main pointes

fiiltlrur,fl

1il{tilllflilHr:

,Lil]]lf ,1,..

Chapter For-rr

MY SELF AND RELI(;ION

-: :;'\'u-n. I was an acol)te rvho rvattcd incense about in the church - : - - .-.. priest at mass in other ways. Bclbre I rvas much older I had . - . -. :hc F athers of the Ctrurch and the etrrly Christian marlyrs. The -'- -:.r..1c'people I was living with hacl in their library a Histor_v of

: ;,':',rclom.It told the stories o1'all the saints, the stoning and - >. Stephen, the grilling of St. Lawrcnce, the flaying of St. Cccilc , ,--.-,ther? - and the tortllring ol others. how they rvcre pinchcd

- - ...nqs and their tongues or bosorrs cut off. holv hot e-q-qs were - -- .:: shoulders or boihng oi1 ra.as lorced into their months, how -' - :r l lcct \\'ere cut off and their bodies covered u,ith br.rming pitch.

..) .lre rare toda1,, but thcn thcv rvere often tbund in pioLrs , - --..i-rtrlds in Europe. Surce I reacl cventhing else I carne across, " - ,' . l. .ri rnarl),rdom, thour:h it u,as not so good for a boy of scr.'cr-r.

.:: crolounclly impressed. Whcn anyonc asked me then $'hat - ,. L.e u hen I grew up, I rcpliccl instantlv, "A mart1.r."

-. , :r.'n I refused to cat somr- icc clcanr ri ith rry lathcr thc clay hc - - ::.:hc \\'ar'.

, ,.l..rt I u ould call mv Catholic pcriod. Catholic in the prin-ritive - - l." arian peasants among rvhorr I lived. Later, u,hen I srudicd , . -'-\t1r"rinas. I met another kind of Catholicism, one in u,hich l

1 1 1'. g grcal expression of tbrrnal ariolouy,. - - :;i.or t\vo the monkish 1it-e pallcd Llpon lne. and my intercst - -' .:-L' cihereal to the matcrial. I wcnt in fbr astronomv and othcr

:-r;-nce and tancicd myself becorning an agnostic. Sorlehor.u, i:. ::L- iirtellecrually hungry, ancl r.vhcn I rvas abor"rt 1r{ this nonrc-

- - ,:: lcSilrl merging into my Protcsl.ant period. With my brotircr I .: i: .,s r Lutheran. I learnecl thc AugsbLrrg Confession. i reacl

' , -: .,:ion of the Bible, and I decpcnecl ury t-eeling for the meaning - l:.. . - j,':rmark. r.r,hen I rvas u,orking for Walt Disnev. that I camc

. ..;;.icc'olthe u,riter rvho. ncxt to the Evan_selist, has had morc - ' . .hapine of my,'religious lit-c than anyone e1se. Tiris rvas thc

" :npher Ssren Kierkegaarcl. At that tirne (about 193 1 ) I read in - - - : hrs books as P/zl ktsophitul I;rtrgruents, Either-Or. Feur otttl -' ::'d. The Sickness Lhtto Deurlt. Alter the Second World War, .: :.1:ning formal axiology in rly hcad, I made an intensive stucly

_ \\. - * had been deeply moved by paintings of the Crucifixion and

/lflflruri" - .:', .r.s olJesus. I had always thought olJesr,rs as being by my sidc.

90 FREEDOM TO LIVE: THE ROBERT HARTMAN STORY My Self and Religion

.lesus did not attempt to downgrade the intellectual capacities of men, but lrc clid try to show that there is an even higher reality. "For what shall it lrlofit a man if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?" (Mark 5 ;.16).

Man, then, must not repeat this error of the Middle Ages; he muststrive l r gct himself in balance by establishing, besides the values of everyday life rrrrd thought, the reality and the supreme value of the spirit, of love, and of Iris own dignity.

lnstead of living in tunnels of fear, throwing up frantic fortifications irpilinst each other, let us live in the infinite reaLms of faith, developrng our ..piritual strength as we have our mental and material strengths. Indeed, if \\,r, are to survive we must learn to live spiritually, intrinsically. We either I rvu cterally or not at all. We must study the map of the Sellthat Jesus drew Ior trs and follow its directions.

livcrything we have said so fu axiologicallyhasbeen expressedbyJesus irr lwo great Commandments, which are found in both the New and Old l(':itaments: "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, andwith rrll thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength," and"Thou '.lrrlt love thy neighbor as thyself' (Matthew 22:37-39).

