What shall I bring when I approach the Lord? How shall I stoop before God on high? Am I to approach him with whole offerings or yearling calves? Will the Lord accept thousands of lambs or ten thousand rivers of oil? Shall I offer my eldest son for my own wrongdoing, my children for my own sin? God has told you what is good and what it is that the Lord asks of you: only to act justly, to love loyalty, and to walk wisely before your God.
This passage from Micah 6.6-8 is a classical description of what God requires of us to live the life that leads to fullness of being. This chapter describes the way by which we may come to the knowledge of God. We come to God primarily by being silent. This I described in my last chapter, where we understood that we cannot know God by the intellect at all, and that the best we can do about God is to be quiet before him. By love he may be gotten and holden, but by thought never.
It is our capacity to worship the mind in its thinking aspect that has caused us so much trouble in our modern life, and produced so few fruits in return. Thought is essential, indeed, we could not exist without it, and our modern advances in science, technology and other important aspects of current life could not occur without it. But the question remains, what are we aiming at when we do these things? It is a wonderful thing to be able to cure disease by modern technology, but what have we put in its place? Is one disease to succeed another, or are we to follow in a new direction and lead a healthy life? Are we to enjoy life, simply to follow one problem after another in a bovine way by satisfying the intellect? The problem with stilling our lives is that we have deified the mind in its intellectual capacity. To know more and more is the object of many people's lives; more and more about less and less would be a very good way of describing our present situation.
It is not merely less and less knowledge in terms of quantity; it is also less and less in terms of quality. We know so little about what is really important in life that, in the end, we are speechless before the immensity of absolute ignorance. God is never known by the intellect trying to thrust itself forward and dominate the world. If it does this successfully, it would simply destroy the world. Such things as nuclear explosions in our own time have emphasized this only too eloquently, and these are only the beginnings of things that could be equally or even more intensively destructive. It is when we know how to be quiet before God, and still in love, that we may begin to undergo an unfolding of consciousness and see what is unseen or, preferably, invisible, to many highly intellectual people.
What is that which is often visible to the poorly educated person and completely invisible to the ultra-educated intellectual? It is the glory of life itself. What has life to offer; what has God given us in this brief spell we have on this earth? It is concentrated on the five senses, not merely in terms of registering various things, but through that registration coming to understand the glory of being alive at all. To be able to hear, for instance, is not only wonderful in its own right, but we can hear other people speak, and converse with them, and be inspired by the most marvellous music in the world. This music itself may convey little to most people, but its emotional impact can change a person's whole life. In the same way, sight merely makes us aware of various objects in our vicinity, but if we see clearly, we see the reality behind the object, whether it is material, physical, or artistic. Take a painting as another instance: there is little substance in it apart from the paint itself, but the thought and feeling behind it can change a person's entire perspective on life. The same applies to touch, smell, and taste.
When we are aware of God, we can sense the underlying reality that is at the basis of all the things that we can comprehend with our five senses: sight, taste, touch, smell, and hearing are worthless if there is nothing behind them that can be the basis of their recognition, but once we can recognize them, they cease to become merely something we can use, but are now something that can inform us about reality.
Reality is not with us for very long; our days of life are very short. I quoted this in our very first chapter. Our days are short and full of misery; but if we know what we are seeing there is no more misery, and life becomes one of joy and pleasure. If, on the other hand, we cannot see the reality behind the form, we are ignorant and our lives are death even before they are really over. Job thinks of himself as dead, even before he has come to the peak of his existence of misery. When things went wrong with him he was tempted to give up life completely. He wished only for death. "The thing I feared most in life has come upon me", he said (Job 3.25). If he had been wiser, he would have realized this was the great test of his life, the great experience of reality.
Reality does not consist primarily of having a good time or enjoying all the benefits of the world; it comes of knowing what God is and what we are to be in the fullness of our creation. We are much more than flesh and blood; we are thoughts and, through thoughts, actions that can change the whole world. Man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of God, as Jesus told the devil, in the second of his three temptations in the wilderness (Matthew 4.4).
