Post by Graham
A new year has begun and, as ever, we are confronted by concerns and
worries that permeate our very existence. We cannot deny we live in turbulent
times- financial problems, the ever-present threat of a terrorist attack, wars
in Afghanistan and Syria, the possibility of Israel bombing Iran, Egypt on the
brink of civil war, North Korea going on the rampage, the growth of militant
Islam, the possibility of mass strikes at home, increasing poverty and
homelessness. It's not surprising that we convince ourselves that our age alone
is the great age of uncertainty.
Yet, if we think back to an era not long gone, we can see a period when nothing was certain. Would they in the 1930s get a job?
Would they in the early 40s be invaded
by Hitler and have their lives changed for ever? Would they in the dark years
of the Cold War suffer a nuclear attack from the Russians? They came through
their uncertainties and taught us, surely, that we must try to do the same.
This sounds good coming from me, a retired bloke with no massive student
loan or a mortgage to pay off or the prospect of being laid off by my factory
or my local council in the future. Uncertainty in these and other areas is
anything but conducive to a feeling of security, and my heart goes out to those
who are threatened by an uncertainty that could wreck their lives.
And yet uncertainty in matters of belief is something completely
different.
I think it is a good thing if we regularly re-examine our beliefs (I
certainly have since my Baptist days) and never feel quite sure that we have
got everything in the religious and spiritual sphere quite sorted. The day we
feel we have reached the ultimate truth and that everyone who thinks
differently from us is mistaken must, surely, represent a recipe for disaster.
Have you ever met someone who is absolutely sure about everything? He
(and it's usually a he), is quite certain he has the right answers to all of
life's problems, never accepts an opposing view, in fact rarely lets anyone
else get a word in edgeways in conversation and to the end of his days remains
supremely self-confident. I'm sure you must have met such people at some time
in your life. I certainly have- I usually call them politicians or headmasters,
although I realise that is grossly unfair to some members of those professions!
I would like to mention someone who was quite the opposite of these
self-confident creatures. This person is a character in a favourite 'novella'
of mine: a German story by Thomas Mann called 'Tonio Kroeger',.
Strange name isn't it, Tonio Kroeger, the eponymous hero of the story?
His name in fact sums him up, as he is a strange mixture himself. He gets his
surname, of course, from his father, an important big North German businessman,
but the name Tonio comes from his artistic mother who originates from Italy.
She is a fun-loving, artistic type who plays the piano and mandolin and dotes
on her son. His father, on the other hand, is a straight-laced, rather cold man
who constantly castigates Tonio for bringing home bad school reports and for
not being serious enough about his studies. Tonio loves his mother but realises
she is too easy-going and feels, deep down, that his father is right in his
views. That is not enough, however, to make him change his ways. Tonio would
rather spend his time writing poetry and playing the violin than get too
involved in his school work. He is a sensitive soul who is quite different from
his classmates with whom he has little contact.
He has a somewhat tortured childhood, being attracted to what he calls
'the normal, the blue-eyed', and yet is unable to get close to them as he has
nothing in common with them. He falls in love with a girl who is thoroughly
normal, who loves dancing and the usual adolescent pursuits, who wants nothing
to do with him, and his one friend from school, Hans Hansen (note the typical
North German name,) is more interested in books on sport than in fine
literature. The only girl interested in him is a girl, who, like him, is clumsy
at dancing. and is constantly falling over in the dance class they attend, and
Tonio has no interest in her whatsoever. It's a sad story of a miserable
childhood, and, as you might have already observed, it is a story laced with
irony, which is typical of Thomas Mann.
Tonio is clearly a budding man of letters and, as time goes on, finds it
increasingly difficult to adjust to everyday society, so much later, perhaps in
his thirties, he decides he no longer belongs to ordinary society and
determines to lead the life of a Bohemian to see if he can find a place amongst
such people. In the meantime his father has died and his mother has married
again; this time to a musician with an Italian name whom she followed back to
her native Italy. Tonio, however, now quite famous as a writer and a would-be
Bohemian, finds no satisfaction in his new life. He finds his fellow artists
dissolute and repulsive, and the only satisfaction he can find in life is in
work itself. He realises he does not really belong anywhere and so, after a
long discussion about his feelings with a female Russian friend, who thinks
Tonio is not a true artist but an ordinary citizen who has lost his way in
life, Tonio decides to return to his roots and try and find his way back into
normal society. He is desperate to belong somewhere and as he says so
pathetically:
'I stand between two worlds, belong to neither and consequently finds
life a bit difficult'
I'll cut the story short, but after several later misadventures, Tonio, still
uncertain of his place in society, eventually decides that, if he is different
from most people, so be it. He realises there is no point in bemoaning his fate
and the best he can do is to become reconciled to his situation and make the
most of life. And so he attains some sort of closure to his problem and manages
to achieve some equanimity.
