in conformity to prevailing customs.
Our essential character is virtually born with us,
so that different children of the same parents often vary considerably.
A character can, of course, be vitiated,
as when a child is intimidated into lying,
or mollycoddled into constant terror
of catching cold, failing to please, and the like.

Character is however, difficult to correct,
since it has roots in the inborn disposition.
The product of education is rather the persona,
which can and should be formed, fostered, and adjusted
through example, admonition, guidance, and instruction.
But if it is a forced, hot-house growth,
the individual potentialities will be cramped and fail to blossom.
During the development of the ego in early childhood,
negative characteristics,
shadow attributes disturbing to the conscious life,
are already being pushed into the unconscious,
and the positive traits
hindered in their development and differentiation
by a too one-sided, inflexible, and dominating persona.
But in all cases the persona, as a visible, perceptible part of the ego,
has an unconscious, compensatory counterpart
under the opposite sign
in the form of the shadow and the contrasexual component of the soul,
described by Jung in the terms of anima and animus.

One must not only look after one’s own persona
in order to do justice to circumstances that may arise,
but after other people’s too.

To hurt the persona of a fellow being,
the carrier of his ambitions and aspirations, his vulnerable façade,
is a great wrong.

As the mediating function in social relations,
the persona must be able to put other people at ease
and through tact, empathy, and human touch
create a pleasant atmosphere.
So it must fit in well not only with one’s own nature but that of others.
Many find this a hard task,
but the consequences of failure are disagreeable.
Each failure
increasingly deprives the underlying feeling of insecurity in life
of the protection and assurance it craves.

We would like to please, to succeed and feel accepted by others;
and the soul-mask is the means by which we try to achieve this end.
Few are successful
and few take the trouble needed to penetrate to the very core of another’s being.
The person who can bear his failures
without feeding his resentments and feelings of inferiority,
no longer fearing that they will lower him in the eyes of others,
can say with Goethe out of a peaceful heart:

Every life can be lived,
If one does not lose one’s self;
One could lose everything
If only one remained what one is.