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.
