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Charlotte Mason in Modern English
Charlotte Mason's ideas are too important not to be understood and implemented in the 21st century, but her Victorian style of writing sometimes prevents parents from attempting to read her books. This is an imperfect attempt to make Charlotte's words accessible to modern parents. You may read these, print them out, share them freely--but they are copyrighted to me, so please don't post or publish them without asking.
~L. N. Laurio
pg 56
SECTION 2 - The Conscience in the House of
the Mind
Chapter
9 - Opinions in the Air
Everyone knows that what he does with his body and heart should be
directed by his Conscience. How we act to others, what we feel about
them, controlling our own bodies are all things that we agree should be
subject to the Conscience. But we tend to think that our thoughts are
our own, and that the domain of the Intellect is an area where every
man is his own master--as if the opinions we form, the mental tasks we
choose to undertake or leave undone are beyond the realm of duty.
Without even realizing it, we think that thought is an area where we're
free.
Casual
Opinions
Of all the mistakes that have tripped up people and entire societies,
this one is probably the most unfortunate. A person might pick up some
notion, call it his opinion, and spread it here and there until that
foolish notion becomes a threat to society, and people are in bondage
to
it. We're always hearing statements that remind us of the cry heard
among the Jews: 'Here are your gods, O Israel!' The Israelites might
not have even known which tent the shout came from, but it spread like
lightning over the whole Israelite camp until every man brought his
valuables
pg 57
to help make a golden calf. Why did that happen? Moses, their leader,
was gone. True, he was with God, but he was gone, and his people wasted
no time creating a shrine and worshiping it. This is typical of how an
opinion can very quickly carry away a country or a person--the leader
is out of sight, and boisterous opinions fill people's ears.
During summer vacation, when people don't have much to think about,
newspapers print all kinds of idle questions like, 'Is life worth
living?' or 'Is the institution of marriage a failure?' Of course, the
indirect message is that life isn't worth it, and marriage is a
failure. Sensible people don't take these articles seriously. But there
are lots of people who just wait around for any chance notion that
comes their way, and they can't wait to spread it.
When people like this hear the notion that the institution of marriage
is a failure, the idea spreads and leads to a proliferation of
immorality. The idea itself has become a kind of golden calf, and the
leader, Conscience, is either gone or else silenced. And the result is
that people think it's a wonderful thing to make sacrifices for their
exciting new idea of the moment. Or they might wonder aloud and go
around asking whether life is really worth living. Although it might
seem more innocent because it's just a question, it's just as serious.
There's no law on the books that a person can go to jail for being
sullen and ungrateful for sunshine and rain and food and clothing and
natural beauty and kind friends. Yet it's an ugly kind of sin that's as
contagious as the plague of Black Death. The person who allows his mind
to dwell on the question, 'Is life worth living?' has already been
infected.
pg 58
How
Fallacies Work
We've all heard stories about how killing isn't always murder--how men
who seem well-intentioned entertain the notion that killing is
sometimes justified and therefore not really murder. They're
persuaded by their own reason that the only way to secure the safety of
the masses is to get rid of the leader hindering their liberty. And
they become convinced that they've been specially called for the task
of delivering their people. So they kill the offender and, instead of
being hailed as a hero, they're hated by all thinking people and called
an assassin. How did this happen?
It happens like this: The conscience, which is supposed to cry out,
'You must not murder!' has been silenced. Opinion played the role of
director, Reason supported him, and then the wicked murder became
reality. Even the slightest hint of opinion is enough to waylay an open
(empty) mind. We see it in the news every day. Just the other day a
local newspaper featured an article about 'The Unreality of Sin.'
An empty mind hungers for any kind of deposit, so it's easy to see how
that kind of headline would be accepted into many people's minds and
then used as an excuse to sin.
When I was a girl, darning stockings was considered a valuable use of
time, and I was shocked to hear a respectable Welsh lady say that she
didn't believe in darning stockings! I found out later that 'darning'
could also mean running them; she thought I was ruining new stockings
by putting holes in the heels. But at first I thought she had hit on
some novel principle that would free me from the task of mending holes
in stockings. That's how it is with so many people--some casual remark
is heard and latched onto, often about a more serious issue than
stockings. There's always some stimulating new fallacy being talked
about that attracts thousands of people.
pg 59
Being caught up with every new opinion is a risk for anyone who isn't
aware of the danger and doesn't know how to protect himself. I
think that these are the most important rules for doing the right
thing: a) we shouldn't entertain just any notion that comes our way, b)
we
shouldn't rely on our Reason to be an infallible guide to opinions
since Reason sometimes argues in favor of what we feel like doing
instead of what the right thing to do is, c) we need to work hard to
find out as much as we can so that our opinions are based on knowledge,
and, d) we should strive to get good principles that can help us test
our opinions.
pg 60
Chapter
10 - The Untaught Conscience
An untaught Conscience can have all kinds of inconsistencies. By
focusing on the wrong thing, it's continually 'straining out the gnats
and swallowing a camel.' Even the most hardened criminal has a
Conscience that he justifies with misleading reasons and excuses. He
might claim that 'society is against him, and he never got a fair
chance.' Or, 'why should I go around hungry and in rags while some
other guy rides in a fancy car and has lots to eat?' Or, 'that man has
more than he needs, it's his responsibility to keep it safe if he wants
it. If someone else is clever enough to trick him out of some of it,
it's only fair.' This is the way that Reason and Inclination support
each other in people whose minds are like Ishmael, whose hand was
against everyone. In fact, the criminal reasons that, since every man's
hand is against him, he has a right to get what he can to make up for
it.
Conscience
is Persistent About Some Things
There are some things that slick Reason never compromises in matters of
conscience. He must be loyal to his buddies. Turning in a buddy who did
something wrong seems to him to be even worse than murder. Reason also
makes sure that he's fair in his dealings with his buddies and will
share as much as he said he would. People are almost always faithful
with their beloved cherished child, or a friend they
pg 61
sincerely care about. Every person's conscience makes demands in some
area. Every person, no matter how civilized or savage, has some issues
where he acts on conscience. The first thing most missionaries will do
is to find out on what issues the people always act on principled of
conscience. David Livingstone was able to live peaceably among the most
barbaric tribes in Africa because he had enough sympathy and knowledge
to find an area of trust with them. He was always able to find areas
where their conscience was inflexible, such as loyalty to a guest or
gratitude to someone who was kind to them. Livingstone made some
valuable discoveries about human nature. There are certain virtuous
qualities that are apparent even in the most barbaric tribes; imagine
how much of those same qualities there are in people who have been
raised in societies that value kindness. He discovered that even these
uneducated savages knew that they must not murder or steal. They knew
that they needed to obey their parents and be kind to each other, and
other things. In other words, they had the light of Conscience. And
we've heard from Captain Cook that the Otaheitans wept the first time
they saw a white man being flogged. Even though they were savages, they
knew that cruelty was wrong.
Moral
Stability
Yet, an uneducated conscience is at the mercy of every whim that tries
to persuade his conscience, and his Reason will supplement that with a
thousand logical excuses. This is true of savages, criminals, tough
schoolboys, rough country farmers, and ignorant undisciplined people in
every class of society--even those whose ignorance comes with a college
degree. Only educated consciences are stable and consistent.
We all know someone who's predictable, we always know how he'll act
in a
given situation and we can always depend on him. That's because he's
not likely to be swayed by the latest outside opinions.
pg 62
He knows enough to have developed a standard to judge opinions with,
and principles to test how moral those opinions are. He knows that
flashy new opinions have been tried in the past and didn't hold up, so
he won't fall for them. He examines each new idea with his principles,
which act like a light. And he discovers when a new idea is based on
faulty logic that leads to more faulty thinking and wrong actions. As a
result, he doesn't give it any place in his mind.
An
Entire Nation Can be Unstable
The rest of the people who haven't thought through their principles are
like fertile ground for every new idea. When some crazy notion grabs
the attention of a few people, it becomes a mania. Sir Walter Scott had
some legal habits of mind; maybe that was why he wrote Peveril of the Peak, an example
from history of a nation that went crazy over a new notion. One good
example of the power of a notion over a nation, and how a baseless idea
can spread like wildfire can be so valuable for teaching the
conscience, so I'm going to quote part of a note about the Popish Plot
from the back of Peveril of the Peak.