Since God is within us, the first Commandment says that you must love vorrrsclf fully: intrinsically - with all your heart and soul; extrinsically - ivrtlr all your strength; systemically - with all your mind. When you do this yor r not only live your Self, you love your Self (not selfishly but in the sense u I linowing and respecting and liking your Self). And the second Command- in('nt says that once you do this, you must love your neighbor as you love y,rrrrsclf. For in the depth of the Self at the vertex of the inhnite coneof our lrr,r rr g, we find not only ourselves, but also our fellow man - and God. There t,, rrnity of all rnen in God. It is a comrnunity not in space and time, a com- lrrrnity that Jesus calls the Kingdom of God.

Anyone may enter; anyone may join; each of us has - and is -thekey to tlrr l(ingdom - the loving or liking of our own Selves. For unless you like yorrl Self you cannot like anybody else. Unless you feel that you are impor- tnrrt. rrothing can be important to you. You must make yourselfworthy of yorrrsclf to be worthy of your fellowman and of God. If you don't take r,i,rrlsclf seriously, if you take yourself as an accident thatmight justas well rrnl hrrve happened, then you are lost; you cannot fulfill the meaning ofyour Itlt'.

Itcrncmbcr, for example, the tragic story of a girl who was called a svrrrlroI o1'sex lrut who actually was a slmrbol for the spiritual povertyof our r lirv, Marilyn Monroe was a lovely and lovable woman - but with a tragic llnrv irr lrcr Sclt'. She always had, she said, a feeling deep down that she was r lrr'rrtiug sor11cor1c, that shc was not gcnuine. She tried desperatelyto over-

9l

WhenlreadKierkegaard,sconceptionofJesusas..theeternalcontempo. r"ry,;;t ;;; *no i. itltt ,,s as a living friend all the time' I understood very *"ii, f U.fi"re, what he meant. It oriented me' It confirmed' so to speak' my .G"r. i.l",ionship. ttrus, the feeling I had_always had for Jesus and what i; ;id blended easilyand'naturally-with the principles of human valu6 which I later developed in formal axiology' indeed' I can find

precisc

confirmation for thosi principles ln Kierkegaard's very words'

Here, then, i. -y o.il u*iotgical interpretation of the Bible and religiou

* t"r*s of my Self and of reli[ion. I'm (uite sure that virtually the samg human values

"*pt urL"A \oihe Aibtehave been set forth in the "Bibles'i

of the world's other religions and by other great -plgpl"lt and,religiout

i"u["i, ,r,ro"ghout histor!. i *rir" heie of Jesus and christianity because it

i, tfr" t"frgioi, t.uaitio, in which I was reared and with Y,lltgi::l,^"ly: i, a-.riJu are familiar. The christian accepts Jesus asthe Messiah, tho' savio. of the world, the son of God, the christbs; the Jew

does not. Forhim,

l"*.i, ,r",her prophet. For both, however' Jesus is a great teacher' and *t

"i fr" says is true. Actually, I doubt that a great many. Christians

accspt

Jesus as the Christ; it'.-l"ik"Uihui*"tt Christlans haveihe Jewish view of

;;;;. i" me, there is little difference in the two views' For me' Jesus is thnt p.i.", *rr" rtr the first time in human history articulated the nature ofman'l irf*i V in God. He gave added emphasis to the place of man in

religiout

concepts. ,,, -1-^--r+L^-^r. . N"^u'rytwothousandyearsago,Jesustriedtotellusaboutthereligiottl

experience in human terms andlts sublime importance for our tme life. But

i,ii"t rri. parables anJteachings have not.been widely understood' W0 ;";;th"; to each other, but ie d9 so without to*!t:-h:::1"T::1t: q.i*iy,*fr"n we do try toput them into practice' we go to wild extremot' After Jesus, Christians'mi-srinderstood his emphasis 9n.th."

spiritual Y:1* ;;;;;;;Geing that,t* ,pir*"r included.the material, they opposed bothr worlds to each otrrer, reja:iding the material world as a.Fall from

C9d l .o*pr"*ry.isreadingciapteri of Genesis - and as a sink of comrptioui ;;tp;;i"rsirr, *lttirt ici tt'eir spirits, their souls' should have nothin$ to do.

