Ah, I know that Sara Hudson, who you know, has done as much research as possible on her, and indeed lives in the village of the church dedicated to her, Whitchurch Canonicorum.
Thank you for your comment. It has led me to book a day’s pilgrimage walk from the church in Whitchurch Canonicorum in August. I only live down the road and have never been - shame on me!
How wonderful! In 2018 or 2019 I joined the one day pilgrimage that Sara ran, walking to St Wite's well, then to the proposed site of her hermitage (I think on Golden Cap?) and then through the woods and fields to the church and her reliquary. It was a hot, dusty June day, and the cool sanctuary of the church was a delight. Have a wonderful walk.
Love the First Things essay, and you're absolutely right about "Wild Christianity." The lives of those old British saints - see Sabine Baring-Gould's eight volumes of hagiography -- are a great place to start, ditto the old Anglo-Saxon and early English prayers and religious poetry as collected in various anthologies and the "Orthodox England" site. Deeper links with the natural world and created order may smack to some of paganism, but it doesn't have to be, at all. See also "The Northern Thebiad," the lives of saints in the great forests of Northern Russia, and those legends about various saints befriending bears and wolves. Anyways, great essays/thoughts.
Jack, you may remember recently we were discussing Christ the Eternal Tao and you advised to get it direct from St Hermans? It came today, total cost including shipping to the UK of just under £40. It took about 2 weeks.
Not cheap, but better than the 3 figures quoted on Amazon!
Andrew- Beautiful. I hope it is the book you are looking for and need.
Transatlantic shipping is surely expensive these days. I recently bought some books from the Monastery of St. John the Baptist in Essex. Yikes. But, nonetheless, they are more than worth it. I hope you find that is the same with your new purchase.
Interesting, thanks for the references. I recently came across a 4-volume series called Orthodox Saints of the British Isles (published from 2013), by John Hutchison-Hall. You might know it too?
The thing about wild saints is they are mostly hidden. I met one . He lives in the American state of Kentucky, not far from the well-known Abby of Gethsemane. Ever since I "stumbled upon" The Abbey of Misrule, I have wanted to find a way to introduce the two of you.
I just received my copy of First Things in yesterday's mail so I will probably be thinking the same thought when I read your new article...
There is also a guy named Dmitry Lupa that writes about the British saints at Orthodox Christianity. Many predated the mission of Augustine (which among other things brought a more "urban" Christianity to the Isles) and certainly the schism of 1054. A lot of Cornish, Welsh, Northumbrians etc. Baring-Gould's work is probably the best, and can be found on Internet Archive; there's also a small publisher in England that's reprinted the whole series.
Dmitry Lapa's work is excellent! He is blind, and a true holy struggler sharing the lives of British saints. They are accompanied with photos of their regions, towns, churches, and icons. It is a real 'podvig' for him. I hope for them to be compiled into a single book some time soon. For now, one can find them here: https://orthochristian.com/108151.html
It's a very interesting question for which there is no definitive answer. I might recommend Geoffrey Ashe's book about Glastonbury for starters, in which he summarizes the available evidence for Christianity in Britain prior to the mission of Augustine. The basic thesis is that Celtic Christianity, with its monastic focus, bears many similarities to Egyptian and later Byzantine monastic traditions that ultimately defined Orthodoxy, particularly in Russia. There are also intriguing details, such as the way of determining the date for Easter - the Celtics and pre-Augustine Britains followed the procedure used in the East. I don't think you should say "no connection with Rome," I think it's more accurate that the churches of the Isles didn't really come into line with the evolved Roman structure until the 6th century or so.
The Orthodox date for Easter was still being used by the Irish in Co Clare, very late in the day. So much so that the Pope was made Bishop of Kilfenora to enforce the Roman date of Easter rather that the Orthodox date still being used.
The Roman Catholic Christianity, was enforced with fire and brimstone in the nineteenth century, especially in the diocese of Tuam in the west of Ireland in the nineteenth century because the Irish traction was still the orthodox one. The new push to Romanize the west of Ireland was called the Second Reformation. All the old practises relating to the natural world, such as Holy Wells etc were vigorously discouraged. Celtic Christianity survived until the end of the nineteenth century in the west. The Famine too undermined the faith in the old ways.
Really interesting.. thank you! I would only like to add that, for me, 'going back' to Wild Christianity does not mean literally adopting the practice of the past, linked as they were with a different consciousness( group, tribal), but rather honouring them, remembering them and being inspired by them. From this inspiration we can work again with spirit and matter, soul and soil, in a way appropriate for the consciousness of our times (of individuals consciously striving for community).
By doing this we might find that there is an unbroken evolutionary thread from the earliest indigenous cultures of time right up to today, encompassing all true esoteric earth-based spiritualities. Discovering this, remembering this, is for me a deep source of hope and nourishment in these uncertain times; a move to a sense of co-creative community with nature, each other and the spiritual world...
The consciousness of the early Christian saints was emphatically not 'group' or 'tribal' based (nor were they 'earth-based'): Christianity as a faith consciously replaces this consciousness with that of something universal. This is one reason why, for example, the saints of the west of Ireland were consciously living out the life patterns of the Desert Fathers of Egypt. These practices are also universal across time, with some obvious cultural variations. It's one reason they give me hope.
I don't know enough about the Christian saints, so I am sure that you are correct about them; I am rather subscribing to the view that consciousness has changed from the earliest earth-settlers who lived in groups to the people of today, who are generally living as an individuals. I have a sense that there is a spectrum of development of consciousness from these earliest primeval times to now, with the early saints somewhere in the middle, if one wants to put it in a time context.
My evidence is shaky, I agree, based mainly on a 'feeling' for history and also on the observation of how art has changed ( e.g the development of perspective). I also have a feeling that the changing child's consciousness might mirror this evolution (another concept from Steiner, applied in Waldorf Schools to the teaching of history).
However, I do agree with you that much or all of the true earth spirituality IS universal and it too gives me hope!
I think there is a truth in this for sure. We are certainly becoming more 'universal' as a world, in many ways both good and bad. This is in fact the story that Christianity tells. The whole sweep of the Bible takes us from an early tribal consciousness, through nations and into the whole world. And yet the practices of nearly two thousand years ago can still work today. I find that exciting.
The desert monastics seem to be both more individual - insisting on the primacy individual soul's relationship to God, and more universal - proclaiming an identity and a love in Christ that transcends and includes all human social configurations.
I'm also becoming much more skeptical of the idea of evolution of consciousness. There are many philosophies of the evolution of consciousness which I once saw as quite brilliant, that when I read them now I see them as closely tied into a subtle worship of the god of progress. Articulating how our 21st century Western consciousness (or even small subsets of this consciousness) is the highest and cutting edge of humanity, it just smacks of the same old story, applied to the mind instead of to technology....
Good point. I agree mostly, and I think I explained myself badly. I don't think that the individual 'human consciousness' 'evolves' in some teleological sense towards an 'Omega point' or what have you. As you rightly say, that is the modern story subtly disguised. I think that what has 'evolved', or just developed, is our global consciousness; we're obviously able to see and connect with what more and more people are doing beyond our immediate experience. In this sense, this is what you're talking about when you refer to the desert fathers and their 'love that transcends' perhaps. It's what we aim for. But our souls don't 'evolve.'
I’m curious to understand why you feel so strongly that our consciousness doesn’t evolve. If we observe children it is clear that the consciousness of a 2 day old child is very different from a 2 year old child. And different again from a 12 year old, and then a 22 year old. So this is clearly an evolution of consciousness.
Transposing this into history: if we look at the progression of art dispassionately we can see that it has changed - cave paintings in France are different from Egyptian two-dimensional beings, which are different from pictures with perspective, eh in are in turn different from conceptual art of the 20th century. For me - strong indications of an evolution of consciousness.
I am not putting value judgments to any of these changes - a 22year old is not better or worse than a 2 year old, conceptual art is not better or worse than Byzantine art, but they are different, they have changed, they have evolved.
And we will continue to evolve - and here comes the next leap of thinking, if we consider reincarnation, then we as souls who may been cave painters in France, Egyptian artists, Renaissance sculptors and people of today, also evolve and will continue to evolve into the future. It’s not the same old story, whatever that means … it is the story of evolution, and as I say, there are no value judgments attached. The modern human of today is, in my view, floundering for meaning and purpose, and our evolution could go
two ways - into the abyss of sub-nature or to the heights of Earth consciousness….and we can choose!
I wonder why it’s not possible to venture some way into the wild? Most of us I daresay aren’t made of the same stuff as Paul’s friend Martin Shaw just yet, but I’m thinking of his recent 100-day (not the whole time!) vigil in the wildwood, at the end of which he had an extraordinary experience. But each of us can certainly become much less tame, spend more time in nature, go hiking, spend a few nights each year out in nature, whether in or out of a tent. Baby steps for us, till we find our footing more confidently. I’m wary of being too beholden to a supposed “consciousness of our times” because that sounds too fixed a concept, and like it’s giving in to an imaginary agenda set by others who have no interest in our welfare. They say civilisation is only about 3 days deep (or some such quotation) - I’m very willing to put that to the test, increasingly.
I think that's exactly the way forward. Start where you are, take baby steps, see if they become bigger ... not many of us are going to end up living in caves, but it's not all or nothing. It's about curating a consciouness.
I've been working with people in this realm for years - guiding folks to do solo wilderness prayer retreats. It's a psychological leap, but it's not that technically/logistically difficult.
I find that '3 days deep' quote interesting, based on my experiences.
I've found there are three major thresholds with times of solitude in the wilderness. The first is four days, the second is around ten days, the third is around forty days. Layers of civilization (and the relationship of our consciousness that are interwoven with our civilization) start to shed in progressively deeper layers at each of these thresholds.
100 days is awesome - but just four days can lead to a major positive opening. Of course it's not a formula, but building up to four days can lead to some very good things.
Mark- I would like to try such a retreat at some point, God willing. It makes me think of Wyoming Catholic College that starts every freshman with a month long retreat out into the wilderness. And then that continues throughout their time there. Far better than any class I took in college I am certain. -Jack
That's so encouraging to hear about WCC and their start to a students' time in college! I found myself first 'driven' into the wilds during college. It would have been an incredible support to have a structure set up to encourage that movement.
Mark, I’m curious. Are you willing to give me a few *simple* pointers for wilderness solitude? Basically, my questions are about food and shelter across 4 days…
- No food? Or minimal snacks? (Presumably take water, right?!)
- use a tent, or sleep out? Sleeping bag?