'The villainous character of the people who created and carried out the
pretended Popish Plot can be estimated by this account. It's from Roger
North's Examen, and North
describes Oates very vividly. He says, 'he was now fully three times
exalted. His Plot was in full force and he walked around with his
bodyguards (for fear that the Catholics would murder him). He lived in
a room at Whitehall Palace and had a yearly pension of $2100. He forced
the House of Lords to provide those things
by threatening that, if they didn't give it to him, he would
pg 63
take it himself. He put on an Episcopalian robe without the thin linen
sleeves, silk gown and garment, big hat, satin hatband and rose and the
long scarf. He blasphemously used the title of Savior of the Nation.
Any person he merely pointed at was arrested and thrown in prison. When
people saw him coming, they fled from him as if he was a huge
explosion. His very presence was like a plague. Even those who didn't
end up in prison or executed had their reputations ruined just by being
seen with him. Even the queen herself was accused at the Commons' bar.
The city was so afraid of Catholics that they put up posts and chains.
Sir Thomas Player, the Chamberlain in the Court of Alderman, said that
they did that because they were afraid of being murdered while they
slept. When people said anything, none of their conversations was
ordinary--every debate and action was grandiose and confused. All
freedom of speech was taken away. To doubt the Plot was considered
worse than being an Arab, or a Jew or an infidel.'
A
Compelling Idea
This theme seems to have fascinated Sir Walter Scott. It's the key to
more than one historical character in his books. In Old Mortality, Balfour of Burley is
a bigot. A murderous idea possesses and impels him. Yet when that idea
finally drives him to an ungodly cruel crime, even his own uninstructed
conscience can't accept the 'logical' conclusion that his Reason
presents, and causes him great mental anguish. This example of the
danger of a compelling idea is even more educational than Shakespeare's
Brutus because Scott
pg 64
takes great care to demonstrate how a dark mind naturally leads to
prejudice, gullibility, intolerance, superstition, ambition for the
wrong reasons, even murder. This is even more so when this ignorance is
joined by mental intelligence and the mind has been struck by a
tempting
idea. Scott illustrates very vividly what happens when the conscience
tests a new idea too late.
Sir Walter Scott also shows us the danger of oblivious ignorance, which
can make even the purest teaching be twisted and used for evil
purposes. In Woodstock, the
Independent, Sergeant Tomkins, who calls himself Honest Joe or Trusty
Tomkins, believed that he was saved and was therefore incapable of sin.
To him, that meant that anything that might be foul sin in others was
okay for him to do.
The
Dangers of Being Ignorant
Although we in our modern era take pride in being enlightened and
progressive, we seem to be less aware of how gross and dull and foul
ignorance is than thinkers of the Middle Ages were. We don't seem to
understand that a conscience that hasn't been educated is at the mercy
of a dark, unenlightened mind. Academically intelligent people have
been known to say foolish things like, 'I don't see any use in sending
missionaries out,' or 'Every country and tribe has the religion that's
best suited for their particular situation.' How can anything but evil
come from unenlightened places where passion, prejudice and
superstition conceal the natural light of the conscience?
It's alarming how much ignorance there is right in our own homes,
schools and universities. Ignorance is to blame for the seventy
thousand Americans that Emerson says are, 'going around looking for a
religion.' Even the very 'tolerance' that
pg 65
we're so proud of comes from ignorance that makes us unable to
recognize the difference between various things. We may not be as far
gone as that country that supplies us with so many new notions and
novel religions [does she mean
America?], but the fact that we're so
ready and willing to accept whatever new ideas come our way shows that
we're guilty of having uneducated consciences.
When it comes to politics, we put all our trust on whatever our
newspaper says--even though it only prints the biased information of
our own political party! We don't make the effort to supplement with
information from the other newspaper, or by broadening our minds with
literature or history. We get all of our political education from
lectures and summaries, but they can't possibly take the time to
provide as much detail as what comes from our own conscientious effort
to
gather information.
Painstaking
Over-Vigilance
Like the young man that Mrs. Piozzi wrote about in her Anecdotes of Johnson, we make the
mistake of being over-scrupulous in one area but too careless in
another.
Johnson said, 'For the last five weeks, someone had been coming to my
door saying that he wanted to see me, but he wouldn't leave his name or
say what he wanted to see me about. Finally we met. He said that he was
troubled by a matter of ethics. I asked him why he hadn't gone directly
to his parish priest or local clergyman, as our church rules ordain. He
paid me a few compliments and then told me that he worked as a clerk
for a well-known merchant who had warehouses that had lots of packing
materials to get things ready for shipping. He said that he was often
tempted to take wrapping paper and strapping tape for his own uses, and
had often, in fact, done so. He couldn't even remember the last time he
had paid for packing materials himself. I said, 'But it's probably
insignificant to your boss. Just ask for his permission and then go
ahead and use the materials with a clear conscience.' He answered, 'But
my boss already said I could use as much as I wanted. In fact, he was
annoyed when I bothered him to discuss it.' I was just about to say,
'Then don't waste my time about such a trivial thing if it's already
settled,' and was almost
pg 66
angry about it, when it occurred to me that the guy might be mentally
unstable. So I asked him, 'What time do you go home from your job?'
'About seven o'clock, sir.' 'And when do you go to bed?' 'At midnight.'
'Then I've learned from our new acquaintance that five unemployed hours
in a day are enough for a person to drive himself crazy. I would advise
you to study algebra if you don't already know it. Your head would get
less muddy and you'd stop tormenting your fellow man about wrapping
paper and strapping tape when the world is already bursting with sin
and heartache.'
Undue obsession with trivial matters is a sure sign of an uneducated
conscience. Maybe the man shouldn't have taken his boss's packing
materials, but wasting his own time and the time of others about such a
small matter was an even worse offense. This illustrates that only an
educated conscience is able to view things in their proper perspective
and to distinguish what really matters from what's of no consequence.
That's why a child will make such huge mistakes in his value judgments.
He'll lie, be unkind, commit cruelty, and not even realize he's done
anything wrong. Yet a trivial little act, like opening a forbidden
drawer, will trouble his conscience for months. Schoolchildren make
similar mistakes. They don't feel guilty about deceiving their teacher,
but they'll believe that it's unpardonable to turn in a schoolmate.
There's so much more that could be said about an uneducated conscience,
the subject is so broad and encompasses so much of life. But I can only
suggest a hint here, or offer an example there. One point I want to
make very clear, though. Every person is born with a conscience. But
its light is only steady and dependable in proportion to how
well-informed it is through increasing its intelligence. Also, an
uneducated
pg 67
conscience leaves a person open to bigotry, fanaticism, panic, envy,
and spite. Such a person's Reason will justify every offense because he
has very little knowledge of people and events to measure his judgments
against. Note that I'm not talking about deliberate sin. Even an
educated conscience is tempted to willfully sin! We'll talk more about
that later. For now, let's make it clear that more than half of the
mistakes and offenses committed in the world are done out of ignorance.
People think and do the wrong thing because they don't bother to
educate their conscience.
pg 68
Chapter
11 - The Instructed Conscience
Sound
Moral Judgment
I won't say that a person with an educated conscience is incapable of
doing something morally wrong. That's not true. But such a person has
the advantage of rarely being able to do or think wrong without being
aware of his error. The reliability that his enlightened conscience
gives him
sets him apart. Emerson said that it's interesting that many people
have a reputation, or a kind of force in the world, that seems even
greater
than what they actually did or wrote. We're fascinated by economic
historian Arnold
Toynbee who worked for social housing, author John
Sterling, Arthur
Hallam,
Tennyson's poet friend, and other young men whose short lives didn't
extend far past their
college graduation. [US equivalents
might be poet John Gillespie Magee, Bobby Kennedy, Todd Beamer].
Emerson says that this kind of legendary esteem that doesn't seem
warranted by accomplishments is--character. He may very well be
correct, but maybe the specific aspect of character we value so much in
these men is the sound moral judgment they had which comes from having
an educated conscience. Goldsmith gives us a charming example of this
kind of person in The Vicar of
Wakefield's Dr. Primrose. His decisions are so wise, his
resolutions are fair, even his correction is gentle yet effective. How
can we forget that epitaph that his wife was supposed to live up to [he had made a plaque praising her
'prudence, economy, and obedience till death' and hung it in a
prominent place for her to see every day!] or the
pg 69
way he let his family have their portrait done--even though the
painting was too big to fit in any of the rooms in the house! That was
a reproof of vanity that they never forgot! He is humble when he's
doing well, and composed in times of hardship. And this is because of
reading and prayer. He didn't get to be this way through his books
alone, or through prayer alone, it was both of them working together.
