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THE SAINT AND THE STRONGMAN
by byron lebeau
Smack in the middle of reading two lectures by William James ~ TWO TOWERS collapsed in the wake of some form of extreme terrorist activity thrusted upon my homeland: I SPEAK AS A NATIVE NEW YORKER! I could not shake the disparity between what I was reading & what I was witnessing on TV.
This very disparity was mirrored within the carnage itself: As the "STRONG MEN" wreaked their rampage, the SAINTS arose from the ashes ~ risking life & limb to save their brothers & sisters!!!
We undoubtedly will hear & read of many sad & heroic stories over the next days ~ and weeks ~ & months. My purpose NOW is to ask one fundamental question: WHAT MAKES THE "STRONG MAN" STRONG & THE SAINT STRONGER?!?
If you doubt for one moment that the SAINT is stronger than the "STRONG MAN" ~ then let us examine where the fundamental difference lies....
First of all, the "STRONG MAN" was & is most admired but more often feared as a "NECESSARY EVIL" to protect the very nature & fabric of the tribe which has become ~ in our own countries ~ as CIVILIZATION! If a tribe - now nation lacked the "STRONG MAN" ~ it was or would become an ENDANGERED SPECIES ~ ERGO: THE RATIONALE FOR HONOR & HOMAGE ~ PAID TO THE "STRONG MAN" TO KEEP THEIR WORLD 'INTACT'! So why is the SAINT stronger?
William James observed the difference between the two in his ongoing LECTURE series which I will quote from page 409 of the source book:
"The saint is...abstractly a higher type of man than the "strong man," because he is adapted to the highest society conceivable, whether that society ever be concretely possible or not. The strong man would immediately tend by his presence to make that society deteriorate. It would become inferior in everything save in a certain kind of bellicose excitement, dear to men as they now are."
What James seems to be alluding to is the difference between THE KINGDOM OF GOD v. The Kingdom of Man (cf. various web pages, "KINGDOMS" ~ "THE KEYS TO THE KINGDOM" &"PISTIS SOPHIA".) In "PISTIS SOPHIA" critique, for instance, it is interesting that The Kingdom of Man has a built-in "deterioration" factor - noted as "NEGATIVE ENTROPY" - which states in effect - that once it consumes others, it will consume itself ~ since that is all it knows how to do with purest efficiency. (HOW SAD!)
The SAINT ~ on the other hand ~ does not consume ANYTHING ~ but rather gives of itself for the consumption of others ~ AND IF I MAY SAY ~ just as the PUBLIC SERVANTS DID in the most recent tragedy of the WTC in NYC ~ ABOVE & BEYOND THE CALL OF DUTY ~ putting other lives BEFORE their own duty even ~ so that OTHERS COULD LIVE THE MORE!!! [These are the BEACONS of the WTC horror: SAINTLINESS RISING ABOVE THE STRONG MAN.] This is why James says that SAINTLINESS "...is adapted to the highest society conceivable."
THE SAINT = EVERYMAN or at least is the spark that raises the level of EVERYMAN AND EVERY WOMAN to the level of DIVINITY (Sons & Daughters of THE FATHER, i.e. THE LEAVEN IN THE LOAF.)
NO ONE IS AUTOMATICALLY EXEMPT FROM THIS EXTRAORDINARY PRIVILEGE...no class distinction can prevent one from laying down his/her life for another; indeed, no greater love hath a man or woman or child of any color or creed if he did as JESUS THE CHRIST had observed as that being of the highest form of love.
William James had also pointed out that NIETZSCHE (reflecting the mindset of The Kingdom of Man) had defined this same saint as nothing more than a "...sophisticated invalid, the degenerate 'PAR EXCELLENCE' ~ the man of insufficient vitality. His (very) prevalence would put the human type in danger."
So how can the SAINT be so dangerous while being so loving a being??? Is this a paradox ~ a contradiction??? IN FACT, IT IS NEITHER!!!
The SAINT reflects the very essence of what we all secretly wish to become: THE SLAVE TO LOVE THAT WOULD IGNITE ALL TO LOVE SO THAT ALL COULD TASTE THE KINGDOM OF GOD ON EARTH ~ AND THEREBY LIVE IN EVERLASTING PEACE!!!
THE "STRONG MAN" HAS NO LOVE IN HIS HEART ~ SO HE SAYS IN HIS HEART: We cannot have this or "my" kingdom would DETERIORATE....The SAINT must be seen as so much foolishness that would threaten "my" stronghold. How could I command soldiers with such an attitude as these "degenerates?!?"