- presumably *walk* there if possible and make sure it’s genuinely isolated, no? To ensure the option of a car for easy escape isn’t there?
- strictly no mobile, or is it best to have one in case of accidents?
Clearly people can decide to do it any which way they feel they need to, but my sense is that I need to do this to contact the elements more deeply. For me as a newbie I’d appreciate a few *really basic* pointers (not to impose) based on your experience. I’m guessing if we’re new to it, we start with what we can handle, right?
Jules, I appreciated your practical questions, as they reminded me of my wilderness retreat which I undertook back in 1985 or so, spending several days alone at a friend's rustic cabin (no electricity, running water, nor even an outhouse!).
I brought some bottled water, and already knew of a fresh running spring, so refilled bottles there. For food, I went extremely minimal (I was 25, so still relatively young, and feeling rather invincible), taking only a bag of apples, a bag of dinner rolls, and a large jar of peanut butter. I dropped probably ten pounds or perhaps more, and never felt healthier or more alert.
This was in the forests in eastern Kentucky, bordering Red River Gorge State Park. I went in the early Spring, so the temperature was not likely to drop too low. Lots of blankets on a rough cot, so I was warm enough under the layers. I lit a fire in the wood burning stove a couple of nights. BIFF (bathroom in forest floor) was my solution for waste. I would rise every day at sunrise, pray and read the Bible and from the Omnibus of Sources on St Francis of Assisi, then head out in one direction or another for a day-long walk, returning usually shortly after noon, sometimes later. I quickly found favorite paths. I can attest to Mark Kutolowski's observations about the 'threshold times' for wilderness solitude.
In a way similar to Paul's return to his tent, I tried to spend a night on the crest of the ridge behind the cabin, and soon after sunset I became overwhelmed by fear of primal and elemental forces which I may have imagined, but may have been only steps ahead of... I hurriedly clambered down the ridge, sliding and half falling, lighting matches occasionally to light my way (and thankfully not causing a forest fire!). (No flashlight! What was I thinking?!) I also found a nearby cave which I spent most of a day in, but did not dare try an overnight.
An altogether remarkable experience, which now, at almost 64, I should like very much to do again, and perhaps long term.
"My heart yearns for thee in the night watches..."
How wonderful! That sounds beautiful, and whets my appetite for it, especially for the deeper settling at those threshold periods. To do a week would be great - and then two… then a month… imagine what could rise up to be observed, offered up for resolution, then let go of…
Now that’s a very 25-year-old’s diet, if I may say so! :)
Thank you very much for writing in such detail - it sounds truly inspiring.
Good questions, and glad to hear you're interested in giving it a try. The basic principle I recommend is to try and find the 'sweet spot' between tending to personal safety/basic needs, and stretching beyond one's comfort zone to take a stance of openness and humility before God. The goal is to be a bit out of one's comfort zone, bot not overwhelmed to the point where physical survival becomes the primary focus of the time.
So, it depends on where your comfort level is at before you go in. A few basics I'd consider:
-Warmth: this is the only realm (except for a serious accident) where you can get into big trouble in 4 days or less. Generally that would mean having an adequate sleeping bag and pad, and if rain/snow is possible, a tent or tarp. The key is that you have the ability to maintain your body's core temperature. If you have the needed gear, and then feel led to sleep out or use less, that's fine - but at least you know you have what you need.
-Re: fasting - if you haven't fasted much before, I'd say it's a good idea to bring food, or thinking about food (and it's absence) can become a big focus of your time. Simple food will do the job. I"m personally in favor of bringing adequate calories, but of very plain fare, when not fasting. If you are used to fasting, then a four day fast is perfectly safe. It's a good idea to have water (though there are traditional fasts that go without water for 3-4 days), and maybe some salts/electrolytes to go with it. Doing a regular(weekly?) 24-hour or 36-hour fast can be a good preparation for a 4-day wilderness fast.
-Safety - There's lots of different ways to approach this. I'm personally inclined to leave the phone behind - though I do get the idea of using it as a safety tool. People range from using lots of technology to simply letting a friend know when to expect to hear from you at the end of the trip. There are plenty of in-between approaches, too....
-Yes, walking in to a site is important (or canoeing, etc) - there should be a sense of moving at the pace of the land and a degree of separation from the land of the automobile. It's important to find a spot where there won't be unplanned interruptions, as best as you're able.
Anyhow, there's more to say on this topic that doesn't easily fit into this medium. If you'd like to talk things over before heading out, I'd be happy to - you can reach me at: mark@metanoiavt.com.
Really appreciated, that’s great advice, you make it sound very accessible and straightforward. Right - the ‘sweet spot’ between control and challenge makes sense, and that will shift I guess as experience grows. The point you make about not letting this or that lack become the focus of anxiety or concern is valuable - or else the whole thing becomes a grim struggle rather than an opportunity for depth.
Aldous Huxley refers to that as the "peripheral philosophy" that all religions share in common. I think even atheism can share this sense of the divine if we don't get too bogged down in labels. I like your idea of the unbroken evolutionary thread of spirituality - I feel it's here with us just waiting to be discovered anew!
NB this world view has been inspired to a large extent by the work of Rudolf Steiner, whose embrace of all true esoteric earth-based spiritualities, is extremely wide, tolerant and very future oriented.
do you think it’s possible to arrive at the same moral and philosophical conclusions about the crisis of our Machine age, in terms of it being the “spiritual” crisis you regularly describe…without primarily conceptualizing ways forward (or back, to whatever degree) only in a traditionally Christian theistic framework?
My question here is if you think one can arrive at the conclusions that you’ve arrived at, IE with a functionally comparable understanding of our macro-predicament…but without “Christendom“ explicitly? are all of your previous Buddhist world views now irrelevant in this context/ not up the task at hand? (*not being facetious here, just wondering how philosophically pluralistic this whole project can actually be in your eyes) + hopefully you understand what I’m getting at here + forgive me, if this is a little too broad/ vague…thanks ! /T
'Information' can't fill a 'spiritual basket.' It's a different content that will fill it up: knowledge, experience. It is not 'objective' or available in stastistical form: it's like much human experience in that regard. We can't really explain what religion provides without engaging in it, any more than we can explain what being in love, or parenthood, or grief, is like to someone who has never experienced them.
I do believe that religion is the source of 'moral behaviour', which is why most Western atheists have liberal and universalist values (which stem from protestant Christianity) rather than, say, the moral values of Incas, Ancient Romans or Satanists. But religion isn't primarily about being moral: it's about trying to know God. It's a difficult thing to write down.
'Regardless of the semantics, what is it that explains from your point of view why a formal religion like Christianity is necessary for the spirituality you espouse? Why, in your belief, can't a person find spirituality in the absence of religion? Also, what is is that this spirituality provides you, besides relatively impermanent rules of moral behavior and how is that related to spirituality?'
I think that this thing called 'spirituality' is perhaps a condition, or an experience, that some people seek or have and others don't. As such, it might or might not be related to a 'formal religion.' Experiencing the spiritual in the natural world, for example, is probably part of our human birthright. I've been doing that most of my life, with no 'religious' framework to it. Indeed, many of those frameworks, including mainstream Christianity, don't provide much of an understanding of it, which is why I write things like this.
Religion provides a great deal, I have found, mainly in the accumulation of spiritual wisdom over centuries, and a tradition and framework within which it can be practiced. That includes necessary rules, which prevent us from drifting into individualism (the easiest temptation.)
But I'm not an evangelist. I've no interest in persuading anyone to become Christian. I write for those who find some use in what I say.
I am not discounting your belief that faith plays a powerful role in guiding one's behavior. It certainly does. That said, I think we'll all need something new to have faith in, because the stuff that's been sold to us for the last couple millennia has strained our credulity past the breaking point, collectively speaking. It seems that the most ardent faith holders of the modern era have been prone to the worst acts of anti-social behavior.
Maybe for some. But not for me. My credulity is very much more strained by what my culture wants me to believe than by anything I read in the New Testament. And in the end what matters is what we believe to be true. Was Christ God incarnate? If so, then it doesn't matter when he arrived. If not, then it doesn't matter anyway.
Like many I think you make the mistake of thinking the Bible is a work of supposed history rather than a series of Books of Wisdom. You are not supposed to take the stories literally. They are parables. You are supposed to see them as a template for understanding the transcendent and its relationship to humanity and for making that transcendent part of your life. There are other ways of coming at that wisdom. Christianity has a great deal in common with both Judaism and Islam. Hardly surprising since they evolved out of one another. And there is much to be learned from Buddhism, Sikhism and other religions. I choose the Christian path because it ties me to the place I come from and the people who went before and because its central commandment to love pretty much sums it up for me.
Over here, in France, where the religious wars have been waxing greatly for centuries now, I think that one of the biggest issues concerns the problem of autonomy and self determination. From what I understand, many Enlightenment thinkers even today firmly believe in the possibility that human beings can and should determine their laws, political and social structure, and that this possibility comes from... enlightened, voluntary, conscious choice. ("Choosing your laws"... maybe, but... choosing your social structures ? or even choosing your sex ? just how much do we want to be able to choose ?)
As I understand it, prayer from a Christian perspective (Jewish, too ?) implies the belief that we receive... much, from God, and that our capacity for self determination, while not inexistent, is limited. Beyond that, I believe that prayer is an address to an unknown to whom we accord our faith. Enlightenment ideology implies no address, as I understand it, no relationship. Who is to address, outside the seminal moment when the French revolutionaries really went.. bonkers and set up their own idols (i.e. Robespierre), to replace the Christian God ?
As long as you weigh the value of ethical behavior on a material cause and effect scale, you will always come to the conclusion that spirituality in general, and Christ centered spirituality in particular, is "optional" or even "redundant".
That is a flawed conclusion because the 3D universe is a relatively smaller part of the total reality of the Creation than the supernatural portion. The spiritual (i.e. supernatural) in nature part of Creation is a greater reality.
Arbitrarily limiting your definition of "reality" to the observable universe is not rational, even from a scientific point of view. All the way down to the sub-atomic quantum level, he golden ratio is coded into physical reality. That is prima facie evidence (there are thousands of other scientific proofs evidenced by physical constant non-random precisiion) that our universe is non-random.
However, if you think we are the result of random undirected processes, then your logic certainly will, of course, lead you to relegate spirituality, and belief in a Creator, for that matter, to the "optional" category.
Paul the Apostle explained the lack of faith evidenced in that worldview:
"Now if Christ is preached, that He rose from the dead, how say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen: and if Christ be not risen, then our preaching is vain, and your faith is also vain." -- 1 Corinthians 15:12-14
A couple of things. “most Western atheists have liberal and universalist values (which stem from protestant Christianity)”. See Baruch Spinoza and other very famous Western “atheists”, who happened to be Jewish and not descended from Protestant Christianity, rather from Talmudic tradition.
