A gym rat, who has been a member of fancy sports gym
for years – but still remains flubby.
An anxious single, who has been a member of
exclusive dating club in search for a future mate with a class – yet still
lonely singe, despite many expensive dating and dating coaching sessions.
A self-help addict, who have been spending a lot of
money to buy new self-help books, CDs, DVDs, and attending expensive
self-improvement seminars – but feel unhappy.
All their efforts and financial investments into
gym, dating programs, self-help programs, self-improvement seminars are not
getting them where they want to be.
What is a common denominator among these?
It’s a life without traction. It’s vanity – a life in vain. A life without traction means a
life that cannot generate meaning of life.
Vanity begets vanity. It goes like a vicious
downward spiral, to put you in a quagmire leading to an existential crisis – if
meaninglessness continues long enough.
The first reading for 18th Sunday (Year
C), Ecclesiastics 1:2; 2:21-23, describes a sentiment of life of vanity.
Vanity
of vanities, says Qoheleth,
vanity of vanities! All things are vanity!
Here is one who has labored with wisdom and knowledge and skill,
and yet to another who has not labored over it,
he must leave property.
vanity of vanities! All things are vanity!
Here is one who has labored with wisdom and knowledge and skill,
and yet to another who has not labored over it,
he must leave property.
This also is vanity and a great misfortune.
For what profit comes to man from all the toil and anxiety of heart
with which he has labored under the sun?
All his days sorrow and grief are his occupation;
even at night his mind is not at rest.
This also is vanity.
Qoheleth is the author of the Book of Ecclesiastics,
which means “preacher” in Greek (Ἐκκλησιαστής, Ekklesiastes). Interestingly, its Hebrew equivalent is
Qoheleth. Thus, the Book of Ecclesiastics also means the Book of Qoheleth – the
Book of Preacher. It belongs to the
Hebrew wisdom literature in the Old Testament and examines what life is about.
As a psychotherapist, I use
the Book of Ecclesiastics in helping my clients and patients address their
existential issues – issues with meaning of life, even in non-pastoral
settings. In doing this, I usually guide
them to express their existential
anxieties and frustrations as Qoheleth did in the Book of Ecclesiastics,
because expressing our emotions and sentiments in narratives is healing (i.e., James
W. Pennebarker (1997). Opening Up: The Healing Power of
Expressing Emotions., & (2004). Writing to Heal; Erika H. Meade (1995).
Tell it by Heart: Women and the Healing Power of Story).
Though people with existential
problems often exhibit depressive clinical symptoms (i.e. Marja et al. (2002). Quality
of Life in Brain Tumor Patients: The Relative Contributions of Depression,
Fatigue, Emotional Distress, and Existential Issues. J. of Neuro-Oncology
57(1), 41-49), I find that using the Book of Ecclesiastics in the context of
Viktor Frankl’s logotherapy approach is effective in improving their symptoms and
resolving existential issues Logotherapy is found to be effective in treating
depression (i.e., Close (2001). Logotherapy and Adult Major Depression:
Psychotheological Dimensions in Diagnosing the Disorder, J of Religious Gerontology
11(3-4), 119-140). Thus, integrating meaning-focused narrative therapy approach
and logotherapy is efficacious.
With narrative therapy and
logotherapy in mind, I would like to further explore the issues of existential
issues in light of the scriptural readings from the 18th Sunday of
Year C and a relevant Buddhist concept.
In Ecclesiastics 1:12-13a, the
author, Qoheleth, tells the purpose of this book:
I, Qoheleth, was king over Israel in Jerusalem, and I
applied my mind to search and investigate in wisdom all things that are done under
the sun.
Basically, Qoheleth tells that
wisdom (human wisdom, as opposed to the divine wisdom) is meaningless.
Though I said to myself, “Behold, I have become great and
stored up wisdom beyond all who were before me in Jerusalem, and my mind has
broad experience of wisdom and knowledge”; yet when I applied my mind to know
wisdom and knowledge, madness and folly, I learned that this also is a chase
after wind. For in much wisdom there is much sorrow, and he who stores up
knowledge stores up grief. (Ecclesiastics 1:16-18)
Now, this segment from the Book of Ecclesiastics
(1:16-18) is echoed in the Gospel reading for the 18th Sunday Year
C, Luke 12:13-21, in particular, the Parable of the Rich Fool (vv. 16-21).
