Negativity Scene

Instead of a Christmas card this year, I was sent a "Negativity" Scene card by my friend.

"He doesn't look THAT special"

Initially, I was struck simply by her ability to comment on the human condition and clever wordplay. However, since beginning this class, this card has taken on a different meaning.

The thing is, the Bible is an incredibly negative place, on many different levels. Adam and Eve are cast out of the garden, and the entirety of human existence is based on an finding escape from suffering (the afterlife). It is Marx who hypothesized that religion is humanity's response to suffering, so if we eliminate suffering, then the false consciousness of religion will fade away. The varied forms of religion, and its pervasiveness show the false nature of this hypothesis, but the undercurrent of the relationship between humanity and suffering, and understanding its function still stands when reading the Bible. Suffering ruled the people of this time, and they fought a daily struggle for existence. It is no wonder that God is embodied among them, in the rain and the harvest and drought and famine. This is where the ritual comes in, to mediate this interaction. Ritual is embodied religion, and there is no clearer example then sacrifices that God outlines for his subjects.

However, it is worth noting that negativity behaves differently here, once we begin to talk about God and humanity together: (this may be a slightly controversial statement, but I believe this) the entire dualistic relationship is based on the inherent lack in humanity. If God is all powerful, then humans must lack power. If God is all knowing, then humanity lacks a kind of knowing. If God is holy, then humanity is all sinners.  This is the general way that the relationship manifests- through a negative identity in humanity. However, the Bible also offers a counterpart to this relationship, as seen in Leviticus. It is the God-among-us idea. This helps to de-rigidify the dualisms that this negativity has created through the material nature of the world, because God's power is intermingled with humanity's and humanity becomes powerful through their ritual interactions with God. Laws exist as God's will in materiality

Scripture can be read in a multitude of ways, as we have been discussing. I think the focus on this interaction through ritual is a beneficial one to reframe the interactions we have with God, based in our material and embodied reality and maintaining the agency of humanity in the divine game.