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| Pentecost, Libro d'Ore di Étienne Chevalier |
Perhaps
this is because, unlike the other festivities, it does not involve
extra days of vacation, specific things to buy or culinary associations,
such as Christmas pudding, turkey, Easter eggs and lamb.[i]
Yet,
in actual fact, this feast does relate with food consumption, since it
originally celebrates the Jewish fruition of the harvest. In Christian
imagery it also refers to Jesus as “the first-fruits of all who have
fallen asleep” (1 Corinthians 15:20) exemplified by “I am the
bread of life. He who comes to me will never be hungry, he who believes
in me will never thirst.” (John 6:35). This may sound like a
catering slogan, yet it does not necessarily promote ordinary business
and consumerism, which is perhaps why there is not much fuss about
Pentecost.
Pentecost,
also called Whitsunday (especially in Britain), is the 50th day after
Easter, marking the anniversary of the Ten Commandments, and most of
all, as for Christians, the descent of the Holy Spirit on the Apostles.
On that occasion the disciples and the Virgin Mary “were meeting
together in one place. Suddenly, there was a sound from heaven like the
roaring of a mighty windstorm, and it filled the house where they were
sitting. Then, what looked like flames or tongues of fire appeared and
settled on each of them. And everyone present was filled with the Holy
Spirit and began speaking in other languages, as the Holy Spirit gave
them this ability.” (Acts 2:1-4).[ii]
Most
Christians consider Pentecost as the official Birth of the Church.
Before that event the followers of Jesus were scattered and unfocused,
then after the descent of the Holy Spirit they got a lot of enthusiasm,
came together and started to establish their practices and teachings.
The
Second Vatican Council describes the action of the Holy Spirit as “an
interior, saving work which is also expressed externally in the birth
of a community and institution of salvation… permeated with love, which
overcomes all differences and divisions of an earthly nature… with an
expression of faith in God which is understandable to all, despite the
differences in language.”
The
Church born at Pentecost, rather than a building or hierarchical
organization, is the gathering of those who, filled with the Holy
Spirit, have received the “gift of tongues”, so that when they speak
everyone hear them in their native language. This gift establishes
communication in the Spirit rather than in the language.
As
Alan Watts puts it “when the mind is no longer spell-bound, the
confusion of tongues gives place to the gift of tongues – the power to
use the Word without being enthralled by it.” For this reason
“Catholicism has always insisted that spiritual authority resides in
the living Church rather than in the ‘dead letter’ of Scripture. But
the Church has authority only in so far as it remains truly the Church,
the company of those who realise effectively that they are one with
the Author by whose Word the universe of time, space, and duality is
exfoliated from eternity.”[iii]
What were then the customs of this early Church?
Although
this is too much of a controversial topic to deal with in a few
sentences, what appears clear is that scriptures did not play a
privileged role. This is also because the Gospels became available only
one hundred or even two hundreds years after the Pentecost.
Early
Christian writings and several references in the Bible indicate more
an emphasis on joyous celebration, dance, music, contemplation and
trance, rather than reading or analysing sacred texts. Dance was a
vital part of the religious practices of ancient Israelites, and people
were regularly exhorted to dance and play loud music in the Old
Testament. Yet what I perceive as most significant in those dances and
in all early Christian practices is the shamanic trance and
shape-shifting element, which is also the essence of Pentecost itself.
The
disciples are filled with the Holy Spirit and, as a result, begin to
speak in alien languages. And it was indeed this capacity to enter into a
non-ordinary state of consciousness and surrender one’s body and mind
entirely to God that represented the sine qua non for gaining admission
to the early Church.
The ancient shamanic practice of glossolalia (see: http://astore.amazon.co.uk/astroshamanis-21/detail/1556358539), or Speaking in tongues,
is still the most prominent trait of Pentecostalism, Charismatic
movements, and Charismatic Catholicism, which are also the fastest
growing groups in today’s Christianity. Their practices, besides
speaking in tongues, involve dancing in circles, jumping, shouting,
crying and laughing, falling on, or rolling across, the floor, and other
cathartic experiences.
Another
form of trance common to early Christian mystics and saints, such as
Anthony of Egypt, Benedict, Columba of Iona and later Francis of
Assisi, Theresa of Avila, John of the Cross, to name just a few,
involved unceasing contemplation and sensory deprivation, which are
also customary elements of all deep shamanic experiences and vision
quests.
The
core element of the original Church is the direct experience of God’s
presence as Love, through the intervention of the Holy Spirit.
The
function of the Holy Spirit is to heal our fragmented mind. This means
dissolving the insane idea of existing in a separate reality filled
with solitary identities in perpetual conflict or mutual threat, and
unveiling our true common nature unceasingly united with God.
The Holy Spirit teaches that “Nothing real can be threatened. Nothing unreal exists.” (ACIM,
T, I:2). He mediates between reality and the illusion of our separated
self. This is possible because, “while on the one hand He knows the
truth, on the other He also recognizes our illusions, but without
believing in them. It is the Holy Spirit's goal to help us escape from
the dream world by teaching us how to reverse our thinking and unlearn
our mistakes. Forgiveness is the Holy Spirit's great learning aid in
bringing this thought reversal about.” (ACIM, Preface, xi).
 |
| Pentecost Dome, St Marks, Venice |
Forgiveness
involves shifting from a perception based on separation to an ongoing
communion with whomever and whatever exists. Spirituality is not a race
for individual enlightenment or a fight to impose one’s religious
ideas.
The
Church is a holy communion of people. This is not founded upon the
rightness of their doctrine. It is firmly based on the value of their
loving connection with God and with one another.
“As
you come closer to a brother you approach me, and as you withdraw from
him I become distant to you. Salvation is a collaborative venture. It
cannot be undertaken successfully by those who disengage themselves
from the Sonship, because they are disengaging themselves from me. God
will come to you only as you will give Him to your brothers.” (ACIM, T4,VI.8:1-4)
The
early Christian practices are most pragmatic in the above respect. The
Church becomes a sacred gathering where we step out of our private
madness and safely release it as a common collective insanity. Through
dance, trance, sounds and songs, overt or silent, grievances are burned
away and turned into prayer. This is the Blessed Way of Passion
that leads to the ecstatic presence of the void. Here the Holy Spirit
unfolds and we can all sense our loving unity, sharing it with others,
and shining it back as we see it in our brothers and sisters.
And, by the grace of God and the Pentecost, this is the trance original essence of the Church.
[i] As a matter of fact, in the Jewish equivalent of Pentecost (Shavuot), it is customary to eat dairy food and there are also special Shavuot recipes on this occasion.
[ii] The phrase “roaring of a mighty windstorm” is the literal translation of the Hebrew word ruah, meaning “spirit of God”, or in astroshamanic idiom, with the term Ruha, “spirit of Fire”.
[iii] Alan Watts, Myth and Ritual in Christianity, p. 189-190.
© Franco Santoro, info@astroshamanism.org
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