10 – Sofia 10

Letters they will continue to pander to the beliefs and practices of those who hang on to an outmoded world view. No matter how much the words of prayer and ritual are reinterpreted personally by the individual minister who uses them, to the ordinary 'person in the pew' they continue to proclaim and perpetuate the old beliefs and dogmas.

Since there is no god to whom prayer and song may be addressed, it makes no sense to go on praying to god. To the non-realist or atheist, the words of most if not all Christian hymns are patent nonsense - no matter how beautiful the music to which they might be set. While the prayers and songs continue to be repeated, however, the underlying ideas and beliefs will continue to be sustained. The language used in Christian religion is dead. It needs burying ! Only when a new language is introduced, will a new culture begin to emerge.

In saying all this I am not suggesting the wholesale closure of all Christian institutions. They will continue to fulfil a need for those who insist on speaking the old language. What I am suggesting is that those who no longer accept the traditional foundations should opt out of the Christian institutions which are built on them, and divest themselves of the security, power and privilege which they offer. Even from the present evidence this would lead to the closure and abandonment of large numbers of institutions and establishments. Both actions together would have a powerful and almost immediate effect, and would draw public attention to the issues at stake - of which belief in god is only the starting point.

Those who wish to maintain the church as an antique should do so at their own expense and without any expectation of public patronage, privilege or power.

To many people a wholesale opt-out may seem too radical, too much to ask. Clearly it would require some people to make much greater decisions than others. However, I do not believe that the current 'homeopathic' approach will ever bring about the required change.

If opt-out can be achieved at the individual level, and I know it can (because I have done it), it could, given the will, be achieved on a much wider scale as well.

SOF could provide both a catalyst for the reaction and a much needed support network at a local and national level when the 'big bang' was set to go off !

OPTING OUT from Martin Wood (Melton Mowbray) Some people argue that because religious belief and ritual meet a human need, then current Christian belief and ritual should be retained within Christian institutions while it is slowly transformed, 'from within', into something which fits into a non-realist, or what I prefer to call atheist, perspective on life. I can understand this point of view, but I believe very strongly that a more radical approach is necessary.

Twenty-one years ago I was faced with the dilemma of whether to give up the Roman Catholic priesthood because I no longer believed some of the doctrines about which I was expected to preach, or of staying in the church in order to work for change. Looking back, I am still convinced that my decision to leave was the right one and that, had I stayed, not only would I have been hypocritical, but I would also not have achieved any of the real change which I thought necessary.

In saying this I do, of course, recognise that the possibility of change within the Roman Catholic Church may be more remote than in other Christian denominations - though the recent experience of Church of England ministers following the Heart of the Matter leaves me in some doubt about this.

Christian institutions owe their origin to belief in the existence of god (understand traditionally as a divine being or person), and in Jesus Christ as his divine Son. In most churches, those who maintain the 'establishment' are regarded as having been specially chosen by God and set apart, or ordained, by the Church, which itself is believed to have a divine foundation. The ministers of these churches are regarded as 'men of god', and as leaders of the church community.

— Martin Wood, Melton Mowbray

Since we can no longer believe in a divine being or god, the ground on which church institutions and ministries are based has been swept away. The needs that they meet can be met by just as well by others - counsellors, social workers etc - in a merely secular way. As long as church institutions remain, 6 SOF Magazine 10, Summer 1992 PICTURE THIS from John Challenor (Cardiff) I saw a picture of Matthew the gospel-writer at the Rembrandt exhibition this spring. Of all the paintings that day, this one stayed in my mind - I was preoccupied with the Easter showing of The Heart of ttie_Matter, and its outcome.

The eyes are unseeing - the attention is turned inwards. The face is grave, thoughtful, perplexed even to the point of distress. Matthew seems to be straining through introspection to interpret and understand difficult and important data. The face is of an older man, and this is emphasised by the contrasting carefree face of a youth with breezy golden hair leaning over Matthew's shoulder as if to whisper in his ear. I suspect the angel is a nod to church tradition : there is no evidence that the angel is actually helping the evangelist to solve any of his problems. As I see it, Rembrandt was painting as almost a humanist and Matthew is wrestling alone with the problem of reaching and presenting the heart of the matter.

Pioneers always suffer. No doubt the original Matthew was made to suffer, for leaving an old faith and stepping aside onto a new Way. Just recently, Jacques Derrida, proposed for an Honorary Doctorate at Cambridge, has been the target for scathing attacks by other philosophers. Rembrandt himself suffered - a wife's death, marital complications, court investigations, bankruptcy, and even the death of his own son, Titus, the model for the angel. Rembrandt sees and understands the human situation and comments on it without bitterness, even with compassion and tender love.

I am glad the SOF Network is there, to support those in the front line who are exposed to unfriendly fire.

