The Human Condition 1

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0:00 So we wrapped up last week thinking about what it means that we live in the age of Pentecost where that original spirit of God is available to us. We considered, along with that book from Run Your Account to La Mesa, the things that the Holy Spirit encouraged Jesus to do, anointed him to confront his adversary, anointed him to preach the good news and gave him then also the capacity to live out the faith.

0:37 And he does the same for each of us. This week, continuing my summer reading, I'm rereading this book by Thomas Keating called The Human Condition, which we gave out some copies last week. There's a few more back there on the table. It's not a hard book to find if there's, you don't get back there and there's none there. And it's not expensive. It's a short book. So if you didn't get into it this past week, that's okay. You can read it in one sitting.

1:11 I was telling Tammy Sue and Bill back there that I came across this book. Actually, my last year of undergraduate studies, I was a religion major at the University of Florida and all of the senior class in that college took a senior seminar and it was all about the experience of religion. The junior seminar was about the study of religion, the psychology of religion, the philosophy of religion, the history of religion, sociology of religion.

1:42 And then the senior seminar was all about the experience of religion. And so he had a reading, experiential accounts of different faiths. And maybe because of that, I was very skeptical of all of the reading that I got. Being a good preacher's kid and captured by the faith of Christ. I was very skeptical of all these other readings. And this one was no different when he gave us this book by Thomas P.E.N.

2:14 I said, well, he's a monk, good for him. That doesn't mean that he likes Jesus. It doesn't mean necessarily that he likes Jesus. I won't take it for granted. And if you've got into this book at all, one of the things that sticks out, maybe on a first reading, is how willing Thomas Keating is to learn from other faiths. Throughout this book, he'll learn from Sufi masters, he'll learn from Buddhist meditation instructors.

2:47 He's learning from a lot of the mystic traditions across religious spectrums. And a college senior, Ben, was really nervous by this. One of the cornerstones of the Christian faith is that Christ opens the door to God for all of us. Re-create something in us with the capacity for the indwelling of the Spirit like we've been talking about. And that comes through the work of Christ.

3:20 And so seeing that he learns from these other religions made me really nervous. Then the reason that our professor had us read this book is because he had also arranged for Thomas Verne to come and speak. So Thomas Verne came and spoke to about 100 of us in a room together. Wasn't just in my class, it was open to all the college, but the fools at the University of Florida didn't want to come see the real life Thomas Keating. Thomas Keating became famous for reinvigorating a practice in the Christian tradition called Centering Prayer.

3:53 Still is a really robust community, the Centering Prayer community. You can google and look it up as a really rejuvenating practice of entering into the experience of God. And the tradition of Christian mystics that's called the Cloud of Unknowing. So the book that Thomas Keating read the tradition that he was exposed to is called the Cloud of Unknowing. And then a subset underneath the Cloud of Unknowing is the tradition of Centering Prayer, which Thomas Keating really brought to the forefront. And when he came to University of Florida, we saw lots of lectures and they are dry and not fun.

4:29 College lectures. Anybody been to a college lecture, remember a college lecture that you went to? Usually they've prepared a long paper, they've typed it all out very carefully, each word selected on purpose. They stand at a lectern and read one page after the other. It's like reading a white paper out loud. It's terrible experience. Hopefully you've read it ahead of time so that you could process what it means. You can daydream while the person talks, ask an intelligent question and get extra credit for class.

5:02 Right? Thomas Keating came into the room full monk garb. Something inspiring just about seeing someone taking that seriously. White robe, black burlap, casket, tied. He's a tall dude, he wasn't tall dude, he's passed on now, bald head. And immediately when he walked into the room, I thought, oh, this guy is learning from the other religions of the world,

5:33 not because he believed through all the same, but because his faith in the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob,

6:10 he was placed on the ground, my hands on my lap, moving through the first practice of censoring prayer. Because it was such an experience in the body that I was not expecting, but was powerful in the moment. And so this lecture, this book called The Human Condition is actually a transcription of a lecture that he gave at Harvard about the human condition, so it's aptly named. And like I said, it's not a hard read, but I'm going to go through just the first point of it. I'm just going to go through from page seven, eight, and nine this morning.

