Decoding the Flaming Chalice
Rev. Ted Tollefson
- revted9@earthlink.net
October 7, 2007 @ UU Society of River Falls
OPENING WORDS:
'We light this flaming chalice
to celebrate the living tradition of Unitarian Universalism:
We are a community
of
open minds,
open
hearts
and
helping hands.
We gather to care for the earth
and
for one another;
We
work for peace and justice
in
our time and for generations to come.'
The "Flaming Chalice" has been a central image of Unitarian
Universalism since 1962. It was created by Hans Duetsch an anti-Nazi
cartoonist . It served as an emblem for the Unitarian Service Committee
which supported resistance to the Nazis during WWII and helped with
recovery after the war. Its origins testify to the value of liberty and
resistance to tyranny. Some see in this flaming chalice echoes of the
Christian cross, the Jewish menorah, or altar lamps used by many
faiths. [Adapted from "The Flaming Chalice" www.uua.org
and www.wikipedia.org.]
An Inter-active Method of Interpretation
My own approach to the meanings of the Flaming Chalice grows out of 30
years work and play with dream images and mythological images. In
seeking the meaning of an image, there are at least three options. We
can follow the way of Freud and treat images as disposable packages
whose meaning is hidden within
the image. Interpretation is like
opening a Christmas present: once we grasp the meaning, the image
itself can be discarded like wrapping paper. A second interpretive
option is to treat the image like a "finger pointing at the moon". This
option, modeled Joseph Campbell and his Zen and Hindu mentors, places
the meaning beyond
the image. We follow the image like a pointer beyond
itself and attempt to see meaning of the image, shining like the moon
in the night sky. We cannot know the full meaning of an image from our
limited perspective, just as we cannot see the backside of the moon
from our vantage point on earth.
There's a third option, which I prefer. The meaning of an image arises
in the field of interactions between
the image, its multiple
associations and us. This model of interpretation encourages us to be
open to many layers of meaning and many points of view. It honors the
complexity images. It never allows us to forget that we are actively
involved in the construction of meaning. This interactive view seems
well suited to Unitarian Universalist congregations which proclaim the
'free and responsible search for truth and meaning' as a shared
responsibility. Meanings are composed as much as they are revealed.
Four Key Elements: Fire, Warmth, Light, Chalice
What happens when we look at images of the Flaming Chalice from this
inter-active perspective? I see at least 4 elements: fire, warmth,
light and the chalice. Each of them is important. The meaning of an
image is composed via the dynamic interaction of these elements with
one another and a community of meaning-makers like you and me. We all
participate in the fleshing out of meaning: we are the Logos made Flesh.
FIRE
A primary layer of fire is historic. Many Unitarians and Universalists,
and countless thousands in Europe and Asia who have been burned to
death to preserve a monopoly of religious power and authority. The
Czech Unitarian, Jon Hus
was burned at the stake by Church fathers
because he preached in the vernacular and encouraged ordinary people to
read the Bible and serve communion. Michael
Servetus, a Spanish-born
lawyer, physician and theologian, wrote vehement anti-Trinitarian
tracts comparing the Trinity to Cerebeus, the three-headed dog of Greek
mythology who guards the entrance to Hades. Captured in Geneva when it
was a theocracy ruled by John Calvin, he was burned at the stake with
his own books tied round his waist. Countless women, men and children
were burned by the fires of the Inquisition because they dissented, or
differed or offered non-traditional remedies. So the first meaning of
“fire” might be the 'fire of commitment' which
sometimes
leads to martyrdom.
When we turn our attention to the physical dimensions of fire, there
are three elements each with a symbolic resonance. As every scout and
camper knows, fire is composed of a spark, fuel and air in right
relationship. If there's too much or not enough of any element, you may
get smoke but not a fire. The spark might remind of inspiration, or
whatever we choose to call the catalytic element that fosters change.
The fuel could remind us of the sacrifices which any faith requires.
Air---the invisible element necessary for combustion but not easily
detected by the senses---could evoke”spirit”,
”chi” or “life-force”: a
universal animating
life-force. When we connect these three physical aspects, fire evokes
whatever inspires us to
create and make sacrifices, whatever animates
embodied life or living systems.