In pinpointing the absence of a spiritual center as a cause for our global decline, I might argue that pantheism might be a better and more likely future belief than any others currently hanging on from a very dark past. But perhaps a pantheism with humanist values perhaps?
I think our major issue as a species is simply time. We do not live in a way where we can adapt to the changes we have wrought, in a coherent and intelligent way. We are adapting on the fly, not having time to learn from our mistakes, and destroying everything in our path because we have no sureties to hold on to, even if those sureties, like a virgin mother, are somewhat questionable.
I was thinking recently about Christ's injunction to "love your neighbor as yourself," and I wonder if he might have meant that more literally than we usually take it (this idea may be an echo of something Paul said here recently... I can't remember...I am old!). That is to say, that we should perhaps pay more attention to those in our immediate community--family, actual neighbors--rather than spending our time and passion on overarching political efforts meant to set the whole world straight. Think about the worldwide effect if everyone simply paid more attention--more selfless, compassionate, loving attention--to the handful of real people they interact with frequently.
I agree with this. Paying attention to the people in our immediate vicinity means to listen to them, for example. To TAKE the time to sit down if necessary in a private place and listen to them, to flesh and blood people.
There is a big question to be answered (but asked, first) in the problem of determining just who my neighbor is...
That's a formula for bigotry--for defining people who aren't like us as unworthy of caring. NOT a direction we should be going. Caring for the entire world is hard work, but it is necessary work.
Interesting, isn't it, that Christ says 'love your neighbour' and 'love your enemy', but not 'love humanity.' The latter is an abstract. The former are real people. Anyone can (pretend to) love in the abstract. Actually loveing actual people is much harder work!
A quote from a confessing doctor in The Brothers Karamazov: “I love mankind,” he said, “but I am amazed at myself: the more I love mankind in general, the less I love people in particular, that is, individually, as separate persons. In my dreams,” he said, “I often went so far as to think passionately of serving mankind, and, it may be, would really have gone to the cross for people if it were somehow suddenly necessary, and yet I am incapable of living in the same room with anyone even for two days, this I know from experience. As soon as someone is there, close to me, his personality oppresses my self-esteem and restricts my freedom. In twenty-four hours I can begin to hate even the best of men: one because he takes too long eating his dinner, another because he has a cold and keeps blowing his nose. I become the enemy of people the moment they touch me,” he said. “On the other hand, it has always happened that the more I hate people individually, the more ardent becomes my love for humanity as a whole.”
I've never read Spinoza, but I was talking above about cotemporary Western atheism. Christianity emerged from the Jewish Old Testament of course, so the value systems are not unrelated.
'Humanism' is really just Christianity without Christ. In the end, we have to distinguish between faith and philosophy. The latter is human-made. The former, at least according to its adherents, is not. We follow what we believe, and then that remakes us, strangely.
Humanism is NOT Christianity without Christ. It centers personal morality, seeks no salvation, and understands that THIS world is what matters. I encourage you to try to remove the Christian lenses from your eyes to better be able to see what is going on around you.
Most of the values promoted by 'humanism' stem directly from the sermon on the mount. There's a reason that 'humanists' are overwhelmingly to be found (small though their numbers are) in Western nations built on Christianity. It's a Christian heresy. I'm sorry to break it to you ;-)
For the past decade or so, I've been reading, and occasionally writing about, the Hellenistic philosophers, primarily the Stoics. Most of them actually took a pretty sophisticated (though not ornate) metaphysical view of the divine origins of everything, including humanity and natural law. It's not so far at all from the Judeo-Christian understanding, and in fact much of their thinking on these subjects was adopted readily by early Christians and remains a part of that heritage today. See almost any page of Epictetus' Discourses, starting, I'd say, with Book 1, ch16. Or try Seneca; his "Epistle 41" is quite beautiful on the subject. Point being, I don't think the dichotomy of "faith=God-made" and "philosophy=human-made" really holds up. Really enjoy all your thinking, Paul. Keep it coming!
I've heard it said that Christianity (as it has expressed itself in the West, is philosophically the marriage of Judiasm and Greek philosophy - they're both baked in to the thought of the early church fathers. Their words are informed and illuminated by the light of their living relationship with Christ - but intellectually rooted in both Judiasm and Greek philosophy.
I saw last summer, on the outside of an Orthodox monatery in Romania, a number of large paintings of the pre-Christian Greek philosophers - Plato, Socrates, Aristotle etc. I asked the Abbott of the monastery what they were doing there. He told me they were honoured by the church as the precursors of Christ and Christianity: many of their insights were correct, if not yet fully realised. Plato in particular, I think.
There are many who from early childhood knew and felt and saw the ‘errors’ of misunderstanding We yearned for a more harmonious human race in relationship to our Mother Earth. The status quo has many enforcers
You must be very young. My husband and I were lost in the darkness as you are, for many years. It's a disease so common among academics and intellectuals; one that leads to nowhere, and unspeakable emptiness. When you see the glory of nature, whom do you thank? When you read something profound and wonderful , is it only a great mind you perceive? When you're moved by great music are you merely thrilled by the idea that only a superior person reacts that way? May the Holy Trinity embrace you and bring you Home!
No, I have seen people from many serious spiritual traditions engaging with the same problems. I'm a Christian, of course, so I see it through that lens. But Buddhism continues to inform me, and I have talked to, for example, Sikhs and Muslims who have articulated a similar understanding of what is happening. Of course, our belief/understanding/experience will point us in certain directions. I have found the Christian story to be surprisingly illuminating in terms of shedding light on what is happening. But the insight into the crisis certainly doesn't have to be exclusively Christian.
Having experienced a crisis of meaning back in the 60s, I've pursued a path that is inspired by Buddhism and informed by Western psychology, especially that dealing with trauma.
The great spiritual teachers I've heard have pointed out the core unity of the esoteric aspects of each of the World's religions. I find an especially accessible entry to that unity is the Aquarian Gospel of Jesus the Christ. It has chapters describing the years of the life of Jesus that are not in the Bible, including travels to Tibet and Egypt. Highly recommended.
"The insight into the crisis does not have to be exclusively Christian." This is a relief to me since I have never felt the attraction to Christianity, or any of the monotheistic religions. I have been a searcher and seeker ever since I abandoned socialism, scientism and materialism. My journey took me through Thoreau, Roger Scruton and yourself Paul. I have just read Wendell Berry's "World Ending Fire" as a result of your introduction to it and now his "Stand By Me". I have discovered a spirituality and even sacredness all around me in nature either wild or cultivated. Recently at the Rollright Stones near Chipping Norton I stumbled by accident upon a "naming ceremony" being performed by people who were probably pagan if anything, but who were connecting with the river of life in the pre historic setting of these stones.
Despite Sir Roger and Wendell Berry and indeed yourself, the pull of the inner spirit for me is to the sacrality of nature and beauty that predates the monotheistic religions, even Judaism. The sheer joy of escaping from our degenerated culture of permanent emergency and safety-ism is unparalleled and it isn't purely esoteric. Mathew Crawford, the philosopher and motor cycle mechanic ("Why We Drive" etc) teaches how we can live a truly soulful life not in the wilderness but right here, even in our towns, by taking mindful control of our own lives without hoping for institutions, whether government or religious, to do it for us.
Thank you Paul for your work which along with those I mentioned, spurs me to discover.
Well, I hope it's not true, as my wife is Sikh ...
Opinions are divided on these things, but there's no 'everlasting bonfire' in Orthodox teaching anyway. It certainly does teach that the fullness of truth is only to be found in Christ, though it also teaches that aspects of that truth can be found in other religions too.
My take is fairly simple. I have no idea what is going to happen after death, to me or to anyone else. But I do know how to live in this life, and I believe in a judgement when it ends, so I'm going to try and follow that path, as laid down by Christ and subsequently by the Church.
Interesting, thanks. I must look into it further, especially about Hell not being eternal. That would be an eye-opener for someone like me, who has only ever been told by my hardline Christian brother that it is eternal. Which frankly has always seemed both terrifying and utterly unjust. Thanks again for replying.
I have long been a fan of Thomas Merton, whatever contradictions there may be in some of his work. I also notice that he has quietly disappeared from recent spiritual discourse. But that man sure could write, and had some important things to say that overlap with you. This piece reminds me of you.
Mother Tree, sentinel and navel in our hundred acre wood, beckons. She is nature "raw in tooth and claw". I sit. I sit. I sit with her gnarly trunk pushing at my back and the northern winds slapping cold in my face. Deep snow is both lap and altar. She cackles and coos. The promise of spring is fickle in the uncertain wet icy weather of February. This "cave christian heart", too often rent asunder by the domestic comforts and feral assaults of modernity is, like her, wild. I re-member. I remember.
It’s an excellent book, well-written and gripping. I read it in 2 sittings. It’s about the influence of Elder Paisios on a young Greek man who was into the occult and Hindu spiritual practices. This young man went to India and attached himself to several gurus only to find out that the demonic was summoned by these practices. Elder Paisios’s prayers and intercession saved the young man many times from being destroyed spiritually by these entities.
Me lord! My dear Paul Kingsnorth; at once you are speeching my words?! And what a beatifull symbiose you make with these two words: wild Christianity!
I’m so much inspired in the area where a I have our Agro ecological grain fields restored, because we have our ancient burial hills and Celtic fields still in our forested landscape, the Veluwezoom in the Netherlands, 6500 years ago grains entered here,
The Roman’s never came so far, just some expeditions, my ancestors managed to keep them down the hill, down the river The Rine. The so called Limes frontier they never crossed.
I have problems by the knowing’s that the Vatican is nothing more or less then a continuing of the Roman Empire, and they took Christianity (Catholicism) as the new religion to bind an threat people, to fear people in coalition with kings and feodal rulers like courts; dukes, knights and and hertog’s. Not to forget the inquisition.
I experience Protestantism as a way to turn our societies back to freedom and a real sense of God and Christianity, but somehow i‘’ve never felt myself attracted to Protestantism. I respect them very much, as I respect real Catholics like my French girl friend and her family and village.
But I’ve always been inspired much more by the spiritual religious ancient times, although there are of course no written records from that time. Intuitively I try to hear the voices and spirits of my ancestors in my area; sometimes I hear whispers; mostly it is something energetic that comes to me and praises me to work and live in the right direction: working not against but with nature.
