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Vision, Work and Qualiadelia
May 19, 2009
Whether our ideals are religious, or creative, loving, or just plain practical, we have moments, every once in a while, when we can picture them in full fruition. We can really see what we've got to do, and what it will all be like when we've done it. But there is such a great gap between the ideal and the reality. Daily we must struggle to bridge that gap, daily we must keep the fire alive and the enthusiasm strong. That is, no doubt, one of the roles of religion. After all, enthusiasm, from the Greek, means to be filled with God.
In her book The Mind of the Maker, Dorothy L. Sayers offers a wonderful metaphor for enthusiasm as she explores the idea of the Holy Trinity. Her thoughts on this famous conundrum dovetail nicely into the three stages of ritual and the qualiadelic experience.
To explain the how the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost are a trinity, yet also a unity, Sayers makes an analogy to the creative process of writing a book.
An author, Sayers points out, often has a vision of the completed work: My book is finished, I have only to write it. The author can see the whole idea of the book at once. All the events and the characters that bring the plot from beginning to end occur in the author's mind simultaneously. The idea is complete in itself -- it needs only to be expressed on paper. Sayers equates this grand idea with the Father.
Putting the idea onto paper, however, is hard work. Without the work the idea can't be known, and so the author sweats out the details, making the characters grow and the plot move so that the book comes effectively to its conclusion. This activity, the act of writing the book, is likened to the Son. God sent his Son to earth to do his work -- to make his idea material. As we know from Jesus' experience, transforming God's idea into a work so that others may enjoy it is neither an easy nor painless task. Nor is it easy for an author to bring his vision into the world.
Finally, the completed book is like the Holy Ghost. The spirit of the author's idea is conveyed into the minds and hearts of others as they read his book -- it is the image of the indwelling Spirit. So a book has three different forms, just like the Trinity: The idea, the work, and the spirit of it. They are three different things, but they are all the same book.
Similarly, we can see the separateness and the unity of the Trinity in the three stages of ritual:
Pressures that are often too subtle or complex for us to understand continually beset us; they compel us to do things -- to wake up, to go to work, to relax, to fix up the yard -- all our days are filled with things we feel we must do. Once we choose one or the other, however, it is as clear how to proceed, for we know what to do. For instance, we can visualize an entire day or working in the yard, and we can see a picture of the finished project as clear as day in our mind's eye. We are just like the author with his idea for a book. Inspired by our Big Picture and our interest in getting it done, we set aside the time for the project. Thus, the Separation Stage of ritual is like the Father part of the Trinity.
Now, of course, we must spend the day working, clipping, mowing, raking, digging, planting and turning the idea into reality. So goes the Qualiadelic stage of ritual, when we are acting out and transforming the idea into reality, and this is similar (metaphorically) to the work of the Son of God.
Finally, our yard is done. It is trim and appealing -- it is a solid symbol with meaning for ourselves and for our neighbors. It is qualiadelic, for others to appreciate as well as ourselves. It is a symbol of the value that we place on a nice yard. It is the image of the indwelling spirit of things that we care about, like our communities. It is the product of our interests and our ideals.
In this way the three stages of ritualing are very much like a holy trinity. It matters not whether it is fixing up the yard, putting in a day at the office, shopping, raising a family, or transforming the community around us; the idea of a project, the activity of making it a material reality, and the spirit of the finished project are all separate but they are really all different forms of the same thing.
The qualiadelic experience cultivates enthusiasm.
Be Qualiadelic. Be Conscious. Change the routine.
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