The human being does not understand these things at all; they are hidden from him, until the time of his death. To many of us death is the ultimate failure of life, and to keep alive as long as possible is the most important thing we can do. This is a tragedy; not because we should strive to keep alive as long as possible, but because our lives often have so little meaning because of our ignorance.
The purpose of life is, first of all, relationships with other people, second, enjoying the gifts of the senses that God has given us, and third, and perhaps most important of all, to be able to actualize our own talents, so as to give as much as possible to the world around us. When we can actually give of ourself to others, our lives are entering into the fullness of being, and then we can appreciate the sort of statement that Micah makes in relationship to what God desires of us.
What shall I bring when I approach the Lord? How shall I stoop before God on High? Am I to approach him with whole offerings or yearling calves? Will the Lord accept thousands of lambs or ten thousand rivers of oil? Shall I offer my eldest son for my own wrongdoing, my children for my own sin? God has told you what is good and what it is that the Lord asks of you: only to act justly, to love loyalty and to walk wisely before your God.
These are the things that God has called us to do. To act justly is to see your fellow human being, and indeed your fellow creature, as a being in their own right, and to love and to do everything possible to justify their lives and to make them more tolerable, so that everyone may get what is their due and no one may be swindled out of any of it. To love loyalty means to love all that is good and to live a life of loyalty to others, no longer behaving in a way that is deleterious or in any way wrong; but, on the other hand, to love all that brings people to the closeness of God. And finally to walk wisely before your God; that means to watch your step, to thank God for the gifts that you have in terms of material progress. I spoke in a previous chapter about my own painful infirmity at present, because my legs are not working properly. If you walk wisely before the Lord, you will never be in a state like this; not that I attribute my particular condition to anything wrong that I did, but it is a particular lesson that I, like Job, have had to learn in order to become a wiser, more considerate individual.
We will later think again about Job, what his sufferings meant, and why he had to undergo them. I went through this stage of a Job experience on a superficial level before, although the meaning probably was quite deep enough. In the end, it is the very heart of suffering. Why do we all have to have pain of one type or another? The worst pain of all is probably that of parents who see their little children die of cancer or in accidents. This seems so completely pointless, cruel, and unloving. Who has gained by such a thing? Certainly not the children; probably the parents to a certain extent in that they have to learn that nobody has any proprietorship over their particular family, but in the end it is a terrible experience for all involved. Yet who knows what is involved in such an experience as this. And what about those who have been involved in killing others in accidents and similar sorts of tragedies? Where would you rather stand: as the victim of an accident, or the cause of an accident that kills somebody else? A terrible question to answer! I know what the right answer should be, but I too shudder to think of myself being maimed or killed through somebody else's negligence or folly. And yet this goes on day after day. It is part of our life on earth, and nobody can escape the implications of everyday life for one second.
It is important also to face these facts squarely without trying in any way to avoid them, because this is how we grow. Some people will say that if that is what growth entails, they would rather not have it at all. But in a more sober frame of mind your assessment would be a more sober one as well, and you would see that growth and life are absolutely concurrent. If you stop growing you die, and nobody wants to die. If you have to die, die rather as a result of a dreaded disease or an accident than of legal punishment or of pure inanimacy. These are terrible thoughts, but ones that have to be faced in clear consciousness.
A great book in the Wisdom Literature of the Old Testament is Ecclesiastes. It certainly disillusions one of many attitudes of false hope, and yet it is by no means lacking in humour. Towards the end of chapter 6 we find the dictum:
The end of all man's toil is but to fill his belly, but his appetite is never satisfied. What advantage then in facing life has the wise man over the fool, or the poor man for all his experience? It is better to be satisfied with what is before your eyes than give reign to desire; this too is emptiness and chasing the wind. Whatever has already existed has been given a name, its nature is known; a man cannot contend with that which is stronger than he. The more words one uses, the greater is the emptiness of it all; and where is the advantage to a man? For who can know what is good for a man in this life, this brief span of empty existence through which we pass like a shadow? Who can tell a man what will happen next here under the sun?