The 'wild saints' is a brilliant idea but you should keep in mind that your readers would need to be able to apply their lessons in the realm of The Machine.
Excellent point, Fabrice, after all the lifestyles of Peter, John, Paul, Stephen, Philip, Barnabas, Silas, Paul, early “saints” are pictured in the Bible as spent not in the wild but in urban, rural civilization.This was true also of Jesus who spent his years in a rural village with yearly trips to Jerusalem until his ministry began, even then just one forty day sojourn in the wild with regular going asides for prayer in the remainder of his time here. And by the way no record of any journey to the mystic east to gain his insights and powers, which were seen also in the prophets and miracle workers of the Old Testament. Knowledge of the scriptures and the free gift from God of His Spirit easily accounts for that to be able to occur. I think someone immersed in the urban slums (or urban comfort) may gain the fullness of the Spirit without visits or sojourns in the wild. After all Jesus (who said “I am with you always”) is the one who baptizes in the Holy Spirit and is the source.
Maybe, Jeff. But my soul is sick from being overwhelmed with so much urban, deliberate ugliness in my megapole. The encroaching "industrial zones" say it so well in French, where "la zone" is a no man's land.
You make an excellent point, and challenge : what do I need most, the Spirit (of Jesus) or a blade of grass ? I sure would like to have both, Jeff, and not be forced to choose.
Yes, and you also make an excellent point. An inspiration in my life has been this testimony of Father Roman Braga as to how it is possible to receive joy and life solely from God. He met that reality in solitary confinement enclosed in a cell with no windows. That testimony is found here. https://pravoslavie.ru/79009.html
Scroll down to the last two portions of the interview to read about it. I am ashamed to say that I have had the blessing since childhood of an abundance of natural beauty - no nature deficit syndrome for me so I am not speaking from a place of achieving what I am challenging you to do. You have graciously caught me in hypocrisy.
I will try to read the testimony, Jeff. I am sure that it is inspirational, and that it is a testimony to the capacity of some people (hand in hand with God ?) to keep afloat, to maintain dignity, and the beauty of their souls in the midst of terrible attempts to degrade and destroy them. Jesus managed that during his excruciating (!!!) and degrading death. It can be done. It is truly inspirational.
Thinking about all of this, I am brought to several questions that look somewhat the same.
At 25, I lost my dear father to a heart attack. Confronted with his dead body, I came out with a "cri du coeur" : where is my father ?" The circumstances told me that he was not there ; he was... elsewhere, but where ?
So, now I will ask these questions : where (what) is the Kingdom of God ? and...
where (what) is the wild ? Are they physical places ? Figures... of speech ? I wish that "the wild" were not busy becoming a pure ? figure of speech. For the Kingdom of God, that has been a problem for over 2000 years now.
I am going to add that around 70 A.D. the... kingdom ? of Judea, and Galilee were wiped off the map by the Romans. (I may be shady on the exact details, but the Jews as the people of a physical nation were left homeless.)
Interesting that the Christian question of the kingdom of God should meet the Jewish question of nation at such a critical time...In all fairness, the Jews were a terrible thorn in Rome's foot from the outset. They were impossible to govern peacefully. Always making a fuss.
...
I hope that I will be dead before our local megapole swallows up my little suburb and turns it into a place that could look a lot like the place that submerged my 96 year old mother in law who was living in a Paris suburb before we had to... retire her to a nursing home. No blades of grass there. Maybe there was a fair amount of "wild", but very little kingdom of God that I could see.
The only place where the term ‘kingdom of God’ is explicitly defined in the New Testament is Romans 14:17 where it is called “righteousness,
peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit” Jesus also said “the kingdom of God is within you” and “my kingdom is not of this world”. I also connect these two scriptures - “fear not little flock for the Father is pleased to give you the kingdom” and “how much more will the Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him”
As regards your father, mine is still alive, but my mother left seven years ago. I traveled from California to Wisconsin to see her before she died from cancer. I held her hand and with tears said, “Mom, I will see you again” She replied and said, “Yes, I know” I base this hope on the knowing of the presence of Jesus who my mother knew also, the Jesus who said, “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, trust also in me. In my Father’s house there are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you so. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am” Jesus also told the thief who being crucified with him, the thief who said, “ Lord remember me when you come in your kingdom” Jesus told him, “Today you will be with me in paradise” But, yes, at this time my mother is not present and is in a different place, the place where Jesus is now.
As you can see, I trust in the love and reality of Jesus.
As regards the present condition of the kingdoms of this world my understanding is more somber. Jesus said that in this world you will have trouble, but that in him you may have peace as is reflected in Father Roman Braga’s testimony. This present world is mixture of the good and the bad, the ugly and the beautiful. It says “we look forward to a new heaven and a new earth where righteousness is at home” and at some point it will be said, “the kingdoms of this world have now become the kingdom of the Lord and of his Christ” Whether this transformation is the result of gradual positive growth and change wrought by the Spirit working in this world over time or a more direct intervention I leave to the mystery of the future.
This is how I have I have answered for myself those very serious questions you have brought up. Perhaps you may find something that feeds your heart.
Over time, I have come to understand the kingdom of God in different ways. Sometimes, as that peace that you talk about, the state ? of not being troubled. But also as a fulgurance, like grace, which is a fulgurance : there have been moments in my life when I can say that the veil has been lifted, and in my present I can see subtle things that are going on between people that move me deeply to the point of putting the expression "kingdom of God" on these things. In our daily lives there are momentous forces at work, and at a certain angle we can see them, if we are disposed to see them. I believe.
The problem is... defining. How we come to understand what things/words mean, and what we can allow ourselves to understand.
Two further thoughts : on the Kingdom of God, I think of my dear Johann Sebastian Bach who wrote the motet "Jesu Meine Freude" (Jesus, my joy). There are many passages from Scripture that Bach set to music, and that obviously moved him deeply. There is one line in this motet : "Tobe Welt une springe, ich steh hier und singe in gar sichrer Ruh". That line is in the 5th choral : "defy the old dragon, defy the jaws of death, defy fear as well ! Rage, oh world and quake, HERE I STAND, SINGING, IN PERFECT PEACE ! The might of God protects me : earth and abyss shall be silent, however much they roar."
Perfect for our troubled times, right ?
And the other line you quoted is in Handel's Hallelujia chorus, and I can hear it in music : the kingdom of this world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ." The Hallelujia chorus moves me to tears when I hear it. The idea of kings ? bowing down to Christ, for example.
I love the idea of singing (or making music) in perfect peace. The kingdom of God ?
I just saw I had skipped over your question “where is the wild” The scripture that came to mind was “The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear it’s sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit” The Greek for wind and Spirit in that passage are the same word - pneuma. Jesus said “it is the Spirit that gives life” The Wild of God is the fire and life of the Spirit. “for in him we live and move and have our being” An early church leader said “the glory of God is a man fully alive”
A poem that is very apt for me at the moment. I thought I knew so much, but I'm starting to realise I know absolutely nothing. At least I recognise where I am this time! I'll look forward to your book whenever you write it.
Thanks Paul for your sharing of your birthday retreat and memories of some of the Saints. Because it is easier to loose ourselves or sell ourselves these days, Nature and its' honesty in being is certainly a valuable reference for us all. There is an inescapable quality in the wild which can relatively quickly bring us back to our essence. This essence of oneness is spirituality which later became religion. Nature has not disowned itself and is in our veins, yet it is easy to be tempted and harder to say no. As the seams of the world come apart there is nowhere to hide, yet we can still find the timeless cave within us, where all the saints have lived before us.
Like you, Paul, I experience God in the wild/natural world. Unlike you, I have not followed any Christian path, except some years spent enjoying silent worship with the Quakers (who when not silent, have been utterly consumed by identity politics, and who tend to express any environmental leanings with 'conscious consumerism' like eco-tourism and electric cars).
Which isn't to say I have turned entirely away from Christ. And the contemporary writer teacher who gave me the deepest appreciation of the teachings - the radically different worldview - of Christ is Diarmuid O'Murchu, whose workshops rocked my world when I attended them circa 2010. O'Murchu was older then, and I'm not sure if he's teaching anymore; I don't think he has returned to the U.S. in recent years.
I warmed to Christianity then. Yet for me, something was missing: Jesus was a teacher and healer sharing an expanded vision of *human* society and culture. He didn't have much to say about the natural world at all. And why would He? During the time he lived, human society was likely still working to overcome and tame nature just as we continue to do, and there was no sense of overpopulation on spaceship Earth.
So I still seek. We follow different paths, yet you are one of my favorite companions on this journey. (That sounds so hackneyed.) Your previous essay touched me deeply.
Jesus is a teacher and a healer and is introduced in each of the Gospels as the one you gives the Holy Spirit which is I think the essence of his present mode of being.
I hope you will have room in your book for St Wite (Vida, Candida) and her wild-blown Dorset cliff top hermitage.
I want to know more about her. Are there any books or resources?
Somebody made me an icon of her once. It is on my icon wall now, just above St Silouan ...
Ah, I know that Sara Hudson, who you know, has done as much research as possible on her, and indeed lives in the village of the church dedicated to her, Whitchurch Canonicorum.
I am happy the little icon is in good company.
Correction - Sara Hudston.
I just found this!
https://orthochristian.com/121808.html
Thank you for your comment. It has led me to book a day’s pilgrimage walk from the church in Whitchurch Canonicorum in August. I only live down the road and have never been - shame on me!
How wonderful! In 2018 or 2019 I joined the one day pilgrimage that Sara ran, walking to St Wite's well, then to the proposed site of her hermitage (I think on Golden Cap?) and then through the woods and fields to the church and her reliquary. It was a hot, dusty June day, and the cool sanctuary of the church was a delight. Have a wonderful walk.
Love the First Things essay, and you're absolutely right about "Wild Christianity." The lives of those old British saints - see Sabine Baring-Gould's eight volumes of hagiography -- are a great place to start, ditto the old Anglo-Saxon and early English prayers and religious poetry as collected in various anthologies and the "Orthodox England" site. Deeper links with the natural world and created order may smack to some of paganism, but it doesn't have to be, at all. See also "The Northern Thebiad," the lives of saints in the great forests of Northern Russia, and those legends about various saints befriending bears and wolves. Anyways, great essays/thoughts.
I want to get hold of Rose's book about the Northern Thebaid but I can't find a copy that doesn't cost a mint!
The book is available from Amazon in the US for $17 or less used. I'd be happy to order a copy for you. Just send your postal address to me at rohiller at gmail dot com. Or you can order it here: https://www.amazon.com/Northern-Thebaid-Monastic-Saints-Russian/dp/0938635379
That's a very kind offer, but the problem is the postage. From the US to Europe, it is literally about $50!
