Spiritual impoverishment

Monday, September 19, 2016

In today’s Gospel, Jesus says that “To anyone who has, more will be given, and from the one who has not, even what he seems to have will be taken away.” (Luke 8:18)

In Friday’s post, I offered a meditation I wrote for The Tao of Musicianship, and there was a passage in it which makes sense when seen in the light of Jesus’ words. Here it is:

Talk of the ecstasy you have in your song

to one who’s not tasted life’s depths,

   and you will be judged, not understood,

    and your bliss will flee lest it be wounded.

What Jesus says seems terribly unfair, and commentators tell us not to think that He is referring to materialism or finances, but rather to deep qualities of the human spirit. I used to reject this passage because it simply didn’t make sense to me, but as time has gone on I’ve discovered how true it can be.

I suggest that what we need to do is put the emphasis not on Jesus’s fairness, but rather on the reality that people create their own conditions through the choices that they make. I remember once visiting the home of someone who was lost in materialism, who gave me a tour of the house pointing out the beauty and value of the hundreds of knick-knacks and other trifles that she owned, but after the tour she didn’t really have anything to speak about. Even her children, who were adopted, she regarded as possessions. And, having possessed much, she was impoverished in what pertains to the spirit. As time went by, the friendship began to dissolve, because there was no common cord to bind us together, and I was very sad about that because I was quite fond of her.

People sometimes choose to live empty lives. When I used to teach Creativity, my students and I used to talk about people who had simply stopped growing in their lives, and I used to give them this quote to consider. I think it says better what I’m trying to say here, so I offer it to you as well:

Our culture suffers from a negation of the inner self, the god-self

We don't often witness that self in each other. It's important to know

who we are, who others are, where our tender spots are. These are not

mechanized needs, nor needs that can be met in front of computer

screens. When a primary need is ignored, it may express itself in

destructive ways: Our preoccupation with material. possessions is

unsettling. The violence on the part of young people must be, m part,

a call for attention to the soul. There are children I know who, after

school, instead of playing on the street or at the homes of friends,

park themselves in front of the computer and play games. Carl Jung

said, "The cat neglected becomes the unconscious tiger:' We're seeing

a number of neglected cats these days. When the need to attend

to the inner self isn't modeled as valuable, when art and the spiritual

life aren't integrated into the culture, the self may choose destructive

routes for attention, such as reckless displays of violence.    Veccione, Writing and the Spiritual Life, p. 15

Could there be a connection between the spiritual impoverishment that so many suffer from and the fact that reckless violence is constantly increasing in the world we live in? Veccione might be considered as a prophet here.

God bless you!