Religion Religion
Anselm Grün
Today, many people accuse religions of being to blame for discord in the world. Unfortunately, there are fundamentalist currents in all religions, of course. They are primarily concerned with claiming to be right, and so they fight other religions. But at its core, every religion has a message of peace and love, a message that can make possible a new togetherness in the society of the future. Therefore, I would like to address some of the contributions that religions are capable of making to society in the future. In this, I am assuming that religions will engage in constructive dialog with each other and thus work together for a better future.
Max Horkheimer, the Jewish philosopher, a leading figure of the Frankfurt School and star of the ‘68 generation, believes that the task of religions is to keep alive in this world the longing for others. In this way, they make an important contribution to the humanization of society. Since society always has totalitarian features, it wants total access to humans. We are experiencing this tendency first hand today. We speak of the citizen of glass, of the absolutist nature of the economy, to the detriment of everything human. With their rituals, religions have the task of creating a free space in which human beings can be themselves without a defined purpose, where they can breathe freely. In this way, religions keep the heavens open for all human beings. They convey to people that life is not just about money and recognition and pleasure, but about that which transcends man, that which goes beyond him. It makes a person fully human only when he believes in something greater than himself. In a mystery that transcends him.
The second task of religions is to guard the sacred in man. The sacred is that which is withdrawn from the world, and one way to guard the sacred in man is through rituals. They create a sacred time, a time that belongs to God and that is entirely one’s own, which no one else can dispose of. Sacred time is the time when I myself live instead of being lived. The Greek philosophers were convinced of this: Only the sacred is able to heal. The sacred frees us from the grip of the world.
Guarding the sacred also means protecting the innermost space of man. This is a space of silence at the bottom of the soul, to which people with their expectations have no access and to which the noise of this world cannot penetrate. This is a space where we are free and authentic, where we do not have to prove ourselves, but are simply allowed to be.
The evangelists tell us about the temptation of Jesus. The devil, the “Diabolos”, who wants to confuse everything, challenged Jesus to turn the stones into bread (cf. Mt 4:3). In ancient times, however, people knew sacred stones that could not be exploited. And today there is just as much of a tendency for everything to be consumable. Everything must contribute something. The purposeless must be subjected to some purpose – prayer, meditation, silence. In this context, religious activity, prayer and worship should be purpose-free spaces. The sacred gives man inviolable dignity in a time when we want to trample everything. Churches are often nothing more than museum spaces that must always be open to be visited, and many cannot even stand the idea that churches cannot be visited while a church service is being celebrated. They cannot understand that monasteries have a cloister that is not accessible to others.
By guarding the sacred in man, religions protect him from being exposed to the terror of consumption, because man has dignity. Regardless of what he contributes or what he does for society.
Friedrich Nietzsche
The Jewish psychotherapist Viktor Frankl noted that many people today become mentally ill because they see no meaning in life. Many try to cover this meaninglessness by throwing themselves into actionism. But there is a great emptiness behind it. Finding meaning in life is part of human dignity. Frankl approvingly quotes the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche: “He who has a wherefore can bear almost any how.” Meaning strengthens human beings. Frankl laments that today we have enough to live on, but too little to live for. Viktor Frankl’s experience is that religions have always given meaning to people. Therefore, they have an important task for society. Because a society that cannot give people a sense of why they live loses its power. Viktor Frankl distinguishes three values that can give us meaning:
The experience values: When we experience something intensely, a sunset or a church service, life is meaningful at that moment.
The creative values: When we have succeeded in a conversation, succeeded at work, we feel meaning.
The setting values: Frankl says: “Fate can rob us of many things. It can rob us of our health, snatch away loved ones through death, take away the job that fulfilled us. But there’s one thing it cannot take away from us: the freedom to react.”
Religions have always shown us ways to deal with difficult situations – how to deal with suffering. The Christian message of death and resurrection gives us hope that everything can be transformed: Darkness into light, failure into a new beginning, defeat into victory. In this way, we do not get stuck in the role of victim that many people take refuge in today. We always have the freedom to react to what comes from the outside and crosses our life and our plans.
Religions give people not only meaning, but also hope, hope that life will succeed, even if it seems sorrowful and difficult to the outside world. Our society is not characterized by hope at the moment. Thus, religions have the task of becoming the leaven of hope for society, to give it hope that the problems of the future can be solved.
In many countries today, society is in danger of becoming divided. One group fights another without any willingness to understand their needs. Nationalistic countries think only of themselves. Religions teach us solidarity. We are interrelated and responsible for each other. In the pandemic, we experienced that we can catch the virus. We can harm each other. But we can also infect ourselves with positive thoughts and feelings. Each of us is responsible for himself, with which mood he goes into the day in the morning, with a feeling of bitterness, pessimism and aggression or with a feeling of goodwill and love. What we broadcast has an impact on society as a whole. Yes, from quantum physics we know that our thinking has a worldwide effect. We leave a trace in this world with our lives, which shapes this world. And it is our task to leave a trace of love and hope in this world.
Religions represent a spirituality of mercy. Jesus says: “Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.” (Lk 6:36). The Greek word “oiktirmon” that Jesus uses here means: compassionate. Compassion is also a central attitude for Buddhism. The Dalai Lama repeatedly conveys that compassion is the condition for man to become happy and for life in society to succeed. Compassion transforms society into a community. And compassion makes society kinder. Today, we see how we mercilessly condemn anyone who has violated a social norm. Our language is also becoming harsher, more judgmental, and more merciless. Religions invite us to speak another language. A reconciling, compassionate, encouraging language.
The American Trappist monk Thomas Merton gave a speech to representatives of various religions in Calcutta in 1968 shortly before his death. At the end of his lecture, he said that in the depth of our soul we are already all one. We should become aware of this oneness. Religions support us in this. The Greek philosophers already spoke of this unity, which, despite all the differences between people, is the bond that binds us together. It is helpful for us today because we see so much division and individualism in society. It is helpful for us today to become aware that, for all our diversity, we are already one at heart. When we become aware of this inner unity, we work against the tendencies toward division that we perceive in our society. And the feeling of oneness is also good for the individual. He is not isolated. He feels he belongs. In depth, he experiences an “all-oneness” – a spiritual experience that can transform our togetherness.
These were just a few thoughts about the role of religions for the society of the future. Basically, all religions worship the same God. We just have different images of God. But there is only the ONE God. This God is beyond all human concepts and imaginations. Before this ONE God, all self-righteousness ceases. None of us is in possession of the truth. For God is the real truth. And that can no longer be described with words. It is toward this truth that we are all headed. And on this common path, religions have to transmit values and attitudes that are a blessing for this world.
With more than 14 million books translated into more than 30 languages, the Rev. Anselm Grün is considered one of the most successful authors of spiritual books worldwide. As a monk of the Benedictine Abbey of Münsterschwarzach, the graduate in business administration and the doctor of theology was responsible for the economic affairs of the house as cellarer until 2013. Today, he devotes himself entirely to writing, giving talks, and interpreting the Gospel online. He also continues to act as spiritual director of the Recollectio House, which he founded – an institution for the holistic strengthening of pastoral tasks for clergy. His book Lebensmitte als geistliche Aufgabe (published by the monastery’s own Vier-Türme-Verlag) became particularly well known. It was recommended by Pope Francis in 2018. In 2007, the Rev. Anselm Grün received the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany. In 2011, he was awarded the Bavarian Order of Merit.