— John Challenor, Cardiff

We may even help the critics see that the search for the heart of the matter is not going to be called off by disciplinary repression or by the reiteration of credal formulas, however ancient.

A CENTURY OF BIBLICAL CRITICISM DISREGARDED ! from Reg Bridle (Andover) That there should have been so many protests after the Easter evening broadcast by two SOF members is not surprising ; traditional beliefs die hard. What is, to me, at any rate, a disturbing feature of such protests is the use made of the bible to prove a point.

There have been quotations from it in such a way as to give the impression that it is a literally exact account of what was said and done all those years ago. Moreover, it is not just in these particular instances that I have noticed this tendency ; when other topics have been considered there has been the same use of the bible. It is as though there is a complete unawareness of the way in which biblical studies have developed over the course of the last hundred years.

The worst example I know of is in the Digest of the Second Report_by the House ot Bishops (pp 20, 21) on the subject of the ordination of women. There is reference to Genesis chapters 1-3 where it is stated that "These chapters contain two accounts of creation" (presumably literally accurate ones) and then they continue, "Since Adam is created first, this can be seen as a proof of primacy, but it could be seen as a temporary phase ... The Bishops are not agreed about the proper interpretation of these Genesis texts. Some of them find in them a divine ordinance here which precludes women from being in positions of headship or leadership in the Christian community." PP In view of all this, I wonder whether the pre-ordination training of would-be clerics is quite inadequate, or whether there is, on the part of some, a desire to live in the past and to preserve ideas that were developed in earlier days which they have never outgrown.

— Reg Bridle, Andover

Whatever the explanation, I think the result is disastrous ; no wonder that, more and more, thoughtful people are dropping out of Church membership.

THE MEANING OF MYTH from Stephen Coote (Craven Arms) Watching the Easter Day Heart of the Matter, I was discouraged by the use made of the word 'myth' by the presenter. As so frequently happens, it was implied that either a story is true or it is a myth, as if it could not possibly be both together. This is not my understanding of the word ; nor was it for that very great authority, Carl Jung. More than any other writer he makes sense of religion for me. In Jungian psychology myths arise spontaneously from the depths of the collective unconscious of a people or race and find expression through the archetypal patterns which together make up the deeper levels of the psyche.

Myths contain truths which mere facts or events cannot portray. They do not operate on the historical level at all but are timeless, arising from the soul of mankind ('psyche' means 'soul'), and expressing the mysteries of life ('the unknown'), in the universal language of symbols. Rightly interpreted and followed, the symbols can lead us to 'the treasure hard to find', the total integration and fulfilment of the personality. Many ancient heroes in myths, legends and fairy stories embark on perilous journeys - as we do sometimes in dreams - in order to find this priceless treasure, which is referred to in the Gospels as 'the Kingdom of Heaven'. It can only be found 'within you', that is, within your own mind or psyche.

SOF Magazine 10, Summer 1992 7 To get there, as all heroes know, you have to pass through Hell or Hades, i.e. through the underworld of the unconscious which for most of us is unknown territory and which, for all of us, can only be revealed in symbols.

In The Symbolic Life (Vol 18 in the Collected Works ; paras 1665/6) Jung writes : "A myth remains a myth even if certain people believe it to be the literal revelation of an eternal truth, but it becomes moribund if the living truth it contains ceases to be an object of belief. It is therefore necessary to renew its life from time to time through a new interpretation. This means readapting it to the changing spirit of the times.

What the Church calls 'prefigurations' refer to the original state of the myth, while the Christian doctrine represents a new interpretation and readaptation to a Hellenized world." "Today Christianity is devitalized by its remoteness from the spirit of the times. It stands in need of a new union with, or relation to the atomic age, which is a unique novelty in history. The myth needs to be retold in a new spiritual language, for the new wine can no more be poured into old bottles than it could in the Hellenistic age .... It is my practical experience that psychological understanding immediately revivifies the essential Christian ideas and fills them with the breath of life. This is because our worldly light, i.e. scientific knowledge and understanding, coincides for the first time with the symbolic statement of the myth, whereas previously we were unable to bridge the gap between knowing and believing." The purpose concealed symbolically in our myths, dreams and fairy stories is to enlighten our way and lead us to the centre of our being and the discovery of the universal Self which we share with all mankind.