A third layer of fire's meaning is both physical and mythological. In
human history, fire has set us free from the environmental constraints
and made much of human culture, from cooking and reading to metallurgy
and fine art, possible. Without fire, many of us would belong to small
mobile hunter-gatherer bands who'd be living somewhere else this
winter. The ancient Greeks preserved the liberating power of fire in a
story of Prometheus, the trickster god who stole fire from the gods and
gave it to humankind. For his generosity, Zeus condemned his son to be
chained to a rock for eternity. Like Christ, Prometheus paid dearly for
his love of humankind. Fire in this sense is whatever liberates human
beings, setting them apart from nature and sometimes setting them at
odds with jealous gods. It is not accidental that a prominent humanist
publisher was named for Prometheus.
WARMTH
Warmth reminds us of the visceral experience of warm contact with
another being: a parent or child, a friend or lover, a dog or a horse.
This felt-sense of warm contact reminds children of the network of
relations in which they are nested. Without such warm physical contact
with someone who cares the development of the brain, the affections and
empathy may be impeded. This felt sense of warm contact with other
beings can transform a sometimes cold and unfriendly world into a place
that feels like home.
Beyond the felt-sense of warmth, there is our emotional intelligence,
our capacity for compassion, what traditional cultures often call our
“heart”. Life in community is deepened and enriched
when a
rule-driven sense of ethics is complemented by the capacity for
empathy: to accurately understand what another person is feeling and to
be able to imagine/feel the world from their perspective. This capacity
for empathy is one source of moral imagination. Without it, we may feel
ourselves as Descartes did: an tiny island of rational consciousness
trapped in a mechanized body and world. Without the tangible,
heart-felt and active presence of love, our congregations may entertain
fancy ideas or accomplish great things but cannot call forth our
deepest humanity or provide shelter from the storm. When love as
passion and compassion, care and friendship, humor and playfulness are
present our congregations come alive and we are drawn towards that life.
Our Universalist ancestors celebrated the centrality of love by
proclaiming that “God is Love”. Many of our
Unitarian
ancestors professed a deeply relational faith, animated by the
“fatherhood of God, the brotherhood of Man and the leadership
of
Jesus”. Francis David provided a proverb used to help guide
many
UU congregations through the storms of controversy: “we don't
have to think alike, to love alike”. Confucian sages remind
us of
the centrality of 'heart' by including the ideogram for heart [ ] as
the root or radical sign in key Confucian virtues: loyalty is the
'heart on target'; compassion is the “heart which
nurtures”; Te
or virtuous power is the “path with a
heart”.
In sum, the Warmth of the Flaming Chalice reminds us of warm contact
with those who sustain our lives and thereby help activate and refine
our capacity for love, compassion and care. It is this capacity for
embodied love in all its guises that calls us to our full humanity.
LIGHT
Many world religions parallel Genesis
by linking light to the moment of
creation and the presence of the Divine. Secular cosmologies such as
the “Big Bang” also mark the beginning of
time/space with
an explosion of light. Unitarian Universalists have also keyed into
these themes in our readings, hymns and sermons. In our hymnal, Singing
the Living Tradition, there are countless hymns and
readings which make
artful use of light and associated words. The writings of Unitarian
minister and Transcendentalist Ralph Waldo Emerson returns repeatedly
to epiphanies of Light. His friend Thoreau's best book, Walden,
is
organized around the central image of the sun moving through the arc of
a year on Walden Pond. Neo-Transcendentalists like Mary Oliver write
eloquently of moments when the light within meets the light without.
The Unitarian side of our heritage can trace its roots to the European
Enlightenment of the 18th Century. Founding Unitarians like Jefferson,
John Adams and John Quincy Adams drew upon the intellectual and moral
resources of the Enlightenment to shape their views of religion and
democracy. Their advocacy of reason in public discourse, a constitution
which resists attempts to establish a state religion, their love of
liberty, and proclamation that “all men” (all
humankind)
are endowed with certain inalienable rights” flow directly
Enlightenment thinkers. Many Unitarians congregations draw upon this
same heritage when they proclaim the Unitarian
“trinity” of
reason, liberty and tolerance. This faith was carried forward into the
twentieth century by Unitarian humanists who made the light of truth
and the practice of democracy central to their faith. Our hymnal,
Singing
the Living Tradition, reflects this tradition by
celebrating
the “light of truth”in hymns and readings.
There is another Enlightenment which has been quietly transforming our
faith since Emerson, Thoreau and Margaret Fuller began reading,
publishing and reflecting on the sacred texts of Hinduism and Buddhism.