Paul. Check out Internet Archive: archive.org There is a digital copy you can read online.
If you order directly from the publisher you can get the shipping cost down to the low, low price of about $32.
https://www.sainthermanmonastery.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=NTh&CartID=1
Jack, you may remember recently we were discussing Christ the Eternal Tao and you advised to get it direct from St Hermans? It came today, total cost including shipping to the UK of just under £40. It took about 2 weeks.
Not cheap, but better than the 3 figures quoted on Amazon!
Andrew- Beautiful. I hope it is the book you are looking for and need.
Transatlantic shipping is surely expensive these days. I recently bought some books from the Monastery of St. John the Baptist in Essex. Yikes. But, nonetheless, they are more than worth it. I hope you find that is the same with your new purchase.
-Jack
I just checked and I can buy and ship to the UK for about $40 total. It may take up to a month to get there. My offer still stands.
It's a very kind offer. You can email me to talk further. Many thanks! paul [at] paulkingsnorth [dot] net
We have a copy you can have if we can find a way to smuggle it to Ireland. Know any Yanks coming your way we can hand it through?
Interesting, thanks for the references. I recently came across a 4-volume series called Orthodox Saints of the British Isles (published from 2013), by John Hutchison-Hall. You might know it too?
I don't, but many thanks for the tip!
The thing about wild saints is they are mostly hidden. I met one . He lives in the American state of Kentucky, not far from the well-known Abby of Gethsemane. Ever since I "stumbled upon" The Abbey of Misrule, I have wanted to find a way to introduce the two of you.
I just received my copy of First Things in yesterday's mail so I will probably be thinking the same thought when I read your new article...
There is also a guy named Dmitry Lupa that writes about the British saints at Orthodox Christianity. Many predated the mission of Augustine (which among other things brought a more "urban" Christianity to the Isles) and certainly the schism of 1054. A lot of Cornish, Welsh, Northumbrians etc. Baring-Gould's work is probably the best, and can be found on Internet Archive; there's also a small publisher in England that's reprinted the whole series.
Dmitry Lapa's work is excellent! He is blind, and a true holy struggler sharing the lives of British saints. They are accompanied with photos of their regions, towns, churches, and icons. It is a real 'podvig' for him. I hope for them to be compiled into a single book some time soon. For now, one can find them here: https://orthochristian.com/108151.html
What makes them Orthodox?
Pre-schism (1054).
Assuming that the Celtic monastic types had no connection whatever with Rome?
It's a very interesting question for which there is no definitive answer. I might recommend Geoffrey Ashe's book about Glastonbury for starters, in which he summarizes the available evidence for Christianity in Britain prior to the mission of Augustine. The basic thesis is that Celtic Christianity, with its monastic focus, bears many similarities to Egyptian and later Byzantine monastic traditions that ultimately defined Orthodoxy, particularly in Russia. There are also intriguing details, such as the way of determining the date for Easter - the Celtics and pre-Augustine Britains followed the procedure used in the East. I don't think you should say "no connection with Rome," I think it's more accurate that the churches of the Isles didn't really come into line with the evolved Roman structure until the 6th century or so.
The Orthodox date for Easter was still being used by the Irish in Co Clare, very late in the day. So much so that the Pope was made Bishop of Kilfenora to enforce the Roman date of Easter rather that the Orthodox date still being used.
The Roman Catholic Christianity, was enforced with fire and brimstone in the nineteenth century, especially in the diocese of Tuam in the west of Ireland in the nineteenth century because the Irish traction was still the orthodox one. The new push to Romanize the west of Ireland was called the Second Reformation. All the old practises relating to the natural world, such as Holy Wells etc were vigorously discouraged. Celtic Christianity survived until the end of the nineteenth century in the west. The Famine too undermined the faith in the old ways.
St Patrick? Bringing the Roman church to ireland?
Dear Paul,
Really interesting.. thank you! I would only like to add that, for me, 'going back' to Wild Christianity does not mean literally adopting the practice of the past, linked as they were with a different consciousness( group, tribal), but rather honouring them, remembering them and being inspired by them. From this inspiration we can work again with spirit and matter, soul and soil, in a way appropriate for the consciousness of our times (of individuals consciously striving for community).
By doing this we might find that there is an unbroken evolutionary thread from the earliest indigenous cultures of time right up to today, encompassing all true esoteric earth-based spiritualities. Discovering this, remembering this, is for me a deep source of hope and nourishment in these uncertain times; a move to a sense of co-creative community with nature, each other and the spiritual world...
The consciousness of the early Christian saints was emphatically not 'group' or 'tribal' based (nor were they 'earth-based'): Christianity as a faith consciously replaces this consciousness with that of something universal. This is one reason why, for example, the saints of the west of Ireland were consciously living out the life patterns of the Desert Fathers of Egypt. These practices are also universal across time, with some obvious cultural variations. It's one reason they give me hope.
I don't know enough about the Christian saints, so I am sure that you are correct about them; I am rather subscribing to the view that consciousness has changed from the earliest earth-settlers who lived in groups to the people of today, who are generally living as an individuals. I have a sense that there is a spectrum of development of consciousness from these earliest primeval times to now, with the early saints somewhere in the middle, if one wants to put it in a time context.
My evidence is shaky, I agree, based mainly on a 'feeling' for history and also on the observation of how art has changed ( e.g the development of perspective). I also have a feeling that the changing child's consciousness might mirror this evolution (another concept from Steiner, applied in Waldorf Schools to the teaching of history).
However, I do agree with you that much or all of the true earth spirituality IS universal and it too gives me hope!
I think there is a truth in this for sure. We are certainly becoming more 'universal' as a world, in many ways both good and bad. This is in fact the story that Christianity tells. The whole sweep of the Bible takes us from an early tribal consciousness, through nations and into the whole world. And yet the practices of nearly two thousand years ago can still work today. I find that exciting.
The desert monastics seem to be both more individual - insisting on the primacy individual soul's relationship to God, and more universal - proclaiming an identity and a love in Christ that transcends and includes all human social configurations.
I'm also becoming much more skeptical of the idea of evolution of consciousness. There are many philosophies of the evolution of consciousness which I once saw as quite brilliant, that when I read them now I see them as closely tied into a subtle worship of the god of progress. Articulating how our 21st century Western consciousness (or even small subsets of this consciousness) is the highest and cutting edge of humanity, it just smacks of the same old story, applied to the mind instead of to technology....
Good point. I agree mostly, and I think I explained myself badly. I don't think that the individual 'human consciousness' 'evolves' in some teleological sense towards an 'Omega point' or what have you. As you rightly say, that is the modern story subtly disguised. I think that what has 'evolved', or just developed, is our global consciousness; we're obviously able to see and connect with what more and more people are doing beyond our immediate experience. In this sense, this is what you're talking about when you refer to the desert fathers and their 'love that transcends' perhaps. It's what we aim for. But our souls don't 'evolve.'
That's a helpful distinction Paul, thanks!
I’m curious to understand why you feel so strongly that our consciousness doesn’t evolve. If we observe children it is clear that the consciousness of a 2 day old child is very different from a 2 year old child. And different again from a 12 year old, and then a 22 year old. So this is clearly an evolution of consciousness.
Transposing this into history: if we look at the progression of art dispassionately we can see that it has changed - cave paintings in France are different from Egyptian two-dimensional beings, which are different from pictures with perspective, eh in are in turn different from conceptual art of the 20th century. For me - strong indications of an evolution of consciousness.
I am not putting value judgments to any of these changes - a 22year old is not better or worse than a 2 year old, conceptual art is not better or worse than Byzantine art, but they are different, they have changed, they have evolved.
And we will continue to evolve - and here comes the next leap of thinking, if we consider reincarnation, then we as souls who may been cave painters in France, Egyptian artists, Renaissance sculptors and people of today, also evolve and will continue to evolve into the future. It’s not the same old story, whatever that means … it is the story of evolution, and as I say, there are no value judgments attached. The modern human of today is, in my view, floundering for meaning and purpose, and our evolution could go
two ways - into the abyss of sub-nature or to the heights of Earth consciousness….and we can choose!
Owen Barfield provides some evidence about the evolution of conciousness in 'History in English Words'
Yes, he is another great esoteric Christian.
What does it mean to say ‘evolution of consciousness’! How does one measure or judge that there has been an evolution in consciousness?
"...replaces this consciousness with that of something imaginary."
There, fixed that for you.
I wonder why it’s not possible to venture some way into the wild? Most of us I daresay aren’t made of the same stuff as Paul’s friend Martin Shaw just yet, but I’m thinking of his recent 100-day (not the whole time!) vigil in the wildwood, at the end of which he had an extraordinary experience. But each of us can certainly become much less tame, spend more time in nature, go hiking, spend a few nights each year out in nature, whether in or out of a tent. Baby steps for us, till we find our footing more confidently. I’m wary of being too beholden to a supposed “consciousness of our times” because that sounds too fixed a concept, and like it’s giving in to an imaginary agenda set by others who have no interest in our welfare. They say civilisation is only about 3 days deep (or some such quotation) - I’m very willing to put that to the test, increasingly.
I think that's exactly the way forward. Start where you are, take baby steps, see if they become bigger ... not many of us are going to end up living in caves, but it's not all or nothing. It's about curating a consciouness.
I've been working with people in this realm for years - guiding folks to do solo wilderness prayer retreats. It's a psychological leap, but it's not that technically/logistically difficult.
I find that '3 days deep' quote interesting, based on my experiences.
I've found there are three major thresholds with times of solitude in the wilderness. The first is four days, the second is around ten days, the third is around forty days. Layers of civilization (and the relationship of our consciousness that are interwoven with our civilization) start to shed in progressively deeper layers at each of these thresholds.
100 days is awesome - but just four days can lead to a major positive opening. Of course it's not a formula, but building up to four days can lead to some very good things.
Mark- I would like to try such a retreat at some point, God willing. It makes me think of Wyoming Catholic College that starts every freshman with a month long retreat out into the wilderness. And then that continues throughout their time there. Far better than any class I took in college I am certain. -Jack
That's so encouraging to hear about WCC and their start to a students' time in college! I found myself first 'driven' into the wilds during college. It would have been an incredible support to have a structure set up to encourage that movement.
Mark, I’m curious. Are you willing to give me a few *simple* pointers for wilderness solitude? Basically, my questions are about food and shelter across 4 days…
- No food? Or minimal snacks? (Presumably take water, right?!)
- use a tent, or sleep out? Sleeping bag?
