What is the common thread connecting contemporary
geopolitics, mid-twentieth century paleontology, and the Second British
Invasion? You may be surprised to discover at that eccentric intersection the
Apostle Paul (who would, of course, point us to Jesus). But I’m getting ahead
of myself.
Let’s start from the beginning.
I was recently on a long training run when Pandora served up
one of those savory musical delights I was not expecting.[1]
The opening lyric not only transported
me back to the early 80s but also perceptively summoned my sinking thoughts
about American politics and our current culture at large:
There
is no political solution,
to
our troubled evolution
My heart was suddenly pounding with the offbeat syncopated rhythms
of “Spirits in the Material World,” the 1981 classic by The Police. The song,
written by lead singer Sting, is eerily prophetic (I encourage you to listen as
you continue to read: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZAGvdmyr_g)
The opening lyric reminded me of a bumper sticker I had seen the day before.
With all the stars and stripes of a typical campaign slogan it simply read,
“2016: We’re screwed.” I had to chuckle before I realized how much this
captured my actual thoughts about this year’s political season. My heart sank
but I told myself, “Keep running.”
We
are spirits in the material world
My pace had picked up notably, owing to a strange combination
of musical inspiration and sudden fear about the future. “We are spirits in the
material world. What did they mean by that?” I thought to myself, trying not to
let the thought interrupt my breathing.[2]
It seemed like a particularly insightful thing to say, and in fact reminded me
of the famous quote attributed to the astute paleontologist and Jesuit priest,
Pierre Teilhard de Cardin:
“We are not human beings having a
spiritual experience.
We are spiritual beings having a
human experience.”[3]
It turns
out that the song (some say the best Sting ever wrote) was heavily influenced
by Hungarian philosopher Arthur Koestler.
Matter of fact, the entire album “Ghost in the Machine” derived its name
from one of Koestler’s books by that same title. Koestler was wrestling with
humanity’s tendency toward self-destruction, especially in the context of the
late 1960s and the very real fear of nuclear annihilation. As he saw the world
slipping into tragic patterns of alienation, dissipation, and violence, he
wondered if our higher (one might say “spiritual”) capacities or “ghosts” were
being systematically snuffed out by the “machine” of big business, big
government, and global institutionalism.
Our so-called leaders speak
With words they try to jail you
They subjugate the meek
But it's the rhetoric of failure
I was
going at a good clip by this time, sweat pouring from my brow. I was trying not
to think too deeply but the song was ringing so true and the angst of it all
propelled me forward. Like many in the postmodern era, I had long since
abandoned any faith in politicians. I had become disillusioned in all of
modernism’s rhetoric about progress and the technological promise of Eden. For
all of our “advances” (some of which I am enjoying right now as I sit in this
air conditioned room and type on my personal computer), the twentieth century was
nonetheless the bloodiest of all time. My mind raced to this summer’s chilling
visit to Auschwitz, not to mention two world wars, the Russian pogroms, and contemporary
genocides in Europe, Africa and the Middle East. There were more Christians
martyred in the last hundred years than all the previous centuries combined. Can
we really call this “progress”?
Where does the answer lie?
Living from day to day
If it's something we can't buy
There must be another way
For all
his philosophical ruminations, Koestler offered no definitive answers, and
neither do The Police. But I have to take
issue with one seemingly small but consequential lyric from the song in
question. In the very opening stanza, Sting suggests, “There is no bloody
revolution.” Yet in today’s readings the Apostle Paul sheds a deeper and more
primordial light on the matter:
We
have not received the spirit of the world
But
the Spirit who is from God. . .
We
speak not with words taught by human wisdom,
But
with words taught by the Spirit. . .
Now the natural man does not
accept what pertains to the Spirit of God,
for to him it is foolishness,
and he cannot understand it. . .
But we have
the mind of Christ.[4]
It
doesn’t take modern philosophy to understand what Paul is saying. The wisdom of
God has always been and will always be a stumbling block for the proud, for those
who place trust in themselves and the promise of their own sophistication.
There are no political solutions because our problems are not primarily
political but spiritual. The elusive answer for which Koestler and Sting and
the natural man in all of us strive lead
us not to human wisdom but to the Cross. While “Jews demand signs and Greeks
look for wisdom, we proclaim Christ crucified,” Paul says.[5] It
was that bloody revolution on the Cross that represents the pivotal apex of human history.
It
is only by Christ’s sacrificial love that all of us – Catholics and
Protestants, Democrats and Republicans, Americans and foreign nationals – will
be saved. And while “the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are
perishing,” Paul reminds us, “to us who are being saved it is the power of
God.”[6] Holding
high the image of the crucified One, we live as spirits in the material world.
As we live from day to day, we proclaim by faith the words of Teilhard de
Chardin: “The
Cross is not a shadow of death, but a sign of progress.”[7]
Where
does the answer lie? It is right in front of us. It is not found in a political
party or candidate. It is not a philosophy or ideology. It is nothing we can
buy or sell or barter for or earn. It is a Person.
It is the divine Person, Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God slain for us, the light
of the world given to us. It is the Spirit descending into this material world
and showing the way for the “ghost” in all of us to break out of the machine
and shine for God’s glory. If that be foolishness, I am ready to play the fool.
[1] Part
of the genius of Pandora’s Music Genome
Project is its algorithmic ability to instantaneously analyze over 400
musical qualitative attributes of (in this case Rush), including melody,
harmony, composition, rhythm, form, and lyrics, and spit out the lead song from
The Police’s 1981 album “Ghost in the Machine.”
[2] Sting explained the song's meaning in Lyrics
By Sting: "I thought that while political progress is clearly
important in resolving conflict around the world, there are spiritual aspects
of our recovery that also need to be addressed. I suppose by 'spiritual' I mean
the ability to see the bigger picture, to be able to step outside the narrow
box of our conditioning and access those higher modes of thinking that Koestler
talked about. Without this, politics is just the rhetoric of failure."
[4] 1 Cor
2:12-16 selected.
[5] 1 Cor
1:22-23.
[6] 1 Cor
1:18.