This, indeed, is the very reason why those whose priority of material possessions will "bow" to the "STRONG MAN"....Think about the nature of the REAL saint ~ not one, incidentally, who does absurd things to his/her body or flees from the company of men & women, which has been held up as a PRIZE by certain religious groups throughout the ages....NO! - IN NO WISE!!!
The REAL saint is the loving being you do not usually see until your life is in distressful jeopardy or literally burning from some activity generated by fate or the "STRONG MAN"....AT THIS POINT, THE HAND OR ROPE OR LOVING ARMS TO SMOTHER THE FLAMES COMES TO RESCUE YOU AGAIN & AGAIN AT THE RISK OF THIS SAME LOVING BEING'S OWN DEMISE!!! (cf. my published poem: "THE SALT OF THE EARTH".)
THE REAL SAINT need not wear habit or cloth ~ nor be fanatical in anything save his/her love for his/her fellow man. (HE MAY HAVE BEEN THAT FIREMAN ~ POLICEMAN ~ CONCERNED VOLUNTEER ~ OR BLOOD DONOR that you never will see or lies beneath the rubble & dust of the WORLD TRADE CENTER TRAGEDY or the ruins of even THE PENTAGON where heroism abounded amidst the flames-YES EVEN HERE IN THE WAR ROOMS OF OUR NATION'S CAPITOL-SAINTLINESS ABOUNDED!!!)
James pointed out "the middle way" of the Buddha: THE ONLY PERFECT LIFE IS THAT OF INNER WISDOM, WHICH MAKES ONE THING AS INDIFFERENT TO US AS ANOTHER, AND THUS LEADS TO REST ~ TO PEACE ~ & TO NIRVANA (i.e. indifferent to self-bodily-death BUT NOT to the bodies of those who only wish to live!)
The danger of the SAINT is the danger of not giving lip-service to inconsequential things or lies fostered by the strong man for "the strong man's" own selfish ends!!!
BLUNTLY PUT: the REAL saint seeks the moral equivalent of war: THE SPIRIT OF POVERTY, or as William James observes, by latching onto "the strenuous life" without the need of crushing weaker peoples. In full he states on page 401:
"Poverty indeed IS the strenuous life.~ without brass bands or uniforms or hysteric popular applause or lies...and when one sees the way wealth-getting enters as an ideal into the very bone & marrow of our generation, one wonders whether the revival of the belief of poverty is a worthy religious vocation may not be "the transformation of military courage," and the spiritual reform which our time stands most in need of."
The real tragedy faced by our so-called civilization is that we despise any one who elects to be poor in order to simplify & save his inner life. [[I KNOW OF A FRIEND OF MINE WHO HAS DONE THIS VERY THING BY TAKING A LESSER JOB FOR MUCH LESS MONEY JUST TO BE OF SERVICE TO OTHERS!]] The danger is the LIBERATION from material attachments "...THE UNBRIBED SOUL, THE MANLIER INDIFFERENCE...."
This is the danger that the NIETZSCHES of the world inwardly fear but outwardly despise! You cannot control a SAINT! Love emanates ~ like radiation ~ beyond the "steeled confines" of the "STRONG MAN"....
Will SAINTS overcome the "STRON MAN"??? The answer, sadly, is probably not. CAN SAINTLINESS OVERCOME THE SAME STRONG MAN??? Eventually ~ just like THE KINGDOM OF GOD is slowly overshadowing The Kingdom of Man. As you detach yourself from the darkness of the latter kingdom ~ you will help ~ AS A BEACON OF LIGHT ~ to nurture THE KINGDOM OF GOD. This is the beginning of what is termed: SALVATION ~ by "losing" your life to the things that are not important ~ you have AWAKENED your spirit to those things that are important!!!
As we speak of "aggressiveness" & "revenge" sometimes just while at other times, not so just, we must always keep in mind ~ THAT MERCY IS OF A HIGHER VIBRATION THAN JUSTICE!!! In the wake of this terrible aggression against our persons ~ PERHAPS the depths of our souls need also to be TOPPLED where we can look very hard into its core: WHO ARE WE REALLY AND WHAT CAN WE TRULY BECOME???
When the "STRONG MAN" topples in on itself, the spirit of the TRULY STRONG ~ exemplified by the signature of the spirit of the saints of true love ~ it will be the latter who will rise from the ashes ~ TO BECOME THE MEEK WHO WILL INDEED INHERIT THE NEW EARTH!!!
In our sorrow for those lost ~ remember ~ that even in dying, it is only the beginning of truly new life ~ where "A NEW HEAVEN & A NEW EARTH" will be the eventual heritage of God's REAL sons & daughters, forever & ever. AMEN!
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