Good Friday 13 April 2001

Pic of the day: "And again, like a wonder, new life grows from death."

Power days

That's kind of funny: I did not notice until I started writing that it is also Friday 13th, which is a day endowed with magical (but negative) properties in the minds of superstitious people. I knew from the morning, though, that it is Good Friday, another day believed to be magical or at least not quite like other days.

There is reason to believe that centuries ago, in the mind of primitive christians, Jesus's death and resurrections were seen as repeating each year. While they were probably aware that the actual events had only taken place once, they reacted emotionally as if it was a yearly event. The elaborate rituals in many communities commemorated the suffering of Jesus in such a way as to temporarily create the illusion that it was happening again.

And as I wrote in last year's Good Friday entry, several pre-christian religions had corresponding rituals, in which the young god died, was lamented, and rose again to usher in the good times. Except the good times in those religions consisted of food and fertility rather than eternal spiritual happiness. Traces of the same thinking can be found in at least one Norwegian hymn, where the northern spring is likened to resurrection: "And again, like a wonder, new life grows from death".

***

Rituals. In children and in primitive societies, rituals are important. More or less so in the rest of us too. And, I mean no offense when I say "primitive" societies. Primitive is not on the good/evil axis, but rather at a straigh angle to it. Among primitives and among the highly civilized, there are builders and destroyers, helpers and harmers. For a while, the "noble savage" was a mainstay in fiction. The idea was that the primitive man, unbound by the numerous restrictions of civilization, would act out his fundamental nature across a wider spectrum of actions than we can. If you look at Edgar Rice Burroughs' books, for instance, you will see that the primitives were more extreme in both good and bad. On the other hand, I see that civilization has built power structures and tools that lets us leverage our morality. We have a power and a reach, for good and bad, that our ancestors could not dream of.

Perhaps the built-in support of modern societies allow us to build a stronger ego. Whatever the cause, we no longer lean so heavily on ritual. Of course there are many modern rituals too. But by and large, rituals hold less power over us. While going to church regularly is still important to many people, they are less likely to view this action as necessary. It is more like a bank deposit, and not like dating God. And they are less inclined to see the actual church building as holy, a literal dwelling of God. The result is that modern churches are often more like workplaces, rather than the grand monuments of the past - even though we have the means to far exceed the cathedrals of old, or even the pyramids, if we were so inclined.

In light of this, it is not so strange that Easter holds little sway over men's mind these days, even in supposedly christian countries. For most people, it is a few days off from work, an "April holiday". At best they are reminded of Jesus and his drastic measures to save humanity. Surely there is nothing like the feeling of actually being there, witnessing the anguish of a soul torn between mortality and divinity, between everlasting life and damnation.

"Were you there, when they crucified my Lord?" says an old song. I think this is what they called Negro Spiritual, when I was a kid. Light knows what the politically correct name may be today. But the song is probably not very relevant either, because the answer is "no".

***

I sometimes wonder if I would be a more holy person and a better christian if I lived in immediate contact with rituals. If I were weeping for Jesus on Good Friday for instance. I guess it would make me a more holy person on that day, but I suspect it might average out over the year. And having to rely on ritual is not very practical. It is kind of like filling water in a leaking bucket, is it not? You have to do it over and over again.

But of course, that is just me. Don't we all like to think that the way we do things is the best one? If not, we would change our ways, I guess.