Boswell shows that Dr. Johnson was the same way. We're used to having
dictionaries, so we aren't overly impressed with his skill as a great
lexicographer. Actually, when you think about it, Johnson's
achievements in both actions and writing were surprisingly small,
considering his talent. His writing style wasn't even as appealing to
us as his biographer's. Yet few men had as well-educated a conscience
for making fair and just judgments. That's why his biography is such
worthwhile reading. To have Boswell constantly asking, 'Sir?' must have
been annoying, so it's no surprise that he sometimes pretended that the
worse side was better. But his judgments were so just and righteous! No
wonder his contemporaries waited to hear his thoughts on matters. We
can all sound idealistic and discuss the morality of others, but he was
able to share what he called 'luminous' thoughts about all kinds of
things and all kinds of famous historical people. Only a person with an
educated conscience can do that. Probably everyone who makes a mark on
history that seems to transcend their accomplishments has had an
influence on the world based on their moral judgment rather than their
genius.
Moral
Judgment and Virtuous Living
Being able to form moral judgments and living
pg 70
a virtuous life aren't the same thing. But it's necessary for people
who live in a very narrow sphere to have both. Simple people may have
proper thoughts about daily work and routine duties because their
conscience has been educated by traditional wisdom that they got at
home without even realizing it. But if we want to live in the immense,
wide world and experience a broader realm of thought and deeds, then we
need to make it a priority to slowly, gradually, little by little,
learn how to form fair opinions.
How do we do this? First of all, we need to be observant and think for
ourselves. We don't want to have cute, clever things to say about what
other people are doing, discovering a low motive here, or a shrewd
practice there. People who let themselves get into such habits lose
their ability to interpret life with an educated
conscience. But if we're observant and keep our thinking gentle,
broad-minded and humble, then we'll find lots of learning opportunities
to improve ourselves in our daily family life. We'll find some good in
the things done by politicians here and overseas, and we'll recognize
wisdom in the attitudes of other nations.
But not many of us are able to observe and experience people and events
around the world. Most of us will have to rely on books to educate
ourselves. The way to educate our conscience is to read, notice, learn
and assimilate. We need to read novels, history, poetry, everything
that's classified as literature. And we need to read with a purpose of
improving ourselves rather than reading for cultural literacy. Some
people have
developed a distaste for the word 'culture.' The concept of a
'cultured' person is very narrow because it has 'self' as its goal. But
there's a better reason to become profoundly intimate with an extensive
amount of literature than self-culture. In literature we'll find wise
men's reflections about the art of living. Sometimes it's written in
history, sometimes poetry, essay or story. This is what we all need to
master--the art of living.
pg 71
Chapter
12 - Some of Conscience's Teachers: Poetry, Novels and Essays
Poetry
Poetry is probably the most penetrating, searching and intimate of all
our teachers. It's 'interesting' to know about a certain poet and his works,
in the same way that it's interesting to know about carved metal repousse design. But in order to
get any joy or productivity out of repousse,
we need to learn what the tools are and how to use them. Poetry has
tools that help us shape and model our lives. We need to figure out how
to use them ourselves. If one particular line of a poem strikes us as
we read it, and repeats itself in our mind so that we quote it out loud
during the day and murmur it at odd moments--then this is the line that
speaks directly to us to influence our daily living, even if it only
talks about,
'Old, unhappy, far-off things,
And battles long ago.'
This two-line couplet doesn't seem to have any meaty substance, yet it
can instruct our conscience better than many wise proverbs. As we
internally 'chew' on this, a reverence comes to us that we aren't even
aware of. We gain a gentleness, a sense of wistful tenderness about the
past, a feeling of continuity in history, and a sense that our own part
in the march of history won't be out of step and obvious, but a
harmonious part of the whole. This is the kind of lesson that can't be
taught in school.
pg 72
It has to dawn on each of us as we discover it for ourselves.
Many people have a poet who's their favorite for a year or two, then
they have another favorite, and then another. Others find that one poet
is their favorite for a lifetime--perhaps Spenser or Wordsworth or
Browning. But, whether we have a favorite for a year or for a lifetime,
we need to observe as we read, and learn and internally digest. Digest
is a good word to describe the process. Whatever we digest is
assimilated and is taken into ourselves. It becomes a part of us that's
inseparable from who we are.
The first time we read Shakespeare, we probably read it for the story.
Then we read it again to get another look at his characters. He's
created a crowd of charming people, and he makes us feel so intimate
with them that, afterwards, whether we meet someone in a book or in
real life, we think, 'She's a lot like Jessica,' or, 'What a sweet
girl, she reminds me of Miranda,' or, 'She treats her father like
Cordelia,' or a certain historical figure might seem to be 'vulgar,
like
lago.' To be this familiar with Shakespeare is very enriching to the
mind and instructive for the conscience. Then, little by little, as we
continue reading, Shakespeare's beautiful, perceptive lines will begin
to take possession of us. They'll mold the way we judge men and things
and the great issues of life without us even realizing it.
Novels
Novels can also be like sermons to wise people, but not if we only read
them for the plot. It's a degrading waste of time to read a novel that
can be skimmed, or to peek at the last page to see how it ends. We need
to read to learn the meaning of life. By the time we finish a book, we
should know who said what, and what the circumstances were. The
characters we get to know in books become our mentors, or, in some
cases, our warning. But, either way, they're still teaching us--unless
our mind is like a colander, and everything slips through like water
that goes through the holes and own the drain.
pg 73
Of course, it would be ridiculous to waste time investing this kind of
careful reading on a book that isn't written with literary skill or has
no moral value. We should limit ourselves to the best--we should only
read novels that are worth reading again and again, enjoying each time
more than the last. It's easy to see the shallow way people read when
you realize that ninety-nine out of a hundred people who read
Thackeray's Vanity Fair come
away thinking that Amelia is an ideal woman. Very few people get the
real moral of the story--that a man can't give more to a woman than
she's worth. Even Dobbin, who was so faithful, finally found his life,
not in Amelia, but in his books and his daughter. It's wise to choose
the authors we read with the same care and discernment we use to choose
our friends. And, once we've decided that an author has something to
say that we need to hear, we should listen respectfully.
Essays
Essays are enjoyable to read, but I won't go into them much here. Like
poets, we have to find our favorites on our own. They have a special
intimacy with their readers, and every phrase that seems so casual
should be carefully considered. There may be more to it than meets the
eye. The
best essayists write because they have something personal to say to you
and
me, because their minds have some fruit of the thoughts of their lives
that they
want us to taste. So let's read to be enlightened.
pg 74
Chapter
13 - Some of Conscience's Teachers: History and Philosophy
History and biographies of historical people approach us in another
way. Currently, we're experiencing a passion for patriotism and a bond
of citizenship. That could be because we've all caught the enthusiasm
of imperialism, or maybe we're reacting against the last generation's
individualism. We should be thankful for these two forces that result
in national pride, but their strength might make us rush heedlessly
into presumptuous sins if we don't recognize where our position fits
regarding our country and city, and if we don't make an effort to
educate our conscience.
The
Informed Patriot
We should read newspapers, of course--newspapers from both sides. But a
person who bases everything he knows on newspapers is an ignorant
patriot and a narrow-minded citizen. His opinions are merely rehashed
repetitions of other men's words--like a parrot. A person should
mull over the history of his own country with responsible interest. He
should be distressed when his country does something dishonorable, and
proud when his country does something great. He should ponder the
history of some other great empires, admire the balanced justice that
governed
pg 75
its remote colonies, and reflectively examine the reasons for its fall.
Then he will gradually come to have some understanding of what the life
of a nation is. He'll be able to express an opinion that doesn't merely
parrot someone else. He'll develop his own convictions, and they will
be helpful to his country, even if the only people he shares them with
are the ones around his dinner table.
He'll learn to value Xerxes as a gardener whose goal was for every man
to have hi own little paradise. Lycurgus will be more to him than a
lawgiver; he'll recognize that Lycurgus was a hero for being able to
keep the laws he made. This kind of person is interested and a little
envious of the those small yet great republics that were skilled at war
and peace and had schools where every man learned philosophy. The best
men of those societies made philosophy the absorbing study of their
entire lives.
A person who reads history this way cares about more than cramming to
pass a test, or becoming cultured, or even being entertained, although
this kind of reading is undoubtedly enjoyable. He knows that he owes it
to his country to have some intelligent knowledge about the past, not
just of his own country, but of other cultures, too. This kind of
person is a valuable asset to his country. It's a great thing to
develop a fair, broad-minded, enlightened patriot for the service of
one's nation, even if that patriot is only oneself.
Philosophy
Philosophy is as important to us as it was for the young men of Athens.
