Saturday, January 29, 2005
CARDINAL KASPER AND ECUMENISM
It would seem that the ecumenical drive came first from Germany and then spread to Vatican II, and thus around the Catholic world. Consequently I never expected to agree with a German theologian on the topic. Perhaps German theology has come full circle. Cardinal Kasper lodges ecumenism squarely in the Tradition with this statement quoted in "The Word from Rome":
In his homily, Kasper picked up on the “one foundation” theme, arguing that Christians can achieve unity only on the basis of a clear and strong Christology, unambiguously proclaiming Christ as the lone savior of all humanity. In that regard, Kasper criticized “liberal” Christologies that would style Christ as one among many prophets or saving figures.
“Aren’t we in a situation in which our primary duty, our major challenge, is to remember and reinforce our common foundation, and to make sure that it isn’t undercut by so-called ‘liberal’ interpretations, which define themselves as progressive, but which are really subversive?” he asked. “Precisely today, in a post-modern society in which everything becomes relative and arbitrary, and everyone creates his or her own religion à la carte, we need a solid foundation and a trustworthy common point of reference for our personal life, and our ecumenical work.”
Therein lies the difficulty with Traditionalism. While there is a lot to agree with in Guenon's philosophy, his blending at the mystical level of all the gods into one simply doesn't fit Catholic theology. The system Guenon sets up places the elites at the esoteric level where there is pluriform truth. It should come as no surprise since Guenon never gave up Freemasonry, though he did give up his Catholic roots. "Mysticism" is a syncretistic faith.
As Pike tells it:
...all truths are Truths of Period, and not truths for eternity; that whatever great fact has had strength and vitality enough to make itself real, whether of religion, morals, government, or of whatever else, and to find place in this world, has been a truth for the time, and as good as men were capable of receiving. (MORALS AND DOGMA, p. 37)
A Catholic cannot back away from the difficulty presented by multiple religions and cults by simply saying all gods are in union in some ethereal nirvana. Christ is the Savior not just of Catholics, but of everyone else as well. If salvation is possible, Christ is the source, just as Cardinal Kasper says it. There is nowhere else to look.
The more I think about Guenon's methodology, though, the more his "inversion" theory makes sense. He concluded from his experience with the occult that there is such a thing as counterinitiation, and that is what occultists pursue.
As Traditional religions look up, occultists look down. Blavatsky states:
Their prince is called in the Kabala Samael, the Angel of Death, who is also the seducing serpent Satan; but that Satan is also Lucifer, the bright angel of Light... (THE SECRET DOCTRINE, Bk II, p. 111)
According to Gershom Scholem, a change took place in Jewish mysticism. Where once it looked up to God in the heavens, a new focus developed:
Only when the soul has stripped itself of all limitation and, in mystical language, has descended into the depths of Nothing does it encounter the Divine. (MORAL TRENDS IN JEWISH MYSTICISM, p. 25)
And further:
"Out of the depths I have called unto Thee"; which, according to the Zohar, means not "I have called unto Thee from the depths [where I am]" but "from the depths [in which Thou art] I call Thee up." (ibid, p. 33-34)
Scholem explains further:
The "Lesser Hekhaloth" emphasize this "ascent", and the same term recurs in a few out-of-the-way passages of the "Greater Hekhaloth," and in the introduction to the "Book of Enoch". But for reasons which have become obscure, the whole terminology had in the meantime undergone a change--it is difficult to say exactly when, probably around 400. In the "Greater Hekhaloth," which are of such importance for our analysis, and from then on in almost all of the later writings, the visionary journey of the soul to heaven is always referred to as the "descent to the Merkabah."` (ibid. p. 46-47)
This seems to be the reason for the change in focus:
It was Gnosticism, one of the last great manifestations of mythology in religious thought, and definitely conceived in the struggle against Judaism as the conqueror of mythology, which lent figures of speech to the Jewish mystic.
The importance of this paradox can hardly be exaggerated; it must be kept in mind that the whole meaning and purpose of those ancient myths and metaphors whose remainders the editors of the book BAHIR, and therefore the whole Kabbalah, inherited from the Gnostics, was simply the subversion of the law which had, at one time, disturbed and broken the order of the mystical world. (ibid. p. 35)
If Gnosticism disturbs order and subverts the law, it can't be of God. Thus as Blavatsky explains, it comes from the Angel of Light.
It is that Angel of Light that is being pursued by the revival of Gnosticism which is so evident on the web today.
In the Akron Beacon Journal this morning there is an article titled "How to rid your poltergeists" on the first page of the Home section, describing a house cleansing ritual, complete with color photo of a woman "smuging" to eliminate negative energies in the home of Philadelphia Eagles linebacker Dhani Jones' livingroom. These negative energies are rid with a smoking tightly wound bundle of sage and cedar, while no god is invoked. This is an example of inversion, gone mainstream in this case...a take-off on a Catholic blessing. It brought to mind a similar ceremony that has taken place at a papal Mass.
Without dogma and doctrine, there is no way to define what is occuring. We can't see the spiritual world. We must rely on a Tradition to define our actions.
Guenon's Traditionalism claims to provide the explanation. It takes little effort to discover, though, that all religions claim a "Tradition" if this is going to be the prevailing jargon, and Guenon has no means of distinction. Pluriform truth gets us into trouble. Either there is absolute truth or there is no truth at all. Either we have Christ, or we have chaos, and chaos seems to be the ascending god of choice. First Europe, then the world.
Our Lady of Fatima, pray for us.
