In Tibetan Buddhism the supplicant writes his prayers or mantra on a piece of paper and attaches the prayer to a prayer wheel and spinning the wheel is the equivalent of chanting the mantra or saying the prayer. The prayer wheel does the chanting or praying and one is freed up to think of other things. Slavoj Žižek compares it to the laugh track on television sit coms. It is not simply that hearing the laughter you will know this is a funny joke, but the laugh track does the laughing for you. Just as the prayer wheel prays for you, or ancient weepers could be hired to weep at the funeral for you, the laugh track relieves you of the effort of laughing. The story is told that a visitor to the house of the famous scientist, Niels Bohr, upon seeing a lucky horseshoe said to Bohr that he was surprised that such a great man would believe such nonsense. Bohr snapped back: “I also do not believe in it; I have it there because I was told that it works even if one does not believe in it!” The act of hanging the horseshoe relieves one of having to directly believe – it is enough to have nailed it to the wall. This is the way religion works in Japan: if you would interrupt someone at their prayers at a shrine and ask if they believe in the religion, they would likely deny that they are in any way religious. Belief is not a necessary part of the religion as the rituals, the priests, the regular observances, relinquish one of having to directly believe. Robert Pfaller has coined the term “interpassivity” to capture the paradox of this distancing of the self from one’s own beliefs. What one does – nailing the horseshoe, spinning the prayer wheel, employing weepers or laughers – frees from direct engagement in what one is doing. There is relief from the superego injunction to obey, to believe, to enjoy, which is, of course, Paul’s picture of our orientation to the law. There is an incapacity of the “I” or will which arises in this internal distancing – “I am not able to do what I want,” Paul says. Continue reading “Escaping Law and Order Christianity: From Interpassivity to Intervention into the Law”
Tag: Slavoj Žižek
The Blindness of “Masculine” Biblical Interpretation and the Cure of a “Feminine” Orientation
My theological journey is not very flattering in that I am not a quick study. I have come to insights such as nonviolence through a long process which, from my present perspective, look obvious and essential. I have to wonder why it took so long. If I were naturally a sweet-natured, kind, gentle, soul, learning of the biblical mandate for peace would, perhaps, not have been such a theoretical hurdle and a prolonged personal struggle. The same is true of my understanding of the role of women. If I were naturally chivalrous and loving, I suppose I would have paid more attention to a reading of Scripture that promotes these qualities. Continue reading “The Blindness of “Masculine” Biblical Interpretation and the Cure of a “Feminine” Orientation”
Gender Restoration
In the creation of humans in Genesis, male and female are the mode in which the image bearing capacity of God is conveyed to humankind. Gender and embodiment seem to function for humankind as part of the essence of who we are in imaging God. The ontological nature of gender is affirmed by Paul when he references Genesis and the mystery of marriage as referring to Christ and the Church. The mystery of sexual union between male and female is on the order of the union and oneness between Christ and the Church (Eph. 5:32). Gender is not something we set aside in being joined to Christ but is taken up even in this ultimate of relationships. Whether Paul is speaking literally or metaphorically, gender seems to carry enduring metaphysical importance. Continue reading “Gender Restoration”