The Holy Now
There were no formerly heroic times, and there was no formerly pure generation. There is no one here but us chickens, and so it has always been: a people busy and powerful, knowledgeable, ambivalent, important, fearful and self-aware; a people who scheme, promote, deceive and conquer; who pray for their loved ones, and long to flee misery and skip death. It is a weakening and discoloring idea that rustic people knew God personally once upon a time -- or even knew selflessness or courage or literature -- but that it is too late for us. In fact, the absolute is available to everyone in every age. There never was a more holy age than ours, and never a less.
There is no less holiness at this time -- as you are reading this -- than there was the day the Red Sea parted, or that day in the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, on the fifth day of the month, as Ezekiel was a captive by the river Chebar, when the heavens opened and he saw visions of God. There is no whit less enlightenment under the tree by your street than there was under the Buddha's bo tree. There is no whit less might in heaven or on earth than there was the day Jesus said "Maid, arise" to the centurion's daughter, or the day Peter walked on water, or the night Mohammed flew to heaven on a horse. In any instant the sacred may wipe you with its finger. In any instant the bush may flare, your feet may rise, or you may see a bunch of souls in a tree. In any instant you may avail yourself of the power to love your enemies; to accept failure, slander, or the grief of loss; or to endure torture.
Purity's time is always now. Purity is no social phenomenon, a cultural thing whose time we have missed, whose generations are dead, so we can only buy Shaker furniture. "Each and every day the Divine Voice issues from Sinai," says the Talmud. Of eternal fulfillment, Tillich said, "If it is not seen in the present, it cannot be seen at all."
--Annie Dillard, For the Time Being
My impression is that this was written on a positive note: We can live with the same wonder and in the same primary colors as those in the past. We can be stronger, wiser, better than we think we are. We can make a difference.
After my last post I think: Yes. We are no less barbaric as when David took hundreds of foreskins from Philistine soldiers. We are of the same stuff as Nero, who had some of his people (not just Christians) bound, soaked with pitch, and set afire as torches in his garden. We are happy to believe that Joshua killed the Amalekites, that the walls of Jericho fell, by God's intervention. We rejoice that we are right and others - especially those who suffer - are wrong, and so we have no need to suffer.
Oh yes. We can make a difference. Ayup.
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