Another day in the ivory tower...yeah, anybody who tells you that academia is free-wheeling, undogmatic study in search of truth is a dirty liar, woefully mistaken. In fact, they probably haven't set foot in a grad. seminar. There is a culture, even a sacred culture, that is sanctified in ways at least as rigid as any Christian doctrinal system...in many ways, more so. AKA...any talk of religion being doctrinaire while academia is the all-seeing eye of truth...well, pots loves calling kettles...ahem...
So a recent revelation: Mother Theresa faced a spiritual crisis for the vast majority of her life. As she herself noted, even as she was teaching about the love of God, she could not feel it...indeed, she doubted God's very existence. Her cheery demeanor was a front, "a mask" or a "cloak that covers everything." She worried at what seemed to be a chain of unanswered prayers: "The more I want him--the less I am wanted." Even more, she wondered at her purpose in even laboring: "What do I labor for? If there be no God, there can be no soul--if there is no soul then Jesus--you also are not true"). Theresa, it might be said by some (though not by me), was living a double life.
While this talk does not inherently equate athiestic temptations, it is heady stuff for those of the faith--any faith. It poses piercing questions about ourselves, how we see God and revelation. One acquaintance suggested that Theresa faced this anguish because "she was not baptized into the Mormon church." While I am an enormous proponent of missionary work and baptisms, I would suggest that this stance questions the stance taken by the First Presidency: individuals outside the faith can be afforded portions (some greater, others lesser) of the Spirit. Think of this: MOther Theresa was one of the great humanitarians of our time (alongside Herbert Hoover--another post) and faced gnawing doubts about the existence of God. With our supposed "testimonies," how much good do we do? Theresa managed to do better with her few bits of truth than I do with its fulness. If Latter Day Saints are to make any claim to greater light and truth, we (and really, I) must do better.
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
Mother Theresa, Mormonism, and Faith: "I look, and do not see; listen and do not hear"
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2 comments:
I cannot speak for anyone else, but the (I thought obvious) lesson from this article is the fact that "it happens to the best of us." Plain and simple. Of course there are more complexities though.
First of all, it's hard to tell what comes first... Theresa's depression, her focus on the "negative" aspects of the Gospel, or her crisis of Faith. I saw some worrying things in that article about Mother Theresa.
First of all, there is a problem when we focus on the "negative" aspects of the Gospel. Negative is a poor term for what I'm describing, I realize that. I'm talking, though, about the focus on Christ's suffering, the suffering of the World, guilt and shame at sin, guilt and shame at self-perceived "pride." While those ideas have a place in our theology, when we focus solely on those ideas and not on the HOPE the Gospel brings, we are inviting negative thinking.
Secondly, pure clinical depression, plain and simple. A chemical imbalance that could have been treated with proper therapy or medication (neither of which was available to Theresa).
Third, her "crisis of Faith." She seems to wonder whether God exists because there are times when she cannot feel Him. And yet, did Christ not Himself ask, "Why hast thou forsaken me?"
I, for one, have experienced all three of these things. I have been baptized and confirmed a member of the LDS church. I think it's dangerous to think that Mother Theresa is any different than us, no matter what faith we are a member of. To think that any of those three problems were the result of her not picking the right religion is borderline offensive to me.
I absolutely concur, esp. re: the point about Christ asking that most poignant question...one LDS scholar noted that those with the greatest spiritual insight articulate the most piercing questions...faith=questioning? I like it.
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