Meditation "The Dark Side of Lent: Negative
Aspects of the Season"1
The Origin and Positive
Purpose of Lent
The
term "lent" derives from an Anglo-Saxon word meaning "spring." As a liturgical
season, its origin is rooted in the final period of preparation of candidates
for their Easter baptism. Their preparation included acknowledgment of, and
absolution for, their spiritual and moral shortcomings. By the late Middle
Ages, Lent had become a period of penitential devotion for everyone, especially
by abstaining from festivities, by fasting and almsgiving, and by dedicating
more than the usual time to religious endeavors. In harmony with Jesus' own
sorting out process as depicted in tonight's reading from Luke, Lent has
evolved for the self-examination of one's fundamental values and priorities; it
is not a time for self-punishment.
The Dark Side
Nevertheless,
we have heard centuries-old reports of dark excesses carried out not only in
connection with Lent, but also more generally. Even now, we read of
near-crucifixions as a contemporary Good Friday rite in some cultures. In
Christianity (as well as other world religions) there is a historic twist of
masochism expressed in a multitude of glamorized ways. Cultivated suffering and
courted martyrdom are held up as exemplary. Countless clergy and laypeople
continue to be drawn to this perversion of the Good News of Christ. Why, we
might ask, do so many individuals prefer the dark side of Lent, indeed a dark
side of historic Christianity?
Suffering From Internal
Physical Sources
Some
people actually seek suffering because of their inborn temperament. For this
type of person, religion is likely to be a very despondent matter. The subjects
of death, sin, sacrifice, pain and anguish fit their disposition. It can be a
matter of their glands, body chemistry, genetic predisposition, all clearly
physical in nature, for which the individual has little personal
responsibility. In any case, their suffering temperament affects their outlook
on life as well as their religious convictions and practices. These Good Friday
people are victims of an internal physical malady and live in a state of mild
depression. They might not even realize that they have a problem - which a low
dose of an antidepressant can often help. However, some are used to living that
way and do not want to change.
Suffering from Psychological
Sources
Some
other people seek suffering for neurotic reasons, such as the "martyr complex,"
which can be expressed in masochism - the enjoyment of pain. Masochism may
involve deliberately inflicted deprivations of the necessities of life,
tortures, collecting personal injustices, or even mutilations for the sake of
religion.
Listen
to this illustration! Henry Suso (zõõ zõ), a
fourteenth-century German mystic and ascetic, is an example of pathological
extremes. Suso concocted for himself such discomforts as an undergarment
studded with a hundred fifty brass nails, sharpened and so fixed as to pierce
his skin; gloves with sharp tacks in order to discourage him from disturbing
the harmful insects which were all over his body; a door to sleep on, and to
make sure that this should not be too comfortable, a cross with thirty
protruding needles and nails just under his body. In winter he slept on the
bare floor of his cell and froze, his body covered with scars and his throat
parched with thirst. He boasts that over a period of twenty-five years he never
took a bath, and strove to "attain such a high degree of purity" that he would
neither scratch nor touch any part of his body other than hands and feet. All
these torments he endured "out of the greatness of the love which he bore in
his heart to the Divine and Eternal Wisdom, our Lord Jesus Christ...."
Ironically, a sense of spiritual superiority creeps into the psyche of many
like Suso. However, the self-inflicted sufferings of Suso were clearly
contradictory to the Good News of Christ. His only lasting value is in serving
as an example of those many individuals tragically and mistakenly exalted by
the Churches in dubious honor of their mental and spiritual aberrations.
Folks
like Suso suck the joy out of everything in their own lives. They are unaware
of the deep sense of guilt and conflict they experience in their unconscious,
but which is manifested in extreme self-punishing, self-denying, and
self-defeating conscious behaviors. Such perversions of Christianity are
usually characterized by anguish, guilt, sin, death and judgment, Good Friday,
martyrdom, oppressive types of fasting and self-denial, gruesome statues, and
other symbols depicting agony and torment. Uncomfortable in the Creator's
universe, those so afflicted yearn for an escape from physical existence into a
euphoric union with God or "Sacredness." Actually, comparable individuals
living today could benefit greatly from long-term psychotherapy, perhaps
continuing hospitalization.
Mel
Gibson's obsession with the torturing of Christ sounds very much like an
expression of a severely neurotic, dark side of Christianity. That Jesus died a
horrific death is undeniable. To want to film and watch the process is indeed
dark. That the Creator demanded this form of sacrifice, which is one of the
dozen or so traditional interpretations of the Crucifixion, I find repugnant
and foul at every level. If this were an essential teaching of the Gospel, I
would without hesitation renounce this religion.
Just Say
No!
Churchgoers
who are not cultivated sufferers can simply stay away from observances that
promote and glorify suffering, or they can try to tune out chronic
negativity.
A big
problem with committed sufferers is that they have formed elaborate religious
rationalizations to defend and justify this way of functioning. They usually
dismiss psychotherapy as irrelevant to their circumstances. Moreover, they have
a deep and abiding faith in their theologically "justified" suffering. Such
wounded people reinforce their circumstances with ritualized "I am not worthy"
ceremonial along with incorporating "sinner" within their most fundamental
personal identity. Rather than accepting the obvious, that no creature is
automatically worthy of God's holy and awesome presence, and that we all behave
imperfectly, they perceive and focus upon "unworthiness" and "sinfulness" as
basic to their spirit.
Religious
suffering attributable to temperament, neuroses, and dismal beliefs will most
likely not disappear from this world! An inordinate number of people so
inclined continue to be attracted to Christian churches. However, you and I can
unconditionally reject this course as praiseworthy or exemplary. We need not
respect such paths, just as we do not respect a sickness; nevertheless, we
would maintain a genuinely caring disposition toward the sick person. When
rituals and homilies that reinforce internal suffering are provided,
healthy-minded people can firmly and confidently "just say no."
In this
regard, Lenten observances ought to be scrutinized carefully. Are they
explicitly within the context of Easter - the pivotal event of the New
Testament and the Christian life, or are they excuses to act out personal
suffering as if inner torment were somehow commendable? The same measure may be
applied to the various Christian "spiritualities" available to this very day;
are they Easter oriented or Good Friday disposed, the latter an illness in the
guise of solemn piety. If religious observances or spiritualities are found
wanting, even detrimental, you and I can with a clear conscience decline to
participate. Christians are called to healthiness, not sickness; to Light, not
darkness.
1For the preparation of this
meditation, I am indebted to my former seminary professor, the late Dr. Walter
H. Clark, for his insights as a professional psychologist and psychotherapist.
In his classical Psychology of Religion the following chapters are
particularly relevant: "Two Roads to Religious Growth - Healthy Mindedness and
Suffering," "Religion and Abnormal Psychology," and "Religion and
Psychotherapy." The clinical information and example of Suso are from these
chapters. Additionally, comments from a churchman who is a psychotherapist have
been illuminating.