Chasing The Wind

"I observed everything going on under the sun, and really, it is all meaningless—like chasing the wind." Ecclesiastes 1:14 NLT

The man of knowledge in our time, according to Ernest Becker, is bowed down under a burden he never imagined he would ever have: the overproduction of truth that cannot be consumed. Towards the closing decades of the 20th Century he shared the following insight in his book, The Denial of Death:

"For centuries man lived in the belief that truth was slim and elusive and that once he found it the troubles of mankind would be over. And here we are in the closing decades of the 20th century, choking on truth." 

Now in the opening decades of the 21st century, the Covid 19 virus has forced all of us to confront the existential truth of the uncertainty of life and the certainty of death. We are also forced to face the lies about security and happiness that our minds have been programmed with - that wealth and health are under our control. As human beings, we need to find the meaning and purpose of life in the face of sickness, suffering, disabilities and death. We have to come to terms with the reality that we suffer the same fate of animals who return to dust when we die. At the same time we also have the destiny to be like gods for we are made in the image of God. And so we live in terror of death and the horrors of living in the hell of being not able to live our lives fully as human beings.

Ernest Becker made the gloomy observtion that "men are doomed to live in an overwhemingly tragic and demonic world." Likewise, King Solomon, who had all the wealth, women and wisdom a person can have, lamented that life is meaningless - it is like chasing the wind. At the same time, he saw that God has planted eternity in the human heart. Although we have to carry the burden of not being able to see the whole scope of God's work from beginning to end we can trust that God has made everything beautiful for its own time (Ecclesiastes 3:10-11).

The Incarnation of Jesus is the good news of the gospel. The early Church Fathers saw that in Jesus, God became human so that humans can develop their divine nature as the children of God. St. Irenaeus, the great second-century theologian, espoused the view that  “the glory of God is a human being fully alive!” In union with Christ, God has raised us from the deathly existence of our false selves. By His transforming grace, we are to be testimonies of the incredible wealth of God's grace and love (Ephesians 2:6-7). For we are created to be God's masterpiece of love:

"For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago." Ephesians 2:10 NLT

We are at the dawn of a new era where we are challenged not to live into a new way of thinking but to live into a new way of being. In this season of social distancing and enforced solitude, we have the opportunity to change our old way of thinking which Kim Nataraja has described:

"We have been brought up in a worldview, in which thought is considered to be the highest activity we can engage in. Descartes in his statement "I think, therefore I am"; actually went as far as linking existence with thought. Not thinking feels like not being, a threat to our survival."

The Covid 19 pandemic is a hidden blessing if its threat to our survival drives us to a lived experience of a personal encounter with the Risen Christ. Dietriech Bonhoeffer noted that when we encounter Christ, we embark on the journey of discipleship by surrendering ourselves to Christ and giving our lives over to death:

"Thus it begins; the cross is not the terrible end to an otherwise god-fearing and happy life, but it meets us at the beginning of our communion with Christ. When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die.”

The death of our false selves through centering prayer is thus the beginning of a new life in Christ Jesus. The practice of silence in centering prayer is a difficult and threatening discipline but a fruitful one. It is a "death rehearsal" as we seek to know our true self who is beyond our thinking. By letting go of our attachments to our roles, responsibilities and relationships we learn to live from the perspective of "I am, therefore I think".  And then our thoughts will not dictate our feelings, actions and beliefs but our feelings, actions and beliefs will be rooted in our relationship with God.

According to Henri Nouwen, our "personalities" such as a loving father, a supporting sister, a caring mother, a severe teacher, an honest judge, a fellow traveller, an intimate friend, a gentle healer, a challenging leader or a demanding taskmaster, create images in our minds that affect not only what we think but also what we actually experience ourselves. Hence it is easy for us to lose our true identity and conform to the demands of a consumer society when we try to live up to the images imposed on us by those who are distracting us, entertaining us or using us for their purposes.

Henri Nouwen warned that theses images lead us to live in a world of hatred, violence, lust, greed, manipulations, and oppression. To live in a world of love, joy and peace, we are not to conform to the world but we are to let God transform us in order to change the way we think by knowing God's perfect will for our lives (Romans 12:2). Rev Malcolm Tan, in his sermon in CCMC on Sunday, encouraged us to pray ourselves INTO the will of God. As we do so, we will find ourselves praying IN the will of God. The goal of centering prayer is to open our hearts and minds to the Holy Spirit so that we can discern God's will and live fruitful lives:

"If you live in me and what I say lives in you, then ask for anything you want, and it will be yours. You give glory to my Father when you produce a lot of fruit and therefore show that you are my disciples." John 15:7-8 GW

Fruitfulness is not a condition for salvation but the hallmark of our salvation. And we need to die to our false selves to bear fruit as Jesus tells us:

"I can guarantee this truth: A single grain of wheat doesn’t produce anything unless it is planted in the ground and dies. If it dies, it will produce a lot of grain. Those who love their lives will destroy them, and those who hate their lives in this world will guard them for everlasting life." John 12:24-25 GW

John Main has described meditation as a way of power because it is the way to understand our own mortality. It is a way beyond our own death to the resurrection and to a new and eternal life in union with God. He draws attention to the essence of the Christian gospel:

"The essence of the Christian gospel is that we are invited to this experience now, today. All of us are invited to death, to die to our own self-importance, our own selfishness, our own limitations. We are invited to die to our own exclusiveness. We are invited to all this because Jesus has died before us and has risen from the dead. Our invitation to die is also one to rise to new life, to community, to communion, to a full life without fear."

Instead of chasing the wind to deny death or to find immortality, we can let our Shepherd of love leads us to rest in green pastures and beside still waters. Even when we find ourselves in dark valleys or buffeted by storms we will fear no evil for our Shepherd is with us and comforts and protects us with His rod and staff. And we can stand on God's wonderful promise that His goodness and unfailing love is following us all the days of our lives and that we will live in the house of the Lord forever. And this is where I believe God wants us to be - at home in His Love and to know that we are His beloved. And so may our cry in this time of uncertainty and loneliness be:

"Oh, gentle shepherd hear my lonely cry
And in Thy cool green pastures let me lie
Beside the still clear waters lead Thou me
Oh, gentle shepherd safe forevermore with Thee..."