People are born into this world dependent upon their parents to explain what life is all about. The problem is that many parents in areas where Christianity was dominant haven’t fathomed this out for themselves, let alone able to pass the acquired understanding on. Christianity has failed to gather the majority of a formerly Christian population under its wing, except where fundamentalist and conservative beliefs are still active.
The odd thing about these groups is that they are very often opposed to each other, so that one can hardly speak of one faith in one set of doctrines. It is probably this acrimony towards each other that weakens the position of Christianity in the world, which can only be offset by the military and economic strength of those primarily Christian countries. This in itself, judged by the recorded words of Christ, is a sure sign of its failure. It is disturbing that countries who profess themselves as Christians should be initiators of an economic system that contradicts at all levels the ideas of Christ.
There seems to be only one refuge for those attracted by the gentleness and humility of Jesus and that is in eastern wisdom, where the practise of introspection, common to Semitic and Indo-Germanic teaching, is still active. Of course, the first excursions of western people into eastern meditation was accompanied by mistakes and exploitation, but it became apparent for a number of these, that Christianity does not lack introspection, but that it has been merely covered for many people throughout history – especially under influence of the modern. Some of these people have returned to Christianity and are attempting to regain the contemplative perspective.
I think that Christianity needs its myth as a myth and not dished up as history or proven fact. The figure of Christ became a myth under the influence of Paul “even if we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know him no more†because Jesus from Nazareth, the historical figure, has been taken up into the divinity of the Christ. We cannot talk about the Mystery without myth, since we get caught up in the insight that “the name that can be named is not the enduring and unchanging name.†It is the reality behind the name that we are trying to access with the use of myth.
What I am pointing at is that all forms of externalised faith must lead to contradiction and hypocrisy, since we are talking about a paradox. That is, an experience which conflicts with our expectations, and which apparently, though not actually, is inconsistent with or opposed to what we conceive life to be. The paradox is however a construction of our own blindness and inability to gain a full picture of reality. Recognition of this leads us to be humiliated by our sinfulness, and withdraw to the inner chamber. This is the simple teaching of Christ.
Shalom