Though they did not have direct access to Buddhist and Hindu teachers,
many Transcendentalists intuitively grasped a core insight of Hindu and
Buddhist spirituality. What we call 'reason' (as well as feelings,
perceptions, sensations and values) are secondary transformations of
the Light of Consciousness. Within us resides the same radiant
Awareness (“Atman”,
“Buddha-Nature”.
“Soul”) which lights up the stars and all gods and
goddesses (“Brahman”, the
“Uncreated”, the
“Over-Soul”). By shifting their attention and
identification from the reason, feeling, sensation to the clear light
of consciousness, Emerson,Thoreau and their descendants created a kind
of Yankee Yoga. This heritage is reflected in the writings of 20th
century Transcendentalists like A.R. Ammons, Mary Oliver and Alan
Watts. Thousands of Unitarian Universalists who include yoga,
meditation or t'ai chi in their spiritual practice are gathering the
Eastern Light within our faith.
In sum, Light calls us to celebrate the light of the Creator, the
liberating light of reason, liberty and tolerance, and the awakening
light of consciousness, Buddha-Nature, Soul.
CHALICE
The chalice is an often overlooked source of meaning. The chalice is
what contains, holds, and channels the Fire/Warmth/Light. Without the
chalice of a fire-place or furnace, we might burn down our homes in
order to stay warm. Without the chalice of ethical covenants, our
religious communities might easily degenerate into warring factions or
quiet disengagement. Without the chalice of marriage, the instincts of
life might create intricate patterns of suffering rather than a refuge
from suffering.
The first chalice is our own body.
Despite being maligned by prophets,
sages and saints East and West, our body harbors most of what we know
about life and other beings. Spiritual practices and theologies which
declare war upon the body lead towards religious masochism and death.
Our bodies provide a home for all aspects of being human: subjective,
intersubjective and cultural. Almost everything we know about our
selves, others and our shared world is communicated to and from our
bodies. Without embodied life, reason is a thinking machine and love a
pale abstraction. Christian and Buddhist wisdom traditions remind us,
in different ways, that Love in the flesh is a key to transformation.
“This very
body is the Buddha!”proclaim the Enlightened
Teachers of Zen Buddhism. “God
is fully present in the body and
blood of Christ!” testify incarnational
Christians.
The second chalice is the covenants
we make and keep that allow us to
live in communities of more than one. One of the great gifts of
Biblical religion is to demonstrate how covenants which establish clear
expectations between person and person and humanity and its Creator
encourage the continuity of cultural development. Similarly the
Buddhist king Ashoka, posted the ethical norms of the Buddhist Dharma
on stone pillars so that all his subjects, rich and poor, would know
what was expected of them and what they could expect of one another.
Many Unitarian Universalist congregations now include a covenant-making
with new members as part of the initiatory process.
A third meaning of the chalice is revealed by our seventh principle:
“respect for the interdependent
web of all existence of which we
are part”. By locating human life and communities within the
larger context of all life forms, we affirm that all life is connected,
that all life is sacred. This principle and its expression in social
norms and 'green' technologies might begin to compensate for centuries
of exploitation and waste justified by an ethic of 'human dominion'
over nature. The invention the Internet, the emergence of a global
culture and the rediscovery of systemic thinking make the chalice of
inter-dependence a touchstone for our global village in the 21st
century and beyond.
In sum, the chalice stands for whatever
contains, holds and sustains:
the matrix of our bodies, our social covenants and the inter-dependent
web of life in which we live and move and have our being.
If we gather these fields of meanings, what do we find? A matrix of
meanings of sufficient complexity and depth to illumine our minds, open
our hearts and challenge us to act with joyful integrity.
Fire:
the animating, liberating power of passionate commitment and embodied
sacrifice
Warmth:
our visceral contact with living beings which activates our capacity
for care, loving-kindness and compassion
Light:
the creative light of the Divine,
the liberating light of reason, liberty and tolerance,
the awakening light of pure consciousness, Buddha-Nature, Soul.
Chalice:
the shaping, holding, protective vessels
of our bodies, social covenants and the interdependent web of life
CLOSING WORDS:
We extinguish this flame
but not
the light of truth
the warmth of love
or the fire of commitment.
These we carry in our hearts, minds and bodies
until we are together again.
Blessed are the peace-makers.