- presumably *walk* there if possible and make sure it’s genuinely isolated, no? To ensure the option of a car for easy escape isn’t there?
- strictly no mobile, or is it best to have one in case of accidents?
Clearly people can decide to do it any which way they feel they need to, but my sense is that I need to do this to contact the elements more deeply. For me as a newbie I’d appreciate a few *really basic* pointers (not to impose) based on your experience. I’m guessing if we’re new to it, we start with what we can handle, right?
Many thanks indeed.
Jules, I appreciated your practical questions, as they reminded me of my wilderness retreat which I undertook back in 1985 or so, spending several days alone at a friend's rustic cabin (no electricity, running water, nor even an outhouse!).
I brought some bottled water, and already knew of a fresh running spring, so refilled bottles there. For food, I went extremely minimal (I was 25, so still relatively young, and feeling rather invincible), taking only a bag of apples, a bag of dinner rolls, and a large jar of peanut butter. I dropped probably ten pounds or perhaps more, and never felt healthier or more alert.
This was in the forests in eastern Kentucky, bordering Red River Gorge State Park. I went in the early Spring, so the temperature was not likely to drop too low. Lots of blankets on a rough cot, so I was warm enough under the layers. I lit a fire in the wood burning stove a couple of nights. BIFF (bathroom in forest floor) was my solution for waste. I would rise every day at sunrise, pray and read the Bible and from the Omnibus of Sources on St Francis of Assisi, then head out in one direction or another for a day-long walk, returning usually shortly after noon, sometimes later. I quickly found favorite paths. I can attest to Mark Kutolowski's observations about the 'threshold times' for wilderness solitude.
In a way similar to Paul's return to his tent, I tried to spend a night on the crest of the ridge behind the cabin, and soon after sunset I became overwhelmed by fear of primal and elemental forces which I may have imagined, but may have been only steps ahead of... I hurriedly clambered down the ridge, sliding and half falling, lighting matches occasionally to light my way (and thankfully not causing a forest fire!). (No flashlight! What was I thinking?!) I also found a nearby cave which I spent most of a day in, but did not dare try an overnight.
An altogether remarkable experience, which now, at almost 64, I should like very much to do again, and perhaps long term.
"My heart yearns for thee in the night watches..."
How wonderful! That sounds beautiful, and whets my appetite for it, especially for the deeper settling at those threshold periods. To do a week would be great - and then two… then a month… imagine what could rise up to be observed, offered up for resolution, then let go of…
Now that’s a very 25-year-old’s diet, if I may say so! :)
Thank you very much for writing in such detail - it sounds truly inspiring.
Hi Jules,
Good questions, and glad to hear you're interested in giving it a try. The basic principle I recommend is to try and find the 'sweet spot' between tending to personal safety/basic needs, and stretching beyond one's comfort zone to take a stance of openness and humility before God. The goal is to be a bit out of one's comfort zone, bot not overwhelmed to the point where physical survival becomes the primary focus of the time.
So, it depends on where your comfort level is at before you go in. A few basics I'd consider:
-Warmth: this is the only realm (except for a serious accident) where you can get into big trouble in 4 days or less. Generally that would mean having an adequate sleeping bag and pad, and if rain/snow is possible, a tent or tarp. The key is that you have the ability to maintain your body's core temperature. If you have the needed gear, and then feel led to sleep out or use less, that's fine - but at least you know you have what you need.
-Re: fasting - if you haven't fasted much before, I'd say it's a good idea to bring food, or thinking about food (and it's absence) can become a big focus of your time. Simple food will do the job. I"m personally in favor of bringing adequate calories, but of very plain fare, when not fasting. If you are used to fasting, then a four day fast is perfectly safe. It's a good idea to have water (though there are traditional fasts that go without water for 3-4 days), and maybe some salts/electrolytes to go with it. Doing a regular(weekly?) 24-hour or 36-hour fast can be a good preparation for a 4-day wilderness fast.
-Safety - There's lots of different ways to approach this. I'm personally inclined to leave the phone behind - though I do get the idea of using it as a safety tool. People range from using lots of technology to simply letting a friend know when to expect to hear from you at the end of the trip. There are plenty of in-between approaches, too....
-Yes, walking in to a site is important (or canoeing, etc) - there should be a sense of moving at the pace of the land and a degree of separation from the land of the automobile. It's important to find a spot where there won't be unplanned interruptions, as best as you're able.
Anyhow, there's more to say on this topic that doesn't easily fit into this medium. If you'd like to talk things over before heading out, I'd be happy to - you can reach me at: mark@metanoiavt.com.
Peace to you as you consider a trip!
Mark
Really appreciated, that’s great advice, you make it sound very accessible and straightforward. Right - the ‘sweet spot’ between control and challenge makes sense, and that will shift I guess as experience grows. The point you make about not letting this or that lack become the focus of anxiety or concern is valuable - or else the whole thing becomes a grim struggle rather than an opportunity for depth.
Thanks again - it’s an exciting prospect!
Aldous Huxley refers to that as the "peripheral philosophy" that all religions share in common. I think even atheism can share this sense of the divine if we don't get too bogged down in labels. I like your idea of the unbroken evolutionary thread of spirituality - I feel it's here with us just waiting to be discovered anew!
Thank you, Paul. This essay makes it perfectly clear why technology has become our culture's God. A false one, of course.
NB this world view has been inspired to a large extent by the work of Rudolf Steiner, whose embrace of all true esoteric earth-based spiritualities, is extremely wide, tolerant and very future oriented.
Hi Paul- happy new year, I hope you’re well
do you think it’s possible to arrive at the same moral and philosophical conclusions about the crisis of our Machine age, in terms of it being the “spiritual” crisis you regularly describe…without primarily conceptualizing ways forward (or back, to whatever degree) only in a traditionally Christian theistic framework?
My question here is if you think one can arrive at the conclusions that you’ve arrived at, IE with a functionally comparable understanding of our macro-predicament…but without “Christendom“ explicitly? are all of your previous Buddhist world views now irrelevant in this context/ not up the task at hand? (*not being facetious here, just wondering how philosophically pluralistic this whole project can actually be in your eyes) + hopefully you understand what I’m getting at here + forgive me, if this is a little too broad/ vague…thanks ! /T
'Information' can't fill a 'spiritual basket.' It's a different content that will fill it up: knowledge, experience. It is not 'objective' or available in stastistical form: it's like much human experience in that regard. We can't really explain what religion provides without engaging in it, any more than we can explain what being in love, or parenthood, or grief, is like to someone who has never experienced them.
I do believe that religion is the source of 'moral behaviour', which is why most Western atheists have liberal and universalist values (which stem from protestant Christianity) rather than, say, the moral values of Incas, Ancient Romans or Satanists. But religion isn't primarily about being moral: it's about trying to know God. It's a difficult thing to write down.
'Regardless of the semantics, what is it that explains from your point of view why a formal religion like Christianity is necessary for the spirituality you espouse? Why, in your belief, can't a person find spirituality in the absence of religion? Also, what is is that this spirituality provides you, besides relatively impermanent rules of moral behavior and how is that related to spirituality?'
I think that this thing called 'spirituality' is perhaps a condition, or an experience, that some people seek or have and others don't. As such, it might or might not be related to a 'formal religion.' Experiencing the spiritual in the natural world, for example, is probably part of our human birthright. I've been doing that most of my life, with no 'religious' framework to it. Indeed, many of those frameworks, including mainstream Christianity, don't provide much of an understanding of it, which is why I write things like this.
Religion provides a great deal, I have found, mainly in the accumulation of spiritual wisdom over centuries, and a tradition and framework within which it can be practiced. That includes necessary rules, which prevent us from drifting into individualism (the easiest temptation.)
But I'm not an evangelist. I've no interest in persuading anyone to become Christian. I write for those who find some use in what I say.
I am not discounting your belief that faith plays a powerful role in guiding one's behavior. It certainly does. That said, I think we'll all need something new to have faith in, because the stuff that's been sold to us for the last couple millennia has strained our credulity past the breaking point, collectively speaking. It seems that the most ardent faith holders of the modern era have been prone to the worst acts of anti-social behavior.
In what way would adapting habits of mind and spirit that are 1000 years old and are largely marginalized, today, not be "new," do you think?
It would certainly be new to me. And I have slept alone, and prayed, in the woods. On more than one occasion.
Maybe for some. But not for me. My credulity is very much more strained by what my culture wants me to believe than by anything I read in the New Testament. And in the end what matters is what we believe to be true. Was Christ God incarnate? If so, then it doesn't matter when he arrived. If not, then it doesn't matter anyway.
Like many I think you make the mistake of thinking the Bible is a work of supposed history rather than a series of Books of Wisdom. You are not supposed to take the stories literally. They are parables. You are supposed to see them as a template for understanding the transcendent and its relationship to humanity and for making that transcendent part of your life. There are other ways of coming at that wisdom. Christianity has a great deal in common with both Judaism and Islam. Hardly surprising since they evolved out of one another. And there is much to be learned from Buddhism, Sikhism and other religions. I choose the Christian path because it ties me to the place I come from and the people who went before and because its central commandment to love pretty much sums it up for me.
Over here, in France, where the religious wars have been waxing greatly for centuries now, I think that one of the biggest issues concerns the problem of autonomy and self determination. From what I understand, many Enlightenment thinkers even today firmly believe in the possibility that human beings can and should determine their laws, political and social structure, and that this possibility comes from... enlightened, voluntary, conscious choice. ("Choosing your laws"... maybe, but... choosing your social structures ? or even choosing your sex ? just how much do we want to be able to choose ?)
As I understand it, prayer from a Christian perspective (Jewish, too ?) implies the belief that we receive... much, from God, and that our capacity for self determination, while not inexistent, is limited. Beyond that, I believe that prayer is an address to an unknown to whom we accord our faith. Enlightenment ideology implies no address, as I understand it, no relationship. Who is to address, outside the seminal moment when the French revolutionaries really went.. bonkers and set up their own idols (i.e. Robespierre), to replace the Christian God ?
As long as you weigh the value of ethical behavior on a material cause and effect scale, you will always come to the conclusion that spirituality in general, and Christ centered spirituality in particular, is "optional" or even "redundant".
That is a flawed conclusion because the 3D universe is a relatively smaller part of the total reality of the Creation than the supernatural portion. The spiritual (i.e. supernatural) in nature part of Creation is a greater reality.
Arbitrarily limiting your definition of "reality" to the observable universe is not rational, even from a scientific point of view. All the way down to the sub-atomic quantum level, he golden ratio is coded into physical reality. That is prima facie evidence (there are thousands of other scientific proofs evidenced by physical constant non-random precisiion) that our universe is non-random.
