Sunday November 5, 2017
The Bogus
Sometimes we are socked to hear of apparently good people - public figures or church personalities - who are discovered to be leading double lives. These are the present-day Pharisees that Jesus condemns in today's Gospel. "Do what they tell you and listen to what they say," he says, "but do not be guided by what they do." As the Pharisee stories are passed down to us by St. Matthew they are probably caricatures of men who were generally decent. But as Matthew and his friends were having difficulties with them they used the words of Jesus to give them a bad press. So, was the Church of the time of St. Matthew a bit pharisaical itself? Was it twisting the truth for its own purpose?
We are always shocked when we discover good people that are bogus, phony, and plastic - Pharisees. But then one day we tumble to the bogus in ourselves! We discover how pharisaical we, ourselves, are!
Perhaps one of the greatest burdens that we have to carry in life is the image people have of us. It creates expectations and if we are not careful, we can become slaves of these expectations. One of the most dangerous "images" is that of "being holy." We can be forced to live out of that image, that holiness, and become a slave to it. That is why religion that is too much on the surface is seldom deep. People who have a reputation for holiness and who appeal too easily to discernment and the "will of God" as a reason for their actions can be escaping the relationship with God found in everyday life and in human situations. They can be bogus.
The world may be divided into two classes of people - the bad bad people and the good bad people. The bad, bad people would be those like the younger son in the story of the forgiving father (Luke 15). He knew he was bad and had no problem admitting it. The good bad people would be similar to the older son, obedient and respectful, but resentful and lacking in compassion; a bogus person. Here are two big surprises: First, the Lord had much more time and compassion for the bad bads than for the good bads. Second, the people who come to prayer or meditation groups are much more likely to be good bad people rather than bad bad people!
I know from personal experience that a lot of the depression experienced by religious people springs from jealousy. Jealousy is an insidious vice that is very hard to admit, especially by one who is known to be holy or in a state of holiness. I remember a teacher telling me once that he taught many people how to play the guitar, but none of them excelled. This was because he always kept something back because he feared to have a rival to his prowess as the best player in the establishment.
The Enneagram shows that each of us has some quality that we seek compulsively - being right, helpful, successful, special, wise, loyal, fun loving, strong or calm. If my self- esteem depends on my being wise or right or successful - or holy-I have a vested interest in your being dumb or wrong or a failure - or being sinful. As we grow up we learn that it is not socially acceptable to show ourselves for what we are in the raw, so we do it subtly. We often do or say one thing when our meaning or purpose may be quite contrary. We become Pharisees.
The mantra is the great diagnostician and the great cure for the Pharisee within us. As we say the mantra we are learning to sit at our own center where Christ is. He is the Spirit of truth, the truth that sets us free. In his light the dishonest and insincere very quickly stand out. At first it makes us very uncomfortable. We want to stop meditation and to run away from truth and the light. But if we stick with the mantra, the ego is gradually unhooked and we can ace the truth about ourselves and the truth will set us free.
As we meditate we will more and more discover the bogus in ourselves: The venality, the dishonesty and the lustfulness that we are still capable of in spite of the holy image that we project before others. As we say the mantra we will become freer to accept the darker side of ourselves and once we have accepted it, it loses control over us. We become more integrated and less bogus.
