Mercy

"The quality of mercy is not strain'd. It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven Upon the place beneath." William Shakespeare, Merchant of Venice.

We have another blizzard in the forecast. This has been a brutal winter. Bitter cold and so much snow. We might see a thaw by May. While that is clearly an exaggeration, there is more snow this year than I can remember. Just ask my husband who uses a tractor with a snow blower and a 4 wheeler with a blade to keep us open. A long long long driveway is great for seclusion and privacy, but not so great when the White Thunderbirds keep calling. January seems extra long.

Last week was a tough week in the analyst’s chair. People are feeling very afraid. Very activated. The inauguration south of the border, the looming trade war, a Federal leadership race, on going global wars, devastating fires, and a snap Provincial election adds to the feelings of uncertainty. It never ceases to amaze me how quick we are to jump to conclusions of catastrophe when uncertain. These are carnival times in so many ways. The end of something? Some call it a return to common sense. Some call it the end of innocence. I don’t know what to call it other than Carnival Chaos. I am emboldened by the pattern that Easter follows the carnival of Strove Tuesday in the Christian world. Spring follows the carnival of Fasnacht in Switzerland and similar carnivals in Germany. Out of the chaos comes new beginnings.

I watched the movie, The Two Popes last night. (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8404614/) I really enjoyed it. I enjoyed watching two men of God grapple with the uncertainty in the world and in their faith. The movie is based on a true story. At least the story of relationship between two living popes. This had not happened in 600 years. Maybe God willed it so? One Pope, Pope Benedict XVI, was clearly a conservative. He advocated for a return to Tradition. The second Pope, Pope Francis is clearly a liberal. He advocates for reform. That there should be two Popes at one epoch in modernity is quite a work of Spirit I would say. From 2013 to 2022, a period of almost a decade, one Pope prayed for the world, while the other Pope entered into the world. Pope Francis’ papacy, although not without criticism, will be remembered for pastoral, inclusive, and a reform-oriented vision for the Church, rooted in mercy, social justice, and ecological responsibility. And, at 88 years of age, while I pray for the health and life of Pope Francis, it might just be that I will have known more than 6 popes in my lifetime. I also watched the movie, Conclave. I won’t spoil the movie, but in light of this blog, watch it too! I hope I am alive for the next conclave.

There has been much said this week about Mariann Edgar Budde, an American prelate of the Episcopal Church. Legacy media loves division and alternative media wades in and amplifies. What Bishop Budde said in her lengthy sermon on Unity, when read completely, when read in context, seems to hold little reason for outrage. But outrage there was. On both sides of the divide. Perhaps it was the blending of Church and State that fuelled the fire? Perhaps it was a clash of personalities?

In the name of our God, I ask you to have mercy upon the people in our country who are scared now.

Perhaps if she had stopped there, before naming the issues that in of themselves are divisive, the sermon would not have gone viral and Truth Social and X would not have lit up in response. Church/State, Left/Right, Tradition/Progress, Conservative/Liberal, Personal/Public, Introvert/Extrovert, Mind/Body, Masculine/Feminine, Man/Woman, Us/Them. We seemed destined to polarize. C. G. Jung said that polarization is the first act of consciousness. In the unconscious everything is fused. When the membrane weakens, when the door to consciousness opens, the archetypal energy spits into binary opposition. This alchemical process is outlined in the Woodcuts from Rosarium philosophorum, 1550. The unconscious hermaphrodite rises from the alchemical basin to exemplify the true sovereigns, King and Queen - and the binary dance begins. By holding the tension and not surrendering to preemptive identities or ideologies, by allowing the slow process of transformation to fully complete itself, the polar opposites are resolved into a new order. In Alchemy, this is called the Stage of the Androgen. This is where contradiction becomes paradox. The higher unity is achieved and consciousness grows. If only.

Whether in our psychologies, our politics, our spirituality, or our philosophies, we must persist, wait, pray, endure, and yearn for the Androgen Stage. Fear is the devolution demon. It fuels the division and preempts the secret and sacred transformational process. That is why the choosing of a Pope is done in a conclave. From the Latin, meaning “a locked room”. This is why in analysis, the temenos is so protected. Oh that there would be such a space for cultural transformation. A ‘room’ where we could allow the full expression of each side, with respect, mercy and love. That is how we will reach a more refined and complete integration of those opposites. Instead of just being joined side-by-side, the opposites would merge into something entirely new, seamless, and whole. It’s not about being "half this and half that" anymore—it’s about transcending the differences to create a harmonious unity. Maybe what we need first is a conclave of the soul, a unity of heart and mind.

Dr. Martin Shaw, the Welsh troubadour, taught me a story called, The Half Girl. There are versions of him telling the tale on line. Look for them and enjoy the tale from the Master Storyteller. The point I want to make is this, when the two halves finally meet, it is not a glorious reunion. It is a world shaking, world destroying, world creating, gnashing of teeth, and pulling of hair encounter. Transformation is messy. Maybe that is the stage of the story we are in currently. Here in the West. At least culturally. The opposite halves are as far from one another as ever. As far apart in politics and vision as were our two popes? For 10 years, Pope Benedict XVI and Pope Francis seem to have suffered the crucible of the Vatican and against all odds, the foundation of their human relationship held. It is quite an extraordinary story.

So, I pray. I pray that mercy will prevail and we can suffer with dignity the crucible of cultural transformation. It promises to be messy. It already is. But, remember this: fear, and not one another, is the true enemy. Be that we are human, all too human, as Nietzsche declared, we will have to find faith in something grander than politics, polemics, or even psychology.

The wisdom of Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn (1918–2008), someone who is credited with taking down the brutal Soviet era in Russia with his pen, prevails as we pray, and write, and wait, and hope.

“The line separating good and evil passes not through states, nor between classes, nor between political parties either – but right through every human heart”