“There was a rich man whose land produced a bountiful harvest.
He asked himself, ‘What shall I do,
for I do not have space to store my harvest?’
And he said, ‘This is what I shall do:
I shall tear down my barns and build larger ones.
There I shall store all my grain and other goods
and I shall say to myself, “Now as for you,
you have so many good things stored up for many years,
rest, eat, drink, be merry!”’But God said to him,
‘You fool, this night your life will be demanded of you;
and the things you have prepared, to whom will they belong?’
Thus will it be for all who store up treasure for themselves
but are not rich in what matters to God.”
It seems that a lamentation of Qoheleth over storing
up wisdom and knowledge in Ecclesiastics 1:16-18 can become a lamentation for
the rich fool in Luke 12:16-21. While Qoheleth became a “victim of his own
success” in becoming rich with human wisdom and knowledge, the rich fool in
Jesus’ parable became a “victim of his success” in amassing material wealth in
the eyes of God.
This is not that God in Jesus is discouraging us to
gain wisdom, knowledge, and material wealth – unless we have a short-circuit
brain to make such a myopic interpretation. We must be careful in interpreting
Jesus’ words on the rich and the poor to make sure that we do not turn the
teaching of Jesus on the rich and the poor as a socialist or communist teaching
on equity-based equality. This is not to justify the envy of the poor toward the
rich, either.
Psychologically speaking, such a socialist-like or communist-like
mentality with envy may be an indication of some sort of existential or
identity problem, in relating to those who have more.
What matters here is the way we handle our wisdom,
knowledge and material wealth. Gaining these, by itself, is not a problem –
just as money itself is not evil, though it can become a root of evil.
If wisdom, knowledge, and wealth become a reason of
our anxiety and distress, as in the case of a man who had a problem with his
brother about the family inheritance (Luke 11:13-15), it is a red flag that we
are becoming or have already become a slave of wisdom, knowledge, and wealth.
To put this in the Buddhist context, it is a sign of attachment, due to passion
or kleshas – one of the Three Poisons
in the Buddhism catechism (like deadly sins in Catholic catechism).
Paul in the second reading offers a good advice,
sounding as if making a good Buddhist advice.
If
you are raised with Christ, seek what is above, where Christ is seated at the
right hand of God. Think of what is above, not what is on earth. For you have
died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ your life
appears, then you too will appear with him in glory. Put to death, then, the
parts of you that are earthly; immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and
the greed that is idolatry. Stop lying
to one another, since you have taken off the old self with its practices and
have put on the new self, which is being renewed, for knowledge, in the image
of its creator.
(Colossians 3:1-10)
As Buddhist teaching encourages us to overcome
passion, Paul inspires the Colossians to root out passion from their lives in
order to live a Christ-centered life, making a shift from self-centered or
ego-centered life.
In the Buddhist context, Paul’s advice is understood
with this:
The
cause of human suffering is undoubtedly found in the thirsts of the physical
body and in the illusions of worldly passion. If these thirsts and illusions
are traced to their source, they are found to be rooted in the intense desires
of physical instincts. Thus, desire, having a strong will-to-love as its basis,
seeks that which it feels desirable, even if it is sometimes death. This is
called the Truth of the Cause of Suffering (集諦、じったい). If desire,
which lies at the root of all human passion, can be removed, then passion die out and all human
suffering will be ended. This is called the Truth of the Cessation of Suffering
(滅諦、めったい).
In Chapter One, Section one, on the Four Noble
Truths, on Dharma, “The Teaching of Buddha”, Society for the Promotion of Buddhism,
Tokyo, 1966, pp. 74-75)
What Paul teaches to the Colossians
about becoming worthy for Christ’s salvation is what Buddhist teaches about the
Truth of the Cessation of Suffering.
Buddhism teaches that we must practice
the Eightfold Noble Path: Right view, right thought, right speech, right
behavior, right life style, right effort, right mindfulness and right
concentration – the Truth of the Noble Path to the Cessation of the Cause of
Suffering.
Perhaps, Christians can take this
Buddhist wisdom on the Truth of the Eightfold Noble Path toward the cessation
of the cause of suffering in conjunction with the above teaching of Paul.
