3. Detachment
Some of these Scriptural references are clearly urging on us a detachment from material comforts. A healthy detachment which frees from anxiety. Christians are fairly used to that message, however resistant we are to it in practice. But a closer reading of Paul reveals a profounder message which, like that of Job, cuts much nearer the bone. From the perspective of "spirituality", detachment from luxuries is surely kid's stuff. Detachment from personal deprivation, from personal desolation and disaster - that requires considerably more maturity.
"Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?" Well, shall we? Shall we say that this "trouble" which befalls us, indeed this harrowing horror, is "beautiful in its time"? Shall we say with Job "The Lord hath given and the Lord hath taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord"? Are we even close to being able to say with Paul "For I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances"? OK, so now our mind goes to extreme life-shocks - the death of a child, etc. And such events of course are the bottom line for us in the sense that, if we can echo Job at that point then we have surely passed the "trial"-
The challenge faced by Job, and fulfilled by Christ, was to cleave unto God whatever the circumstances. Attachment to God enables commensurate detachment from circumstance. By "detachment from circumstance" we in no way intend a flight from reality, or refusal to face up to unwelcome facts. As you are well aware, there is a pietistic strand of evangelicalism which refrains from participation in society, culture, politics etc, in order, ostensibly, to preserve and cultivate internal sanctity. This, I truly believe, is heretical. It is like an army which digs itself into foxholes and refuses to engage the encroaching enemy, convinced that the only war is the one within their "souls".
So, while Christian detachment is "unto God", it is yet in the midst of circumstance. In other words, we are talking about transcendence over circumstance rather than avoidance of circumstance. The Calvinist emphasis on the sovereignty of God is crucial here. If God's sovereignty were less than absolute, the words "Thy will be done" would be about as meaningful as "Let's just keep our fingers crossed". Let us perhaps re-read that verse from Psalm 66 just quoted, but this time note all the more carefully the ultimate source of events as appealed to by the Psalmist:
As we look in turn at Zen, the question arises, what is Zen detachment "unto"? This is not intended as a cheap question. Zen would no doubt answer with some variation on the theme of "oneness", "nothingness" or some such. Typically, the Christian would dismiss this out of hand as Eastern mumbo-jumbo (detached, sure, but from reality). But a bit more humility might be appropriate. If my personal world is suddenly in ruins, just how much will I the 'Calvinist' continue to trust in the sovereignty of God? Only when it happens will I know. I may be astonished at just how much the Void invades my hitherto "pious" consciousness.
"For you, O God, tested us; you refined us like silver. You brought us into prison and laid burdens on our backs. You let men ride over our heads; we went through fire and water, but you brought us to a place of abundance." (Psalm 66:10-12, NIV)
"Ô Dieu, tu nous as éprouvés, tu nous as passés au creuset comme l'argent, tu nous as mis en difficulté, tu nous as accablés de détresse. Tu as laissé des hommes nous passer à cheval sur la tête, nous avons dû traverser le feu et l'eau. Mais tu nous as tirés de là et soulagés." (Psaume 66:10-12, en français courant)However, although we are told that "In all this, Job did not sin in what he said", it is important to observe - it is surely a deliverance to observe - that he was far from impassive. In fact many chapters of the Book of Job are sustained expressions of bitter complaint, crippling bewilderment, and abysmal despair. This man was no Stoic. Nor was Christ Himself. His mental agony in Gethsemane, His public grief at Lazarus's tomb, we have already alluded to. His anger and His humour are also apparent in the Gospels.
The challenge faced by Job, and fulfilled by Christ, was to cleave unto God whatever the circumstances. Attachment to God enables commensurate detachment from circumstance. By "detachment from circumstance" we in no way intend a flight from reality, or refusal to face up to unwelcome facts. As you are well aware, there is a pietistic strand of evangelicalism which refrains from participation in society, culture, politics etc, in order, ostensibly, to preserve and cultivate internal sanctity. This, I truly believe, is heretical. It is like an army which digs itself into foxholes and refuses to engage the encroaching enemy, convinced that the only war is the one within their "souls".