6:45 And I don't know how long it will take us to get through this, but just a little bit. I'm not going to read all of it, but I just want to read a couple of points. He comes and says, where are you? Opens, it says, this is the great question of all time. It's the focus of the first half of the spiritual journey, this question about where are you? And then he goes to how God asked Adam and Eve in the garden at the critical point, where are you? They were hiding in the woods and God was looking for them. And the marvelous story of creation is not just about Adam and Eve, it's really about us, he says.

7:20 It's about who we are. And that the same question is addressed to every generation, time, and person. At every moment of our lives, God is asking us, where are you? And this one, why are you hiding? We talked about that a little bit last week. Why do Adam and Eve run away from God? Right? And then if I think about my practice of prayer or movement towards God and its fullness or its kind of an ebbic nature,

7:56 it's like I'm not moving towards God enough. The question from God, where are you? It's particularly poignant. And it's a driving question in the narrative of your life. It's the question from God, hey, where did you go? And why are you not here with me? And he goes down on page 80, he says they had to hide from God because the loss of intimacy and union

8:27 that they had enjoyed with him in paradise was so painful. What he says, he goes on to explain a little bit more, but he interprets that experience of the fall where they take the choice to believe that they can make a decision that God had reserved for himself, that they have a different kind of consciousness now and their consciousness is separated from that of God in a new way. And that separation, the separation from God, where now they don't rely on God for the foundational directional decisions of their life, they think they can handle the responsibility

9:01 of foundational directional decisions, creates the separation from God and the separation from God is what's painful. The separation from God is what causes their experience of guilt, of fear, of shame, because they were ripped apart from the God they were intended to be intimately connected with. And then of course all their children, all the way down to you and I are born with separation from God.

9:32 With this notion that we ought to be able to decide for ourselves the foundational directional questions of life. And that separation of God is experiencing what he goes on to say as a loss of happiness. He says happiness is intimacy with God. But I want to look at this story from the Sufi master because it's really compelling and points out where he's going in his first section of the book. He says sometimes, so he's just told the story of Adam and Eve and this loss of intimacy

10:04 in the garden and he says sometimes it helps to turn to a story from another spiritual tradition. In juxtaposing the two stories, we may get a new insight. And here is a Sufi tale that is also about the human condition. It's worth mentioning that if it's a human condition, if it's this lack of intimacy with God is something that exists across the spectrum, then it would be experienced by people all over the world. That the human condition is not a European problem, it's not a Christian problem, right?

10:36 It's not an old people's problem, it's not a wealthy problem, it's not a child's problem. The human condition is a universal problem across all of humanity. So it makes sense whether they've heard the story of Christ or not, all humanity has experienced the problem of the human condition, which Keating is describing as a loss of intimacy with God, which is experienced as a loss of happiness or a presence of pain, of guilt, of fear, of shame. And so it makes sense for the smart, the spiritual and the mystical all around the world to have

11:12 grappled with this idea. And Keating is saying Sufi masters, so Sufis are the mystic strain of the Muslim faith, that there's a story there. And he says that Sufi master had lost a key, lost D key to his house and was looking for it in the grass outside. He got down on his hands and knees and started running his fingers through every blade of grass and a long came eight or ten disciples, eight or ten of his disciples and they said master was strong.

11:42 He said I've lost the key to my house. And they said well can we help you find it? He said I'd be delighted. So they all got down their hands and knees and started running their fingers through the grass. And as the sun grew hotter, one of the more intelligent disciples said master, how do you have any idea where you might have lost your key? We've been here looking through the grass as the sun's getting higher. Maybe you could think through where you lost it. The master replied of course. I lost it in the house.

12:13 To which they all explained then why are we looking for it out here? He said is it obvious? There's more light out here. Well it's not obvious. And then he goes on to explain it. If you look at page ten, the chief characteristic of the human condition is that everybody is looking for this key. He's saying the key is the way to get into the house, the place where you were made to be.

12:44 The intimacy with God which you experience as happiness, satisfaction, contentment. The chief characteristic of the human condition is that everybody is looking for the key and nobody knows where to find it. The human condition is thus poignant and extreme. If you want help as you look for the key in the wrong place, you can get plenty of it. Because everybody is looking for it in the wrong place too. Where there is more light, pleasure, security, power, acceptance by others.