The Church, master of the Middle Ages, had as deep a contempt for thli

material worta as our preserrt uge hus forlhe spirituat w&td' log.rnicus a1{

Galileo had to r"u, to.toil, u"a?alileo actuaily had to face it. other mcn of

science were regarded;;a;;eatea u. "*"kpoi, or heretics. ,:.9:t y:f

burned at the stake. cot r*u,r, *as thought mad for theorizing that the world

is round. Thus did tne teaders of ttre trllddte Ages reject the stnrgglc ol thO

mind to advance.'" ioAuy *uny of our leaders similarly rciect the strugglc of'thc

human spirlt

to advancc.

92 FREEDOM TO LIVE: THE ROBERT HARTMAN STORY

come this feeling, and perhaps she would have made it had she not ll victim to one ofher depressive spells. For her conscience and her consci ness were more sensitive than those of most other people in her predica She tried desperately to love herself and to love others. Love was upon her but she was unable to respond fully. It was no accident, I bcli that this woman became a symbol tbr our time. We gain the world ancl lose our soul. We give ourseives to soul-substitutes, from corporations t0 status symbols to fatherlands, and occasionally to psychoanalysis, and wl die alone. We could also die by our own hands, as Marilyn Monroe did, ln national suicide.

We lack the religious experience as an experience of the Self. We do not comprehend the Kingdom of God within us.

Unforhrnately, what Jesus told us about the Kingdom of God has ctutto down to us in a book which, I am afraid, few have learned to read lnd comprehend. This isbecause it is notwritten in ordinarylanguage.Thc llihlo deals with the infinite and, as we have seen, in infinity the part equals tlto whole, nothing is ever lost, and anything that happens is enrichment,

This means that events of and within infinity cannot be understood by tlro logic of the finite nor be expressed by the language of the finite. Thc Bihlc, therefore, uses the logic of the infinite and expresses it in the languagc ul' infinity. The language ofinfinity, of intrinsic value, is the language of poctry and of metaphor. A metaphor is a word of the finite language to which is given an infinite meaning. It means anything but what it does mean. Fnr example, the word "peach," as in "a peach of an ash tray," "a peach ol'tt girl," "a peach of a car," means anything except peach. Even when yuu speak of a "peach of a peach," the first "peach" does not mean what thc second does. Any word of the finite language of every day can be used as a metaphor. Usually the fuller a word's meaning, the richer it is in urcta- phors. Take the word "rose," and look in a book of quotations to scc how many things that word has been used for. Other words of systemic mcaning, like swear words, have poor metaphorical use. A metaphor gives finitc language infinite meaning. Metaphorical language is the language of thc Bible.

1. Elements of the Bible

The four elements of the Bible are the World, and the three persons ol'thc Trinity - God, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit.

Axiologically speaking, the structure of the spiritual world is sinrilar to the structure of man. Just as 'I' is the concept that pulls together into onc all the infinite stages of 'me' - at birth, now, and at death - so God is thc

My Self and Religiort rl t

, ,,nccpt that pulls the infinite stages of the space-time world ttlgctll('l irll(l 1,rvcs this world unity and self-identity.

( iod is infinitely good, in the moral and spiritual sense, as well as ilt thr.: Ir11ig31sense. God is potentiallythe world's Self-fulfillment. As the world I rt'r.t)rT]€S morally and spiritually better, it becomes more and more God-likc. I u the degree that the world degenerates, impoverishes, and confuses itself, rt h-:ts God down and makes a mockery of His goodness and mastery - of I lis sovereignty over creation. False gods and idols then assume sovereignty rrvcr rtar'Jsffairs. When the world does not follow the road to its self- trrlllllment, toward God, the world is alientated from itself and from God - tust as a person going astray is alienated from his Self. Such Self-alienation l,':uls to Self-destruction. The definition of the world-in-God is God's own ,[.llnition of Himself: "I am I." But the world alienated from itself, that is, lrorn God, has the definition of the schizophrenic: "I am not I." Should this ,lt.linition be fulfilied, there must come the day when the world will not be.

