Despise Nothing, Honor Everything
This is one of those “my father taught me” statements. And that’s how I speak of it whenever I teach it to my clients. Truth be told, I don’t recall either him or my mother specifically speaking those particular words – yet I can honestly state their very presence spoke them every moment of their lives. And so I enshrine them as MFTMs.
I’ve noted in past Newsletter pages that my parents were lifelong pacifists. And if they were alive now, I’d want to spend hours asking how they got that way (as children, we don’t think to ask those questions).
And I recall a woman I dated many years ago insisting her children refrain from ever using the word “hate” – including about themselves. I remember thinking I had never heard that spoken – yet I had always known it.[1]
An Ancient Division
So then, how do we deal with the question of good and evil? That is anything that separates us from one another. In the Genesis narrative, when Eve and Adam ate the apple, they gained “the knowledge of good and evil,” which before that was only known by God. As a result, they lost the blessed life of Paradise and were cast out to struggle in the desert, yearning for a future “Kingdom.” Catholics call it ‘original sin’ – for them, an institutionalized birthright.
An Ancient Rhythm / Pattern
I remember reading straight through the Old Testament Book of Psalms some years ago and finding a particular rhythm. First (or primarily), there was a litany of ‘troubles’ – or what we might even call ‘reality.’ Then followed a (briefer) assertion that (no matter what) God was in charge. And it was left at that! I’ve long known that in monastic communities, a primary daily worship form is the recitation of the Book Psalms (called ‘praying the Psalms’). Only in my elder years does it make sense that this is training in the same pattern: Despise nothing, Honor everything. DNHE
In the Christian world, this month, we are entering the season of Lent – known as a ‘penitential’ season. Its purpose is to prepare us for Easter. Desert → Glory, Penance → Resurrection. The same pattern: – as if the Almighty will use anything and everything to bring us into his unifying Friendship – and our community/communion with each other. Other spiritual traditions are even better than ours at opening this to the entire ‘universe’ – which has its source in God—the same pattern.
I’ve also been delighted to find it in many or all other spiritual traditions.
The Question of Evil
Some will assert that Evil is just an illusion. But to assert that is to cruelly deny the reality of suffering for so many. Rather, we are bidden to ‘go to’ the suffering, the oppressed. Do not despise them or even their oppression. Rather ‘reach through’ to them. Maybe help change the world on their behalf. Yet Evil is ultimately a mystery, a spiritual mystery – we cannot explain it away, nor does God (as if it is a part of his knowledge of Creation). Logically impossible, Spiritually real. Counter it with another mystery – the mystery of Goodness. Logically impossible[2] (or at least suspect), Spiritually real.
My own spiritual narrative must include Holy Week. It must include the sacrifice of the Son of God. The (symbol of) cross, even when portrayed as empty, has no power without what took place on it.[3]
I recall some years ago (2006) when a man murdered several Amish school girls in Pennsylvania – the first response of that community was to go immediately to give comfort to the mother of the assassin. That’s a tremendous spiritual maturity! DN
Reconciliation or ‘Family Values’
One great benefit of Despise Nothing, Honor Everything is its relationship to the eternal worldly and spirit-level work of reconciliation – the bringing together that which has been broken.
Often in my younger years, from my parents, I would hear of the Fellowship of Reconciliation – an international organization formed in 1914 in response to the horrors of war and continues to this day as the oldest interfaith peace organization of its kind.[4]
There was a time when religious bodies were more energized toward peace and justice, significant world issues. My Methodist background was rich in energy for world peace (especially in the 1930s, my parents’ formative years). The patterns of peacemaking (DNHE) were alive and active.
But then, sometime after the end of WWII, something else was taking over – American religion discovered “Family Values” as a primary ‘marketing tool.’ At that time, I was cutting my political and pacifist eye teeth on anti-VietNam resistance. Having ‘lost’ that war, Americans did two things. 1) We demonized our military personnel, and 2) we became capitalists (viz the ‘prosperity gospel’). And then, within another decade or two, churches became reconciliationally irrelevant. Today, the rich are getting richer, the poor are getting poorer, and government representatives seem only adept at demonizing each other. Family values have become demonization tools – they divide rather than unite us. We have become a nation of gated communities and ghettos. Marketing “family values,” especially for the sake of religious identity, inevitably divides people. Churches can love sin because it makes other folks “bad.”
And we’re back to “despising” others – projecting evil – the same as avoiding personal responsibility, which co-opts any foundation of unity. When we love to divide (demonize), we reap what we sow. It has become the hallmark of our age.
Maybe I’ve gone too far here – but the more I mature, the more I see it’s the same that the Almighy One leans in to teach us. He is Love, which despises nothing, honors everything (since He created everything, even loving everybody.
Now that is hard to swallow. But its a way of life that works.[5]
Pay Attention
Footnotes
[1] Actually, I personally come quite close when having to deal with telemarketers.
[2] As early psychology postulated.
[3] Argue with me if you will, you may be right, but I’m also not wrong. DNHE
[4] Its members share a vision of a world where conflicts are resolved through nonviolent means, where systems that foster fear and hatred are dismantled, and where justice is sought as a basis for peace. You may want to take a current look at its magazine https://wagingnonviolence.org/ & https://forusa.org/news/
[5] What a curiosity that in this particular year – 2024 – Valentine’s Day and Ash Wednesday are the exact same day. – right there smack dab in the very middle of the February calendar page. Oh my!