all is well with my Soul
First Sunday of the month, customarily birthday Sunday at Holy Nativity, everyone with a birthday in March coming up for birthday blessing and to be sung to, two verses,
Happy birthday to you, and
May the good Lord bless you,
then the liturgy continues with the Collect for Purity - - "Almighty God, to you all hearts are open, all desires known, and from you no secrets are hid: cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of your Holy Spirit, that ...
and on with our worship.
Yesterday's blogpost intimated something about the human soul, not a topic that I'd meant to stir, but looking back, I can see that I stirred it. The original notion of a human soul is credited to Plato, but that's AI's typical know-it-all hot air. I do not at all appreciate that when I Google something anymore, AI pops up with an unequivocal answer when I'm looking for real intelligence! Early I'm witnessing that AI is as simpleminded as whoever loaded the internet with their certainties, and when it's religious or philosophical certainties it's really annoyance first class!
Anyway - - the human soul - - a notion that has been developing and evolving ever since people first started burying flowers, and jewelry, and swords, and even sacrificing horses and slaves to serve them in the next life, with the dead bodies of those we loved. We can't let go, and, as has been noted, it's impossible for us to visualize our own death as a situation without our own consciousness. We think we'll be watching from the invisible unseen.
Nietzsche, “On mine honour, my friend,” answered Zarathustra, “there is nothing of all that whereof thou speakest: there is no devil and no hell. Thy soul will be dead even sooner than thy body: fear, therefore, nothing any more!”
Someone else has noted that the closest a person can come to actual death is total complete deep anesthesia, when we have no feeling, no thoughts, no dreams. While we are on, say, the heart and lung machine, the system continues supplying oxygen to our vital organs, including the brain, but mental awareness is gone: there's no sense at all, not even of darkness, just complete oblivion. It's a practical experience of death, and when you return, no Time has passed and there's nothing to remember.
Sure, memorable NDEs with out of body experiences and observation, and accurate reporting of what went on in the operating room while you watched from above; unexplainable events and perhaps evidence of an extra-physical Being, IDK. But the usual NDE experience of floating toward a brilliant light &c is a burst of awareness in a grand finale of fireworks of the brain fighting death as it begins to shut down.
Does that mean I don't believe in the human soul? It doesn't mean anything except that I refuse to accept dogma that is the result of other people's thinking; or, as final, notions that demonstrably have been evolving since Time immemorial to accommodate the feared unknown to what people want to believe, and religious authorities seizing on that natural fear to control and intimidate members; so that my mind continues to wander off Seeking the Truth, Come whence it May, Cost what it Will.
What do I believe about the human soul then? Mindful that no amount of belief makes anything true, and with an open mind and no certainty, I'm watching and waiting. The concept of the soul, especially of the eternal soul, is not certainty but the hope that is faith.
The Bible? Abraham slept with his fathers. Paul says we sleep in Jesus until the trumpet sounds for the resurrection at the last day. Jesus talks about Lazarus feasting at table with Father Abraham. Luke quotes Jesus saying "this day you will be with me in paradise." It could be a perfect topic for an adult Sunday school class to tackle; I might encourage people to be aware of their certainties and try to avoid letting their certainties control the conversation; and to realize that we are still talking and we don't have to reach solid conclusions. A conversation that leaves the topic open instead of reaching final answers is standard Episcopal/Anglican.
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Notwithstanding, our theology as expressed in the Prayers, Burial of the Dead, Rite One:
In peace, let us pray to the Lord.
Almighty God, who hast knit together thine elect in one communion and fellowship, in the mystical body of thy Son Christ our Lord: Grant, we beseech thee, to thy whole Church in paradise and on earth, thy light and thy peace. Amen.
Grant that all who have been baptized into Christ's death and resurrection may die to sin and rise to newness of life, and that through the grave and gate of death we may pass with him to our joyful resurrection. Amen.
Grant to us who are still in our pilgrimage, and who walk as yet by faith, that thy Holy Spirit may lead us in holiness and righteousness all our days. Amen.
Grant to thy faithful people pardon and peace, that we may be cleansed from all our sins, and serve thee with a quiet mind. Amen.
Grant to all who mourn a sure confidence in thy fatherly care, that, casting all their grief on thee, they may know the consolation of thy love. Amen.
Give courage and faith to those who are bereaved, that they may have strength to meet the days ahead in the comfort of a reasonable and holy hope, in the joyful expectation of eternal life with those they love. Amen.
Help us, we pray, in the midst of things we cannot understand, to believe and trust in the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, and the resurrection to life everlasting. Amen.
Grant us grace to entrust N. to thy never-failing love; receive him into the arms of thy mercy, and remember him according to the favor which thou bearest unto thy people. Amen.
Grant that, increasing in knowledge and love of thee, he may go from strength to strength in the life of perfect service in thy heavenly kingdom. Amen.
Grant us, with all who have died in the hope of the resurrection, to have our consummation and bliss in thy eternal and everlasting glory, and, with [blessed N. and] all thy saints, to receive the crown of life which thou dost promise to all who share in the victory of thy Son Jesus Christ; who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.
And let all the people say in faith, AMEN.
RSF&PTL
T89&c
image: sunrise from 7H this morning