13:15 We have a sense of solidarity in this search without any possibility of finding what we are looking for. Oh man, the first time I had forgotten that story and reread it this week and thinking about it. We can find lots of people who are willing to help us find what we are looking for in the place where we will never find it. Where there is more light, where it's just easier. Where there's more power, affection, self-esteem, like all of the things.

13:50 It says, because everybody is looking for the wrong place too. Where there is more light, pleasure, security, power, acceptance by others. We have a sense of solidarity in this search without any possibility of finding it. I wonder if you have the sort of self-awareness to be able to look retrospectively on the choices

14:23 you've made or the time you've spent and analyze how has it been spent looking for the key for the way to happiness. What is your driver through the days, your dominant driver through the years, what's your motivator in friendships, in work, in marriages, in homes, in finances.

14:55 What is your driving force? In page 11 he says, if we can grasp the fact that only the experience of God can put into perspective all other forms of pleasure or the promises of happiness that various creatures provide, then we will realize that we are looking for happiness in the grass, in the wrong places.

15:26 When he was talking about that last phrase there, if we can grasp the fact that only the experience of God can put into perspective all forms of pleasure, I thought about that famous line from St. Augustine, do you remember it? It says, Lord, it's true, our souls are restless until they find their rest in you. Remember that? Our souls are restless until they find their rest in you. That's a beautiful phrase. It only really works in retrospect though, right? Of course, Augustine didn't quote that phrase when he was running after the parties or the

16:03 women or the money. Augustine led a very rambunctious life until the moment when he came to faith. And he read a phrase in Romans about leaving behind certain patterns of behavior and life because you've been captured by God. And as he read it, the Holy Spirit anointed the good news of the gospel and created faith inside of St. Augustine. And he comes out with this phrase, oh my goodness, my soul has been restless until it's found its rest in you. I mean, I was running through all these places looking in the graph for the key to life contentment

16:35 and satisfaction and I could never find it. And suddenly I looked in the house where it was all along. It doesn't, the only way you can say with certainty and clarity and honesty, authenticity, my soul is restless until it finds its rest in you, is till after God has caught up with you and found you. Doesn't make it less true. I'm just trying to give you a sense of perspective. If you are running blindly looking in the graph with all of your friends, it doesn't

17:07 help to yell at them, hey, you're looking in the wrong place. Maybe just walk into the house and experience happiness yourself because it's true. Let's look at it. It made me also think of this passage that Paul writes to the church in Colossa. If you want to look there with me, it's in Colossians chapter one. I don't know what got into Paul when he was writing Colossians, but I think it's some of his most beautiful writing in Colossians.

17:38 I don't know if it was something about the congregation he was writing to where he thought they could handle it or would be particularly inspired by it, but this section in first Colossians has got to be some of Paul's most beautiful. I don't have any objective proof of that. It's just my own notion. First Colossians chapter one, we're going to start at verse 15, just because it's the part I like, but we're just going to read most of it. We don't have to stop for a couple of verses. He's talking about Jesus, the Son of God, which he's just talked about prior.

18:15 Then verse 15, he is the image of the invisible God. The firstborn of all creation, for by him all things were created in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities, all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things and in him all things hold together.

18:48 Paul is trying to communicate the classic that Jesus, the Son of God, is not some small tribal parochial deity. That Jesus is not some backwards messiah intended to liberate the small tribe of Israel on the far side of the Mediterranean Sea from the Roman authorities. Don't get some small notion about Jesus as though he were the solution for a small

19:19 subset of people in one place in one time. Paul is trying to elevate the imagination of the Colossians and remind them that their God, Jesus the Christ, is the beginning and end of all things. In him all things were made and all things were made for him and currently now all things are held together in him, that Christ is this universal cosmic beginning and solution

19:50 for all things. Beautiful, right? And then he goes on and then he locates it. Now because he is universal doesn't mean he is generic. Because he is universal doesn't mean he is plural. Because he is universal he is also specific that you might know exactly where to find him without doubt or question.

20:22 And he is the head of the body, the courage. He is the beginning, the first form from the dead. But in everything he might be preeminent. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell. In the person of Jesus the Christ all the fullness of God is dwelling, is living. You don't need to go outside of him for anything. All things are found in the person of Christ. For in him all the fullness of God is pleased to dwell.

