Yuval Noah Harari’s book Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind published in 2011, provided me with key insights for the book I am writing about Christianity and God. On the penultimate page of his follow-up book Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow published in 2015 he writes:
“It is not easy to think and behave in new ways, because our thoughts and actions are usually constrained by present-day ideologies and social systems. This book traces the origins of our present-day conditioning in order to loosen its grip and enable us to act differently and to think in far more imaginative ways about our future.”
Harari notes that “Humans are relinquishing authority to the free market, to crowd wisdom and to external algorithms partly because we cannot deal with the deluge of data.” He asks rhetorically “with so many scenarios and possibilities, what should we pay attention to?”
This has become a key question for me: What should we be paying attention to at a time of complex crises when many people are being informed by highly partisan sources of information? I have a follow-up question: How do we focus our attention on intelligent, informed, trustworthy sources of information and wisdom?
I have spent three decades engaging with debates and conflicts in the Church of England about homosexuality (in earlier days) and LGBTIQ experience and identities in more recent years. The Church has just published a book and a wide range of resources under the title Living in Love and Faith, a process intended to help people understand the varieties of opinion about LGBTIQ people. One of my criticisms of the book and material is that although it is attempting to help people think and behave in new ways, those who have contributed to the book, bishops and working groups drawn from over forty people with a range of attitudes towards Christianity and sexuality are constrained by adherence to their own ideologies, social systems and present-day conditioning. The Living in Love and Faith process may help people understand each other better, a good outcome in itself, but it is unlikely to enable the church to act differently and think in more imaginative ways about transforming the institution to create a place of equality, justice and truth for LGBTIQ people.
The difficulty of being able to think outside the box of ideologies and social systems is not unique to the Church. Wherever I turn, I see national and international examples of communities and societies who exhibit extreme difficulty in thinking outside their ideological and social boxes, the phenomena of Donald Trump and Brexit being the most obvious and alarming in their effect on national and international relationships and personal sanity. Why, I have wondered over and over again, are white American evangelical Christians so addicted to an abusive, manipulative liar and philanderer, and what can we do to rescue human civilisation from such addictions - because he is but one abusive, autocratic, narcissistic leader among many in today’s world?
I turned to the final book published by Rabbi Jonathan Sacks who died recently - Morality: Restoring the Common Good in Divided Times. His analysis of what is wrong in today’s world I found accurate to my experience, but his two key solutions fell short of my expectations. Firstly, he believes that morality matters because we remain moved by altruism and feel enlarged by doing good and just being there for other people. Secondly, he thinks that shifting from an “I” to a “We” culture has the power to change the world. Who would not agree - but he doesn’t begin to explain how we might do this.
How do we change society?
As I try to complete my own book I am haunted by that question - How? How do we change society, the church, and above all, ourselves? How do we do this when we are all to some degree locked in to thoughts and patterns of behaviour that I at least find it very difficult to escape from. I meditate, and ideas slide into my consciousness from that mysterious space known as inspiration or enlightenment or the Holy Spirit. Translating the ideas into text, let alone into action, is incredibly difficult. However, let me absurd and for the moment, try and do just that.
I think that in the last five decades we have lived through an era in which human values and courage have been eroded. In the dramatic expansion of our conceptual and physical worlds, the transformation of global connectedness and communication, we have been psychically overwhelmed. I can see how the world of LGBTIQ+ activism in the Church of England has regressed – bishops have lost their courage to speak out and activists have lost the courage to challenge the bishops and the church as a whole has lost the people of wisdom, truth and depth who inspired me in the past. I see erosion and loss in all faith communities, especially of the wisdom and courage necessary to our spiritual and emotional health as a species. The bishops of the Church of England have been coming up with ways to avoid confronting the expectations of LGBTIQ people and conservative evangelicals for well over two decades, and I have no doubt that the outcome of the present LLF process in two years will be further avoidance of radical action.
I believe there is something far deeper going on in the global human psyche that is affecting all of us, not only bishops! But what is this deeper ‘thing’? I believe that the most important thing every human being on earth needs is to have our innate soul-core of goodness, love and wisdom nourished and enriched.
Our human core of goodness, love and wisdom is something we are born with. We are not born with original sin – sin might come later – we are born with original blessing and goodness. Our core of goodness, love and wisdom can be found within our being irrespective of our religious, political, racial, ethnic, cultural world view or framework.
I also believe that for at least three decades we have been living through a regressive period in the evolution of human culture. One result of this in contemporary global culture is a widespread and growing deficit in our individual and corporate well of goodness, love and wisdom. The effects of this deficit can be seen in increasing addictions, to alcohol, drugs, gambling, and abuse, and increasing levels of depression, mental and emotional breakdown, and suicide. Moral, ethical, spiritual, political and social values are being degraded. People are addicted to authoritarian leaders and political movements who promise them a fantasy world. Millions of people are willing to believe their false promises.
How do we rescue ourselves from this mass delusion? People have such great difficulty in assessing information and the quality of their leaders. As insecurity and paranoia build, it becomes ever more difficult to access our inner core and wisdom that would otherwise give us confidence to focus on self-care and create the nourishment each of us needs to grow in wisdom and love.
What we need is what churches and religions are supposed to offer – spiritual wisdom and nourishment rooted in the human capacity to access and assess truth and teach people how to internalise the divine, sacred, spiritual qualities of life. I know many individuals and congregations are attempting to do this, but they too are restricted in their ability to act differently and think imaginatively.
What we all need is the development of our ability to nourish and enrich our inner selves with the goodness, love and wisdom in which we are immersed but which is becoming increasingly difficult to give our souls too. The problem is spiritual and the solution is spiritual. I believe there is in creation a universal, existential essence that is nothing to do with religious, political, racial, national, dogmatic distinctions. Many traditions and teachers of wisdom have shown people how, through developing their breathing and energy, how to find the courageous centre of love that is common to us all.
If the House of Bishops and everyone participating or refusing to participate in the Living in Love and Faith process were offered the resources to find, open, melt, and nourish their inner spiritual core, the challenges seemingly presented by LGBTIQ+ people in the church would dissolve in twirl of a faerie’s magic wand.
Meanwhile, breathe deeply, slowly and consciously, taking deep into the core of your being the unconditional, infinite goodness and love of universal creation and there let the energy flow, nourishing and enriching your heart and soul. Just .... breathe ....