Of all creation, only man can reach total goodness in the world, the rrr;rxinturn possible richness of qualities. A man who succeeds in deepening lris consciousness, his awareness to an infinite depth, who encompasses rr ithin his spirit the rvhole worid and approaches to the richness of God, such ;r rlan would be a Saint. and a Saint of Sarnts. This prototypal person in the liible is Jesus. To those of us who aspire to Christianity, Jesus is he who ( iuuc so that we may live, in the fullest sense of this word, in infinite aware- rrcss. He represents God within the world, and the world beforc God. He is r lrc rnediator between us and God. He must not be an historical character in ';1race and time; the minute he becomes such we lose hirn and we lose t ilrristianity.

He must be outside of space and time. an intrinsic rather than rrrr cxtrinsii person. (It is deeply meaningful that we keep track of time with "lJ.C." and ''A.D." "C" itself is not in time,

just as zero, between positive :rrrcl negative numbers, is not itself a number.) We can understand Jesus only rl'rvc hive a living relationship with him, as if he were walking at our side

the eternal contemporary. The Gospel, then, is not primarily a repoft of past events; it is an eiperience ofa living reality. Too often, in organized r.cligion, with its traditions and rituai, this experience of the living Jesus is s rr ltocated.

The fourth element in the.B ible _inaddition to the World, God, and Jesus is the Hoiy Spirit, which corresponds to the symbolic nature of man when

hc has made himself transparent to himself, when his Self uses his body and rrrincl as a symbol for a higher meaning. The Holy Spirit is the Word, the l.ogos, not made incarnate as in Jesus, but Word, speaking of God to man. I'ho Floly Spirit is the Comfofterwho wouldteachus anew all that Jesus said

t.krhn l4:26), thc cver-continuing ctfort by men of good will to clarify thc ( iospcl of Jcsus, to tnitkc thc Worlcl transpzrrent as God's Word.

94 FREEDOM TO LIVE: THE ROBERT HARTMAN STORY

2. The Message of the Parables

The parables of Jesus are situations in infinity which describe for us

i.uLi". of the Kingdo- otCoa' Each parable is a metaphor, lhe yor!1 those of the .r.ryJuy social language ind of everyday s.ocial

situations;

;il;;;;irs t ^ nottti"g to dJwiih the everydavworld and its situati

ih.-y r".* tfre wortd of the spirit,the realm of the infinite. Once we .tund thi, language we undeistand the message of the--parables'

This -"r.u*g" iesus has put in these pithy words: "For whosoever

to him shall bi given, andie shall have more abund"l:?:9'i,I!:: ;;;il;;,, i.;m hi"m ,nuri f L iaken away evenlhat he harh" (Matthew I 3:12)J This is the message "iirr"

p"i"tLes. what does itmean? You can't muki g,hJl"il;;tn" n"it.. In finite language-it woul4

seem to mean that everiRockeleller is sure to enter the KingqoT o.f q"u'T:

it. rnor" money yoll'hu.r", the more good things youget- And the beggr! _ frl *fr" hath not, from him shall be iaken even that he hath - appears t0 be doomed to go to Hell. Is that what Jesus means? Obviously

not' For hl says it is easier ro, o "u*Jto !o

througllhe eye of a needfe than for a rioh

,,i, i" g. r" Heaven Otnuttt.# 19:24)lWhen the rich young man-asks hittl';Mur*i I want to foliow you, what shall I do?" Jesus answers, "Sell every' tfrlrg V"" t "r"

and fo[o#me-." What then does Jesus mean? What is it thot

one should have in order to have even more and which' lacking it' hc wtll

i"* *".V,fring? It i., of.outt., the infinite spirit' the.knoYlng of "th6 ,"..",, ofifre f-ingdom of Heaven." He who has the infinite spirit will

havf

;;;;;;;" .pirit ind rr" tr,u1have it in abundance' But he who has ,ot of ;h&t*, *tr, Oo". he have? He may have much of the world's treasur.l buthefinds,soonerotfut..-aslvanllychdidsooner-thatitreallyil worthless, and in the enJ, of course, he ltses it all because

he cannot tuko

it wirh him. Those *h;il";; ,piritrut understanding will gain morc and deeper understanding. ifto." w'ho do''t have it - s""it'g' they see not' and hearing, they t "*