What makes us remarkable among civilized people is our ignorance of the
things people have thought about in the world before us. We tend to
think of the thoughts of previous civilizations as worthless or routine
common knowledge. Yet philosophers have spent five thousand years
seeking a single unifying principle that explains both physical matter
pg 76
and the mind. Today, we assume that we've found this principle in
evolution. That may be true, but we let ourselves accept this as fact
without even knowing what men have thought before us. We don't even
stop to realize that, if we accept that this theory includes the
evolution of man's mind, we sacrifice the idea of an afterlife. There
can be no life or existence except this physical existence. I'm not
going to discuss this thesis, I just want to say that we shouldn't
blindly accept ideas that have such far-reaching conclusions just
because another man's reason says so. We let his logic persuade us to
come to his conclusion. Remember that Reason's job is to come up with
logical reasons to 'prove' any idea we accept into our mind.
It's our job is to choose which notions we're willing to entertain. To
make this kind of choice wisely, our conscience needs to be
well-educated. Knowing the history of what's been thought before us
will provide us with lots of examples of Reason's fallibility. Then
we'll understand that just because something 'proves' itself to be
correct doesn't guarantee that it's right.
We can be more sure by looking in two directions--to the past history
of ancient thought, and to the future as we try to foresee how issues
will play themselves out to a conclusion. We can't trust our own
reasoning, or another man's, no matter how conclusive it seems. We need
to reach our own conclusions by letting our Reason work on reliable
knowledge that we've collected from a wide range of sources. A person
who refuses to consider what's happened before, and won't trace an idea
to its logical conclusion, may claim that he's embracing the truth, but
he's really clinging to ignorant bias.
pg 77
If you remember, Columbus heard an idea that was pretty popular. It was
the possibility that there was a western passage to the Indies. After a
few failed attempts to find support, he brought his idea to Ferdinand
and Isabella. They were favorable to his idea and provided him with
ships and money. If he had only come with a notion that seemed feasible
to him, he would have been merely an adventurer. But he knew enough
about historical sea voyages to realize that a way to the Indies by his
route had never been attempted. He knew enough geographical principles
to make a plausible case for his theory. He was able to use the
knowledge he had accumulated to predict an outcome. That's why he was
able to make a case for his scheme before the Spanish king and queen
and persuade them.
There's no escaping the fact that we need knowledge, especially
knowledge of ideas. The myriad of ridiculous sham philosophies of our
day--and all other eras--come from minds that are ignorant of the past.
They don't realize that their novel, radical idea is only a patched-up
rehash of ideas that were tried before and didn't work.
A
'Message'
Many men believe that they have a message the world needs. They become
fanatics and make lots of converts, which is not difficult to do. But
not
every radical idea is a divine message. Divine messages don't come to
just anyone, they come to minds that are 'already prepared by a Power
higher than nature itself to receive such messages,' as Coleridge said.
Preparation means having knowledge, insight, foresight, wisdom that's
humble, and the gentleness of a teachable spirit. These are the signs
that help each of us to discern whether we have a message, and--and
this is also a mission--
pg 78
whether we're prepared to take our message and carry it forward to the
world. There are lots and lots of messages and messengers. Yet few
things get in the way of improving the world so much as stubbornly
adopting fanatical notions because they sound appealing and seem
logical to our own faulty reasoning. When it comes to philosophy and
even practical matters in life, the safest thing is to realize that
we're not above being convinced of anything, no matter how wrong or
foolish, unless we have an educated conscience and use it when
considering whether a notion is acceptable or not.
pg 79
Chapter
14 - Some of Conscience's Instructors: Theology
Theology
Theology, divinity, knowledge of God, or whatever we call it, is an
area that needs the control of an educated conscience more than any
other. We tend to think as children do--that God requires us to be
good, and punishes us when we're bad, and that's all we need to know
about religion. We totally neglect one fact that Jesus Himself
confirmed--that God is 'eternal life.'
Maybe it's because the word 'eternal' brings to mind the far-off
future, which is something we don't like to think too much about. We
don't understand that eternity has already started--it includes future,
past and present. Life--full,
rich, abundant life--means
knowing God now. Without that
knowledge of God, we can't experience any free, joyful activity. We
can't have the fulfilled glow of feelings, happy living free from
worry, eyes that are alert to appreciate all beauty, a heart that's
open to all goodness, a responsive mind, tender heart, and aspiring
soul. All of these help to make a complete, full life experience. Most
people have poor, crippled lives. They survive as if they were dragging
their limbs around because they're dead and useless, just a burden to
pg 80
carry around. They don't even realize that their minds are dull and
their hearts are heavy because they don't have the knowledge of God
that is life itself.
The
Divine Method
We tend to believe that knowledge about spiritual things comes by
feelings. We're critical of ourselves if we don't feel as much emotion
as we think we should. Yet if we examine the teachings of Christ, we
find very little about feelings, and a lot about knowing. Jesus's
teachings appeal to the intelligence, not emotional sentiment. 'He
never spoke to them without using parables.' Why not? So that 'even
though they heard, they wouldn't really hear, and even though they saw,
they wouldn't really see, therefore they wouldn't understand.'
That method goes against every normal method of teaching. Generally,
teachers work hard to make sure that even the slowest student clearly
understands what he's saying. And we get impatient or annoyed at a poem
or allegory that isn't obvious at first glance. In other words, we've
decided that the responsibility for learning should all be on the
teacher and none on the student.
But whatever comes too easy is soon lost--easy come, easy go. Knowledge
is only retained if we invest some mental labor of our own. Especially
when it comes to knowing about our religion, we need to read and
mentally digest. We only grow on what we take in and assimilate so that
it becomes a part of us. Jesus knew this. That's why He never gave easy
sayings to teach people. Even His disciples didn't understand. Let's
put ourselves in their shoes and listen to the Master's 'hard'
teachings--hard intellectually as well as morally--and see what we'd
get from them at the first hearing. Paul's detailed, involved arguments
are
pg 81
much plainer. Even the vague prophecies of the Old Testament, or the
Apocalypse itself, are easier to understand--at least, the parts that
God has allowed to be revealed--than the 'simple' sayings of Christ.
But this just proves the value of our Lord's way of teaching us that
life comes of knowledge, the knowledge of God.
The
Bible Contains a Revelation of God
Where should we look for our knowledge of God? After all, we can only
think if we have material to give us food for thought. Our first and
last resource is the Bible, which is God's revelation to us. Knowledge
of God only comes by revelation. We can only know God as He declares
and shows Himself to us. That doesn't mean that there aren't 'few,
feeble and faint' rays of revelation in eastern books that some people
consider holy. That's to be expected, because God is the God of all people. He doesn't leave
Himself without a witness anywhere. But those dim, weak rays aren't the
knowledge that leads to God, not even by those who have those rays.
They aren't looking for knowledge of God; they don't even realize that
such a thing exists. Those people will just have to live in spiritual
darkness, like they have since the beginning. They'll have to live
there until they receive the light.
Higher
Criticism
Higher criticism can be a threat to those of us who seek divine
knowledge. It's good that there are scholars scrutinizing every jot and
tittle of the Scriptures. The threat isn't that they might claim that
the Bible isn't the word of God, but merely cultural Hebrew literature.
If we don't focus on the minute literary criticism, but instead look
for a gradual revelation of God Himself in all His beauty, which only
comes from
pg 82
the Bible and nowhere else, then the truth of the Bible will confirm
itself to us. Then we'll know, without needing academic proof, that,
'You can't prove the Nameless
Any more than you can prove the world you move around in,
Because nothing worth proving can be proved
Or disproved.'
[The Myths of Plato by Professor
Stewart]
Plato has given the last word on this matter both for his generation
and ours. The threat I'm talking about is that, while we're focused on
the questions of criticism, we might neglect the very knowledge that
only comes with diligent work. We might not take the time to earnestly
and devoutly study the Bible, yet that's the one and only way we can
get a progressive knowledge of God.
We're already reaping the results of ignorance. Little books that
take short Bible scriptures out of context and fabricate
elaborate arguments to prove a philosophy of life that the Bible
doesn't support are everywhere, and being touted as some wonderful new
gospel. We hear about new developments in Christianity--but Biblical
Christianity as revealed in Scripture already offers unlimited
comprehensiveness about the beauty of holiness and knowledge of our
limitless God. Everywhere we hear about all kinds of religions--some
with Christ, some without. We hear some people teach that 'God in the
flesh' means nothing more than a divine spark within ourselves, and
that every power Jesus used to perform miracles is at our disposal to
use as we wish.
