I have a confession to make. I've only recently started daily meditation again. I used to do it every day, but when we moved back to California, it became very difficult to find a quiet spot where I wouldn't be distracted. My stress and depression weren't helping either, and of course they became worse the longer I went without it. But I've been making the effort to get back into it again in the mornings.
A lot of things were brought up during this morning's meditation, but there is one thing in particular I wanted to write about, and that is the difference between what is called "manifesting" or "the Secret" and cooperating with God, trusting God, and asking God for your provision.
In the lore of World of Warcraft there are a special group of warriors called Paladins. These are a separate class of knights that are devoted to the Holy Light, the in-game metaphor for the "good divinity," and are able, like priests, to call on the Light for protection, the ability to heal, and to enhance their fighting abilities for a righteous cause. Paladins, in the lore, must always follow what they believe to be right and do the right thing. If they don't, they lose their connection to the Light and it won't respond to them.
In the storyline for the Burning Crusade expansion, there were introduced a group of elven Paladins called Blood Knights. To give a short recap of their history, the elven kingdom of Quel'thalas was brutally decimated by a force of bad guy undead called "the Scourge." Ninety percent of their population was slaughtered, their necessary source of magic was polluted causing them to go into withdrawals and worse, and in the aftermath, their human allies turned on them when they went looking for other sources of magic just to stay sane. They adopted the moniker of "Blood Elves" to commemorate all those who died as they pressed forward trying to figure out who they were and how they were going to survive. One of those sources of magic they experimented with was called "Fel," a source of demonic energies, which ultimately led to their human allies repudiating them.
Another source of magic they attempted to harness was the Light. But with millennia of dominating and mastering magical forces, forcing the arcane to do their bidding, they tried to do the same thing with the Light. The first Blood Knights essentially learned how to use and harness the Light for their own ends from a captured being of Light which they imprisoned and tormented. Rather than submitting to the Light as the other Paladins, and cooperating with it, in a twisted sense of what they thought was right, they sought to force the Light to do their bidding. This situation was corrected by the end of that expansion's storyline when the leadership of the Blood Knights were exposed to what the Light truly meant and was by one of its true High Priests and prophets, but it was an analogy which came to my mind.
Another analogy which came to my mind comes from Star Wars with the difference between the Jedi philosophy and the Sith philosophy. In Star Wars there is what is called "the Force." As it's original creator has said, the Force is a metaphor for the divine, and is described as an energy field created by all living things which surrounds us, penetrates us, and binds the galaxy together. It both controls the actions one may take and respond to commands (as per Obi-Wan Kenobi in A New Hope). Depending on how far into the lore of Star Wars you go, the Force is described as having a Light side and a Dark side (which is a point of debate within the expanded universe and legends; the "Gray Jedi," for example, accept there to be only a unified Force), and also appears to have a will and a mind of its own. The Jedi utilize and cooperate with the Light side and the Sith utilize the Dark side. Some have not inaccurately associated the Force with the Tao described in the Tao Te Ching and its two sides of Yin and Yang.
The difference between the Jedi and Sith philosophies however is more than this. The Jedi are trained to be passive where the Force is concerned. To interact with it for knowledge and learning, and respond to its guidance and leanings. Where combat is concerned, the Force is only to be called upon for defense, and never for aggression or attack. The nature of the Light side is peace, calm, and wisdom. There is very much the sense that the Jedi is meant to cooperate with and depend upon the Force, submitting to its will as much as calling upon it for aid, trusting it and eventually becoming one with it upon the body's death. The Sith philosophy is the diametric opposite. The Sith philosophy is to control and dominate the Force through aggression, fear, and anger, and in so doing, inflict their will and desires on the cosmos regardless of who it hurts. For the Sith, it is all about control and achieving your own selfish desires. There is no becoming one with the Force for the Sith because it is all about dominating it.
These were the analogies, geeky though they might be, which were introduced into my mind this morning. I had been contemplating this very question after watching a talk on YouTube given by a meditation expert called Emily Fletcher (I believe that is her name), who developed the "Ziva" method of meditation involving the three "M"s of "Mindfulness, Meditation, and Manifestation."
The first two I had no problems with. Mindfulness and meditation have a deep and rich history in the Christian faith, especially with the Eastern Orthodox Church, and what she said regarding them made a lot of sense and was helpful. But the third "M," Manifestation, struck me very wrong. Essentially, this is the same kind of idea as "The Secret," a philosophy introduced about ten or fifteen years ago, where "the Universe" (a whole other conversation) is seen as a divinity just waiting to give you what you ask, and, once you are clear on what you actually want from it, you only need ask and it will eventually be granted. This is said to be "the secret" to happiness, success, prosperity, and health.
And this is what came to me during this morning's meditation, that "the Secret" is the practice of exerting one's energy and will on "the Universe" in order to force it to bend to your own will. Whereas trusting in and cooperating with God, and asking Him for your daily needs is very different. The former is aggressive, selfish, and dominating. The latter is passive, receptive, and accepting. The former is focused on "what I want." The latter is focused on "what God wants for me." The former is only really concerned about the "Self," where the latter is concerned about God and what's best for everyone. The former seeks to control and shape "the Universe." The latter seeks to be formed and shaped by God. The former focuses on this temporary life, "the game" as I have called it. The latter focuses on the eternal. The former is Blood Knight, Sith, and Dark. The latter is Paladin, Jedi, and wholly Light.
Manifesting, or "The Secret," is totally incompatible with what Jesus taught, and how He lived, because, as He said, everything He did and said was done and said by God the Father through Him. His life was lived in total submission to the Father with whom He was united, and to be his disciple is to live a life in total submission to Jesus Christ with whom we have been united: the Father within Him and He within us. His will and energy are to be exerted on us and through us, not our will and energy on anyone or anything else. We are to be passive receptors and channels of Him, not active enforcers of our own will. This is said again and again in every way possible in the New Testament, and especially in John's writings.
Ask yourself, what will you have once your heart stops beating, even if "the Universe" gives you everything you ask for? What will await you if you have spent your life trying to make "the Universe" bend to your will? Now ask yourself what will await you if you spend your time here cooperating with and submitting to Christ with whom you are joined with an eye to theosis, becoming fully one with the Being who is "I Am."
No comments:
Post a Comment