Ministering to the pain
It is Friday and normally on Friday I can download the podcast of the current On Being program on which Krista Tippett has conservations with people I would love to talk with over dinner at my house. Since that is not usually possible, I listen to and read the conversations. This morning she was talking to Ruby Sales who “is the founder and director of the Spirit House Project. She is one of 50 African Americans to be spotlighted in the new Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C.” She is also a student of theology.
Wikipedia states that theology is the study of the nature of the divine. Words which are frequently associated with the word or concept of divine are God, Allah, Buddha (for some), he/it/she who represents the totality of all beingness or he/she/it who represents that which gives meaning and purpose to the life of all that exist, but especially to the life of we humans.
Since the beginning of the presidential campaign in the United States I have often written about my belief that we need to attend to the yearning and the pain of those who find or feel that Donald Trump is the answer to what ails this country. I have also written about the yearning of those we have labeled terrorists and who are willing to die for their belief that they are doing the will of Allah. This is one of the reasons that I paid attention to Ms. Sales saying:
“What is it that public theology can say to the white person in Massachusetts who’s heroin addicted? That’s why Donald Trump is essential. People think he’s speaking to that pain that they’re feeling. I don’t hear anyone speaking to the 45-year-old person in Appalachia who feels like they’ve been eradicated — because whiteness is so much smaller today than it was yesterday, because there’s nothing wrong with being European American. That’s not the problem. It’s almost like white people don’t believe that other white people are worthy of being redeemed.”
Mrs. Clinton’s recent comment: “"half" of Donald Trump's supporters are "deplorables," meaning ... "You can put half of Trump supporters into what I call the basket of deplorables," which was repeated in various news media sources.” Spiro Agnew, if he were alive, might use his famous phase, effete snob, to describe such a comment. In this case he would be absolutely correct. To fail to identify the pain of those who feel that the United States has broken the bond of trust which was inherent in the values they understood to be integral to being an United States Citizen and, thus, entitled them to be rewarded for their hard work, dedication to a certain value system as they understood it – on with its center in God country, and a decent standard of living. It does not matter that the dream was not available to many people of color, women and members of other minority groups such as the GLBT community. It also does not matter that we have a better understanding of our relationship with Mother Earth, that we are a global community, that good paying industrial jobs are no longer available because of many complex factors, that religion might be used to oppress others and is far removed from helping many evolve spiritually. Pain is pain. If we fail to identify with the pain we will dishonor the sacredness of the person.
If we truly believe that all of creation is sacred (Is there a more accurate term to describe our equal worth?) than we need to look beneath the anger to the fear and beyond the fear to the pain. We must, I believe, honor the common bond which can unite all of us. Whether it is in intimate family relationships, the work place, the local community, or the national community, we all have a need to feel that we have worth and to know that we can do our part to take care of and protect our families. To feel that the needs of the others are important and one does not count is very painful. While it may be tempting to call this poetic justice, it misses the point. If we want to be understood we must first make a good faith effort to understand. If we continue to discount the pain of those who may have bought into a system of belief which discounted the pain of others we will merely continue to cycle of pain and violence.
I recall being a Midshipman at the U.S. Naval Academy. At that time the new midshipman arrived in the summer filled with the pride of being accepted only to be systematically indoctrinated into what seems to be a test of endurance (what some called hazing). It was an exhausting, painful time when it seemed to many of us that any bit of self-esteem we might have had when we arrived was pure illusion and not deserved. Yet, once the year was successfully completed, the now upper class person could not wait to inflict the same test on the new Midshipmen. (At that time it was all males. Women have been equal members of the student body for many years now.)
Mrs. Sales grew up in the Southern Baptist Church which could, at times, be very focused on separating the wheat from the chaff and maintaining the right to define who was wheat and who was chaff. (This was pre-gluten consciousness.) Yet, this focus could not, for many of us, prevent us from knowing that the essence of the teaching of Jesus was unconditional and inclusive. Later I would understand Buddha teaching the same truth. When Jesus spent time with Judas, the prostitute or with others he was present with and in love. He met them at the point of their pain.
In my mind Mr. Trump speaks to the pain of those who some call deplorable. The fact that he does this while discounting others means to me that he has fallen into the same trap that Mrs. Clinton has fallen into. Although one may not think of Mr. Trump as an effete snob in fact he had put many into the deplorable category. Neither will win the hearts and minds by discounting the pain of those they think of as the other.
