There were Rivers and Mountains…

The spiritual path to ‘wholeness of life’, in the mystic traditions of the world’s major religions involves, in the main, three interrelated but distinct phases – ‘first there are rivers and mountains; then no rivers and mountains and then there are rivers and mountains’. Each step invites the disciple to enter intentionally and reflectively into the exploration of the hidden layers of one’s inner life which demands both discipline and courage. One will inevitably face the dark and murky dimensions of his or her life.

The Edmund Rice Network and Community of Brothers has over the past few years have been confronted with this ‘dark and murky dimension’ namely, through vilification by the mass media around the abuse of privilege and power that comes through identification with those who hold absolute power through commercial and political influence. This has pushed those who want to be authentic Edmund’s apostles in today’s world, to look more deeply at the purpose and meaning of a truly ‘committed life’ based on the radical path related in the stories of the Gospel.

The Congregation Leadership Team stated at the beginning of its ministry: ‘Our Vision is to revitalize our religious brotherhood with a clear focus on heart-centred spirituality.’ And more recently ‘you are called t leave behind any vestige of elitism or patriarchy that was associated with our schools. You are not to imitate the past, but to move into a future that will be different.’ To live this ‘difference’ will require the leaving behind the ‘the rivers and mountains’ of our past glories and successes and come to see new, uncomfortable and unfamiliar ‘rivers and mountains’.

Morris Berman suggests that we are now in a ‘twilight time’ of human history where there is a heightened sense of insecurity, a culture of fear based on the demonisation of ‘the terrorist’ and the retribution of war making as well as accelerating social and economic inequality. He suggests we are approaching a situation similar to that which the Roman Empire found itself at the time of Nero(A. D. 54-68) when 2000 ‘corporate men’ owned nearly all the land between the Rhine and the Euphrates. The trans and multinational companies of our time possess much larger economies than many of the world’s poorest countries and consequently have the where with all to control the level of poverty and mortality within these countries. The wealthy who live in the cities, are housed in walled-in communities that protect their amassed possessions and through this physical separation, harden social class divisions within societies.

He suggests that the time has come for those who want a ‘different world’ to come together and create the ‘monastic option’. In the same way that Bede the Venerable (circa 673-735) preserved knowledge of the classics, carrying the seeds of western life ‘through the grim winter of the Dark Ages.’ In the 7th Century 200 new monasteries were founded in Gaul.

Is this ‘twilight’ time of modern history, perhaps it is time for the Edmund Rice Movement to form communities and encourage individuals to provide an option to the prevailing culture of fear and exclusion. The challenge is presented by Br Philip Pinto when he quotes an eastern mystic who genuinely found new ‘rivers and mountains’:
We must find the courage to leave our temples and enter into the temples of human experience, temples that are filled with human suffering.

(M. Berman (2000) The Twilight of American Culture Duckworth & Co; London)

Peter Harney on behalf of the CRT

(For Congregation Renewal Programs 2006/2007 see www.edmundrice.org/crt)