Are You Going to Heaven?
I was at Cantigny (Robert McCormick's former estate) sitting on a granite bench at Exedra (the sort of hidden graveyard of Robert and his wife) reading a book about 7PM, when a small group of gals came by. The estate is almost always desolate at that hour and they were startled to find an odd older man tucked away reading a book. "Are you the curator?" one asked. I was tempted to reply "No, I'm Jack the Ripper's grandson, how nice to meet you in such a perfectly secluded spot". Cantigny is my favorite place to be---it is really a gorgeous estate, spacious, perfectly organized, with beautiful gardens and mammoth unique trees. There must be security police somewhere but I have yet to meet one. At any rate I chatted with the gals for a bit, during which they asked to see the title of the book I was reading. That was a bit awkward as the title was "The Sins of Scripture." "What kind of book is that" one asked? "Certainly different" I replied and they decided to let that line of talk end. When they left one of the gals ran back and handed me a pamphlet titled "Are You Going to Heaven?" I looked at the title and smiled, "Now lady if I could answer that I would be smart beyond any human limits or some sort of faith based fool." She scurried away as fast as she had scurried over.
This is a terrible way to feel and perhaps a reach, or at least an assumed generalization, but given the serious personality she projected I bet to myself that this deeply religious gal was probably supporting the war in Iraq, thought Bush was a moral man, was against universal health care, thought religious dogma should be part of a school curriculum, was against raising the minimum wage, and probably thought Pat Robertson really had conversations with God, and her favorite hymn might be "Onward Christian Soldiers".
The book, by the way, is very thought provoking and written by the former Episcopal Bishop of Newark. He wrote something quite interesting: "Spirituality and fundamentalism are at opposite ends of the cultural spectrum. Spirituality seeks a sensitive, contemplative, transformative relationship with the sacred and is able to sustain levels of uncertainty in its quest because respect for mystery is paramount. Fundamentalism seeks certainty, fixed answers and absolutism, as a fearful response to the complexity of the world and to our vulnerability as creatures in a mysterious universe."
"Lady, I really don't know if I am going to Heaven or whether there is a Heaven. I do know that ethics demands we are our brother's keepers, that the rich must share their good fortune with the poor, that ethical politics is always aimed at creating a level playing field for all, that our place in the evolutionary scale of this created universe behooves us to protect the environment and other species so that this complicated ecological system, with so many mutual inter-specie dependencies, can be sustained. We are a part of the whole system, not meant to rule over everything as personal favorites of the Creator, but rather use our superior talents to sustain the evolving process. Nature bats last. We better tread carefully.
