For whom the bell tolls...

For whom the bell tolls…

John Donne
Meditation 17
Devotions upon Emergent Occasions

"No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main. If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friend's or of thine own were. Any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind; and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee..."

We must learn to respond to need. To look after each other. What does it mean to talk of God in self-serving ways? “Have you been saved?” It’s nonsense. It means nothing. For as long as any human being is excluded from salvation, we are all short of the beatific vision. Heaven and salvation have nothing to do with me! It is the me which contributes to the idea that I am somehow separated from God, that He is some ancient king on a throne somewhere issuing sentences to punish those who disobey the law.

Salvation is more a melting away of the veil I place before God and truth which reveals that my sense of independence and isolation is a myth. Materially I am separate, individuated and subject to psychology and ego, but spiritually, personally, I am connected to the vast unity of the universe which is Being in itself—God. I am connected to all other beings in a way I can mentally accept or reject, but my beliefs about it mean nothing. Fundamentally, I am connected as long as I am. To be truly separate I would fall immediately into non-being.

“So again Jesus said to them, "Very truly, I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and bandits; but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the gate. Whoever enters by me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly. "I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. The hired hand, who is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and runs away-- and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. The hired hand runs away because a hired hand does not care for the sheep. I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father. And I lay down my life for the sheep. I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd. For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life in order to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it up again. I have received this command from my Father."(John 10:7-18)

“ I came that they may have life, and have it more abundantly” The law is not a condition of salvation, a prerequisite of sorts. No! It is a response to truth, to love, to reality. Sin is the reaction to the decision for separation. Sin is all that perpetuates the deception that I can exist apart from God. Jesus came and showed us that we are intimately bound to God. He gave himself totally. Then he entered into a new way of being, resurrected life. Original sin is the human impulse to exist in isolation, the illusion that we are apart from God.

The cardinal sins are manifestations of this self-centeredness. Ego (Which is the personal pronoun I in Greek) is enslaved to sin. It operates in an atmosphere of fear that if it gives unto death, it will dissolve. Ego fears death and truth calls for it. Love is such a radical self giving that it sets us free from the bondage of separation. The truth is we are always in relationship to God, whether we reject it or not. As long as I exist, I am in intrinsic unity with all that possesses being. God, and neighbor are in me as I am in them.

The fall was a decision to turn away from unity and God, to the self. The human condition is one that we are subject to material urges and instincts toward self preservation. Yet at the same time, spiritually we are called to give of the self unto death. This conflict is played out in our relations. We fight and kick against a God created by men, all the while connected to being and love in a way that we could never destroy or else we would fall into non-being. Every human, in so far as they exist, exists in grace. Being is love- is grace- is gift- is salvific- is process- is eternal. Sin is what is finite, is ended in the freedom to rescind that decision to be separate, and ended in the realization that we are in the loving arms of a God who cannot be boxed in and used as a weapon against others. We are all in the fold, whether we know it or not.

For whom the bell tolls a poem
(No man is an island) by John Donne

No man is an island,
Entire of itself.
Each is a piece of the continent,
A part of the main.
If a clod be washed away by the sea,
Europe is the less.
As well as if a promontory were.
As well as if a manner of thine own
Or of thine friend's were.
Each man's death diminishes me,
For I am involved in mankind.
Therefore, send not to know
For whom the bell tolls,
It tolls for thee.