A good name smells sweeter than the finest ointment, and the day of death is better than the day of birth. Better to visit the house of mourning than the house of feasting. For to be mourned is the lot of every man, and the living should take this to heart. Grief is better than laughter: a sad face may go with a cheerful heart. Wise men's thoughts are at home in the house of mourning, but a fool's thoughts are in the house of mirth. The laughter of a fool is like the crackling of thorns under a pot. This too is emptiness. Slander drives a wise man crazy and breaks a strong man's spirit. Do not be quick to show resentment; for resentment is nursed by fools. Do not ask why the old days were better than these; for that is a foolish question. Wisdom is better than possessions and an advantage to all who see the sun. Better have wisdom behind you than money; wisdom profits men by giving life to those who know her.
Consider God's handiwork; who can straighten what he has made crooked? When things go well be glad, but when things go ill consider this: God has set the one alongside the other in such a way that nobody can find out what is to happen next. In my empty existence I have seen it all, from a righteous man perishing in his righteousness to a wicked man growing old in his wickedness. Do not be over-righteous and do not be over-wise. Why make yourself a laughing-stock, do not be over-wicked and do not be a fool. Why should you die before your time? It is good to hold on to the one thing and not lose hold of the other; for a man who fears God will succeed both ways. Wisdom makes the possessor of wisdom stronger than ten rulers in a city. The world contains no man so righteous that he can do right always and never do wrong. Moreover, do not pay attention to everything men say, or you may hear your servants disparage you. For you know very well how many times you yourself have disparaged others.
Whatever has happened lies beyond our grasp, deep down, deeper than man can fathom. I went on to reflect. I set my mind to enquire and search for wisdom and for the reasoning of things, only to discover that it is folly to be wise and madness to act like a fool. The wiles of a woman I find mightier than death. Her heart is a trap to catch you and her arms are fetters. The man who is pleasing to God may escape her. But she will catch a sinner. So says the speaker, this is what I have found. Reasoning things out one by one; after searching long without success, I have found one man in a thousand worth the name, but I have not found one woman among them all. This alone I have found: that God when he made man, made him straightforward, but man invents endless subtleties of his own. (Ecclesiastes 7.25-29, especially verse 29)
This particular dictum about human nature is very telling. We tend to complicate things. The trouble with women, if one takes this particular passage seriously, and personally I reject sexism of any type, is that they are more emotionally active and powerful than men and they know what they want. What they want is often ultimately trivial. They want to possess. Men want to possess things; women want to possess men and human beings generally. Both attitudes are destructive. You cannot possess without destroying.
If I want to possess you for instance, I could squeeze you, in the same way as a boa constrictor. I have had this practised on me, and I know how it feels, and yet the woman who did it would not even have understood why she was so repulsive to me. It is really an attitude of insecurity; the same insecurity that a man has when he wants to make as much money as he can or attain as high a position as he can in society. All this is sheer futility. Supposing I were to attain great riches or a grand social position, where would it get me in the end? Merely ageing, retirement, disease, futility, and death. That is the common end of all human beings. The Buddha actually made this more simple: what is in store for all of us is ageing, disease and death, he would have said, and this is perfectly true.
There is nothing wrong with this; it is the way of all flesh and, if it were not so, the world would soon be so over-crowded that nobody would be able to survive at all. But none of us wants to grow old; we certainly do not want to greet old age, with its diminishing powers of body and mind, and death is completely intolerable, except to those wise people who see it as the ultimate friend of all life. But if we can reach that degree of wisdom, then we can be friends with all people, because we are no longer in conflict with them or trying to beat them at their own game.
As one grows older, so one should be prepared to dispense more and more with one's reputation. One should begin to help those who are younger than oneself, and give it away to them, so that what was once ours in terms of reputation, wealth, and power, now goes to them, and we can become their parents, fathers or mothers, as the case may be.
It is much more important to act as a beneficent parent to a younger person than to try and beat them at their own game. Then at least one has no enemies, and has a greater intimation of what friendship is really about. The more I can support and help you, the more I can be a friend of yours. The more I become an adversary of yours, the more I enter into competition with you, and the more you fear and hate me. The end is pure pity for a decrepit old person whose pride would be hurt by the need for urgent outside help.