However, if you think we are the result of random undirected processes, then your logic certainly will, of course, lead you to relegate spirituality, and belief in a Creator, for that matter, to the "optional" category.
Paul the Apostle explained the lack of faith evidenced in that worldview:
"Now if Christ is preached, that He rose from the dead, how say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen: and if Christ be not risen, then our preaching is vain, and your faith is also vain." -- 1 Corinthians 15:12-14
A couple of things. “most Western atheists have liberal and universalist values (which stem from protestant Christianity)”. See Baruch Spinoza and other very famous Western “atheists”, who happened to be Jewish and not descended from Protestant Christianity, rather from Talmudic tradition.
In pinpointing the absence of a spiritual center as a cause for our global decline, I might argue that pantheism might be a better and more likely future belief than any others currently hanging on from a very dark past. But perhaps a pantheism with humanist values perhaps?
I think our major issue as a species is simply time. We do not live in a way where we can adapt to the changes we have wrought, in a coherent and intelligent way. We are adapting on the fly, not having time to learn from our mistakes, and destroying everything in our path because we have no sureties to hold on to, even if those sureties, like a virgin mother, are somewhat questionable.
I was thinking recently about Christ's injunction to "love your neighbor as yourself," and I wonder if he might have meant that more literally than we usually take it (this idea may be an echo of something Paul said here recently... I can't remember...I am old!). That is to say, that we should perhaps pay more attention to those in our immediate community--family, actual neighbors--rather than spending our time and passion on overarching political efforts meant to set the whole world straight. Think about the worldwide effect if everyone simply paid more attention--more selfless, compassionate, loving attention--to the handful of real people they interact with frequently.
I agree with this. Paying attention to the people in our immediate vicinity means to listen to them, for example. To TAKE the time to sit down if necessary in a private place and listen to them, to flesh and blood people.
There is a big question to be answered (but asked, first) in the problem of determining just who my neighbor is...
That's a formula for bigotry--for defining people who aren't like us as unworthy of caring. NOT a direction we should be going. Caring for the entire world is hard work, but it is necessary work.
Interesting, isn't it, that Christ says 'love your neighbour' and 'love your enemy', but not 'love humanity.' The latter is an abstract. The former are real people. Anyone can (pretend to) love in the abstract. Actually loveing actual people is much harder work!
A quote from a confessing doctor in The Brothers Karamazov: “I love mankind,” he said, “but I am amazed at myself: the more I love mankind in general, the less I love people in particular, that is, individually, as separate persons. In my dreams,” he said, “I often went so far as to think passionately of serving mankind, and, it may be, would really have gone to the cross for people if it were somehow suddenly necessary, and yet I am incapable of living in the same room with anyone even for two days, this I know from experience. As soon as someone is there, close to me, his personality oppresses my self-esteem and restricts my freedom. In twenty-four hours I can begin to hate even the best of men: one because he takes too long eating his dinner, another because he has a cold and keeps blowing his nose. I become the enemy of people the moment they touch me,” he said. “On the other hand, it has always happened that the more I hate people individually, the more ardent becomes my love for humanity as a whole.”
I've never read Spinoza, but I was talking above about cotemporary Western atheism. Christianity emerged from the Jewish Old Testament of course, so the value systems are not unrelated.
'Humanism' is really just Christianity without Christ. In the end, we have to distinguish between faith and philosophy. The latter is human-made. The former, at least according to its adherents, is not. We follow what we believe, and then that remakes us, strangely.
Humanism is NOT Christianity without Christ. It centers personal morality, seeks no salvation, and understands that THIS world is what matters. I encourage you to try to remove the Christian lenses from your eyes to better be able to see what is going on around you.
Most of the values promoted by 'humanism' stem directly from the sermon on the mount. There's a reason that 'humanists' are overwhelmingly to be found (small though their numbers are) in Western nations built on Christianity. It's a Christian heresy. I'm sorry to break it to you ;-)
For the past decade or so, I've been reading, and occasionally writing about, the Hellenistic philosophers, primarily the Stoics. Most of them actually took a pretty sophisticated (though not ornate) metaphysical view of the divine origins of everything, including humanity and natural law. It's not so far at all from the Judeo-Christian understanding, and in fact much of their thinking on these subjects was adopted readily by early Christians and remains a part of that heritage today. See almost any page of Epictetus' Discourses, starting, I'd say, with Book 1, ch16. Or try Seneca; his "Epistle 41" is quite beautiful on the subject. Point being, I don't think the dichotomy of "faith=God-made" and "philosophy=human-made" really holds up. Really enjoy all your thinking, Paul. Keep it coming!
I've heard it said that Christianity (as it has expressed itself in the West, is philosophically the marriage of Judiasm and Greek philosophy - they're both baked in to the thought of the early church fathers. Their words are informed and illuminated by the light of their living relationship with Christ - but intellectually rooted in both Judiasm and Greek philosophy.
I saw last summer, on the outside of an Orthodox monatery in Romania, a number of large paintings of the pre-Christian Greek philosophers - Plato, Socrates, Aristotle etc. I asked the Abbott of the monastery what they were doing there. He told me they were honoured by the church as the precursors of Christ and Christianity: many of their insights were correct, if not yet fully realised. Plato in particular, I think.
There are many who from early childhood knew and felt and saw the ‘errors’ of misunderstanding We yearned for a more harmonious human race in relationship to our Mother Earth. The status quo has many enforcers
It's difficult to describe something so overwhelming, so beautiful. It's impossible
to express what it's like to be madly in love. To know that God loves you and that His
love is manifest in His glorious Son......There's nothing like that.
You must be very young. My husband and I were lost in the darkness as you are, for many years. It's a disease so common among academics and intellectuals; one that leads to nowhere, and unspeakable emptiness. When you see the glory of nature, whom do you thank? When you read something profound and wonderful , is it only a great mind you perceive? When you're moved by great music are you merely thrilled by the idea that only a superior person reacts that way? May the Holy Trinity embrace you and bring you Home!
No, I have seen people from many serious spiritual traditions engaging with the same problems. I'm a Christian, of course, so I see it through that lens. But Buddhism continues to inform me, and I have talked to, for example, Sikhs and Muslims who have articulated a similar understanding of what is happening. Of course, our belief/understanding/experience will point us in certain directions. I have found the Christian story to be surprisingly illuminating in terms of shedding light on what is happening. But the insight into the crisis certainly doesn't have to be exclusively Christian.
Thank you Paul, I appreciate it
Having experienced a crisis of meaning back in the 60s, I've pursued a path that is inspired by Buddhism and informed by Western psychology, especially that dealing with trauma.
The great spiritual teachers I've heard have pointed out the core unity of the esoteric aspects of each of the World's religions. I find an especially accessible entry to that unity is the Aquarian Gospel of Jesus the Christ. It has chapters describing the years of the life of Jesus that are not in the Bible, including travels to Tibet and Egypt. Highly recommended.
"The insight into the crisis does not have to be exclusively Christian." This is a relief to me since I have never felt the attraction to Christianity, or any of the monotheistic religions. I have been a searcher and seeker ever since I abandoned socialism, scientism and materialism. My journey took me through Thoreau, Roger Scruton and yourself Paul. I have just read Wendell Berry's "World Ending Fire" as a result of your introduction to it and now his "Stand By Me". I have discovered a spirituality and even sacredness all around me in nature either wild or cultivated. Recently at the Rollright Stones near Chipping Norton I stumbled by accident upon a "naming ceremony" being performed by people who were probably pagan if anything, but who were connecting with the river of life in the pre historic setting of these stones.
Despite Sir Roger and Wendell Berry and indeed yourself, the pull of the inner spirit for me is to the sacrality of nature and beauty that predates the monotheistic religions, even Judaism. The sheer joy of escaping from our degenerated culture of permanent emergency and safety-ism is unparalleled and it isn't purely esoteric. Mathew Crawford, the philosopher and motor cycle mechanic ("Why We Drive" etc) teaches how we can live a truly soulful life not in the wilderness but right here, even in our towns, by taking mindful control of our own lives without hoping for institutions, whether government or religious, to do it for us.
Thank you Paul for your work which along with those I mentioned, spurs me to discover.
Paul, could I ask you a very basic question, which is also maybe a bit direct too…
Orthodoxy basically believes that followers of non-Orthodox religions, esp non-Christian ones, are doomed to the everlasting bonfire. Is that right?
Do you believe that? Buddhists and Sikhs doomed too? Really, can that be true?
Well, I hope it's not true, as my wife is Sikh ...
Opinions are divided on these things, but there's no 'everlasting bonfire' in Orthodox teaching anyway. It certainly does teach that the fullness of truth is only to be found in Christ, though it also teaches that aspects of that truth can be found in other religions too.
My take is fairly simple. I have no idea what is going to happen after death, to me or to anyone else. But I do know how to live in this life, and I believe in a judgement when it ends, so I'm going to try and follow that path, as laid down by Christ and subsequently by the Church.
Interesting, thanks. I must look into it further, especially about Hell not being eternal. That would be an eye-opener for someone like me, who has only ever been told by my hardline Christian brother that it is eternal. Which frankly has always seemed both terrifying and utterly unjust. Thanks again for replying.
Wow, Paul.
I have long been a fan of Thomas Merton, whatever contradictions there may be in some of his work. I also notice that he has quietly disappeared from recent spiritual discourse. But that man sure could write, and had some important things to say that overlap with you. This piece reminds me of you.
http://piefurcation.blogspot.com/2006/04/rain-and-rhinoceros-by-thomas-merton.html?m=1
Thank you for this link. Strong and beautiful writing indeed.
Mother Tree, sentinel and navel in our hundred acre wood, beckons. She is nature "raw in tooth and claw". I sit. I sit. I sit with her gnarly trunk pushing at my back and the northern winds slapping cold in my face. Deep snow is both lap and altar. She cackles and coos. The promise of spring is fickle in the uncertain wet icy weather of February. This "cave christian heart", too often rent asunder by the domestic comforts and feral assaults of modernity is, like her, wild. I re-member. I remember.
I think you are spot on.
Looking forward to that book!
In the meantime, any book about a saint you would recommend? Is 'The Gurus, the Young Man, and Elder Paisios' good?
The one I would really recommend is 'Wounded by Love' by St Porphyrios, my favourite modern saint. Deep wisdom in every paragraph.
