I saw a bumpersticker tonight that said
The Fear of the Lord is the Beginning of Wisdom
…and I thought, Wow, that’s just about everything that’s wrong with religion today.*
Now, this quote probably originates in an older meaning of “fear.” Something more like “awe” was probably intended. And indeed, awe can be the beginning of wisdom. The left hand of awe is humility; the understanding that there are things we cannot understand, things greater than us, and that our answers are not the be all end all of answers.
But y’know, I think that’s not what the mini-van driver meant by it.
Fear of the Lord drives the kind of religious thought that is based in obedience. Doing what God wants and avoiding what God objects to. Because of the fear. Because you might get your ass spiritually kicked. “I’ll be good, God! Don’t kick my humble ass! PUH-LEEZE!”
This is what toddlers do. Toddlers, psychologists tell us, have no moral center of their own, no sense of right and wrong. So they must be firmly punished and promptly rewarded, thereby learning, not true morality, but the correct behavioral response, as a stop-gap to the time when they’re wise enough (there’s that word) to become moral. So to consider fear of punishment a source of wisdom is, well, insane. Or stupid. Or childish…take your pick.
The left hand of fear of punishment, of course, is hope for reward. And again, there is no true goodness in doing good for the reward. Parents: Which would you rather have? A child who shares, or a child who shares if he gets a cookie for sharing? Is going for the cookie for sharing any more “moral” than avoiding the time-out?
Both the fear and the hope are part of toddler-consciousness, which says there’s a Daddy God (or Mommy Goddess, if that’s how you frame it) who removes responsibility and ensures safety in a precarious universe.
One of the most patently offensive things about fundamentalist Christians is their insistence that atheists and Pagans cannot possibly be moral, because no one (or to be precise, no One) is telling us what to do. In fact, I’d argue that we’re more moral, because we’ve moved away from fear towards true morality.
This is the part where most people say, Well, that’s why I’m an atheist. Except I, of course, am not an atheist. But I don’t believe that the fact that some people approach their religion like toddlers means that it’s an inherent quality of religion.
There’s the other fear. The awe. And the humility. The simple wonder at the awesomeness of the universe, and the humility of knowing one is a part of it. The beginning of all true wisdom is right there, a wisdom shared by wise Pagans, wise Christians, and wise atheists (among others).
*Upon reflection, definitely not. There are definitely other things wrong with religion today, but I feel safe in saying that Fear of the Lord is in the top five.
Ironically I’ve ran into many a Pagan that has a similar “the gods shall smite” additude, which drives me nuts. My roommate is one of them, and one day after having rolled my eyes for the umpteenth time I finally look him dead in the eye and said, “They don’t need to smite us, we put ourselves through enough Hell. Just as they rarely give blessing with asking for it, so to with the smiting. We are infact of that Divine, and they can honestly do no more for us than we allow others to do to and for us….they just have a much more effective way of doing so.”
He still flinches when someone “sins” against the general nature of a god, which is hypocritical of him as his patron is Pan (you know, the Big Pan, not me, Lil Pan), and he’s a freakin’ prude.
*gets down off his soap box*
BB
–Pan
It’s the disadvantage of how widespread Paganism has become. A lot of people just assume they can acquire the label without doing deep inner work to change themselves in accordance with their new beliefs, or to reexamine themselves and see if they have holdover beliefs from their upbringing. I mean, you can become Christian just by saying so and not change your life, so obviously the same is true of Paganism…right?
The trio of stunted emotional/social intelligence, fear-based systems, and logic errors/fallacies go hand in hand in dysfunctional and abusive families/institutions/religions/cultures — not considered an attractive message that’ll catch on and sweep the globe as it’s antagonistic to the Power and Control model.
Living in fear of an abusive parent/Daddy (God) but turning around and acting him out is the same model that major religions, many addicts, converts, dictators, pedophiles, rapists, and batterers follow.
People will ultimately and deeply support egalitarian rights/Gods/Divine or they set the pattern of one sex/mate/party/culture/nation/religion pitted against the other in which the opposition is treated to an endless array of poorly chosen battles, crazy making, and logic fallacies (such as either our way or you don’t have any moral compass).
If inclined to progress, individuals may take at least 7 years of substantial, earnest, and **effective** work before their patterns (social, sexual, financial…) and underlying beliefs better jive with their new healthier religion/paradigm.
Of course, what may take individuals years might take societies decades or centuries.
People are quite capable of repeating older patterns and underlying beliefs, even **with** self-help books, new religions, groups, exercises, arts, and disciplines meant to grease the gears of a life well examined. (I actually saw my mom go through some of this, only she was trying to recover from the Power and Control paradigm suffered in Nazi Germany.)
Same goes for nations/cultures/religions.
That is more of a vicious cycle problem that the root combination (fear-based psychology, underdeveloped EQ, and diminished intellect) causes rather than the prevalence/growth of Paganism and superficial ease of changing labels.
Humanity has another Dark Age to come out of, and while information, access to information, and increased global commerce contributed to emergence before, now we have to address it at the root level.
Our Christian Education staff person at church (who’s also a good friend) calls this approach “get out of hell free” religion.
…and it’s not just Christianity. Those weird Buddhists who believe that if you do this one chant it burns all your karma, and those Hindus who believe bathing in the Ganges washes you clean of sin. Those are get out free cards too. Bother me a lot, those do.