contemplation in a world of violence

i've been wanting to write something about james alison's paper Contemplation in a World of Violence, which i've read and re-read over the past week. i’m staggered by the profundity of what he says – words that my heart attests are true because they don’t so much teach me what i didn’t know but give voice and form to a knowing which was always there.

the paper, originally presented in november 2001, addresses the events of september 11 2001 and their 'meaning', so i think it holds particular resonance at the moment, with the recent 3rd anniversary of "9/11" just gone, preceded closely by the tragic events in beslan and last week's bomb attack on the australian embassy in jakarta.

the starting point of what alison says in this paper is a recognition that the terrible acts of violence such as those of september 11 2001, and indeed to some extent any acts of violence, suck us in to seeing the world through the eyes of the violent, summoning us, as he says, "to participate in something satanic." it is not the events themselves which are satanic, but the meaning we give them and hence the meaning they give to us of belonging "to something bigger, more important, with hints of nobility and solidarity." alison calls this satanic for the precise reason that it is a "lie from the one who was a murderer and liar from the beginning, the same lie behind all human sacrifices, all attempts to create social order and meaning out of a sacred space of victimization."

one indication that this feeling of unanimity and solidarity is a lie and illusion is that it is not a true universal oneness but an attitude of us and them, of the good and innocent against the 'evildoers'. such a framing of things breaks down further because it requires classifying everyone into 'with us' or 'against us', a task which brings more and more division as it becomes increasingly clear that there are some amongst us who are not fully on our side. the outworkings of this mindset are clear to see in the united states (and, to a lesser extent, australia and britain) over the last 3 years.

the contrast with the workings of god in jesus could not be more stark. on this point its worth quoting alison at length:

"Jesus not only taught us to look away, not to allow ourselves to be seduced by the satanic. He also acted out what the undoing of the satanic meant: he was so powerful that he was able to lose to its need to sacrifice so as to show that it was entirely unnecessary. We are so used to describing Jesus cross and resurrection as a victory - a description taken from the military hardware store of satanic meaning - that we easily forget that what that victory looked like was a failure. So great is the power behind Jesus teaching and self-giving that he was able to fail, thus showing once and for all that 'having to win', the grasping on to meaning, success, reputation, life and so on is of no consequence at all. Death could not hold him in, because he was held in being by one for whom death does not exist, is not even the sort of rival who might be challenged to a duel which someone might win. But if death can only get meaning by having victory, if the order of sacred violence can only have meaning if it matters to us to survive, to be, to feel good, at the expense of someone, then someone for whom it doesn't matter to lose is someone who is playing its game on totally different terms, and its potential for giving meaning collapses."

here we see the true revelation and revolution of jesus, "a human heart and eyes so utterly held by the Creator that they speak the Creator's heart about this world . . . not just in word, but by a creative acting out and living so-as-to-lose to the sacrificial game in order to undo it, thus enabling creation to be unsnarled from our truncation of it into a violent perversion and trap."

this is truly gospel, good news which has the power to change lives. jesus showed us "what living from utterly non-rivalistic creative power for which death is not, looks like," and then died to set us free from "the world of our meaning and our death." death has no real meaning or power because god is beyond and above death, and it is in his arms that we are held.

alison's questing mind takes him further into the heart of the matter by asking why god would want to do such a thing for us: "Why not leave us to get on with it, stuck in our charades, thinking the world of our meaning and our death?" what is behind this "desire for us not to be trapped in death?" the answer he comes up with his simple but profound:

"The staggering thing that this means, for me, is that the most extraordinary fruit of contemplation in the shadow of the violence which we are experiencing is this: God likes us. All of us. God likes me and I like being liked. It has nothing to do with whether we are bad or good, indeed, he takes it for granted that we are all more or less strongly tied up in the sacred lie. In teaching after teaching he makes the same point: all are invited, bad and good. Those are our categories, part of the problem not part of the solution, not God's category. God's 'category' for us is 'created' and 'created' means 'liked spaciously, delighted in, wanted to give extension, fulfilment, fruition to, to share in just being'. We are missing out on something huge and powerful and serene and enjoyable and safe and meaningful by being caught up in something less than that, an ersatz perversion of each of those things. And because God likes us he wants us to get out of our addiction to the ersatz so as to become free and happy."

i think this conclusion has incredible implications, especially for those of us who call ourselves followers of jesus. it completely removes all basis for division or exclusion, for thinking and acting in terms of in and out, us and them. it shows up our rivalries and struggles for control as folly, nothing but clutching after illusions. and because we are secure in the gentle, strong liking of god we are able to live truly without fear or favour. alison concludes his essay with by revealing the subversive potential of such a life, lived safe in the "powerful, infinitely restful" hands of god:

"Personally, the strongest feeling I have had over the last few weeks is the quite unexpected discovery that I am no longer frightened of Muslims, and that I like them, and that this is only the beginning of discovering what it will mean to rejoice in them and see them as part of an 'us'. Is this not the deepest act of treachery against the satanic order which was turned on in a part of all our minds and hearts by the events of September 11th?

"And where on earth will it end?"

Where indeed...