The Creation Spirituality Lineage Calling All Social and Environmental Activists, Mystic Explorers, Justice Makers, Cosmic Thinkers, Earth Keepers Daily Meditations with Matthew Fox |
By Gianluigi Gugliermetto 1/14/2025 |
More than a century ago, some enlightened individuals deeply involved in their respective churches understood how terrible the conflicts among Christians had been and what a horrible counter-witness the still-existing divisions were for the spreading of the message of Jesus Christ. |
From that time, several reciprocal excommunications have been lifted, and today churches celebrate the Week for Christian Unity, starting every year on January 18, which includes praying together at the respective places of worship. Several years ago, the day of Jewish-Christian friendship, observed on January 17, was established. But such celebrations have become, by and large, an empty shell, filled only with official speeches and attended by very few people. The
passion that even just 50 years ago enlivened such moments of reunion has long gone. |
This 1711 illustration for the Index Librorum Prohibitorum depicts the Holy Ghost supplying the fire to burn books of heresy. Wikimedia Commons. |
Two reasons stand out: (1) the realization that the process of inclusion and the overcoming of barriers could not stop with Christians, and the consequent development of dialogues, meetings, and exchanges among faithful people from all religions; (2) the realization that once a passionate project is taken over by institutions, they suffocate it, even though they purportedly intend to move it forward. Yet the issue of human division along ideological and often religious lines is worse than ever. The overcoming of dualisms — which Matthew Fox masterfully tackled in his book A Spirituality Named Compassion — is still and will always be for humans the only possible solution. We get attached to an idea, or to a value, because it does represent effectively for us a saving moment, a
glimpse of truth. We don’t understand that the opposite position, as well, may hold values and ideas that resonate within us, if we stand still and listen. I dare say that the human mind is usually excited by couples of opposites, rather than by one pole only. If you are obsessed with youth, you are likely afraid of old
age; if you are obsessed with death, you are likely afraid of life; if you are obsessed with pleasure, you are likely running away from pain. And so on. |
A father and daughter sit down and talk about how differences in religious beliefs have affected their relationship. Homesick Productions | The solution is not
to lose one’s stance, so often gained through a considerable amount of trouble, but to soften it in such a way that it loses its obsessive flavor. In time, a person — or even a group or a society — might overcome a division and |
reach a third position which includes both the opposite poles, preserving their deeper reasons and yet morphing into a new life. The solution is not to lose one’s stance, so often gained through a considerable amount of trouble, but to soften it in such a way that it loses its obsessive flavor.
In time, a person — or even a group or a society — might overcome a division and reach a third position which includes both the opposite poles, preserving their deeper reasons and yet morphing into a new life. When this happens, we witness a dialectical triumph. Philosophers like Hegel believed dialectics to be the natural
stuff of which reality is made. Today, we find it hardly possible to believe that, as we live through the horrors of conservatism gone awry. It is said that a philosophy like Hegel’s is good only for times when people believe in unending progress, and it smacks of imperialism anyway. But what are the alternatives for humanity? Obviously, we cannot make peace with oppression. Neither does it make any sense to look for something decent or acceptable in the positions of people like Stephen Miller or J.D. Vance or Donald Trump. But my obsession — if you wish — is that of finding common ground with the everyday person who believes some of the things that such disgraceful human beings assert. |
I tried to do this for a few years when I was leading a parish in Southern California. I failed, in the sense that the conservative minority left my church, except for very few. But I did not fail, in the sense that for a few years we were able to be together with our disagreements, contrary to
many other places where the |
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polarization had already won the day. The palpable presence of the Sacred in that place played a big role in the relative continuity of our relations. I cannot say, however, that I know much about overcoming divisions, except that institutions are not very good at it, and political parties, of
course, cannot do anything about it by definition. There is nothing wrong with parties holding firm for values, or for institutions to replicate existing patterns. But it’s up to people capable of sharing their common humanity to become the beacon of hope in our days. After all, the real fruit of the ecumenical Christian movement was that of letting Protestants discover that Catholics were real Christians with deep values, and vice versa. That is the basic model that I care about. In times of anger and violence, is there any other way for deep healing? Or is it too early to talk about that? Or what needs to happen in order for us to
be able to talk with our neighbor? |
Banner Image: Artist LeRoy Nieman created this image of the signing of the Egyptian-Israeli Peace Treaty between Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin, for President Jimmy Carter. It hung in the Carter White House study. Photo by Wally Gobetz on Flickr. |
Queries for Contemplation Do you agree or disagree with Gianluigi’s plea? What are your ideas or practices about
overcoming divisions? |
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