So, while Christian detachment is "unto God", it is yet in the midst of circumstance. In other words, we are talking about transcendence over circumstance rather than avoidance of circumstance. The Calvinist emphasis on the sovereignty of God is crucial here. If God's sovereignty were less than absolute, the words "Thy will be done" would be about as meaningful as "Let's just keep our fingers crossed". Let us perhaps re-read that verse from Psalm 66 just quoted, but this time note all the more carefully the ultimate source of events as appealed to by the Psalmist:
"For you, O God, tested us; you refined us like silver. You brought us into prison and laid burdens on our backs. You let men ride over our heads; we went through fire and water, but you brought us to a place of abundance." (Psalm 66:10-12, NIV)An all-swallowing swamp shrouded in noxious fog. That's what Job's stable, comfortable world had become. Almost overnight. His very body decaying like putrid timber. He clung, as if hung by a nail, to that single broken branch above him.
As we look in turn at Zen, the question arises, what is Zen detachment "unto"? This is not intended as a cheap question. Zen would no doubt answer with some variation on the theme of "oneness", "nothingness" or some such. Typically, the Christian would dismiss this out of hand as Eastern mumbo-jumbo (detached, sure, but from reality). But a bit more humility might be appropriate. If my personal world is suddenly in ruins, just how much will I the 'Calvinist' continue to trust in the sovereignty of God? Only when it happens will I know. I may be astonished at just how much the Void invades my hitherto "pious" consciousness.
However Zen articulates the matter, its focus on the existence of a transcendent equilibrium beyond circumstance is surely accurate in principle. Calvinism, for its part, would insist that there is no basis for such "transcendent equilibrium" other than the character and sovereign kindness of the Living God. Indeed faith in, and obedience to, God are made prerequisites, as we see if we trace the Biblical use of the word "rest". It first appears in Genesis 8. Noah sends out a dove from the ark to see if the flood-waters have abated -"But the dove found no rest (מנוח manowach) for the sole of her foot". The Septuagint generally translates this term with "κατάπαυσις (katapausis)", which also carries the connotation of "calming of the winds", or simply "calm". These two Hebrew and Greek terms turn up in the following passage in the New Testament (and we note in passing the zen-like emphasis on "Today" - ie "Here and Now"):
"So God’s rest is there for people to enter, but those who first heard this good news failed to enter because they disobeyed God. So God set another time for entering his rest, and that time is today. God announced this through David much later in the words already quoted: 'Today when you hear his voice, don’t harden your hearts.'” (Hebrews 4:6-11, New Living Translation)So whether we face flood or storm, we yet endeavour to find rest (ie God's equilibrium) for the sole of our foot:
God is our refuge and strength, A very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, Even though the earth be removed, And though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; Though its waters roar and be troubled, Though the mountains shake with its swelling. Selah
Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth! (Psalm 46:1-3,10 NKJV)
Isaiah tells us:
In returning and rest you shall be saved; In quietness and confidence shall be your strength; but you would have none of it. (Isaiah 30:15)
A French version of the above verse superbly brings out its relevance to our discussion:
Vous ne serez sauvés qu'en revenant à moi et en restant tranquilles. Votre seul force, c'est de garder votre calme et de me faire confiance.
(You will be saved only in returning to me and in remaining tranquil. Your only strength is to guard your calm and to have confidence in me) (Esaie 30:15 en français courant)
And Christ Himself says to us (in those words which drew me to Him at the first):
As with Ecclesiastes - "A time for war, And a time for peace...". As with Paul - "I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation". As with Job - "Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?"
Stressless within the stress of everyday life - is this a Biblically generated and informed aspiration, or is it just imposing on the Bible the contemporary preoccupation with psychological self-management? Perhaps our judgement gets skewed by a pietistic (gnostic-inspired) mindset which partitions life into "sacred" and "secular", or "spiritual" and "physical" categories, with the Bible and God only relevant to the so-called "spiritual" compartment - where reside (from this viewpoint) the matter of sin and deliverance therefrom.
