Posted Wednesday 1 October 2008
I have corresponded with Californian performer Louis Pearl over 20 years, but it was only weeks ago that we met for the first time, writes Rev Canon Philip Noble, of St Ninian’s Prestwick.
I went to see his show at the Edinburgh Fringe – his stage name is The Amazing Bubble Man. Afterwards we had a meal together. What an interesting character.
We conversed about our common interest in soap bubbles and I was able to give him a great quote from Nietzsche: “… And to me also, who appreciates life, the butterflies, and soap-bubbles, and whatever is like them amongst us, seem most to enjoy happiness.”
Louis shared about his guru and belief system. In summary it is that there is only the present moment, only love and no such thing as truth.
He then asked me, as a pastor, to tell him about Jesus. I said: “No, didn’t think I would do that yet.”
I explained that, on too many occasions, people who have tried to ‘tell’ good news have ended up with a form of words that are stale, dry and unhelpful. I suggested that next time we met, if we had more time, we might talk a bit about him.
In a subsequent e-mail Louis wrote: “There is only love no truth. Lies are man’s invention.”
I replied: “As I see it, the only truth is love and my problem is not so much where lies came from, as what to do when I face them.”
I gave him another quote, this time from the Japanese Sushaku Endo: “… a man who loves others with an open-hearted simplicity, who trusts others no matter who they are, even if he is deceived or even betrayed, such a man in the present day world is bound to be written off as a fool. And so he is. But not just an ordinary fool. He is a wonderful fool ...”
He liked it.
Louis’ guru had it right in at least one respect. The ‘here and now’ is all we have, out of which to make life worthwhile and God present and holiness a normal, rather than an unnatural way of life. Living in the Sacrament of the Present Moment is a message for our day – today.
How do we then live the with-God life? Too often, our study of the Bible focuses on searching for specific information or some formula that will solve our pressing needs of the moment.
But what if we approached the Bible differently – and instead of transforming the text to meet our needs, allowed it to transform us?
I think I’ll have some things to share as well as learn at our next meeting.
Category: Thought for the Month
