Glob-a-log

As meditations go, that one is very much like a spotlight: both brilliant and harsh – and it goes some way to explain why Meister Eckhart has not always been popular with Church leaders, or with most of the Church’s followers.

Most people prefer to see (the concept of) love in a much gentler light, which, in the 20th century, culminated in the mostly Western concept of Jesus as a hippy figure, Who was as far removed from His authoritarian Father as He could be without actually becoming a card carrying Marxist.

The new Pope, on the other hand, would have felt much more at home discussing the nature of love with Meister Eckhart than watching the movie Jesus Christ Superstar – and I’m reasonably sure that if he read the following story about Fr Jeremy Davies, he would be in full agreement with Westminster’s chief exorcist:

For some Christians yoga is spiritually suspect, a subtle act of pagan worship. They allege that yoga cannot be separated from its roots in the Hindu faith. Last year, two Somerset vicars banned a yoga class for toddlers from their church halls. This year, a leading Roman Catholic exorcist condemned yoga as apparently harmless but as a possible conduit to “the evil spirit.” In his best-selling pamphlet Exorcism: Understanding exorcism in scripture and practice Fr Jeremy Davies, chief exorcist of the Roman Catholic diocese of Westminster writes:

“.. The thin end of the wedge (soft drugs, yoga for relaxation, horoscopes just for fun and so on) is more dangerous than the thick end, because more deceptive – an evil spirit tries to make his entry as unobtrusively as possible.”

It’s quite easy to see our current Pope in the role of some heroic exorcist, fighting off the Devil. Not that I can say that I’ve ever seen the Father of Lies as being heavily into yoga. In fact, it’s as hard to imagine old Lucifer sitting in the Lotus position and going ‘Om’ as it would be to imagine our Holy Father obsessing over the daily horoscope – but then I’m not a theologian, so I will leave those matters to this world’s holy pamphleteers.

Anyway, while I have the Pope sitting in his study and reading the papers, I think it is safe to say that while the Pope might have been on the side of the Westminster exorcist, it seems unlikely that he would have agreed with Nepal’s supreme court, when he read the following story:

Nepal’s “living goddess” has been told that she must go to school, after the supreme court branded the custom of worshipping a virgin child outdated. The centuries-old custom involves a girl being chosen at the age of three, locking her in a palace and worshipping her until she starts menstruating, at which point a new goddess is chosen.

Of course, there’s much to be said in favour of the court’s ruling. It is probably much better for children to be allowed to live a normal life.

You only have to look at what happened to former Mouseketeer Britney Spears and so many other, once much adored child stars, to realize it is decidedly unhealthy for everyone involved to turn children into little Goddesses.

Having said that, it’s still unlikely that the Pope would agree.

Again, I’m not a theologian but I think it will take a Hell of a lot more than a ruling by Nepal’s supreme court to stop the Roman Catholic Church from worshipping Its own chief virgin.