A strange but moving story, but perhaps you are wondering about its relevance
? Well, I don't know about you, but I see myself in many ways as a poor replica
of Tonio. I have constantly been torn between two extremes throughout my life. I
don't know about yours, but my life has been awash with contradictions and
uncertainties!
And now I find myself a member of the Unitarian Church, where
uncertainties abound. Was I right to reject the certainties of my Baptist
upbringing, when I was told at the age of 17 when I was totally immersed, that
my sins were washed away for ever and I could look forward to eternal salvation?
I think I was, because I believe that uncertainties are the very essence of
life. We do not know, any of us, when we are going to die, when disaster will
strike, when perhaps problems will mount up and seem insurmountable, and yet we
live with these uncertainties, don't become neurotic about them Certainties can
lead to complacency, smugness even, and to be uncertain of what will happen in
our lives gives our lives a certain excitement, a certain frisson which is
perhaps lacking in the lives of those who seem much more comfortably placed
than us.
It is the same with regard to the uncertainty of beliefs. What did that
Spanish philosopher and writer, Miguel de Unamuno write:
Life is doubt. And faith without doubt is nothing but death.
And then there is that wonderful quote from Abelard that we all know:
By doubting we are led to enquire; by enquiry we perceive the truth.
Whether we shall ever reach 'The Truth' is in itself doubtful but, as
that jolly slogan used for sporting competitions puts it: 'It's not the winning
that's important, but the taking part.'
Liberal theology sees as much truth in the search for the destination as
in the destination itself, which is why it attracts those who are never
satisfied with easy answers and who are plagued by uncertainty-that's us!
For whether we consider ourselves
Liberal Christians or not, our Unitarian faith is a liberal theology and
the hallmarks of a liberal theology are openness, humility and a lack of
dogmatism. As Tony Windross, a liberal Anglican vicar, writes in his
'Thoughtful Guide to Faith':
'Liberals are able to live with questions.....Their world is not black
and white but innumerable shades of grey. Living in the midst of Mystery,
liberals never think they can do anything more than scratch the surface of
things...... The liberal position is the no-man's land between entrenched
religious conservatism and secular humanism, and this is about as uncomfortable
a place as it is possible to be.
Windross says there can be no
certainty-liberal theology accepts the need for theology to be allowed to develop
and does not hanker after the past. Scientific progress occurs as the result of
the identification of error, as new thinking shows ways in which earlier
thinking was wrong or at least limited in scope. And now I quote Windross
again:
'Religious people sometimes say this shows the superiority of theology,
in that scientists always seem to be changing their minds, theologians rarely
do Another way of looking a this, however, is to say theology is a closed
system and that theologians wear blinkers.
And so I feel we have no need to have any hang-ups over uncertainty. As
long as we are constantly searching for the truth, are prepared to change our
minds, are open to new ideas, then we can rest content. Like Tonio Kroeger we
might find it difficult to find our place in the world but the answer is to
struggle on, surely.
There's a quote from Gotthold Lessing, a leader in
the Enlightenment movement in Germany in the 18th century. He wrote in 1778:
`The true value of a man is not determined by his possession , supposed
or real, of the Truth, but rather by his sincere exertion to get at the truth.
It is not possession of the truth, but rather the pursuit of Truth by which he
extends his powers and in which his ever-growing perfectibility is to be found.
Possession makes one passive, indolent and proud` .(Just look at many
of the regular attendees at many of the Christian churches in our country, and
you'll see what Lessing means).
Lessing then goes on to say this:
`If God were to hold all truth concealed in his right hand, and in his
left hold only the steady and diligent drive for truth, and to offer me the
choice, I would with all humility take the left hand.`
I don't know if I would have the courage to go that far, but that surely
is the Unitarian ideal: Never be certain of anything, be happy to live with
your uncertainty, constantly adjust your thinking and end your days with the
satisfaction that you have at least done your best to make some sense of your
life and of your God.
I shall finish with a prayer by Thomas Merton who was a Roman Catholic
mystic. It was sent to me by that retired Anglican minister whom I got to know
in my village of Alveley The Rev Bill Price is a lovely man, as I have said
before He is a truly liberal Christian, a missionary of the finest sort. He has
helped to set up an orphanage in Nepal, frequently travels out there, in spite
of poor health, to see how it is progressing.
Bill is in his eighties now and has moved away from the village to be
nearer his family and we regularly correspond. Often religious matters crop up
in our correspondence, and Bill gives me insight into his profound wisdom on
all things spiritual. Anyway, this is what he sent me:
My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going.
I do not see the road ahead of me.
I cannot know for certain where it will end.
Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I am following your will
does not mean that I am actually doing so.
But I believe the desire to please you, does in fact please you, and I
hope I have that desire in all that I am doing.
I hope I will never do anything apart from that desire, and I know that
if I do this you will lead me by the right road, though I may know nothing
about it.
Therefore I trust you always, though I may seem lost and in the shadow
of death.
I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me
to face my perils alone.