Jung termed this inner journey the process of ii7d/i/eaat/bn which follows the path taken by the mythical gods and heroes of all cultures. The Church calls it the way of salvation, i.e. the shifting of the centre from the Ego to the Self. The problem for Christians is that this innermost sanctuary is projected onto Christ, thereby exteriorizing our innermost being in such a way that it is very hard to withdraw the projection and become fully ourselves. The ritual of the Mass (Holy Communion) is an unconscious attempt to do this. Jung has said : "the image of the God-man lives in everybody and has been incarnated (i.e. projected) in the man Jesus, to make itself visible, so that people could realise him as their own interior self." (The Symbolic life, para 1570) In Aion (Vol 9:ii of the Collected Works), in a chapter entitled Christ, a_symbs)LoLthe self, Jung refers to Jesus as "a truly historical man smothered under an avalanche of projections". The teaching of the Church makes it almost impossible to realise that the life of Christ is the mythical projection of the life of Everyman (you and I included !) at the end of which we ought to be able to say, with Christ, "I and the Father are One", i.e. that I have consciously united myself, the Individual Ego whose presumption of power has been overcome, with the Universal Self.

— Stephen Coote, Craven Arms

ON OUR TOES from Janet Barnard (Gloucester) The Gloucester SOF Group started in April. We aim to read one Cupitt book each month and take it in turns to give an introduction. In May, the book was Taking Leave _o_t_God (1980) outlining a non-realist religion. In June, Only Human (1985), a study of the early history of some human and natural sciences and their bearing on this new kind of human faith. It was suggested that someone should write an introductory pamphlet to Cupitt's works for the benefit of newcomers to his ideas (a sort of Lamb's Tales_of Shakespeare ?).

We found that standard works like The Sea of Faith and Taking_Leave are out of print and hard to find except through expensive Book Searches, but last month we took advantage of the Sale of SCM books at SPCK and brought a good selection of cut-price Cupitts to the meeting. Bill, a gardener, put Lifelines in the carrier on the back of his motorbike, carefully avoiding squashing the bedding plants already there, and rode off saying cheerfully how he enjoyed coming to a meeting where you didn't have to worry about offending people's religious sensibilities.

Jill walks on Robinswood Hill. She is a Feminist and has no time for the church. On Easter Sunday she listened to Cupitt taking part in a Radio 4 discussion and liked what he said. Where could she find out more ? I told her about the Sale in SPCK. Next time we met she was running and jogged around me two or three times saying, between breaths, that she had bought those books and they were good. "What's your address ? I'll come and see you !" And off she went in a cloud of dust followed by her faithful collie.

Perhaps it's a good picture of SOF. On our toes and on the move !

— Janet Barnard, Gloucester

TWO GREAT STEPS from John Shepherd (London) Hamlet did not really exist, or not as Shakespeare describes him. The play is a human attempt to describe how a person like that would behave under conditions which bring out his nature. It is not factually true. But we do not then say : this story is nothing to us because it did not happen. The story is rich and deep, and through its art it enables us to understand ourselves better. It said much to Shakespeare's contemporaries, and although today we understand it differently, it remains enriching. It has things to say about the way people are which are permanently revealing and true.

SOF Magazine 10, Summer 1992 God does not really exist either, but the idea of God does. It is the most important idea human beings have ever had. It is the idea that we can aspire to be (not have) something far greater than we have yet achieved. It is the idea that we can love and respect ourselves, work together harmoniously, and reach out in love to others.

One way of looking at the mind is to say that it operates in four interlocking dimensions : instinctive, rational, aesthetic and spiritual. All minds contain elements of all four, though sometimes the traces are faint, perhaps because they have not been developed. In most minds, and perhaps at different times in the lives of all minds, one or two of the elements will be dominant ; others may be weak. In a few minds, more complete than others, all four will be strongly present all the time.

Rationality is about having and ordering, aesthetics about seeing and feeling, spirituality about being.

There is no point in having if you are not able to see, and no point in seeing if you are not able to be.

Spirituality gives depth to the seeing, and puts having in perspective. Rational people think of their place in a hierarchy, their battles with others and their need to enrich themselves through money and power. They seek control over others. Spiritual people think of their place in a network, their accommodations with others and their need to enrich themselves through understanding. They seek control over themselves. Spiritual people are aware of themselves. At its worst that awareness brings great suffering ; at its best it brings great comfort.

Religion is our way of expressing the spiritual side of our natures. Our spirituality has perceived that we could be better than we are, and that there are greater things to which we can aspire ; we have imagined an ideal world where those aspirations are a reality ; we have given that world a name and a structure and we have peopled it.

We now say that it is wrong to believe, as many do, that our imagined ideal world really exists. We go on to say : if the imagined world is unreal, what is the point of religion ? But religion does not depend on that imagined world. It is the other way round : that imagined world of gods and demons, angels and archangels, depends on our religion for its life. As our religion advances, it turns to new metaphors to satisfy our aspirations. Like Hamlet, it is the depth of the insight, not the physical reality, which matters.

Jesus said that God is not racial and authoritarian and vengeful ; he is universal and loving. It was a great step to take. Today we take another, and say : only the idea of God exists ; it is the loving ideal, and stands for the our aspiration to be complete and perfect human beings.

— John Shepherd, London