Pax and Jesus

Peace, by George Herbert, a famous Christian poet whose life overlapped with William Shakespeare's, is a poem that I find significant in that it illustrates a point on which, though I respect Christianity very much, I must part ways with it. 

I would very much request that anyone who reads this understand that in this post, I am not criticizing Christianity--I am only telling how my own point of view differs.

The poem is about searching for peace. The speaker describes his quest in the form of a second-person address to a personified version of peace. This embodiment of peace in language--he uses a capital "P"--seems very similar to Roman religion, in that the personification serves as a vehicle for articulating a special aspect of the universe that isn't captured merely by the rote attaching of labels to features of reality, as we might do so in the contemporary era. The speaker of the poem doesn't specifically identify Pax the goddess, but the personification does so in its stead. 

The first three stanzas describe raised hopes in the search for peace in particular settings. Each time, the hopes are elevated only to be dashed. The "Peace" thought to be there turns out to be illusory. The remaining four stanzas are metaphorical descriptions of Jesus Christ, the twelve apostles, and the rise and spread of Christianity. The word peace again appears in the final stanza, but this time with a lowercase "p". Thus, upon the arrival of Christianity, peace is no longer personified, no longer deified, can no longer be spoken to or communicated with, has become an inanimate thing, a common noun.  Real peace, the author says, is only available through Jesus Christ.

I'm afraid this is a point on which I must part company with Christianity. 

I admire Christianity, but my opinions and feelings are different. That peace is only through Jesus--that has never been my intuition, and it also has never been my experience. Peace exists in a variety of life contexts: Peace sometimes prevails where specific human desires for peace are wholly absent. Peace sometimes appears in the complete absence of human beings. Peace is sometimes brought about by the planning, desire, or conscious intention of peace-seeking people. Peace often appears in non-Christian religious contexts. Peace is wherever it appears, however it appears, whenever it appears, and, if it appears due to the conscious actions of people, by whoever helps bring it about. 

I find the Roman conception of peace to be closer to my experience of reality. That being said, Jesus is a peace deity; I want him to receive respect, and I want his followers to be loved and to feel loved. 

Here's the poem: 

 

Peace

George Herbert

Sweet Peace, where dost thou dwell? I humbly crave,
Let me once know.
I sought thee in a secret cave,
And ask’d, if Peace were there.
A hollow winde did seem to answer, No:
Go seek elsewhere.

I did; and going did a rainbow note:
Surely, thought I,
This is the lace of Peaces coat:
I will search out the matter.
But while I lookt, the clouds immediately
Did break and scatter.

I went I to a garden, and did spy
A gallant flower,
The crown Imperiall: Sure, said I,
Peace at the root must dwell.
But when I digg’d, I saw a worm devoure
What show’d so well.

At length I met a rev’rend good old man:
Whom when of Peace
I did demand, he thus began;
There was a Prince of old
At Salem dwelt, who liv’d with good increase
Of flock and fold.

He sweetly liv’d; yet sweetnesse did not save
His life from foes.
But after death out of his grave
There sprang twelve stalks of wheat:
Which many wondring at, got some of those
To plant and set.

It prosper’d strangely, and did soon disperse
Through all the earth:
For they that taste it do rehearse,
That vertue lies therein;
A secret vertue bringing peace and mirth
By flight of sinne.

Take of this grain, which in my garden grows,
And grows for you;
Make bread of it: and that repose
And peace, which ev’ry where
With so much earnestnesse you do pursue
Is onely there.

Pie Jesu

I had many bad experiences at the hands of individual Christians. Because of this, I often worry that I will fall into anti-Christian bias. Regrettably, I sometimes have fallen into anti-Christian bias. The good news is that I corrected myself. Whatever I imagine my best self to be, it is certainly not an anti-Christian. To be sure, everything and everyone doesn't always need to be painted in religious colors. Yet, there are people called Christians and people called non-Christians in the world; to the extent that people define themselves and are defined by their religious identity, I hope to show Christians only sisterly love. 

My individual experiences aside, from a more abstract point of view, I find that Christianity as a description of reality has explanatory power to a lesser degree than other systems of thought. The emphasis here is on lesser. All human systems of thought, the ones with any bit of staying power, are an approximation of reality on some level and to some degree. Though I recognize that Christianity, like other religions and philosophies, has some merit and some meritorious elements, when taken as a whole I am inclined to disagree. Thus, I am not a Christian. 

However, bias--unfortunately--not only comes from without, but also from within. Christians, it seems, are just as capable of mistreating other Christians as non-Christians are of Christians, and Christians are of non-Christians. I recently encountered a blog post in which one group of Christians said that another group of Christians, because of resolutions passed by the latter's church, were, "a freak show", "eunuchs", "communists", that their resolutions were "bullshit" and "progressivist nonsense" and that their clergy were "pussies". This, despite the latter's actions having a rather strong and direct basis in St. Paul's letter to the Galatians. 

It was almost as if the name callers had never heard of Galatians. Ironically--or not--Galatians was relevant not only to the substance of the dispute, but to the ugly form the dispute took in the hands of the critics. In Galatians, St. Paul writes, "For the whole law can be summed up in this one command: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' But if instead of showing love among yourselves you are always biting and devouring one another, watch out!" He also wrote, "When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, your lives will produce these evil results ... hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger ... divisions, the feeling that everyone is wrong except those in your own little group, and other kinds of sin." 

Bullshit. Eunuchs. Pussies. Communists.  In this environment, one could recall the lyrics to Andrew Lloyd Weber's "Pie Jesu". I don't speak Latin; I'm only a beginning student. I understand them through another person's translation. But here they are, and in the context of this dispute, they are very moving:

Pie Jesu, pie Jesu, pie Jesu, pie Jesu
Qui tollis peccata mundi
Dona eis requiem, dona eis requiem
Pie Jesu, pie Jesu, pie Jesu, pie Jesu
Qui tollis peccata mundi
Dona eis requiem, dona eis requiem
Agnus Dei, Agnus Dei, Agnus Dei, Agnus Dei
Qui tollis peccata mundi
Dona eis requiem, dona eis requiem
Sempiternam
Sempiternam
Requiem

Before going hiking today, I will make one offering of incense to the goddess of mercy for the Christians who were targets of this hostility as well as one offering of incense to Pax for peace among Christians, and for peace in my own life, to be a less argumentative person myself.