What we have is a smug religiosity--a religion where we ourselves are
our own standard. It might be called 'Christianity on a Higher Plane,'
or Buddhism, or mystic Theosophy. Or it might take the form of the
Russian Dukhobors, who refuse to obey any human law and believe that
they're under the direct authority of
pg 83
God alone. One poor little community in Lancashire claim that 'there's
no law but God's law,' and they've come to the absurd inference that
all human laws are therefore sin. All of these signs mean one thing:
we're declining because we're leaving our knowledge of God.
Indecision
There's another result of ignorance that we're reaping. There's a
paralyzing spirit of hesitancy and uncertainty upon us. We
tolerate all beliefs--because we have no belief of our own. We say
things like, 'I just don't know,' and, 'I'm not really sure' about what
we believe. Or we'll say, 'What right do we have to think that someone
else's creed isn't as true as our own?' Even our newspapers pose
questions like, 'Is Christianity corrupt?' and then we indulge the
notion by discussing and debating it! Or, if nothing else, it doesn't
bother us to listen calmly while people toss around the one question
that's our very life. Count on it--the only question that really
matters is, 'What do you think of Christ?' We can't avoid the issue by
claiming that, 'We don't think about Jesus, we just focus on the
Father.' The truth is, 'No man comes to the Father but by Me.'
We can't live without this vital knowledge. We need it here and now,
not some day in the future. Without it, a slow paralysis creeps over
us. But how do we get this illuminating knowledge? There's only one
source: the Bible itself. It's true that there's a divine spark of
light in every person's soul; you can't light a lamp if there's no lamp
to be lit. It seems like the Holy Spirit's method is to teach us by
giving us an enlightening revelation of some phrase in the Bible from
time to time. So we need to make it our business to familiarize
ourselves with the text.
Studying
the Bible
How, then, should we study
pg 84
our Bible, if we're not supposed to focus on textual criticism or even
textual knowledge? The focus on our study needs to be Knowledge of God Himself.
We rely too much on other people's interpretations. We depend on
commentaries, essays, sermons, poems, critiques, and we let them do our
thinking for us. It would be better for us to, first of all, make our
own effort at interpreting. When we get stuck or confused, that's the
time to compare our thoughts with other people's. In choosing help, we
need to look for people who have faithful, reverent minds and scholarly
experience. The best method is an orderly plan of self-study with the
occasional use of a trustworthy commentary as needed. Using 'good
books' for spiritual stimulation ends up deadening a healthy appetite
for truth. The same goes for little books with comments designed to
stimulate certain character virtues, or states of mind. These tools are
supposed to help our private devotion (public worship is another
issue). But their problem is that they tend to put the focus on
ourselves and our situation, while creating no thirst in us for the
best knowledge. I'd guess that even our most pathetic efforts to read
and understand for ourselves do more for our spiritual growth than even
the best
teaching. But a prepared heart and mind are required. We need to pray
for deliverance from preconceived ideas and biases, and then wait on
God in the same way that parched earth waits for rain.
In the Old Testament, it's good to read the life of one person all the
way through, breaking it up if necessary. But keep in mind that the
author is not like a tape recorder. He writes as himself, not as a
machine. He may have been uninformed about some things, or had his own
prejudices that come out in his writing. We can
pg 85
discern the author's personality in his books in the same way that any
author's personality flavors his writing. The difference between the
Bible and other books is that the men who wrote scripture were charged
with the revelation of God and the way He deals with humans. They
reveal something about humanity, too, revealing that mankind shares a
certain childlike simplicity, and shows what we must look like to
God. These narratives are written without excuse or justification, but
with a strong emphasis on our simplicity. It's pretty clear that the
Bible portrays people the way God sees us. Even good people do things
that offend God, are punished and forgiven, just like children in a
family.
In the same way that Abraham left Ur, we all leave our homes to seek
our fortune. But in the Biblical story, we see more of what's going on.
We're shown that it was really God who called him away, led him along,
guided him through the learning process of his life, with results that
culminated at a later time. Lives of Bible characters are 'types.' They
show us the inner meaning of our own lives. We see things in their
stories that we experience in our own lives--the restraining force of
God that we're all aware of, the inspired whisper in our ear that comes
to us at defining moments, the 'fixing of our boundaries' that is part
of God's control and plan for our lives.
Biblical
'Revelation' is Unique
Don't make the mistake of thinking that because so many books talk
about 'the Lord God, merciful and gracious, who will by no means clear
the guilty,' that this truth is universally known. Every hint we get
about God's Being is derived from the Bible, whether we consciously
realize it or not, in the same way that the light of a candle is derived
pg 86
from the sun's light. What about the freethinker who doesn't believe in
any God, yet talks about the love of man? Although he may think that
idea is independent from God, the only concepts about the brotherhood
and sonship of mankind that exist at all came through divine revelation
from God delivered to us through certain people that He chose.
Existing concepts that have already been revealed might be
illuminated to us by the inner light that all of us have, but that's
something different from the very first revelation of a totally
original concept.
When humans have mastered everything there is to learn about God from
what's been progressively revealed in the Bible, then maybe God will
grant further revelation to men in the same gradual way.
No
Revelation is Repeated
As far as we can tell about God's law for how things are revealed, it
seems like, once God has revealed something, He doesn't repeat the
revelation. Also, God has already revealed and recorded under His
authority as much about Himself as we can handle. It seems like, in our
day, the Holy Spirit's work is to illuminate a meaning here and there
for each of us, so that our education in the knowledge of God is
gradually progressing as long as we have a listening ear and an
understanding heart.
In this respect, poets write and artists paint under divine inspiration
when they write or paint things that reveal spiritual truth. In the
same way, we can believe what the Medieval Christians believed--that
things are still being revealed that weren't previously known. For
example, great mysteries of nature seem to be revealed to people whose
minds are prepared for them. One recent new discovery is that matter is
made of ions and electrons. This kind of truth is as divinely of God as
spiritual knowledge, and I believe it's
pg 87
a truth that God reveals when the world is ready to receive it.
But even here the same two laws seem to apply. Revelation is never
repeated--the law of gravity or the circulation of blood can't be
re-revealed once it's known. And there's never too many of these kinds
of discoveries to keep up with. We don't get a new revelation until
we've mastered, assimilated and 'owned' what's already been given to
us.
This is probably why all there is to know about God is in the Bible. We
know so little about Him, and we're so far from mastering the Biblical
concepts of beauty and goodness, that we're not ready for additional
revelation. Keep in mind that, when God gives new revelation to an
individual, it's always for the benefit of the world. No man is given
knowledge just for his own private self. If the world, represented by
its best and most thoughtful people, is too ignorant to be ready for
new revelation, then the revelation is withheld until the world is
ready for it. That's why the person with an educated conscience doesn't
rush off every time he hears, 'Lo, here!' about some novel spiritual
happening. We need to be careful about responding to private
interpretations of Scripture that supposedly escaped notice by the
Church until now. When it comes to our great first duty, we need to
stay true to 'sober walking in true gospel ways.' [from Ninth Sunday After
Trinity by John Keble]
Interpretation
When it comes to knowing which parts of the Bible are merely human and
which are inspired, the answer isn't found in critical studies and
destructive criticism. It takes gradually absorbing the concept of
pg 88
God as He is unfolded to us in the preparation of the Old Testament,
and then in the glorious manifestation of the Gospels, and then the way
it all applies to the life of the Church in the Acts and Epistles. If
we study diligently and carefully, and if our hearts are quick to love,
then we'll be able to tell which words aren't God's. For instance, it's
obvious that 'break their teeth in their jaws' isn't something God
would say. It's a remark originating from a violent human heart. It is
allowed to pass without comment, just like most of what's recorded of
men's ways and actions in the Bible.
If we study diligently, we'll be rewarded with the ability to tell when
a popular interpretation isn't correct because it doesn't have any
divine revelation or simple portrayal of humans. And we'll be
knowledgeable enough to realize that, just because a Bible incident
isn't something we see everyday in real life, that doesn't mean it's
not inspired by God. Such incidents are not essential; they're
peripheral, and don't help us understand God any better. We don't
understand how it is that essential truth can be revealed to us through
Biblical history or records. But we all know that we've heard a voice
tempting us to sin, as Eve heard the serpent. We've all given in to the
sin, as Eve did when she ate the fruit, and we've all become miserably
self-conscious, as Eve was after she ate the fruit. And, just like Eve
having to leave the garden, we've had to leave the paradise of our
innocence. But we have hope, as Eve did. We can even believe that the
difficult story about the sun stopping in its course was inspired
by God. Haven't we all had times when the sun hasn't gone down on us
before our deliverance was completed, or we've escaped from a danger,
or finished a task? It seems like God's Spirit teaches essential
pg 89
truths. Those are the truths we base our lives on, and they're
appropriate for all people. Yet we need to be cautious when we
use this method of interpretation. God undoubtedly uses impressions
sometimes to speak to His children, but He also uses facts. When the
most straight-forward fact has an obvious interpretation, we should
beware about seeking an alternative meaning.