An ego-centered life makes us more prone to or
vulnerable to becoming “victims of our own success”, falling into a gutter
between what is good in God’s desire and what is good in ego’s desire. The
latter, of course, is an illusion, both in Christian sense and Buddhist sense. That is why Buddha’s teaching inspires us to
transform ourselves into anatta (no
ego) as atman (essential self, as in “loob” in Tagalog) to deliver ourselves
from vicious cycle of suffering (cycle of reincarnation) to attain nirvana (eternal and ultimate peace). On
the other hand, Christ’s teaching, here elaborated by Paul, encourages us to
overcome earthly vices and illusionary concepts, such as immorality, impurity,
passion (emotional states arising from insecure, heart and mind, which is not
found in harmony with God), and ego’s
desires, in order to be converted into a person with a Christ-centered life.
On behalf of Christ, Paul is expressing the
need of conversion as a transformation of an ego-centered life into a Christ-centered
life – attuning our true self (loob
in Tagalog) with God in Christ, remembering imago
Dei as our core identity (Genesis 1:27).
That is why Filipino Catholic theologian, Jose DeMesa, calls conversion
as “pagbabalik-loob” (returning to
our essential self). What is anatta to Buddhists is what is a Christ-centered
self to Christians is the direction of our “pagbabalik-loob”
in order to prevent from suffering from existential problem of life of vanity (Ecclesiastics
1:2; 2:21-23) or to be like the rich fool (Luke 11:16-21).
Theologically, “pagbabalik-loob”
to Christ-centered life, Christ-centered self by ridding us of all our
attachment to earthly and ego matters and desires is not only to benefit from meaningful
life (as opposed to a life of vanity) but to rejoice with parousia, as alluded in the above words of Paul.
Unless we live a Christ-centered life, free from
attachment to what earthy and ego desire, we may not be able to appear with
Christ, when he appears. In saying this,
Paul is referring to Christ’s return and how it will affect us (Revelation 19 –
20). Whenever he returns, Christ will come to make ultimate cleansing not only
the whole world but also – most importantly, to cleanse ourselves:
"My lord,
you know." And he said to me, "These are the ones who come out of the
great tribulation, and they have washed their robes and made them white in the
blood of the Lamb. (Revelation 7:14 ,
echoing the prophesy of Isaiah 1:18).
*****
The way to keep us from putting wisdom, knowledge
and wealth in wrong uses in the eyes of God is to maintain a Christ-centered
life. To Christians, this is also the way to live a meaningful life, thus
preventing us from turning our life into a life of vanity or a life of
existential problems. When our life
drifts away from Christ, then, we slip back to an ego-centered life. An ego-centered life will eventually cut
ourselves from God in Christ and turn our life into an illusion or a life of
God complex. Such a life may turn into a life of bipolar disorder – feeling extremely
euphoric and overconfident when living a life like the rich fool before
confronted by God and becoming depressed when the reality of a life of vanity
kicks in like the rich fool upon God’s confrontation. In Christian sense, the former state is a life
of pleasure, arrogance, and power that many people can covet. But, sooner or
later, we may begin to suffer from existential crisis, as reflected in the Book
of Ecclesiastics. Not to mention, a way to heal from this is to return our true
self in tune with God in Christ, as our “pagbabalik-loob”
to put it in Jose DeMesa’s word. Psychologically, this process can be facilitated
by clinical integration of narrative therapy and logotherapy. Using the Book of Ecclesiastics and certain
Psalms is effective with this.
If you are blessed with wisdom, knowledge and
wealth, you can enjoy these as God is pleased with all you have earned and have.
If you live a Christ-centered life and blessed with
wisdom, knowledge and wealth, you are more likely to joyfully share them with those
who benefit, thanking and praising God for not only the blessing of what you can share but also the blessing of joy over making others happy.
The rich fool should have realized that it was a
time for him to share what he had with others when his old storage space
became too small – rather than trying to expand the storage to pile up his assets more and more for
himself.
Psychologically, an ego-centered life, as characterized by the rich fool, is usually a
sign of insecure ego or fragmented ego. Such ego must die, to put in Paul’s
words from the second reading.
No comments:
Post a Comment