The Human Condition

At our Los Ranchos Presbytery Pastors Retreat, someone posed this question to a small group that I was in: What does our current political situation tell you about the human condition? 

It’s a hard question to answer for a number of reasons. The first is that none of us is above the current political situation. What we want to do is to focus squarely on what we find off-putting about those with whom we differ. But, since “the human condition” includes us, we cannot just answer about “them.” Whenever we take up this question, we can only answer from within the human condition. That’s the reason why the biblical phrase, “The Word of the Lord” is so important. However we understand the human element in the writings of the Scriptures, that phrase signifies a perspective that comes from without, not within the human condition. 

Another reason it is hard to answer the question is that it is hard to distinguish ongoing qualities of the human condition from our temporal phases – what philosophers call ‘essential v. accidental’ qualities of human life. Even Scriptural messages that begin with the phrase “the Word of the Lord” might be speaking to a particular moment, not addressing something that is eternally meaningful. 

So, back to the question. My own answer tries to dig beneath the superficial differences to which we give so much attention and to try to understand what the Word of the Lord – as it was given in a particular moment of Scripture – might say to our particular moment. And here is what I’ve come up with so far. 

Our current political climate discloses how given we are to atheism. (Don’t hang up, let me explain what I mean by that!) The Psalms say, on more than one occasion, “Fools say in their hearts, ‘There is no God.’” What I believe the psalmists have in mind is not theoretical atheism – the disbelief in a theistic God “out there” that created the world in six days and intervenes occasionally and seem somewhat fickle about weather, who gets what disease, and so forth. In fact, in the Ancient Near East I don’t think theoretical atheism was seen as an option. There was such a sense of mystery that the question was more “Which god?” than “Is there a god?” So, if you’re someone who questions the metaphysical existence of a god out there pulling the universal strings, I seriously do not believe the psalmists have you in mind. And, incidentally, many people of faith question whether that kind of god exists. 

I believe the psalmist is addressing what I call “practical atheism.” By that, I mean the belief that nothing is inherently sacred, no truth is foundational to the truths we embrace, justice is merely a set of terms that we negotiate with each other, and so forth. It can be quite subtle, such as sliding easily from saying “As finite beings, our truth is necessarily perspectival” to saying, “All truth is relative.” It can also take the form of living as if one’s actions do not have meaningful, or especially eternal, consequences. It is the hubris of every tyrant and rascal who imagines that if we can get by with it, it’s okay. In the end, practical atheism places us – either individually or collectively – as the ultimate arbiters of the true, the good, and the beautiful, even though we may give lip service to higher ideals. 

I think our current political context makes clear the practical atheistic substructure of the human condition, particularly in the U.S. It is not a ‘red’ or ‘blue’ problem or a ‘left’ or ‘right’ problem. It is a manifestation of an ongoing challenge for humanity, because it is rooted in the limitations of our finitude. Next week I want to look at some of the ways that the Christian tradition has reckoned with this challenge. 

Thanks for stopping by,

Mark of St. Mark