Written September 16, 2016
It is Friday and normally on Friday I can download the podcast of the current On Being program on which Krista Tippett has conservations with people I would love to talk with over dinner at my house. Since that is not usually possible, I listen to and read the conversations. This morning she was talking to Ruby Sales who “is the founder and director of the Spirit House Project. She is one of 50 African Americans to be spotlighted in the new Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C.” She is also a student of theology.
Wikipedia states that theology is the study of the nature of the divine. Words which are frequently associated with the word or concept of divine are God, Allah, Buddha (for some), he/it/she who represents the totality of all beingness or he/she/it who represents that which gives meaning and purpose to the life of all that exist, but especially to the life of we humans.
Since the beginning of the presidential campaign in the United States I have often written about my belief that we need to attend to the yearning and the pain of those who find or feel that Donald Trump is the answer to what ails this country. I have also written about the yearning of those we have labeled terrorists and who are willing to die for their belief that they are doing the will of Allah. This is one of the reasons that I paid attention to Ms. Sales saying:
“What is it that public theology can say to the white person in Massachusetts who’s heroin addicted? That’s why Donald Trump is essential. People think he’s speaking to that pain that they’re feeling. I don’t hear anyone speaking to the 45-year-old person in Appalachia who feels like they’ve been eradicated — because whiteness is so much smaller today than it was yesterday, because there’s nothing wrong with being European American. That’s not the problem. It’s almost like white people don’t believe that other white people are worthy of being redeemed.”
Mrs. Clinton’s recent comment: “"half" of Donald Trump's supporters are "deplorables," meaning ... "You can put half of Trump supporters into what I call the basket of deplorables," which was repeated in various news media sources.” Spiro Agnew, if he were alive, might use his famous phase, effete snob, to describe such a comment. In this case he would be absolutely correct. To fail to identify the pain of those who feel that the United States has broken the bond of trust which was inherent in the values they understood to be integral to being an United States Citizen and, thus, entitled them to be rewarded for their hard work, dedication to a certain value system as they understood it – on with its center in God country, and a decent standard of living. It does not matter that the dream was not available to many people of color, women and members of other minority groups such as the GLBT community. It also does not matter that we have a better understanding of our relationship with Mother Earth, that we are a global community, that good paying industrial jobs are no longer available because of many complex factors, that religion might be used to oppress others and is far removed from helping many evolve spiritually. Pain is pain. If we fail to identify with the pain we will dishonor the sacredness of the person.
If we truly believe that all of creation is sacred (Is there a more accurate term to describe our equal worth?) than we need to look beneath the anger to the fear and beyond the fear to the pain. We must, I believe, honor the common bond which can unite all of us. Whether it is in intimate family relationships, the work place, the local community, or the national community, we all have a need to feel that we have worth and to know that we can do our part to take care of and protect our families. To feel that the needs of the others are important and one does not count is very painful. While it may be tempting to call this poetic justice, it misses the point. If we want to be understood we must first make a good faith effort to understand. If we continue to discount the pain of those who may have bought into a system of belief which discounted the pain of others we will merely continue to cycle of pain and violence.
I recall being a Midshipman at the U.S. Naval Academy. At that time the new midshipman arrived in the summer filled with the pride of being accepted only to be systematically indoctrinated into what seems to be a test of endurance (what some called hazing). It was an exhausting, painful time when it seemed to many of us that any bit of self-esteem we might have had when we arrived was pure illusion and not deserved. Yet, once the year was successfully completed, the now upper class person could not wait to inflict the same test on the new Midshipmen. (At that time it was all males. Women have been equal members of the student body for many years now.)
Mrs. Sales grew up in the Southern Baptist Church which could, at times, be very focused on separating the wheat from the chaff and maintaining the right to define who was wheat and who was chaff. (This was pre-gluten consciousness.) Yet, this focus could not, for many of us, prevent us from knowing that the essence of the teaching of Jesus was unconditional and inclusive. Later I would understand Buddha teaching the same truth. When Jesus spent time with Judas, the prostitute or with others he was present with and in love. He met them at the point of their pain.
In my mind Mr. Trump speaks to the pain of those who some call deplorable. The fact that he does this while discounting others means to me that he has fallen into the same trap that Mrs. Clinton has fallen into. Although one may not think of Mr. Trump as an effete snob in fact he had put many into the deplorable category. Neither will win the hearts and minds by discounting the pain of those they think of as the other.
Written September 16, 2016
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