Shall we dance?

Easter Sunday, April 21, 2019

As a former Catholic and former Christian, I don’t know if Jesus was crucified or resurrected, though I doubt that either event took place. But whether or not they happened, I don’t think it really matters. If the primary message of Jesus was love, then love should be the main focus of Easter and of every day for those who follow his teachings. And love should probably be the central focus for the rest of us as well.

But whom or what to love?

In the United States the worship of the Almighty Dollar, along with the materialism that goes with it, seems to be the predominant religion, followed by the veneration of Almighty Guns and the “freedom” they supposedly represent. Christianity and its manifesto of love are probably a distant third among the belief systems in this country. And we are not alone among Western countries in minimizing the doctrines of Jesus.

Nationalism is another philosophy that is increasingly prevalent around the world, as evidenced by last week’s violence in Northern Ireland. The instructions of Jesus seem not to have taken root among many of the Protestants and Catholics on that part of the island, as national identity (preference for political affiliation with Ireland or Britain) supersedes spiritual beliefs.

Religious identity is often stronger than religious teachings, as exemplified by today’s Easter bombings of Catholic churches in Sri Lanka by (apparently) Islamist terrorists. Christians, Muslims, and Jews believe in God, Hindus believe in many gods, and Buddhists believe in rebirth and the law of karma, yet followers of all those religions continue to engage in violence against one another in spite of their religious philosophies. Where is the love in these behaviors?

Romantic love may be the most common and most appealing of the various forms of devotion, rivaling attachments to money, guns, nations, and religions. But idealized love can lead to disappointment or grief when it ends with a breakup or a death. Even so, I allowed myself to be swept up in the fun of the unlikely affinity between the English teacher Anna and the ruler of Siam as last night I watched The King and I musical on TV. I love the song Shall We Dance, and enjoyed seeing Deborah Kerr and Yul Brynner’s characters cavorting about the king’s palace to the joyful melody of that song. Yet their budding relationship ended in sadness as the king died, apparently as a result of the stressful conflict he experienced between his traditional beliefs and the more progressive attitudes of Anna. Parting is such sweet sorrow, as Juliet said to Romeo.

I would be delighted to find my Juliet or my Anna and waltz around a palace or anywhere else with her. But since that form of love is not currently available to me, I’ll have to turn to the only kind of intimacy that is accessible to me at this time: love of soul/inner buddha/the god or goddess within.

So on this Easter Sunday, I invite my inner Christ consciousness, my interior being, to join my outer persona in a wild and passionate love affair. Shall we dance?