Shining Like the Sun
by Paul Tyson, former Chaplain Brisbane State High School
Thomas Merton, Catholic monk and poet, said “there is no way of telling people
that they are all walking around shining like the sun.” He is talking, on the
one hand, about a type of spell which holds us blind to our own true nature;
and, on the other hand, about the reality hidden by that spell which is that
each person we meet is beautiful beyond the singing of it. If we had the
presence of mind to simply see how valuable beyond price every person is, this
would completely transform our lives. Our priorities, ambitions, our methods of
achieving our goals, and the way we relate to others would experience
redemption. Then beauty, generosity, creativity and love would be the rule and
order of our lives.
Strangely enough, little children tend to have the power to accomplish what
poets and monks cannot. Whilst I was on holidays I went into a shop with my 2
year old daughter – Hannah – to make a small purchase. A large ‘Truckie’ looking
bloke, with tanned and leathery skin, wearing shorts and a blue singlet, was
serving at the counter. In the usual impersonal manner, I gave him some money,
exchanged a few polite words with him, and proceeded to put my purchase in the
tray under the pusher in which Hannah sat.
I am not the most mechanically apt person I know (in fact,
I’m the most mechanically inept person I know) so I struggled with the flippy
thing on the pusher’s foot rest for about 20 seconds before I could put my
parcel below the seat. Whilst this was going on the big man leaned over the
counter, looked straight in Hannah’s eyes and said to her “What’s Daddy done?
He’s broken it has he?” Hannah, fearlessly holding his eye contact, responded
with a knowing smile. This man saw Hannah shinning like the sun, and reached out
across the usual barriers of impersonal and polite isolation, and two beautiful
souls became aware of one another, and for those few seconds the light changed,
the angels sang, and the holy grail of human beauty hung shimmering in the air
before my very eyes.
I hope my poetic imagery here has not obscured how concrete and simple this
moment was. Nevertheless, this profound – yet ordinary – genuine appreciation of
‘The Other’ is the exception rather than the rule in so much of the daily
patterns of our life; as much with people we know very well as with people we
have only passing contact with. Here then is our challenge: can we live in an
attitude of mind and heart which refuses the path of impersonal isolation in the
way we relate to others? Can we hold to the pattern of true appreciation of The
Other as students relating to staff and other students, as staff relating to
students and other staff, in our families? For the only time it is decidedly
useful to relate impersonally or disrespectfully towards others is when we are
manipulating them in a self focused, agenda driven manner; human dignity recoils
at this.
Yet, in our day and age, building a habit of mindfulness of the beauty of others
is not easy. Glenn Gould, one of the 20th century’s great pianists, has
something useful to tell us in this regard. His last major recording was of
Bach’s “Goldberg Variations,” and he explains that at the culmination of his
musical quest he had “discovered slowness.” By this he meant that mere technical
brilliance – sheer proficiency in the rapid and successful execution of a
complex task - in itself is superficial; it lacks depth, deliberativeness and
insight. To play slowly requires far greater musical control and a far richer
insight into the spiritual meaning of music than the display of mere brilliance,
which can be little other than egoistic exhibitionism.
It seems to me that we are in too much of a hurry in the performance of tasks in
our lives to discover the depth and beauty which surrounds us in those shining
beings (ordinary people), or to even appreciate why we are doing our tasks
(which is always in some manner for Others). There is a wonderful Buddhist
phrase about this. It is said “if you are sweeping, know that you are sweeping.”
That is, in whatever you are doing, be deliberate and aware in what you are
doing and mindful of why you are doing it. This way the present will not escape
your attention, and those to whom you are bound by the particularity of your
situation will give meaning and beauty to even the most menial of tasks. Your
actions will then be an expression of care and awareness and you will always
have higher priority for the people whom you serve than the mere completion of
tasks. The aim is to live in a deliberate, insightful and controlled manner,
rather than in a hurried, superficial and reactionary manner. That is what it
means to ‘discover slowness’ in the way we live.
The distinctly Christian understanding of what I have been talking about
revolves around two concepts. Firstly, the belief that every human being is made
in the image of God; secondly, the injunction that everything we do should be
done in order to glorify God. For if we see the shining beauty in every person
we relate to, and if we see every task we do as an expression of love and
devotion to the Divine Other, then we become an avenue through which God’s will
is done on earth. Then the Lord’s prayer “Your Kingdom come, Your will be done
on earth as it is in Heaven” is answered in our lives. Thus the Spirit of God
sanctifies our lives from the spell of blindness and the acts of futility (sin),
and reveals His Kingdom on earth.
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