Greg Mackie's Blog Archive September 2005
September 29, 2005
I've just finished reading a biography of Mother Teresa entitled Blessed Mother Teresa, by T.T. Mundakel. I love Mother Teresa and have read a number of books about her. Each book tells her story in a different way, so each one teaches me something new about her.
One thing that really stood out for me as I read this book was just how much she asked for spiritual guidance about all the decisions she had to make. She was constantly praying to God or Jesus or the Virgin Mary, asking to know their will for her and her sisters as they fulfilled their mission to serve the poorest of the poor. She was a living example of Paul's famous admonition to "pray without ceasing."
One incident from the book was a particularly powerful illustration of this for me. The Missionaries of Charity were growing rapidly, and they needed a new home to accommodate their expansion. But how could they find a home that was both suitable for their purposes and affordable (they didn't have much money)? Mother Teresa immediately started praying about the situation-and we're talking about some serious praying. Mundakel reports that she said the Memorare (a prayer to the Virgin Mary) a stunning 85,000 times. I have no idea how he got that number; I guess she must have counted the prayers on rosary beads. At any rate, the amount of time she spent in prayer was simply staggering.
This led to what she regarded as a miracle. One day, a stranger came by and said that there was a house available, and he would be happy to show it to her and introduce her to its owner. So, she and another sister followed the stranger to this house, owned by a man named Dr. Islam, a Muslim from Pakistan. He told the sisters that he was indeed interested in selling the house. He wondered, however, about how they found out about this, since he had told no one except his wife. The sisters told him that the man accompanying them had led them to the house, but when they turned to the man, he was gone.
To make a long story short, the house was indeed perfect for the sisters' needs, and after praying to Allah, Dr. Islam agreed to sell it to them at far below its market value. (They were able to pay for it thanks to an interest-free loan from their archbishop.) In Dr. Islam's words, "It is Allah who gave me this house, and it is Allah to whom I give back this house." Mother Teresa and her sisters thanked God again and again for the remarkable blessing they had received, a blessing which enabled them to be even more helpful to the poor of Calcutta.
Mother Teresa's example has led me to reflect on my own relationship with guidance. The Course wants us to ask the Holy Spirit for guidance about literally everything: "what to do and where to go; to whom to speak and what to say to him, what thoughts to think, what words to give the world" (W-pII.275.2:3). But how often do I really ask? What would 85,000 prayers to the Holy Spirit look like? How miraculous would my life become if I dedicated myself to asking for guidance as much as Mother Teresa did? Is it possible that I could become as loving and giving and joyous as she was if I did that? I don't know, but I'd sure like to find out. Mother Teresa's wonderful example has inspired me to ask for the Holy Spirit's guidance much more frequently. I look forward to seeing what happens. Respond to this post
September 23, 2005
With all the devastation wrought by Hurricane Katrina (and with Rita on its way), a number of people have told me that they feel overwhelmed by it all. They want to help relieve their brothers' pain, but they feel that what they can do is just a drop in the bucket in the face of all that needs to be done. For some, this has brought up a vexing question, one that applies not only to Katrina but to helping our suffering brothers in general: How can we be at peace with the apparent inadequacy of our efforts to help our brothers in the grand scheme of things?
For me, the following passage from the Text offers a reassuring answer:
The plan [of salvation] is not of you, nor need you be concerned with anything except the part that has been given you to learn. For He Who knows the rest will see to it without your help. But think not that He does not need your part to help Him with the rest. For in your part lies all of it, without which is no part complete, nor is the whole completed without your part. (T-20.IV.6:1-4)
This is speaking of the Holy Spirit's plan for the salvation of the world-the plan that, in the end, will end all suffering forever. Two ideas in this passage stand out for me. The first is that each of us has a part in this plan, a part that is absolutely vital to its accomplishment-indeed, a part in which "lies all of it." I think this fills a deep and genuine need that all of us have: a need to have a meaningful function, to dedicate our lives to a cause greater than ourselves, to serve the greater good of all. Few things are more devastating than the feeling that your life has no meaningful purpose: "The lonely ones are those who see no function in the world for them to fill; no place where they are needed, and no aim which only they can perfectly fulfill" (T-25.VI.3:6).
The second is that while each of us has a part in the plan, we aren't faced with the overwhelming task of trying to make the plan or figure out how it all works. The plan as a whole belongs to the Holy Spirit, and "He Who knows the rest will see to it without [our] help." He will make all the arrangements we need to do our part. He will make sure everyone else does his part. He's coordinating the relief effort far better than we ever could. He will see the plan through to its completion.
How, then, can we be at peace with the apparent inadequacy of our efforts to help our brothers? Remember that however inadequate our efforts may seem to be, they are enough. We aren't expected to relieve our brothers' pain all by ourselves. The Holy Spirit is in charge of the plan for salvation. All we need to do is open our minds to His Voice, find out from Him what our part in His plan is, and carry that part out with His help. I don't know about you, but I'm breathing a huge sigh of relief. Knowing that all I must do is my own small part in a plan that the Course says is guaranteed to end all suffering forever really helps my mind to be at peace. Respond to this post
September 16, 2005
Intellectual debate about Course interpretation tends to get pretty bad press in Course circles. It is usually depicted as an ego trap meant to embroil us in controversy and keep us separate from one another. The typical attitude toward debate is summed up in a much-loved story about Bill Thetford. Apparently, when Bill saw people arguing about what a particular passage in the Course meant, he would advise them to "tear the page out," because "nothing should come between you and your brother."