Sentimental
Humanity
There's something else we need to be careful about. We shouldn't try to
interpret Scripture with the kind of sentimental affection that seems
to be the most popular gospel these days. We read that thousands died
in the wilderness because they complained or rebelled, that the ground
opened and swallowed up some proud tribal leaders, or that death was
the penalty for men who committed the sin of irreverence. These
incidents don't prove that the Bible isn't true. There may be some
inaccuracies in some of the specific statements that men made. Verbal
inspiration, where the writer is simply taking dictation, would
eliminate the human aspect that seems to be necessary in all of God's
communications with people. It shouldn't make us too quick to accuse
the
Bible of being nothing but worthless fables.
When a ship sinks with everybody on board, when thousands die in a
flood or fire, when famine and disease is rampant, godly people in the
olden days would have said it was an act of God. That's how the Bible
describes these kinds of events. With our modern knowledge, we blame
bad drainage, unsanitary conditions, negligence, faulty construction,
flooding or storms, but we're merely identifying an intermediary step.
Those things are mistakes that men made, and God visits them and uses
wind and storm to fulfill His promise [to
punish sin].
The mystery we see in the Old Testament is one we see in life itself,
too.
Jesus shed some light on it when he commented on the
pg 90
Galilean Tower [Luke 13]. But
it's possible that the full answer might be that, to God, who knows
what comes next, death is a less fateful event than it seems to us, who
don't know what's on the other side. When Jesus wept, He wasn't sad for
Lazarus. He was sad for the grief that all people have to suffer, as
Lazarus's sisters did. Maybe He was thinking, 'If they only knew!'
Superstition
I've gone over some of the biases and misconceptions that tend to
hinder us as we read the Bible. It's these kinds of things we need to
get rid of so that we'll always be ready to read with an open mind and
a willing heart, until we gradually learn the way God acts with people,
and something about divine purity, mercy, love and justice. Even if we
hear another account of a world-wide flood, or a story just like Joseph
being sold into Egypt, or laws similar to Moses', or any other story
that
appears in pagan cultures, we won't be surprised. God is the God of all people, and surely He's had
some kind of dealing with all of the nations in the world. The
difference is that Israel knew God. Because Israel knew God, and,
because of their distinct spiritual insight, they were permitted to
share what they learned with the rest of the world, God revealed a bit
of what it
meant to have Him dealing with humans in a way that nations who didn't
know God knew nothing about. Those nations were pathetically and
cruelly
ignorant about Him. The mind that doesn't know God can't help but to be
a victim of superstition. Just recently, in an area of India
suffering from plague, some boxes containing paperwork for a public
examination arrived. Soon there was a rumor that plague was inside the
boxes and it would be unleashed in the town when the sahib opened the
boxes. Even Israel itself, as an example for us, relapsed
pg 91
into ignorance of God. Then they began to sacrifice their own children
to Molech. They ended up trying to pay for the sins of their souls with
the fruit of their body.
A
Permissive God
One dangerous teaching these days is the constantly taught concept of
God as a permissive parent. The Bible portrays Him as a Father who
'punishes those He loves, and chastises every son He accepts.' Even His
only begotten Son, whom He called, 'My beloved Son in whom I am well
pleased' was christened and afflicted. Too much attention to our own
aches and complaints might interfere with what God's trying to teach us.
Christ
is Presented in the Gospels
The main purpose of the Gospels is to show us what Christ is like. In
the Gospels, we see him as he spoke, as he worked, and as he died.
There's no other person in history that we can learn to know so
completely as Jesus. Our goal in reading shouldn't be as much to find
comfort and advice for ourselves, but to understand Jesus with our
minds and receive His image with our hearts. Knowing Him is life, and
is all of life. Every detail about Jesus walking in the cornfields,
or tired and sitting by the well, mixing with crowds of people or
praying
in remote areas, gazing out at the crowd, taking the little girl by the
hand--every one of these images that shows us Jesus real and living is life to us. In the same way that
seemingly casual strokes of the artist's brush gradually make the
painting look more and more like the real thing, every seemingly
trivial and casual incident about Jesus will
pg 92
gradually come together to form a living vision of the Master. Then we
will cherish more than any other beauty on earth or in heaven,
'Jesus, sitting by the Samarian well,
Or teaching some poor fishermen on the shore.'
[from Trench's Sonnets]
Miracles
If we want to see a clear image of Jesus, then we need to stay focused,
not letting ourselves be clouded by too many opinions from others. One
of the more recent popular opinions is that 'miracles don't really
happen,' except for the kind that every man makes happen for himself!
The vast amount of discussion on this topic is enough to make anybody
doubt. But if we're careful to teach our conscience a couple of things,
we won't be blinded by this obstruction built out of destructive
criticism. For
one thing, it's possible that miracles aren't the great, unusual things
we think they are. When John wrote about what we'd define miracles, he
called them signs. Maybe in our day and age, we have (or, should have!)
the substance and entire faith in Christ so that we no longer require
signs for proof. As far as the incredible miracles in the Gospels that
are such precious and appropriate evidences of Christ's mind, the most
damaging thing that scientists have been able to come up with in
challenging miracles like the water turned to wine is that they've
never seen it happen themselves. They can't even definitively say that
it would be impossible, or even contrary to the laws of nature. The
latest scientific discoveries have humbled scientific men. They now
realize that they don't understand the laws of nature as well as they
thought they did. All they're really acquainted with
pg 93
are a few of the ways nature works. So they have to admit that nothing
is impossible.
Or, people think they can have it both ways. They think they can
believe in God and Jesus and call themselves Christians, and yet scoff
as if miracles were some leftover from the dark ages. But such people
have forgotten how important faith is. Their focus is on specific
incidents, and they lose sight of the realization that the Christian
life itself is a miracle. The very fact that God should converse with
humans, that we can pray and know without a doubt that He hears and
answers, that the hearts of princes can be restrained at our word, that
whatever desires of our hearts that are suitable and right will be
fulfilled, although usually in a simple, natural-appearing way--these
things are like signs for us. They're miracles in themselves. Thy imply
that our God is involved with our lives immediately and personally. He
doesn't just act in your life, or mine. He acts in behalf of all the
creatures that He takes care of.
The
Words of Christ
The most amazing part of the Gospel story besides Jesus' death on the
cross isn't any of the miracles. It's the words of the Temple servant
who was sent to capture Jesus, but instead he defined Christ's unique
distinction, 'No man before ever spoke like this Man.' What man would
dare stand up and volunteer Himself to the world with words like, 'I am
the bread of life,' 'I am the light of the world,' 'I am the truth,'
'Come to me, you who are weary, and I will give you rest.' The
foundation of Christianity is Christ Himself verifying the truth of
these and other sayings. All Christians everywhere from all ages have
known
pg 94
that these things are true; they know that because they've experienced
it. That's the knowledge that is life. When we begin to have this kind
of knowledge, the miracles that Jesus did only matter in the sense that
they show us Jesus' mind, his kindness and compassion, and how
his pity compelled Him to do acts of mercy.
The
Incarnation and the Resurrection
Another modern tendency is to deny the Incarnation and the Resurrection
and assume that He was born like any other baby, and died and was
buried like anybody else, except that He was better than other men and
thus an example for us.
Scientific men are quick to admit their profound ignorance about the
causes of birth and life and death. They know the physical processes,
but the causes and principles elude them. Science is just as limited by
mysteries as religion is. No one knows enough to prove that the
Incarnation is an impossibility, or the Resurrection, either. But if
these didn't happen the way the Bible says, then Paul is right--we are
without hope, and Christ doesn't exist. If He was a man like any other
man,
then the Jews would have been correct in labeling Him a blasphemer. We
could have no inspiration from His life, no peace from His death, and
no hope from His resurrection.
Trivial
Doubts
The conscience needs to be educated regarding the serious kinds of
doubts that are casually discussed in magazines, newspapers, and
popular books. We can't attend to our first duty if our mind is
divided. We've been taught that the first commandment is,
pg 95
'Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your
mind, and all your strength.' But how can we love Him if we don't know
Him? And how can we know Him if we have so many doubts about Him that
we aren't sure about? Don't forget the danger of a doubt. Once we
entertain it in our mind, it's there for good. It becomes a part of us,
and might reappear at any time. Like a sickness that gets into the
bloodstream, it will resurface later. We tend to think that there's
some
intellectual mark of distinction in being skeptical, and being doubtful
is academic. But doubt can exist even in a slower mind, which can
doubt human things as well as spiritual ones. A greater mind is one
that can cut away the dross and find the heart of the issue, and
present it so clearly that no room is left for doubt. It has been
wisely said that, 'to an alert, positive mind, difficulties and
confusions seem like dross that keeps floating to the surface and dims
the splendor of the truth. But he skims it off and gets rid of it again
and again until only the pure truth remains. But a negative, doubting
mind is like lead. When all the dross is finally skimmed off, there's
nothing left.' [Coventry Patmore]
An educated conscience would say, 'Loyalty won't allow that,' when he's
tempted to entertain negative thoughts about Christ that dishonor God.