I observe that, for me as a teacher, a practiced attitude of calm (on those occasions when I get close to it!) saves me from an anger which can so often lead into speech and behaviour which I later regret. In other words, the conscious fostering of "serenity" (inner "rest"/ "calm"/ "equilibrium"/ "equanimity") will clearly impact on our self-control - which, let us remember, is a fruit of the Spirit (Galations 5:23).
Christ tells us that "men will have to give account on the day of judgement for every careless word they have spoken" (Matt 12:36). Is self-control an instance of "psychological self-management"? A factor in one's attitude to alcohol is of course its possible impairment of self-control. Intake is avoided or regulated largely with self-control in mind. The pietist should at least be settled by the thought that "self-control" is a sin-avoidance skill.
There are stress-triggered malaises, and serious pathological conditions, where medication enables the patient to better "manage" their thoughts, words and behaviour. Is medication scriptural? Of course it is. So are there not also in Scripture therapeutic and preventative strategies to help us manage stress, optimize self-control and minimize the need for medication? Surely there are, even if our evangelical tradition may not have been too helpful in identifying them to us. That tradition is more liable to have presented us with a split-level life - i.e the Bible for "spiritual" problems and medicine for "physical" problems.
Come to me all you who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest... (Matt 11:28).And these remarkable words which signal some kind of transcendent counterpoise between rest and unrest:
I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world. (John 16:33)But in envisaging (as in the case of Job) only extreme circumstances when we ponder these matters, we can overlook the relevance of these Scriptures for our everyday stresses at work, domestically, and so on. Before us here in Scripture is modelled a predisposition we should obviously aspire to in our daily "walk" - namely, a detachment from (or "equanimity" concerning) both "luxury" and "deprivation". Detachment - to take a mundane example familiar to many of us - from a chronic corrosive preoccupation with the anticipated "luxury" of reaching the end of the "deprivation" (or "grind") imposed on us by the working day or week.
As with Ecclesiastes - "A time for war, And a time for peace...". As with Paul - "I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation". As with Job - "Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?"
Stressless within the stress of everyday life - is this a Biblically generated and informed aspiration, or is it just imposing on the Bible the contemporary preoccupation with psychological self-management? Perhaps our judgement gets skewed by a pietistic (gnostic-inspired) mindset which partitions life into "sacred" and "secular", or "spiritual" and "physical" categories, with the Bible and God only relevant to the so-called "spiritual" compartment - where reside (from this viewpoint) the matter of sin and deliverance therefrom.
I observe that, for me as a teacher, a practiced attitude of calm (on those occasions when I get close to it!) saves me from an anger which can so often lead into speech and behaviour which I later regret. In other words, the conscious fostering of "serenity" (inner "rest"/ "calm"/ "equilibrium"/ "equanimity") will clearly impact on our self-control - which, let us remember, is a fruit of the Spirit (Galations 5:23).
Christ tells us that "men will have to give account on the day of judgement for every careless word they have spoken" (Matt 12:36). Is self-control an instance of "psychological self-management"? A factor in one's attitude to alcohol is of course its possible impairment of self-control. Intake is avoided or regulated largely with self-control in mind. The pietist should at least be settled by the thought that "self-control" is a sin-avoidance skill.
There are stress-triggered malaises, and serious pathological conditions, where medication enables the patient to better "manage" their thoughts, words and behaviour. Is medication scriptural? Of course it is. So are there not also in Scripture therapeutic and preventative strategies to help us manage stress, optimize self-control and minimize the need for medication? Surely there are, even if our evangelical tradition may not have been too helpful in identifying them to us. That tradition is more liable to have presented us with a split-level life - i.e the Bible for "spiritual" problems and medicine for "physical" problems.
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