Punctum Saliens

Found the following on Exploring Our Matrix and couldn’t agree more:

When we hear the words ascribed to Jesus in John’s Gospel, ‘I am the way, the truth and the life; no one comes to the Father but by me’, we do not hear them in a narrowly exclusive way. In John’s gospel, let us remember, the words of Jesus are the words of the Logos, not just of the individual human being, Jesus of Nazareth. That Word or Logos enlightens every one who comes into the world. Those of us who are Christians believe that we have heard it loud and clear in Jesus Christ and that we need not look beyond him. But we do not deny that the Word finds expression in other traditions, and, indeed, in the whole creation

— John Macquarrie, Jesus Christ in Modern Thought

Yes, arc, as in an incomplete circle. Can you tell The Lion King is now one of my daughter’s favorite movies?

Near the beginning of the movie, Mufasa explains life to Simba:

M: A King’s time as a ruler rises and falls like the sun. Everything you see exists together in a delicate balance. As King you need to understand that balance and respect all creatures, from the crawling ant to the leaping antelope.
S: But Dad, don’t we eat the antelope?
M: Yes, Simba, but let me explain. When we die, our bodies become the grass, and the antelope eat the grass. And so, we are all connected in the great circle of life

And this is part of the whole environment/ecology problem: we humans do not see ourselves as part of the “circle of life.” We see ourselves as special, elite, superior to all of nature. So much so, that we don’t even let our bodies give back to the earth — the earth that we rape and pillage and from which we take so much. We bury our bodies in coffins that insulate our rotting remains from nature.

Sure, we are special among God’s creatures, but we are still creatures and all creation “declares the glory of God” so if we get recycled into grass, we would still declare the glory of God — probably more effectively than we did as a human being!

Is this some sort of bodily resurrection thingy — some idea that we are helping God out by keeping our remains all neat and tidy in one place where he can find them? I think that if it really were, we’d mummify ourselves. Wasn’t that the whole Egyptian idea — preserve the body for the next life? But when you think about it, is there really much of a difference whether we end up a pile of bones in a coffin or a pile of bones in the dirt? We are still a pile of bones.

We may have been the culmination of God’s creation, but we are still a creation, and in that respect, no different than the rocks, trees, ants, or antelope. We need to put ourselves back into the circle — mentally and physically — before it’s too late.