As beloved as this story is, I have to admit that I've never cared much for Bill's advice (though I suspect he didn't intend it to be taken too literally). Don't get me wrong: I certainly agree with him that nothing should come between two brothers. If two people are angrily arguing, I think it's a good idea for them to stop, set the book aside for a time, and remind themselves that their love for one another is what's most important. Some individuals may have such strong and irreconcilable differences that they need to agree to disagree and set aside debate with each other for good. But the "tear the page out" advice, even if it was only a dramatic metaphor, seems to suggest that the problem is not just angry debate, but the whole enterprise of debating the Course's meaning. Certainly that's the way most Course students interpret that advice. In this view, debate is so inherently divisive that it would be better to lose a page of the Course than to engage in it.
I have a very different view. I believe that intellectual debate about the Course's meaning, when done in a respectful and non-attacking way, is richly rewarding, a potent way of deepening our understanding of the Course's message. When done properly, such debate is not an experience of separating but of joining-joining in the common goal of discerning the truth in a Course passage. (As an aside, there is nothing inherently separating about the term "debate." Though it usually carries a connotation of disagreement, that disagreement need not be angry disagreement. According to my dictionary, "debate" can mean "argument" but can also mean simply a "prolonged discussion.")
Interestingly, in the Urtext material, Jesus himself speaks favorably of intellectual debate in his comments on a debate between Helen and a work colleague, Jack. While he does have misgivings about some aspects of their interaction, he praises other aspects. He notes that their intellects were "good ones…each communicating exceptionally clearly but on opposite sides," and goes on to say that "the virtue [of the debate] lay in the complete respect each of you offered to the other's intellect." Clearly, Jesus approved of their respectful exchange of opposing views.
The value of debate was brought home to me recently when Robert and I debated the meaning of a difficult passage in the Urtext. The issues were a bit complicated so I won't go into detail about them here, but the long and short of it was that each of us had a different interpretation of a particular passage. Now, once it became apparent that we had different views, we could easily have followed Bill's advice and torn out the page. We could have just given up on the whole thing. But if we had done so, neither of us would have learned anything new. We would have been left with a muddle, two mutually exclusive interpretations of a confusing passage. This wouldn't have been the end of the world, of course, but it would have meant losing the benefit of clearly understanding what Jesus was trying to get across in this passage.
Instead, we decided to wrestle with the passage together. We love and respect one another, so there was no anger or attack in our discussion; both of us simply wanted to discern what our confusing passage was really saying. So, we applied the intellectual tools we have learned in our experience as Course interpreters, confident that if we worked at it long enough, illumination would come. We looked at the immediate context of our passage. We looked at other passages that seemed to be related. We searched for the interpretation that would allow all the elements to fall into a complete and unified picture.
Sure enough, illumination came. We came up with an interpretation that we both agreed upon, one that did give us that complete and unified picture. In the process, our understanding of the Course's message was deepened. We learned something new. Our encounter was a rewarding experience that brought us greater clarity about what Jesus is saying. And greater clarity, in my experience, inevitably leads to greater practical benefits on the Course's path.
All of this would have been lost if we had taken Bill's advice. Therefore, I'd like to suggest that Course students not be too quick to tear that page out. Sure, take a time out if you get into a contentious argument. Remember the love that binds you together in brotherhood. But after tempers have cooled, see if you can come back to that page and sort it out together through loving and respectful debate. Join in the common goal of discovering Jesus' message. You might find, as I have, that the illumination you receive is worth it. Respond to this post
September 10, 2005
When big events like Hurricane Katrina happen, people often ask me questions that go something like this: "The Course has worked pretty well for me in my day-to-day personal life, but how can I apply it to this?" The short answer is to apply it to "big" events the same way you apply it to "small" ones. After all, there is no order of difficulty in miracles, so in truth no event is bigger or more difficult to deal with than another.
Yet we often tend to resist this answer. One reason for this resistance, I think, is an assumption we make (often unconsciously) based on our belief in order of difficulty: We tell ourselves that while the Course may be fine for dealing with all that little day-to-day stuff in our lives, it's just not powerful enough to deal with the really big stuff. This assumption often leads us to abandon the Course and revert back to some of our old problem-solving approaches when the going gets tough.
How do we deal with this resistance? How can we motivate ourselves to use the Course when we are faced with situations that seem really "big" to us? There are many ways, I'm sure, but one way that works for me is simply to talk myself into it with a little logic. This method may not work for everyone, but I hope it may be helpful to some of you. My logic goes like this:
1. I want to find peace in this situation. I may have an entire grocery list of things I think I want to happen in this situation, but in the end, all I really want is peace. As the Course says, "The peace of God is my one goal" (W-pI.205.1:3).
