What's in the Temple?
In his poem What's in the Temple?, Tom Barrett poses three questions:
If you had a
temple in the secret spaces of your heart, what would you worship there?
What
would you bring to sacrifice? and
What would be behind the curtain in the holy
of holies?"
I think that the first question, "what
would you worship there?" is quite a challenging one for Unitarians, as we
do not presume to define God / the Sacred Divine for others, and some of us do
not believe in an external divine other at all. Our Unitarianism these days is a wonderful “free faith based on the inner authority of the
enlightened conscience.” And our
consciences are enlightened by not only what we think and believe with our
heads. Intuition and feeling are also considered
important, thanks initially to James Martineau, the great 19th century
Unitarian theologian. And our beliefs may change over time, as part of a process of continuous and continuing revelation.
So my answer to the first question might
be: I would worship the God I believe in, whom I have come to believe in
through exercising my reason and conscience, and through bouncing ideas off
other Unitarians. And that the God I believe in is a personal God, who exists
both "out there" as well as "in here", and whose divine
principle is Love. But that is just my answer, as a unique Unitarian, and this belief might change over time.
At first sight, the second question "what
would you bring to sacrifice?" may seem to have little relevance to modern
Unitarians. But I think that if you understand the word "sacrifice"
in terms of giving something up, it makes a lot more sense in a Unitarian
context. Because our Unitarian faith should not be practiced lightly, without
commitment, and making a commitment to something often involves sacrificing
some part of our old lives.
My answer to this second question would be, in the words of Elisabeth Kubler-Ross "all that is not truly me, all that I have chosen without choosing and
valued without evaluating, or accepted because of someone else’s extrinsic
judgment, rather than my own; and all my self-doubt that keeps me from trusting
and loving myself or other human beings." This is a work in progress; to
fulfil it will take my whole life.
Barrett's
last question was "What would be behind the curtain in the holy of
holies?" The holy of holies was the innermost sanctuary of the Temple in Jerusalem, and
was separated from the rest of the Temple
by a curtain or veil. According to the Hebrew Bible, only the high priest could
go in there, and he only once a year. The holy of holies was said to contain
the Ark of the Covenant, which contained the ten commandments given to Moses by
God on Mount Sinai. This was the most holy and
precious object in Temple
Judaism.
So
the answer to the question what would be behind the curtain in the holy of
holies refers to that which is most precious to each of us, which we prize above
all other things. Or perhaps what we appreciate most about our own faith tradition, in my case Unitarianism.
For me the important thing about Unitarianism is that we
are united in our diversity; united
in the mutual provision of this safe and sacred space, in which we may explore
our diverse beliefs and faiths, knowing that our doubts and questions and
beliefs will be held and respected, and that we will be welcomed just the way
we are.
And it is precious. This way of being united in diversity - a way
of being religious and spiritual that involves mutual respect and acceptance
and love - is what would be behind the curtain in my holy of holies.
the text under the blanked out section reads: So my answer to the first question might be: I would worship the God I believe in, whom I have come to believe in through exercising my reason and conscience, and through bouncing ideas off other Unitarians. And that the God I believe in is a personal God, who exists both "out there" as well as "in here", and whose divine principle is Love. But that is just my answer, as a unique Unitarian.
ReplyDeleteSacrifice can also mean to make sacred - so the question could mean, what would you make sacred in the temple?
ReplyDeleteI would be interested to see where that definition comes from Yewtree - it is not in the Concise OED ...
ReplyDeleteFrom Latin sacrificium (“sacrifice”), from sacrificō (“make or offer a sacrifice”), from sacer (“sacred, holy”), + faciō (“do, make”).
ReplyDeletehttp://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/sacrifice#Etymology
In answer to the questions... I do have a temple in the secret spaces of my heart, and there I worship my household gods: Shiva, Odin, Ishtar, Inanna, Baubo, Bast.
What sacred things are in your temple (question 2 rephrased): Trees, cats, moon, stars, the ocean. All of Nature really.
What would be behind the curtain in the holy of holies: a mirror. Or maybe, nothing.