Only an educated conscience realizes how much is implied in a single
skeptical idea. Only an educated conscience understands that our faith
is built from living stones, not from dead opinions and intellectual
doctrine. It's like a living body. One wound can make it bleed.
pg 96
On the other hand, an uneducated conscience is convinced that 'Truth'
is so all-important that its job is to over-analyze, hyper-scrutinize
and cling to every objection that challenges it. We need to remember
that objection is negative, not positive. Truth is built up by
affirming it, not by seeking ways to tear it down. If we focus on the
affirmative part of the truth, the negative dissipates like fog in the
sunshine. We have no right to tamper with destructive challenges to
Truth before we've worked to assure ourselves of knowledge.
pg 97
Chapter
15 - Some Instructors of Conscience: Nature, Science, Art
Nature--The
Debts of Recognition, Appreciation, and Preservation
The Conscience has other teachers it needs to learn from besides the
ones I've already named. People are starting to realize that it's
shamefully ignorant to live in this rich, beautiful world without even
knowing the names of the things around us. When people inherit precious
collections, they feel that it's their duty to know and to know
something about
the things in the collection. To not even bother to find out would
be rudely ignorant. This is something we're all obligated to do,
because we've all inherited the heavens and the earth, the flowers of
the field and the birds of the air. We all have a right to these things
and nobody can take them away from us. But if we don't know the first
thing about them, not even enough to know what they're called, then
Nature will be a cause of irritation and depression to us instead of a
source of
joy.
One thing is certain--ignorance is a fault that never goes unpunished.
'The loud,
obnoxious laugh that displays an empty mind,'
and startles us as we're enjoying the peaceful quiet of some natural
pg 98
beauty, doesn't just display a vacant mind. It also shows the
resentment and annoyance that go along with ignorance. We have a
responsibility to things as well as people. The responsibility we owe
to nature is recognition, appreciation and preservation.
Nature's
Lessons
When it comes to learning about Nature, we don't just have a
responsibility to it, but to ourselves, too, because,
'Nature has
never betrayed a heart that loved her.'
In return for our selective, ardent observation, Nature repays us with
the joy of a beautiful intimacy that delights us. We'll get a thrill of
pleasure when we greet familiar birds or stars, like old friends, in
the fields, bushes and skies. Every new acquaintance will be
delightfully exciting.
But that's not all Nature does for us. She also gives us certain mental
attitudes that we can't get anywhere else. These dispositions are what
help us to get life into perspective, learning to tell the difference
between important matters and trivial ones. In the perspective of
Nature, we come to realize that we're really not very important. The
world is big and wide, the things in it are good. People are good, too.
In fact, we begin to sense that we're surrounded by an atmosphere of
goodness. And so we are. It's the air of heaven coming down to us from
God. We become aware of all of this in 'the silence and serenity of
things
that can't talk or reason.' Our hearts begin to feel full of love and
worship. Nature's quiet lessons teach us to walk softly, and to do our
duty towards God and our fellow man.
Our
Duty Towards God
When it comes to man's most important duty--his duty towards
God--Nature is a perfect teacher. There's a story of a young servant
[Brother
Lawrence] who was discouraged because he was so clumsy. But then he
pg 99
was on an errand and a tree whose leaves hadn't budded yet made him
stop and reflect. The
fact that the tree would soon grow lots of leaves amazed him. He was
suddenly aware of how harmonious and beautiful God's order is. The
leafless tree changed the way he'd been thinking, and he almost
instantly became well-known as a saint who was distinguished for his
beautiful humility and simplicity of life.
Another sweet lesson is told by missionary Mungo Park:
'I saw myself in the middle of a remote wilderness during the worst
part of the rainy season. I was exposed and alone, surrounded by wild,
savage animals, and by natives who were even more savage. I was 500
miles away from the nearest European settlement. All of those factors
rushed into my mind at the same time, and I have to confess, my spirit
failed me. Just at that moment, in the midst of my scary thoughts, my
eye caught sight of the extraordinary beauty of a fruit-bearing moss. I
mention this to show how the mind can derive comfort from the most
trifling circumstances. Even though the entire plant was no bigger than
my fingertip, I couldn't help admiring the delicate arrangement of its
roots, leaves and membrane. God planted, watered, and grew to
perfection this tiny, insignificant plant in an obscure corner of the
world. Would He look with unconcern on the situation and crisis of me,
a creature formed in His own image? Surely not! Reflections like this
kept me from total despair. Disregarding my hunger and weariness, I
started up and kept moving forwards. I felt assured that relief would
come soon, and it did.'
Nature
Teaches us to be Thankful
Regarding our duty to God, Nature doesn't only help us in our own
spiritual life. Some people have been blessed with the grace of being
tenderly and reverently thankful to men who write great books, or paint
great pictures, and grateful in a less reverent way to people who
discover
pg 100
great inventions. How much more we should thank God, the Maker, who
designed the beauty, glory and harmony above us, at our feet, and all
around us, from the 'flower in the crannied wall' to the 'glorious
firmament on high,' and everything else in Nature that proclaims
without ceasing, 'Great and marvelous are your works, Lord God
Almighty.'
The recent progress of science and men's preoccupation with the
technical structural details of things in nature have acted like a
thick fog that hides the Creator. We've been content to think that the
beauty we delight in and the orderly effectiveness that astonishes us
are something we produced or figured out ourselves. Science is acting
like a child who's so obsessed with a new toy, that he's forgotten who
made the toy and gave it to him in the first place. He's annoyed and
irritated when someone tries to remind him. He doesn't deny that the
toy was given to him by the one who made it, but the toy is all he
cares about. Science's preoccupation, which has benefited us by adding
to our knowledge about the world, is starting to pass away. Scientific
minds are becoming more and more aware that there's a power even higher
than Nature herself, and this power is what's behind all the workings
of Nature.
With this recognition will come gratitude. A thankful heart is a happy
heart. It's truly joyful and pleasant to be thankful!
Science
Science's role is to reveal to us what we call the Laws of Nature. As
the conscience seeks its lessons, it must wait upon this teacher,
Science,
diligently. A person with no scientific training can make rash
conclusions and reckless statements that cause trouble in society. It
can lead to superstition and prejudice.
pg 101
Scientific training isn't the same as information about specific
scientific subjects. In this day and age, it's impossible to avoid
hearing random information about radiation, wireless communication,
genetics, and lots of other topics. But facts like these do nothing to
train the mind to make accurate observations, record unbiased data,
wait with humble expectation in an attitude of patience, reverence, and
humility, knowing that any tiny natural specimen might be hiding
profound
secrets. Those secrets could be the key to helping us discover laws
that we still only have a vague awareness of.
The
Difference Between Science and Information
Proper scientific training should give us an attitude that makes us
behave ourselves quietly, think fairly and justly, and walk humbly with
God. But we should never confuse casual knowledge of scientific
text-books with the kind of patient investigation of even one kind of
natural object that we do for ourselves. This is the kind of
investigation in one field or another that each of us should do. It's
true that our own personal observation can only cover a drop in the
vast ocean of Science knowledge, but the frame of mind we get from our
own small bit of first-hand observation helps us to understand what's
being done in other fields of science. It makes it impossible for us to
go around
this amazing world full of wonders like gaping country bumpkins at a
county fair.
Patient
Observation
I'll say it again--patient nature observation isn't something we can
take or leave as we wish, it's our duty. Let's take some time every day
to diligently and consistently watch the doings of birds, spiders,
flowers, clouds, or wind, and record what we've seen first-hand. We can
correct our data later as we learn to be more accurate. We should be
careful not to jump to hasty conclusions. Everything we discover may be
old news that's already been written about in books,
pg 102
but it will mean more to us because we saw it ourselves, and it's our
own personal discovery. It's a little bit of the
world's real work, and we tried it and did it. No matter how little we
actually
discover this way, it helps us by increasing our ability to appreciate
beauty as well as harmony, adaptability and natural processes. We
become more reverent and awed, and we enter into a truer relationship
with God, the Great Worker, Creator and Designer.
