Emptiness IV

Don: Last week we looked at “emptiness” in the context of the desert environment in which Jesus spent 40 days and nights and was tempted by Satan.

The desert is a barren, empty, dry, arid, lifeless place, filled with need and want (from the human perspective, though scientifically we know it has a thriving ecology.) It is a common metaphor for “emptiness” in the scriptures. The scriptural references might help illumine whether we should or indeed can seek the desert experience, whether it is vital to us personally and/or on a community level, and how is it possible to enter into that experience?

In the Creation, we see a parallel between emptiness and darkness. The earth is without form and void. Out of this darkness comes light, the firmament, and life. Moses is sent into the desert by God for 40 years after he slays the Egyptian, in order to find God. He does find God, in the form of a burning bush.

Moses also experienced the desert during the Exodus. The journey through the desert and back to the Promised Land gave the Israelites lots of experiences. They experienced grace, and manna—a metaphor for grace—something that is always just the right amount. God showed himself as a pillar of fire, and he provided water.

Ultimately, the way into and out of the desert was on God’s terms, not the Israelites’ terms. But there was much disunity and chaos in their community, so God sent them back into the desert to restore their true community before he let them enter the Promised Land.

Elijah had an experience with evil on Mount Carmel, where he demonstrated the power of God over evil. But on the heels of that he was chased by Jezebel and fled for his life into the desert. He encountered God there again, but this time not in grand style—not as a whirlwind or thunder or storm—but as a still small voice, which said to him words to the effect of: “Why are you here in the desert? I don’t want you here—I want you somewhere else.”

David retreated to the desert in his encounters with Saul, as a place to hide and be safe.  John the Baptist proclaimed a ministry in the desert and fulfilled the Isaian prophecy of a voice crying in the wilderness: “Prepare ye the way of the Lord.” We are shown a picture of John’s privations—his camelhair coat, his minimal diet.

Paul passed through the desert on the road to Damascus, and met god in the form of a blinding light (Acts 9). Soon thereafter he retreated to the Arabian desert (Galatians) for a three-year period of introspection.

T.S. Eliot’s poem reminding us that we are familiar with knowledge but not with stillness, with speech but not with silence, reminds us that all of us are filled with stuff—with relationships, external stimulation, etc., that are antithetical to emptiness.

Many early Christian fathers isolated themselves in the desert; notably, Simeon Stylites, who sat on a pillar outside the town of Aleppo for 37 years. The base of the pillar is still there [lower left quadrant of the picture, with large boulder on top. By the way, the Wikipedia entry on Simeon Stylites is fascinating if, like me, you knew nothing about him before.)

An organization in New Jersey called the Hermits of Bethlehem in the Heart of Jesus offer a 5-day “silent retreat” – a hermit-like solitude, in which the guest is alone and must remain silent. Their literature calls it “a desert-like experience.” The goal is a “deeper conversion.”

Do we all need something like this? Do we need something like this as a community in order to reach true community?

Jay: In the desert temptation, Satan asked Jesus to turn stones into bread. He didn’t just offer him bread. Satan was tempting Jesus to use his divinity to restore himself, to create a meal. Emptiness is about emptying ourselves of our biases, our point of view, and opening ourselves up to other points of view. It’s about relinquishing our will and opening up to new possibilities.

As the Israelites passed through the desert to Canaan, their spies reported the presence of giants who would surely kill them. So they had to go back into the desert in order to empty themselves of their own will, of their own authority, of their self-reliance, and become a true community.

Harry: The temptation Jesus rejected was to show his divinity by turning stones into bread and by leaping off the cliff. This seems almost a reprimand to the Israelites, for not learning from their 40 years in the desert. Canaan was a bountiful land of milk and honey, but the Israelites ruined it every time they entered it.

Jay: The community process is probably periodic—if at times we ever achieve true community, it won’t last: We will inevitably degenerate back to pseudo community. We mess things up—it’s inherent to humanity. Maybe that’s OK. At least we  understand that we are at a certain stage in community building, and we recognize emptiness as a common principle that involves subjugating one’s will to God’s will, or to other people. In practice, however, when we do subjugate our will it’s more often just to avoid conflict rather than to seek love and grace.

Robin: Is it not odd that Satan would question Jesus’ divinity?

Alice: Satan was trying not to make Jesus doubt his divinity, but to make him demonstrate his divine power. Satan and Jesus both knew that Jesus had the power to turn stone into bread. Satan wants us to be self-reliant, not to empty ourselves and submit to… rely on… God. But he doesn’t want us to rely too much on ourselves. He wants us to be afraid, to doubt that things will work out, and he seeks to prevent us from emptying ourselves of our fear.