It is interesting to read the critiques of books written by older people who were quite well known in their youth. These critiques show an unpleasant attitude towards those who now are quite obviously on a higher level of understanding, at least in the world as it now is. Jealousy colours their criticism, and what they say clearly is full of dislike, even contempt and hatred. Obviously they feel that they have never really fulfilled their promise adequately, and others have profited from their particular inspiration, and now they are intent on getting their own due back. This is very unfortunate indeed, and it shows how sad it is when people cannot face their true selves adequately.
When we can live our lives as they should be lived and enjoy the fruits of our labours and also the gifts that God has given us, we can start to be fulfilled individuals, no longer trying to impress other people or prove that we are better than they are. This is the way forward in any life on earth. At last we are fully ourselves and now do not need to prove that we are better than anyone else. Life on this level is one of impressive joy. Now we can actually help those who are younger and less experienced than we are, and bring them to the joy of actualizing their own gifts and personalities, so that they too can convey their own personal insights into the larger personal arena.
If I have to prove that I am the best of them all, I almost invariably am inferior. But if I can forget myself entirely and give of myself to the great thrust of life, then I can give something that is absolutely irreplaceable. We all have so much in ourselves that is irreplaceable because we are all individuals and made in the shape and form of God, according to what he has made us; at the same time, there are in us all the Spirit of God and also our individual spirit, which makes us unique individuals. If we deny our uniqueness or try to prevent others showing their own personality, we become inadequate people and the Spirit of God does not function properly within us: instead, we become more and more dependent on attitudes which we should have left behind years ago.
It is worthwhile recalling the dictum I have recently cited: "This alone have I found: that God, when he made man, made him straightforward, but man invents endless subtleties of his own" (Ecclesiastes 7.29). Why do people behave in this way? Why do they create difficulties out of sheer ignorance? Is it because their own perverse character has made them want to do things in a more complicated and also a more dishonest way? They want to draw out of life much which is completely fallacious and in so doing they have produced endless misery for themselves and for others as well. The more one tries to prove that one is better than others, that one's way is by far the best, the more one in the end fails in one's intentions.
Only when we forget ourselves and do the work that God has given us to do with joy and abandon and the submission of joy and peace in the world around us, can we work in happiness and tolerance. Then we no longer need to impress others and to prove that we are better than they, whether in body, mind, soul, or spirit. But we can then, indeed, work side by side with them for the coming of the Kingdom, which is the presence of Christ in the world. Remember, there is only one Christ and that is the universal Christ; not merely Jesus who lived two thousand years ago, who could easily be reduced to a charismatic figure who lived a long time ago, had remarkable gifts, and died a most tragic death. I believe this, but it is a completely inadequate description of the full Christ.
The full Christ is the perfectly formed human being; the type of human being that I described a little while before who shows in himself what it is to be a fulfilled individual, no longer isolated and proving himself better than others, but one so self-giving that his life is one of universal blessing and everyone in his presence is now changed. This is the great promise: you will be changed (1 Corinthians 15.51; 2 Corinthians 3.18).
That which was not present before, now will be there. A new person will come into our lives. This change, which is the promise of the Christian life, comes when we are in Christ, no longer mere individuals proving that we are special, but now completely in Christ in the form of love. This is our hope as we grow on into the nature of the Lord Jesus. That is what it is to be a Christian; no longer an isolated individual who may have charismatic gifts, but now one fully in Christ whose love permeates the world, and from whom love pours out to the world, bringing all things through Christ to the nature of God who is reality, for God is love and in that love we were all conceived. We were all conceived for what is meant for us to know in the life of the world to come.
But is all this merely a pipe-dream, a tragic delusion? It is here where doubt is vitally important, for only in playing its part in the world's current affairs, may we bring the vision to life. Doubt ceases to be merely a negative attitude to the future when we all rise silently and do the work set ahead of us by providence, but we must not drown our caution in ill-conceived fanaticism or charismatic zeal.