20:52 And through him to reconcile to himself all things whether on earth or in heaven making peace by the blood of his cross. Very specific, right? One crucifixion, one cross outside of Jerusalem is the solution for all the things. Verse 21, and you say so he reconciles all things to himself and then he goes and you who once were alienated and hostile in mind doing evil deeds as he has now reconciled

21:25 in his body of flesh by his death in order to present you holy and blameless and above approach before him. If indeed you continue in faith, stable and steadfast not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven and of which I Paul and the minister that God he's saying that God in the person of Christ through the work of the cross has reconciled. I look up reconciled to make sure I wasn't directed you guys wrong but it's reconnecting

21:57 something that was once connected. You have this origin in the Sufi notion of living in the house. Enter some fault of your own and cosmic problem of humanity. You lost the key but he has restored the key and opened the door for you to get back to the place where you were made to live in intimacy with him. He goes on even further to get it really clear in one of my favorite verses verse 24 is not

22:29 the favorite verse but come. Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake and in my flesh I am filling up with his lacking Christ's afflictions for the sake of his body that is the church of which I became minister according to the stewardship from God which was given to me to make word of God fully known. He's being very technical there. Verse 26. The mystery of God this is it to make the word of God fully known this is the word of God. The mystery hidden for ages and generations but now revealed to his saints.

23:01 To them chose to make known how great to them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery which is Christ in you your hope for glory. This is what he is saying is that God in the person of Christ has made possible of Christ to step to live in you for you to again as Adam and Eve were intended to have intimacy

23:33 with God. Move back into your home. I love the phrase Christ in you your hope for glory. Hope for glory is like a again like a beautiful phrase of Paul that usually we have no concept of what it means. It just sounds pretty. It makes you think of light coming out from somewhere or something. We don't know what glory means. It bothered me for a while so I started this is not any I didn't look this up it's just Ben's notion of what the word glory means based on how it's I see it used in the story

24:08 of scripture. I think glory means something being revealed for what it actually and truly is that when Christ comes in all his glory you will instantly on seeing him recognize that anything beautiful you've ever seen has its culmination in this person. You'll have a sense in your heart that any experience of justice that you've ever witnessed in your life has its fulfillment here.

24:39 Your mind will be firing on all sin after you realize anything new you ever learned originated from this person and comes back to this person when Christ comes in all of his glory you'll recognize that everything was his idea and everything will be his idea that he is the beginning and end of all things when you when you see Christ coming in his glory you'll recognize him for who he truly is. And so Paul says that your hope to be who you truly are is in Christ inside of you.

25:14 If you want your deepest creativity your greatest ability your fullest ideas your most generous love your most persistent creation. If you want your most selfless service your most adventurous journeys if you want to become fully yourself you come back to the idea that God in Christ reunited himself to you.

25:47 That the great problem of humanity that all the world has grappled with for all time has been resolved for you that you have hope to be yourself again united to the God through the person of Christ Christ in you your hope for glory.

26:25 If you call in his letter to the Colossians if you read on if we if you read on just a little bit further he would tell him why he's reminding them that Christ in them the hope for glory because he wants him to not forget that that the gospel is what brings Christ there claim to the faith that God sent Christ on your behalf unbidden by you and that he

27:02 stays there at the prerogative of God in him all things hold together then he says live then out of that faith as though the God were for you and had organized a future for you so you become your fullest self in connection to him Paul shares the truth of the gospel that Christ is in you and that is your hope for glory your hope to become your full self in order that we might live out of that reality in the house not combing through the grass of power affection of

27:40 people money purpose but connection to God as we move through this book with Keating this notion of the human condition we'll get into the way he breaks down how from from the earliest stages of our self-conscious consciousness we devise ways to go try and find the key ourselves rather than letting God give it to us we try and find happiness contentment satisfaction and something besides intimacy with God and we do it from from the time that we develop self-conscious all the

28:16 way through to today you have little schemes in your life to solve your lack of happiness or contentment on your own and to the greed to which we're able to unearth those and expose those then like Augustine will be able to say oh it's true Lord my soul is reckless until it finds its rest in you and if there's no greater testimony to the power of the gospel than a people who are truly at rest contentment is the great testimony of the power of God and you and I have Christ in us

28:58 and so every reason we can dance let me pray. Hey Lord thank you for the gift of your son Jesus the Christ. May his presence in our lives awaken our truest fullest selves so that we could experience happiness contentment with you in Jesus name we pray.