IN THE WORLD BUT NOT OF THE WORLD

By Fr Jim Cogley

John’s Gospel speaks of ‘being in the world but not of it.’ Obviously, he is not talking about the world of nature and creation that is inescapable so long as we live. However, he is talking about the system or social order that is humanly constructed. This is all about security, status, pleasure, wealth, possessions and power. These are part and parcel of life and not bad in themselves. Yet they are but limited goods with no lasting value except in the way we choose to use them while we live. Whatever we have we cannot keep but we can put it to good use and act like wise stewards of what is entrusted to us. The problem arises when we make what is limited into an absolute commodity. This is where we make the fatal mistake of becoming identified and defining ourselves in terms of what is temporary and passing, and in so doing lose sight of what is permanent. It is our overidentification with the material world that blinds our spiritual awareness and so while in the ‘world’ we are also ‘of’ it.

Whatever we overidentify with as giving us security, status or importance is classed in scriptural terms as an idol which is a false god that will invariably let us down. This is why spiritual writers and teachers from all faiths, in different ways, speak about ‘leaving the world’ which means casting aside the normal systems of illusions. This really amounts to having a spiritual awakening that literally shatters our former illusions and enables us to see that what we thought to be so important wasn’t what it appeared to be. A few minutes in a doctor’s surgery can shatter the illusion that having wealth is everything. Having sacrificed everything on the altar of success may only ring hollow when the marriage fails. because of neglect. We finally have to learn, usually the hard way, ‘to be in the world but not of the world.’ That is, we must compassionately accept the strange way we humans choose to operate and be willing to work inside the system, but never really buy into it. We must see things for what they are and also for what they aren’t. Unless we in some way ‘leave the world, we can safely assume we are utterly beholding to it.

Mature spirituality creates willing people instead of willful people who rely on will-power rather than grace. Christianity is essentially a response to love and grace and freedom, rather than a ginormous effort to become something that we are not. Without this insight, religion largely creates rigid, unhappy, intolerant and judgmental people. When we try to take charge of our own enlightenment, when we try to be fully in control of our own goodness and superiority, our attitude becomes pushing and demanding—ego assertion, even if it looks like religious ego assertion. This is what so many people rightly dislike and mistrust about religious people. There is a deep seated hypocrisy for in the name of the good, will-creates a well-disguised bad. Jesus was a master and genius at recognizing this problem that he found personified in the Pharisees of his time.

On so many occasions in the Gospels Christ teaches about the importance of entering the kingdom via the narrow gate. The eye of the needle is a similar metaphor where he teaches the importance of letting go in order to have, and how identification with externals like roles , wealth or public opinion can prevent our entry to the inner world. The letting go of what we are not in order to discover who we really are stands at the heart of the Gospel. The first beatitude stresses the importance of stripping down and

having poverty of spirit as a precondition for experiencing the inner life of the kingdom. Being not of the world while still in it would be another way of formulating this all-important truth. Religion tends to identify with externals while genuine spirituality is a kingdom reality expressed in the richness of an an inner life.