2. My approach to the situation doesn't bring peace. This step addresses my temptation to revert to old problem-solving approaches. I look back at my life with as much honesty as I can muster and ask myself how those old approaches really worked. The answer is always the same: not very well. I've learned from experience that my old ways of doing things didn't bring me peace at all, at least not in the long run. This is crucial for me to recognize, because it means that what I'm doing (or what I'm tempted to do) conflicts with my goal. If I really want peace, why use methods that I know don't work?
3. I have good reason to believe that the Course's approach to the situation does bring peace. This step addresses my temptation to believe that the Course won't work in this "big" situation. Again I look back on my life with honesty and this time ask myself how the Course has worked. The answer here, too, is always the same: better than anything else I've ever tried. I've learned from experience that the Course really has brought peace when I've applied it. I'm not saying that using the Course has always brought me instantaneous perfect peace; on the contrary, my progress has generally been pretty gradual. What I am saying is that applying it has consistently brought me more peace than I had before applying it. It really does work, in situations both "big" and "small." Over time, I've come to trust the Course. Its track record has proven its worth to me.
4. Therefore, if I want to find peace, I need to use the Course's approach to the situation-to walk the Course's path. This is the logical conclusion. If I know from experience that my approach hasn't worked and the Course's approach has, then the only sensible option for me is to use the Course's approach. I need to study the Course daily, do its practices, and extend forgiveness to my brothers. I need to let the Holy Spirit change my perception of the situation and guide all my thoughts, words, and actions in regard to it. If I do so, I can be confident that I will find the peace that I seek. Respond to this post
September 1, 2005
Along with so many others, I've been thinking a lot about Hurricane Katrina and the immense suffering it has inflicted on people in New Orleans and the entire Gulf Coast. We were talking about it in our Workbook class this morning, and one of our participants asked how we could apply yesterday's lesson, "Today I will judge nothing that occurs" (Lesson 243), to a disaster of such magnitude.
This is a great question, one I'm sure many Course students are pondering. I think one reason people resist giving up their judgment in situations like this is that they think it will render them callous and impotent. If we give up our judgment, how will we know what to think, say, or do in this situation? Will we just end up staring blankly at the television news reports, indifferent to the plight of our brothers, too heavenly minded to be of any earthly use?
I think the key to resolving this dilemma is to remember that when we give up our own judgment, the Holy Spirit's judgment will take its place. As the Manual says, a person who gives us his own judgment "puts himself in a position where judgment through him rather than by him can occur" (M-10.2:7). Of ourselves, we really aren't capable of sound judgment anyway. Deep down, we know we really don't have a clue, and so trying to respond to a disaster like Hurricane Katrina on the basis of "bits of [our] perception, which are all that [we] can see" (W-pII.243.1:3) is an incredible strain. Giving up our own judgment relieves us of this strain and places our decision-making in the hands of One who literally knows everything. He "will tell [us] what to do and where to go; to whom to speak and what to say to him, what thoughts to think, what words to give the world" (W-pII.275.2:3). What a relief!
In that last Course line, I see two major gifts the Holy Spirit's judgment gives us. The first gift is guidance on "what thoughts to think"-in other words, a new perception of the situation. A major aspect of this new perception is the recognition that whatever happens on the level of this illusory world, nothing real can be threatened and we remain as God created us. This idea is captured beautifully in today's lesson, "I am in danger nowhere in the world" (Lesson 244). It reminds us that whatever dangers seem to assail us in this world-even hurricanes-in truth we are all at home with God, "in the safety of Your Fatherly embrace" (W-pII.244.1:3). All those involved in the Katrina disaster, those who died and those who survived, are still as God created them, still in Heaven, still basking in the sunshine of His Love. The disaster had no real effect on them. One line in this lesson is particularly poignant to me when applied to the hurricane, which of course is quite literally a storm: "No storms can come into the hallowed haven of our home " (W-pII.244.2:2).
The second gift is guidance on what to say and do. When we let the Holy Spirit judge for us, the recognition that the disaster had no real effect on those involved doesn't lead us to say, "It's all an illusion, so who cares?" On the contrary, the Holy Spirit recognizes that all pain and suffering is a call for help, and He calls upon each of us to offer help: "Look about the world, and see the suffering there. Is not your heart willing to bring your weary brothers rest?" (W-pI.191.10:7-8). And because the Holy Spirit knows exactly what each person can give and what each person needs, He will tell us exactly how to bring our weary brothers rest. When we ask Him how to help those devastated by Katrina, the help He guides us to offer could take many forms, including prayers, kind words to the afflicted, a financial donation to the relief effort, or actually taking part in the relief effort. Giving up our judgment, then, will not make us callous and impotent. Letting the Holy Spirit judge through us will in fact enable us to be far more compassionate and effective than we could ever be on our own. With His wisdom to guide us, we will be truly helpful to our brothers.
I join with all our brothers on the Gulf Coast and all who are helping to relieve their suffering. May everyone rest in the safety of our Father's embrace. May everyone remember that no storms can come into the hallowed haven of our home. Respond to this post
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