Where's the fire!?

There was a man who invented the art of making fire. He took his tools and went to a tribe in the north, where it was very cold,  bitterly cold. He taught the people there to make fire. The people were  very interested. He showed them the uses to which they could put fire:  they could cook, could keep themselves warm, etc. They were so grateful  that they had learned the art of making fire. But before they could  express their gratitude to the man, he disappeared. He wasn’t concerned  with getting their recognition or gratitude; he was concerned about  their well-being. He went to another tribe, where he again began to  show them the value of his invention. People were interested there too,  a bit too interested for the peace of mind of their priests, who began  to notice that this man was drawing crowds and they were losing their popularity. So they decided to do away with him. They poisoned him,  crucified him, put it any way you like. But they were afraid now that  the people might turn against them, so they were very wise, even wily.  Do you know what they did? They had a portrait of the man made and  mounted it on the main altar of the temple. The instruments for making  fire were placed in front of the portrait, and the people were taught  to revere the portrait and to pay reverence to the instruments of fire,  which they dutifully did for centuries. The veneration and the worship  went on, but there was no fire.

Where’s the fire? Where’s the love? Where’s the freedom? This is what  spirituality is all about. Tragically, we tend to lose sight of this,  don’t we? This is what Jesus Christ is all about. But we overemphasized  the “Lord, Lord,” didn’t we? Where’s the fire? And if worship isn’t  leading to the fire, if adoration isn’t leading to love, if the liturgy  isn’t leading to a clearer perception of reality, if God isn’t leading  to life, of what use is religion except to create more division, more  fanaticism, more antagonism? It is not from lack of religion in the  ordinary sense of the word that the world is suffering, it is from lack  of love, lack of awareness. And love is generated through awareness  and through no other way, no other way. Understand the obstructions you  are putting in the way of love, freedom, and happiness and they will  drop. Turn on the light of awareness and the darkness will disappear.

Anthony de Mello

(Somehow I lost this post - it crashed the blog!)

Keith said: I love this! It speaks to the mimetic theory of Rene Girard too. Girard believes that social chaos leads to the scapegoating of an individual - usually an outsider and that because ridding the society of the outsider has such a profound peace-making effect the scapegoat is instantly turned from guilty party into a god to be worshipped.