It’s an excellent book, well-written and gripping. I read it in 2 sittings. It’s about the influence of Elder Paisios on a young Greek man who was into the occult and Hindu spiritual practices. This young man went to India and attached himself to several gurus only to find out that the demonic was summoned by these practices. Elder Paisios’s prayers and intercession saved the young man many times from being destroyed spiritually by these entities.
It is good! “Monastic Wisdom,” a collection of letters by St. Joseph the Hesychast, is also very much worth reading.
Me lord! My dear Paul Kingsnorth; at once you are speeching my words?! And what a beatifull symbiose you make with these two words: wild Christianity!
I’m so much inspired in the area where a I have our Agro ecological grain fields restored, because we have our ancient burial hills and Celtic fields still in our forested landscape, the Veluwezoom in the Netherlands, 6500 years ago grains entered here,
The Roman’s never came so far, just some expeditions, my ancestors managed to keep them down the hill, down the river The Rine. The so called Limes frontier they never crossed.
I have problems by the knowing’s that the Vatican is nothing more or less then a continuing of the Roman Empire, and they took Christianity (Catholicism) as the new religion to bind an threat people, to fear people in coalition with kings and feodal rulers like courts; dukes, knights and and hertog’s. Not to forget the inquisition.
I experience Protestantism as a way to turn our societies back to freedom and a real sense of God and Christianity, but somehow i‘’ve never felt myself attracted to Protestantism. I respect them very much, as I respect real Catholics like my French girl friend and her family and village.
But I’ve always been inspired much more by the spiritual religious ancient times, although there are of course no written records from that time. Intuitively I try to hear the voices and spirits of my ancestors in my area; sometimes I hear whispers; mostly it is something energetic that comes to me and praises me to work and live in the right direction: working not against but with nature.
Would be great to meet you once in my area
Cheers
Marcel
The 'wild saints' is a brilliant idea but you should keep in mind that your readers would need to be able to apply their lessons in the realm of The Machine.
Excellent point, Fabrice, after all the lifestyles of Peter, John, Paul, Stephen, Philip, Barnabas, Silas, Paul, early “saints” are pictured in the Bible as spent not in the wild but in urban, rural civilization.This was true also of Jesus who spent his years in a rural village with yearly trips to Jerusalem until his ministry began, even then just one forty day sojourn in the wild with regular going asides for prayer in the remainder of his time here. And by the way no record of any journey to the mystic east to gain his insights and powers, which were seen also in the prophets and miracle workers of the Old Testament. Knowledge of the scriptures and the free gift from God of His Spirit easily accounts for that to be able to occur. I think someone immersed in the urban slums (or urban comfort) may gain the fullness of the Spirit without visits or sojourns in the wild. After all Jesus (who said “I am with you always”) is the one who baptizes in the Holy Spirit and is the source.
Maybe, Jeff. But my soul is sick from being overwhelmed with so much urban, deliberate ugliness in my megapole. The encroaching "industrial zones" say it so well in French, where "la zone" is a no man's land.
You make an excellent point, and challenge : what do I need most, the Spirit (of Jesus) or a blade of grass ? I sure would like to have both, Jeff, and not be forced to choose.
Yes, and you also make an excellent point. An inspiration in my life has been this testimony of Father Roman Braga as to how it is possible to receive joy and life solely from God. He met that reality in solitary confinement enclosed in a cell with no windows. That testimony is found here. https://pravoslavie.ru/79009.html
Scroll down to the last two portions of the interview to read about it. I am ashamed to say that I have had the blessing since childhood of an abundance of natural beauty - no nature deficit syndrome for me so I am not speaking from a place of achieving what I am challenging you to do. You have graciously caught me in hypocrisy.
I will try to read the testimony, Jeff. I am sure that it is inspirational, and that it is a testimony to the capacity of some people (hand in hand with God ?) to keep afloat, to maintain dignity, and the beauty of their souls in the midst of terrible attempts to degrade and destroy them. Jesus managed that during his excruciating (!!!) and degrading death. It can be done. It is truly inspirational.
Thinking about all of this, I am brought to several questions that look somewhat the same.
At 25, I lost my dear father to a heart attack. Confronted with his dead body, I came out with a "cri du coeur" : where is my father ?" The circumstances told me that he was not there ; he was... elsewhere, but where ?
So, now I will ask these questions : where (what) is the Kingdom of God ? and...
where (what) is the wild ? Are they physical places ? Figures... of speech ? I wish that "the wild" were not busy becoming a pure ? figure of speech. For the Kingdom of God, that has been a problem for over 2000 years now.
I am going to add that around 70 A.D. the... kingdom ? of Judea, and Galilee were wiped off the map by the Romans. (I may be shady on the exact details, but the Jews as the people of a physical nation were left homeless.)
Interesting that the Christian question of the kingdom of God should meet the Jewish question of nation at such a critical time...In all fairness, the Jews were a terrible thorn in Rome's foot from the outset. They were impossible to govern peacefully. Always making a fuss.
...
I hope that I will be dead before our local megapole swallows up my little suburb and turns it into a place that could look a lot like the place that submerged my 96 year old mother in law who was living in a Paris suburb before we had to... retire her to a nursing home. No blades of grass there. Maybe there was a fair amount of "wild", but very little kingdom of God that I could see.
The only place where the term ‘kingdom of God’ is explicitly defined in the New Testament is Romans 14:17 where it is called “righteousness,
peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit” Jesus also said “the kingdom of God is within you” and “my kingdom is not of this world”. I also connect these two scriptures - “fear not little flock for the Father is pleased to give you the kingdom” and “how much more will the Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him”
As regards your father, mine is still alive, but my mother left seven years ago. I traveled from California to Wisconsin to see her before she died from cancer. I held her hand and with tears said, “Mom, I will see you again” She replied and said, “Yes, I know” I base this hope on the knowing of the presence of Jesus who my mother knew also, the Jesus who said, “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, trust also in me. In my Father’s house there are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you so. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am” Jesus also told the thief who being crucified with him, the thief who said, “ Lord remember me when you come in your kingdom” Jesus told him, “Today you will be with me in paradise” But, yes, at this time my mother is not present and is in a different place, the place where Jesus is now.
As you can see, I trust in the love and reality of Jesus.
As regards the present condition of the kingdoms of this world my understanding is more somber. Jesus said that in this world you will have trouble, but that in him you may have peace as is reflected in Father Roman Braga’s testimony. This present world is mixture of the good and the bad, the ugly and the beautiful. It says “we look forward to a new heaven and a new earth where righteousness is at home” and at some point it will be said, “the kingdoms of this world have now become the kingdom of the Lord and of his Christ” Whether this transformation is the result of gradual positive growth and change wrought by the Spirit working in this world over time or a more direct intervention I leave to the mystery of the future.
This is how I have I have answered for myself those very serious questions you have brought up. Perhaps you may find something that feeds your heart.
Thank you.
Over time, I have come to understand the kingdom of God in different ways. Sometimes, as that peace that you talk about, the state ? of not being troubled. But also as a fulgurance, like grace, which is a fulgurance : there have been moments in my life when I can say that the veil has been lifted, and in my present I can see subtle things that are going on between people that move me deeply to the point of putting the expression "kingdom of God" on these things. In our daily lives there are momentous forces at work, and at a certain angle we can see them, if we are disposed to see them. I believe.
The problem is... defining. How we come to understand what things/words mean, and what we can allow ourselves to understand.
Two further thoughts : on the Kingdom of God, I think of my dear Johann Sebastian Bach who wrote the motet "Jesu Meine Freude" (Jesus, my joy). There are many passages from Scripture that Bach set to music, and that obviously moved him deeply. There is one line in this motet : "Tobe Welt une springe, ich steh hier und singe in gar sichrer Ruh". That line is in the 5th choral : "defy the old dragon, defy the jaws of death, defy fear as well ! Rage, oh world and quake, HERE I STAND, SINGING, IN PERFECT PEACE ! The might of God protects me : earth and abyss shall be silent, however much they roar."
Perfect for our troubled times, right ?
And the other line you quoted is in Handel's Hallelujia chorus, and I can hear it in music : the kingdom of this world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ." The Hallelujia chorus moves me to tears when I hear it. The idea of kings ? bowing down to Christ, for example.
I love the idea of singing (or making music) in perfect peace. The kingdom of God ?
I just saw I had skipped over your question “where is the wild” The scripture that came to mind was “The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear it’s sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit” The Greek for wind and Spirit in that passage are the same word - pneuma. Jesus said “it is the Spirit that gives life” The Wild of God is the fire and life of the Spirit. “for in him we live and move and have our being” An early church leader said “the glory of God is a man fully alive”
Thank you for the link.
Church of the Wild? https://www.victorialoorz.com/
What you wrote and these comments remind me of a great poem
“We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.“
TS Eliot
A poem that is very apt for me at the moment. I thought I knew so much, but I'm starting to realise I know absolutely nothing. At least I recognise where I am this time! I'll look forward to your book whenever you write it.
Thanks Paul for your sharing of your birthday retreat and memories of some of the Saints. Because it is easier to loose ourselves or sell ourselves these days, Nature and its' honesty in being is certainly a valuable reference for us all. There is an inescapable quality in the wild which can relatively quickly bring us back to our essence. This essence of oneness is spirituality which later became religion. Nature has not disowned itself and is in our veins, yet it is easy to be tempted and harder to say no. As the seams of the world come apart there is nowhere to hide, yet we can still find the timeless cave within us, where all the saints have lived before us.
Like you, Paul, I experience God in the wild/natural world. Unlike you, I have not followed any Christian path, except some years spent enjoying silent worship with the Quakers (who when not silent, have been utterly consumed by identity politics, and who tend to express any environmental leanings with 'conscious consumerism' like eco-tourism and electric cars).
Which isn't to say I have turned entirely away from Christ. And the contemporary writer teacher who gave me the deepest appreciation of the teachings - the radically different worldview - of Christ is Diarmuid O'Murchu, whose workshops rocked my world when I attended them circa 2010. O'Murchu was older then, and I'm not sure if he's teaching anymore; I don't think he has returned to the U.S. in recent years.
I warmed to Christianity then. Yet for me, something was missing: Jesus was a teacher and healer sharing an expanded vision of *human* society and culture. He didn't have much to say about the natural world at all. And why would He? During the time he lived, human society was likely still working to overcome and tame nature just as we continue to do, and there was no sense of overpopulation on spaceship Earth.
So I still seek. We follow different paths, yet you are one of my favorite companions on this journey. (That sounds so hackneyed.) Your previous essay touched me deeply.
Robin
Jesus is a teacher and a healer and is introduced in each of the Gospels as the one you gives the Holy Spirit which is I think the essence of his present mode of being.