The Message of the Cross

 Something that has repeatedly come up in reading Epictetus is the idea of what is and what isn't in accordance with nature. In short, in Epictetus' view, it is in accordance with nature that human beings act in accordance with reason (that is, "logos"), that human behavior by nature is meant to be "good," and that what is in accordance with nature is to only be concerned with those things which are up to you, what you actually have control over, and this is essentially your own will and whether or not your responses are based in reason or based in the passions, that is, fear, anger, or bodily cravings. That is, for Epictetus and the Stoics, it was a matter of which would have control over the human being, the logos or one's own flesh driven passions. This fascinates me, because in his view as I understand it, should a human being have total mastery over himself and not permit these things to be the origin of his responses but only pass judgment on the things of his own will and nothing external to himself or herself, then that person would be at peace, and be free from all concerns, all attachments, have joy, be more compassionate and more empathetic, and so on. And moreso, he or she would be a genuine follower of God. Within the circles of eastern religions and philosophy, also encompassing some New Age ideas, we find similar ideas in that in order to touch one's highest self, or operate from one's highest self, one must let go of or release fear, aggression, and the passions or cravings of the body. And in all of these systems, the ego, the "self" generated by the physical existence, must be dealt with in order to reach one's goal of attainment.
     And this morning, as I considered all of these things, I came back to this idea that human beings were initially created in the image of God, just as Jesus Christ was and remains the very image of the Father, so were our original progenitors. What one might call the soul, the spirit, or the immaterial part of man, what God first breathed into us was of Himself, of His own Spirit. In a way, and here I must be careful not to be misunderstood, also God from God, Light from Light incarnating into a physical, biological form. As I have previously written using the metaphor of a Massive Multiplayer Online game, our physical bodies are merely our avatars. What each of us really is, is itself immortal and eternal, because it is born of God Himself. What we are by nature is the very nature of God, that is, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, courtesy, trust, and self-control. That is what each of us actually is apart from the physical, biological body born from the elements of the earth. Part and parcel of the Logos Himself, joined as one with Him.
     But these biological forms, the brains which control them, are malfunctioning when compared with every other animal on Earth. The survival responses are in overdrive, forming and producing the ego/mind/identity and keeping the signal from what we genuinely are from getting through, or from assuming control like it was intended to. And so, as Paul writes, we cannot do what we want to do, and do what we don't want to do as we are driven by fear, aggression, feeding, and reproductive urges in response to just about everything.
     It is only when we disengage or detach from these responses that what we genuinely are begins to assert control once more. When a person disengages from those thoughts which trigger the survival responses, when they detach from those external things which might trigger fear, aggression, feeding, and so on, then almost immediately that person experiences peace, love, empathy, joy, and so on, and the more one practices this, the greater they grow. It is only as we disengage from our malfunctioning neurology and the ego which it produces that the Spirit of Christ, the Logos, will start to exert His rightful, natural control over the body. Another way of saying this is that we must die with Him, that He might live through us. As He Himself said, "The person who seeks to save his psyche (the ego/mind/identity) will destroy it, but the person who destroys his psyche for My sake will keep it into the life of eternity."
      This is the fundamental message and paradox of the cross, and one which God has appeared to speak through many witnesses in many cultures throughout history. This is God's nonsense which is wiser than the wisdom of human beings, and His "weakness" which is stronger than the strength of human beings. As Paul wrote, the message (logos) of the cross is nonsense to those who are being destroyed, but for us who are being delivered, it is God's power (ability, capability) and wisdom being charitably given to us through voluntarily dying to our ego/mind/identity so that His nature, the image of God and what is our own original nature, might reassert control over our malfunctioning physical forms. And this is why those who are not "Christians" yet still exercise detachment from those things which trigger the malfunctioning survival response are able to experience the "fruit of the Spirit" instead of the "works of the flesh" that Paul wrote about. Because they too, whether they know it or not, are practicing dying to themselves that He might manifest through them.
     It is a profound and revealing truth about the God who is love continuously reaching out His hand to His malfunctioning children.