Art
The world has received a great promise--God will always leave us a few
great teachers. There will always be a select few who God will
whisper to in their ear so that they can bring His direct message to
the rest of us. Some of these messengers are the great painters who
interpret some of the meanings of life to us. Being able to comprehend
what they're saying correctly is our responsibility. But, like other
good gifts, this gift doesn't just come naturally. It's the reward for
humbly and patiently studying. We won't discern Fra Angelico's message
about the beauty of holiness in a day or a year, or Giotto's
interpretation of the meaning of life, or the simplicity and dignity of
honest labor of the soil that Millet saw, or the sweet humanity that
Rembrandt saw in common faces.
The artist,
'Stretching
himself so that God might refresh and refill him
Above and
through his art,'
has lessons to teach us that we need to learn. He might communicate
them with a brush and paint, or architecture, or as a cathedral of
sound, like the symphony that organist Abt Vogler improvised. The
outward, visible form of the message isn't as important as the inner
spiritual grace.
pg 103
We
Need to Learn to Appreciate and Discriminate
In order to be in the right frame of mind to receive the grace of these
kinds of lessons from great art, we need to appreciate and
discriminate. We need to learn how to tell the synthetic from the
essential, and to tell technical skill that allows the artist to
express
himself, from what's being expressed, even if the thing is only the
grace and majesty of a tree. Once again, this kind of appreciation
isn't something we have if we feel like it. We owe it as an obligation.
We fulfill this obligation by patiently and humbly studying. And, just
like
any other work that the conscience does to educate itself, we'll be
enriched for our efforts. But our goal can't be our own self-culture.
We need
to look at it as a humble attempt to pay a debt we owe in appreciation.
Then we'll avoid becoming a superior, high-class snob!
pg 104
Chapter
16 - Some of Conscience's Teachers: Sociology, Self-Knowledge
Sociology:
How Other People Live
'Expend as much effort as you can to get understanding,' says Solomon
[Prov 4]. No one is too young
or too overworked or too preoccupied to
fulfill their duty of understanding how other people live. What kinds
of things do other people
need? What things would help them, and what would do them harm? It's
good for all of us to think about housing for the homeless, alcoholism,
medical
care for the poor, how to deal with crime, education and literacy of
individuals and countries.
Jesus said, 'When I was hungry, you fed me, when I was naked, you
clothed me, when I was sick and in prison, you visited me.' These words
of Christ's have probably touched the hearts of all Christians with
more intensity of meaning than anything else He said. Few of us can
avoid feeling self-condemnation when we hear them. It isn't that we're
hard-hearted or unfeeling or merciless. In fact, it's the opposite. An
appeal on the news brings an overwhelming and even detrimental amount
of help. Panhandlers are able to get rich from handouts. We're eager to
help in any case of need that we hear about, as
pg 105
much to ease our conscience because of Jesus's words as to ease the
suffering of another person.
Conditions
of Helpfulness
But these kinds of casual attempts to help can frustrate people who
work
steadily and faithfully to help their fellow brothers and sisters who
have needs. These workers know what kind of harm is done by superficial
charity, so a lot of people decide that it's safest just to not give
anything to anyone. They're afraid of doing more harm than good, so
they pick a few highly visible charities to donate yearly to, and leave
it at that. This is a mistake caused by an uneducated conscience. It's
wise for all of us to set out to learn as much as we can by reading,
asking questions, thinking, looking for effective, proactive ways to
help, holding to our faith that,
'Circumstance is like a divine message
Speaking God's direction to faithful souls.'
Usually there's a ministry that needs our help right in front of us. We
rarely have to go out of our way to find a divinely appointed way to
help our fellow man.
The key is to keep our eyes and ears open. The right thing to do is
never pushy, and we might overlook it without even noticing it. We need
to keep three things in mind. We need to develop wide knowledge of
needs and concern for them. We need to do our homework and then commit
ourselves to one specific effort to help. And, in all of our efforts,
we need to remember Jesus's words: 'What do you want Me to do for you?'
Any of our efforts that don't minister to a person in a way that truly
helps him, isn't really love. And without love, we have no right to
serve others. It's important to keep this in mind now more than ever,
because these days we don't often deal with individuals
pg 106
and we have to do our work through organizations. Organizations often
fail because they forget that help is only helpful if it's the kind of
help that needy people want. Our responsibility isn't to appease our
own guilt, but to discriminate and select between all of the needs, and
then act in true love.
Knowing
Ourselves in Wisdom
It's hard to find one word that covers what we are and what we can
become. We'll use the word philosophy,
because knowing ourselves is
wisdom. We all like getting what we call knowledge about
ourselves--we get scalp readings from phrenologists, analyses of our
handwriting, and we love to hear polite comments that acquaintances
make about us. But that's the kind of knowledge that 'puffs us up'
because it's usually flattering and not true. We might very well
deserve praise for some of the things we're praised for, but false
flattery fills us with the notion that we have this or that charming
quality--and then we start to believe that those who see another side
of us are unkind or unfair.
This is so obvious to some cautious people that they decide not to give
even a
thought about what qualities they have or don't have, whether good or
bad, unless a serious fault is brought to their attention. If life was
as simple and free as they make it out to be, this would be a good
plan. But we're all human. We're born into a great inheritance--woods,
cornfields, meadows, fishponds, etc. In fact, what we're born into is a
kingdom, the one I wrote about before called the kingdom of Mansoul.
Knowledge
of Ourselves is Impersonal
In this kingdom, just like any other kingdom, a casual, careless
manager ruins his lands, lets fields run to waste and weeds, and allows
so much disorder that the land can't be restored in a generation.
pg 107
We do need knowledge of ourselves, yet it isn't proper to think of
ourselves personally. Jesus said correctly, 'If I bear witness of
myself, my witness isn't true.' If that was true of Jesus, our Master,
then it's even more true of us. We're generally polite enough not to
give our own estimation of ourselves out loud, we know better than to
announce how brave and generous we are, or how intelligent or kind. But
we probably bear witness of ourselves to ourselves, privately patting
ourselves on the back for some worthy quality or good deed. When we do
that, our witness isn't true. Whatever virtue we may be priding
ourselves for isn't ours. Even a good deed loses its virtue when our
own prideful praise removes the good from it.
Greatness
of Human Nature
This makes it sound like the people are right who say that it's best
not to ever think of ourselves at all. But 'ourselves' can mean two
things. It can mean the things we say and do and feel, which are
pathetic and trivial, or it can mean the glorious human nature full of
unlimited potential that all humans share with great heroes, wise
philosophers, and even Jesus Himself.
It's profane to excuse greed, laziness, sin, all kinds of depravity by
saying, 'It's just human nature.' After all, human nature can do all
sorts of godly things, too. Jesus, the Son of Man, came and showed us
all
what we can become if we accept the indwelling Holy Spirit. The more
we realize how wonderful and full of possibilities human nature is, the
more we'll understand how one soul can be worth more than the whole
world. Jesus always spoke seriously and truthfully. His estimation of a
single soul is no exaggeration. I don't think He means that every soul
is so valuable to God. It means that every soul or person is so very
pg 108
great just because it's human, that its worth can't be measured. This
is why the infinite loving God isn't willing for even one to perish. We
shouldn't focus on our particular individual quirks that we think make
us special, but we should recognize what makes us all valuable as
human beings. Don't forget that a person may own something, but it's
worthless to him if he doesn't even know he owns it.
Only when we grasp how great even the most insignificant soul is can we
truly have the kind of zealous compassion for our fellow man that
helps us follow through in doing our small part to save the world. God
has called all of us to serve, not just for His sake, but for the sake
of people who need our help. The purpose of this book is for any
readers who don't realize how much they're worth, to be introduced to
themselves. I don't need to explain why we should know ourselves, or in
what way we should know ourselves at this point. I'd like to clarify
one thing, though. Knowing ourselves isn't a bother, and the knowledge
won't make us feel a weight of responsibility. We just need to learn
what we have. Once we know, it's no trouble trying to remember that we
need to feed our imagination, practice using our reason, educate our
conscience, etc. With this kind of knowledge about ourselves, as with
so many other things, we just need to get things started and the rest
seems to take care of itself.
'Begin it,
and it will get completed.'
God, in His mercy, made us so that managing and controlling ourselves
becomes automatic and unconscious when we commit to it as our duty.
It's the careless, casual people who find themselves in sticky
situations or in serious trouble.
Paraphrased by L. N. Laurio
Please direct any comments or questions to me by emailing me at cmseries-owner at yahoogroups dot com.
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