I've been chatting at RLP's site recently and I was encouraged to clean up the following chat session and make it available. This should go some way to improving my heretical image.
I've cleaned up the text pasted from the chat room, removed a few extraneous greetings and such, and rearranged the order a little bit to put responses to comments closer together, but other than that, this is the conversation which occurred.
[JoKeR] 11:54 am: An image I came up with recently in trying to understand a God who is in everything and everyone and who will always forgive us is this:
[JoKeR] 11:56 am: Think of life as a universal vibration. Being right with God would be like being in harmony with that vibration. Being separated from God (living in sin) would be like experiencing disonnance with that vibration.
[revsparker] 11:56 am: so to find harmony, one would have to listen first...
[truce] 11:56 am: not a bad image, actually.
[JoKeR] 11:57 am: If we can right ourselves and get right with God again so that we are back in harmony then that time when we were in disonnance is over and would not be an aspect of our relationship with God, in other words our sin is forgiven.
[revsparker] 11:57 am: is Jesus a tuning fork?
[truce] 11:57 am: lol
[revsparker] 11:58 am: interestingly, in music it is the times of dissonance that make the harmony sweeter...when dissonance resolves, humans breathe deeper, relax...etc.
[JoKeR] 11:59 am: Thus when paul says that the law was given to us so that we can get right with God, but of course we are not capable of keeping the law perfectly.
[revsparker] 12:00 pm: so, to be forgiven, one would listen, notice that one was not in tune, and do what one could (plus relying on grace) to retune to God...
[Main Lobby]: Demi has entered at 12:01 pm
[JoKeR] 12:01 pm: If we get right with God and find that harmony, then we won't want to do things that introduce dissonance, so we wouldn't be trying to follow the law for its sake as much as we would be trying to follow God which would have the result of us living lives which happen to be in tune, so to speak.
[JoKeR] 12:02 pm: or perhaps, rather than doing what one could to retune, it might be more like stopping doing things that took us out of tune.
[Demi] 12:02 pm: dissonance is a word i've been pondering lately
[Demi] 12:02 pm: it's a good word
[revsparker] 12:02 pm: I'm still contemplating Jesus' role. He was definitely quite "in tune" with God.
[Demi] 12:02 pm: totally in tune
[JoKeR] 12:02 pm: exactly.
[Demi] 12:02 pm: but still he was capable of getting angry once in a while
[Demi] 12:03 pm: so he wasn't immune to dissonance of a sort
[revsparker] 12:03 pm: ah, but is it dissonant to be angry at what angers God?
[Demi] 12:03 pm: hmm
[JoKeR] 12:03 pm: I don't know that anger is the same as dissonance. Certainly misplaced anger is destructive.
[truce] 12:03 pm: exactly. anger is not sin.
[Demi] 12:04 pm: I have a certain personal understanding of the anger of God
[Demi] 12:04 pm: it's a bit eccentric
[Demi] 12:04 pm: doesn't quite fit with the gospel story of the tables in the temple
[Demi] 12:04 pm: that was real anger, indignation
Hi JokeR, I wish I was there for that particular conversation! It's an excellent exploration. Don't worry about labels, new-agey or not. Whatever feels right and true... whatever is harmonious rather than dissonant... that's what to stick with. Besides, this was an exploration rather than a firm conclusion. Who knows what it might lead to?
I'm glad rlp linked to this post. See you later!
Posted by: Wandering Willow on August 31, 2005 12:48 AMThis certainly fits with an image of love as energy, which is posited in chapter 13 of "Augustine Interviews God" (n.b.: not the saint). I discuss this interview at my blog, see Listening to God.
Posted by: Jonah on August 31, 2005 09:34 AMThanks for the comments. I liked your remarks about "Augustine Interviews God" which I also found via rlp. His new site is bringing his readers together in ways far beyond what he was able to do with his Salon blog.
Peace!
Posted by: JoKeR on August 31, 2005 11:07 AMInteresting conversation. Thanks for posting it!
Your image might not be too far off. There has been this idea within the orthodox tradition of the "dance of God" to describe the interpersonal relations between the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Karl Barth, in particular, emphasized this picture. This dance of God then becomes the "dance of life," so to speak, as the processions of the persons of the Godhead process to form and sustain the universe. We, in turn, are invited to join in the dance.
http://www.leithart.com/archives/000132.php
Posted by: Craig on August 31, 2005 12:12 PMThe chat brings to mind the book by Tolkein, "Silmilarian." He expalins how the world was created. The heavenly host is voicing one harmonious note. And then one voice becomes slightly different. The voices nearby are soon off too.
Posted by: Jake on August 31, 2005 05:42 PM