Transcendant versus Ascendant or... How Up is Down and All Around.You have probably seen many paintings of the Ascension...the final post-resurrection leaving of earth by Jesus recorded by Luke in the first chapter of Acts ...from a spot somewhere near Bethany. What do you recall about those paintings?
In almost every depiction by classical Western artists, we see a transfigured Jesus ethereally rising into the sky, into a cloud, rising above his earth bound disciples.
In the famous painting by Salvador Dali, The Ascension of Christ, the artist in 1958 composed his work after having a transformative dream experience. He changes the perspective of the Ascension from vertical to horizontal and the Christ image is being drawn not only into another reality but also into the background image of the nucleus of an atom. The message of this depiction is that the beginning and the end are part of the same continuum....Christ's revelation to John is also in this same vein..."I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end".
The word used in the original Greek for both heaven and sky is Oeuranus (also where the name of the planet comes from)...the problem is that this word can both be talking about geography, namely the sky or it can talking about a place, heaven.
The depictions and even the name for this event, Ascension, come from a time where geography and the known universe was thought to be a three tiered phenonmenon- namely, the underworld or Hades or Hell, the Earth or firmament, and Sky, or Heaven, or Ciel (where we get our word "celestial" from).
The theological problem, though, is that the "Ascension" was not really about an up and down, elevator like, rising from earth to heaven. The Ascension was actually a Transcension, namely the importance of how we go from one state as typical earthly-minded creatures to another state of mind and being in following the way of Christ.
Thinking about it this way helps me to resolve those problems that I had with the "Ascension" when I was a kid asking impertinent questions in Sunday School. Like "Well, if Jesus rose up into space, which way did he go then to get to heaven?" "Is heaven near another solar system?"
The more troubling question as I began to try to better understand the account in Acts and its meaning was "why did Jesus leave us at all?" Wouldn't the world have been a much better place and certainly our churches would not have strayed off so many paths, if He had just stayed on the earth?
However, coming to understand the meaning of the Gospel account as one of Jesus transcending his earthly state and removing himself to another state of being, leads me to the realization that the problem with my concrete, childlike views are the problems of a linear, Euclidean geometry, fundamentalist view of the world.
"Heaven is just a place on earth" sings Belinda Carlisle in her hit song from some years ago.
In the movie, Field of Dreams, the question is asked of Kevin Costner about the baseball field...
"Is this heaven?"...Throughout the film, he always answers, "No, this is Iowa." But at the end of the last interaction, with his father on the field playing catch, when he is once again asked that question, he takes in the wonderful view of his wife and daughter playing on the porch of their peaceful home and, in a transcendant moment, he realizes..."Maybe this is heaven."
In another earlier scene, Kevin Costner is upset that he does not get to go into the cornfield, beyond the field and views this as a denial of his entry into heaven. It is the later events, including his reunion with his father, that lead to his Ah-hah, transcendant realization that heaven exists all around us.
Heaven is not a place beyond the sky...our world exists not apart from the universe but enveloped by and in the universe. Our world is part of the universe continuum and the universe is not separate from our world at any measurable physical point. Similarly, the transcendant state, the mystical state of holiness, enables us to know this reality of heaven now and forever.
The true message of the Ascension is thus not one of miraculous levitation. The true message is that Christ never truly left us at all and never will. Our challenge is to believe. To strive to see this reality lying just outside of what we think we know while living in this very concrete and Euclidean world.
And, when that momentary realization comes that Heaven is surrounding you, your soul can guide you to a different place and a different life each day on this world, on this earth, as truly part of the Kingdom of Heaven.
How do you do live like that?....It is best summarized in the Jar of Clay song...."We are one in the spirit, we are one in the Lord, we are one in the spirit, we are one in the Lord....They will know we are Christians by our love, by our love, they will know we are Christians by our love."
Bruce Springsteen said it just as well in his song. "The Rising"...."Come on up for the rising, Come on up, put your hands in mine, Come on up for the Rising" When we transcend our own ego, when we transcend our selfish desires, our own materialism and we love our neighbor as our self, then we are truly "resurrected" to a new life different than the one we were living and we can "rise" up out of the darkness, like Lazarus did long ago. When we "rise" above the strife and turmoil, we are not levitating into the physical air, we are, in fact, experiencing our own Ascension.
Peace and love,
Tony
President Obama has made the same strategic blunder that President Clinton made in 1993. Any health care reform proposed by a Democratic President is immediately attacked as "socialized medicine" or a "single payer system" by Republicans.
The current proposal, which is NOTHING like a single payer proposal, has nonetheless been effectively portrayed by Republicans as "socialized medicine" "government run health care" "single payer" or "the end of the world as we know it" complete with "death panels."
President Obama should have started this dance by initially proposing the single payer plan as currently seen in the House proposal sponsored by Anthony Weiner (D-NY). As a side note...this proposal will actually have an up or down vote on the House floor for the first time in history as soon as Congress returns to session.
If President Clinton or President Obama had started with true single payer as their initial proposal, then the effects of the political attacks would have been blunted. They could then have negotiated to a moderate compromise, i.e. a version of a public option proposal.
But President Clinton proposed moderate reform in a misguided hope for bipartisanship. His proposal was attacked successfully as "single payer", "socialized medicine" and thus failed.
President Obama has proposed moderate reform in a misguided hope for bipartisanship. It is being attacked successfully as "single payer", "socialized medicine" and thus is likely to fail.
Much better that no reform passes than some version of a watered down, ineffective reform. It will be years before any politician touches this third rail again due to the political costs . Hillary had her head handed to her politically in 1993 and, as a result, no politician has touched health care reform again until President Obama.
As soon as any type of reform bill is passed, the blame for the millions of problems which occur daily in our system will instantly be attached by the Republicans to the new reforms and to the Democrats. All the more reason to pass ONLY truly meaningful reform. When Medicare was passed by Democrats over the opposition of Republicans (led by Ronald Reagan lobbying at the time for the AMA), it became a massively successful program which benefitted millions of elderly Americans and thus became politically beneficial to a generation of Democrats. Truly meaningful reform passed now will have the same future benefit for non elderly Americans.
Without true reform, I believe that a catastrophic meltdown of the U.S. healthcare system is inevitable . Unless our system changes course, this meltdown will be brought about by the Wild West, unregulated investment practices of the unregulated healthcare industrial corporations in this country. A meltdown of this magnitude would make the recent financial crisis pale in comparison.
Must a crisis occur before any meaningful reforms can be passed?...Must politicians first have the political "cover" of a crisis to fix a system with serious flaws ? If we do not pass comprehensive reform NOW, millions of people will suffer needlessly and go bankrupt due to our failure to act.
A message to President Obama: Stop Dancing with the Other side!...Faux Democrats in the Senate such as Max Baucus (D-Mont) and "blue dog" Democrats in the House are not much different from Sarah Palin on this issue....Dancing with a partner like that will only lead to you both falling flat on your faces!
Please, Mr. President, return to the strength of your convictions! Lead the passage of true and meaningful healthcare reform NOW!
Peace and good thoughts,
tony