Eb: Nelson Mandela studied law and did many things during his 27 years of incarceration. Nehru also wrote many books in his 12 years in prison. Ditto with Martin Luther King. These people were not fazed by their imprisonment. Why not?

The answer is that God is on my side, therefore why should I fear what Man can do to me? (Psalms 118.) When I was struck with meningitis, there was no life in me for a week. When I recovered, I believed that God had a purpose for my life. You just have to have faith that God will guide you. I am past my 73^rd birthday, and I am not done yet. Moses was called when he was 80 years old. He asked God for a longer life—for a repeat of his former life (Psalm 90)—and God gave it to him. 1 Peter 5:7…: “Cast all your care upon Him” means what it says. God will see that you come out OK. Don’t give up. Trust God. My experience with meningitis gave me a chance to witness that this works, for myself. It was a wilderness experience. It taught trust.

Don: Is this wilderness experience something we should seek, or will it just come to us?

Eb: It will come. Keep reading the Bible. Psalm 119 says you’ll become wiser than anyone, and able to defeat any enemy. And that’s what David did. He spurned the defensive measures that human common sense urged on him, yet he defeated Goliath with just the word of God as his weapon. No amount of human precaution and ingenuity can protect us, in the end. We must totally trust in God. It’s not easy, but the more we do it, the easier it gets.

Harry: It seems to me that the point of the wilderness story is not the destination—not the Promised Land—it is the journey.

Jay: The fear and doubt that Alice raised is central. I fear hospitals because I lose control of what is happening to me in them. It is the same with rollercoasters. I can’t just stop it if I decide I want to get off. Wanting to be in control, wanting one’s own will to be done, is human; but emptiness is about willingness to subjugate one’s will and accept one’s loss of control.

Harry: That’s right on the money. Fear is the enemy. When you learn to deal with fear through faith, you win. Fear is the great paralyzer of mankind. It is Satan’s best weapon.

Jay: is there something about emptiness that alleviates fear? Is that why Buddhist monks seek emptiness?

Eb: The Book of Psalms constantly reminds us that we have nothing to fear. It has helped me to accept and not react to bad things that happen to me.  I don’t ask: “God, why is this happening to me?” I just accept it, and trust it to be part of God’s plan, and trust that he will take care of it.

Jazlin: The desert experience, emptying ourselves, being in the darkness, should not take too long. God does not want you to be there for long. I think we should dwell more on the experiences we share with others in community, rather than on what happens to us in isolation. A good teacher creates an empty space in her classroom for her students to enter but does not let them stay there too long. [Jaz: The sound was broken up and I am not sure I heard you correctly.—David]

Harry: If you can come out of the desert without fear, you can live happily in the garden, in the destination, in harmony with others.

David: Going back to the question of whether a community can go through an emptiness phase on the way to true community: Hindus recently celebrated the Kumbh Mela festival, with a reported 100 million devotees participating in the ritual bathing at Allahabad. That’s a big community! The Kumbh Mela experience seems in many ways like a desert experience. Devotees eat only one meal a day—a bland one, too, with no spices to excite the senses; they sleep on cold, stony ground; they bathe in freezing water. This is a desert-like existence. It can hardly be fun, yet a hundred million people came to endure it this past month February!

But maybe “endure” is not an appropriate word here. The devotees seem not to notice the discomfort; on the contrary, they seem to benefit from it, physically, psychologically, and spiritually, according to credible longitudinal social studies.

Indian society is very tolerant of its religions. Hindus, Moslems, Christians and other believers and non-believers live cheek by jowl in harmony (for the most part). Indian society is perhaps a truer community, in some sense, than we have managed to attain in the West. The concept of emptiness is hardly unique to Christianity. Hindus, Daoists, Buddhists and many others have it. It seems to be a universal, intuitive concept. But in the West we seem frightened of the pain we assume it involves.

Don: Yes, there is a certain fear of emptiness. When I ask a question in class and no-one responds, and the seconds, then the minutes, tick by, it is a very uncomfortable feeling, and it takes a lot of self-control for me not to break into the silence. How hard it is for us to go home at night and just Do Nothing. We have to turn on the TV, or our iPad, or whatever. We have to Do Something. We can’t just sit still in silence. Is this something we ought to be practicing? Perhaps in our group? Should we spend some time just sitting and doing nothing?

Harry: I am OK Doing Nothing for the first half hour in the morning, but after that, the feeling dissipates!

Eb: The simple cure for fear is to forsake everything and return to God. Jesus was constantly asking his disciples: “Why are you afraid?”

Jay: Some might argue that the Sabbath should be viewed as an Emptiness—as forsaking business as usual and attending to community building—the church community, the family. Perhaps we would get more benefit from it if we actively thought of it that way.

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