,ot - *ill lose what worldly understanding and goods thcy have."-;;".y

single parable illustrates this moral in one way or another' Tnko

th;;;bl""ortt" "in"vutJ (Matthew 20:1-16)' Some workers put in 0

t*ir"-no". day in tn"'rin"yutO under a hot sun' From time to tirnc tho vineyard master go., ,o ttre town market place and says to thg

rn91 loaling

;;;;;rh.t", "W=hy aot ;t yo., work?" They say-nobody has hired thcrn' So t. [i.L* trr.* to work in tle vineyard, ut d h. keeps this up all day lottg' Even an hour before tfr" ""Jof

tt" day he asks a few loafers to comc in tnd

*or[. wn"n the day it or"t, "r.ryo'"i' paid a dollar - everyone' thosc who

worked an hour, two hours, three houis, and those who workcd all drty'

Nu*Jrv, those who worked all day protest that it isn't fair fbr thcur tu gct

My Self and Religion

no more than the men who only worked one hour. Says th1 ,

vincyard, "Didn't you get as much as you were promised?" "YN^l()r(l r "Wcll, then." he says. "what more do you want? Are you anvwi\," tlto"Wcll, then," he says, "what more do you want? Are you anyw,r\," tl lrrst shall be first, and the first last: for many are called, but fe{rsc o

What on earth does it mean? It does look unfar. And frorn' choWhat on earth does it mean? It does look unfar. And frorn - chosr vrcw of finite arithmetic, it is unfair. No business in the world ;thc po t h is way. But this is inf,rrity business that Jesus is talkine 366u*" condtlris way. But this is inlirnity business that Jesus is talking abou*" cond ] l( ingdom of Heaven. No space or time. If there is no tirie, *h:> this tl! ,l.,ci it make how lons a man has worked? Evervbodv is ttrenlt diffc lttlocs it make how long a man has worked? Everybody is therl( diffc ]I^^I onc eremity is as eterial as another erernity, and the so-calle] ix

"," IIIt'tcmity is as etemal as the so-called rwelve-hour etemity; thel) te6-^[t-tqtr rrrinutes nor hours. There is no space either. lf there is no spaql are ni.ljllft rs no separation, because what separates you and me ls the sp-='. ttren\,llltot rrs. If there is no separation, then th"r" ur" no separate pockeixo\e betttllolg n() separate pocketi. what you have everybody iras. wtrat yoi' lf th.Hwt'sn rr.bscly has. So it makes no diff.r"n.. *ho g.i, what. The dojl!on't il,:tro Io ir11y611" soes to evervone. At the bonom of our soirirual Selv*'qt that "'vc,l() anyone goes to everyone. At the bofiom of our spiritual Selvq.\r that "'"$, ,',rrnmunit!. Al1 of us u." on". o w" u.Ogocs

The protesting workers didn't understand the logic ofthe infi6. e vcry action is plus rernernber the alephs, the infinities only 6,'rts in \r, lroodness olthe Master to anyone makes all better and cannot ptlUO up. '+:h iuryonc worse off. He who has received the Lord's grace wi1,"\ibly1-'rtc l,cnelits to all. The iast in the earthly value scale -- tfie childd.uaiutJl\" thc meek. the humble - they will be first in the Kingdorn of f\, the f^lis lirut on earth - the mighry, t-he rich, the powerful, the"impofta,irttuu"r)llt' irr the Kingdom of Heaven. For many are called but few are cliWitl bs i

tte

rlrc poweriri succeed in sloughing oif the lesser values of the 1^)^\enl f"l,1ut! tlrcy are ready to enter the K-ingdlorn of Heaven, the vineyard'\rld solrof e rrter, they.ni.., no matter whei. It is only the if that.ouni., n".\", if *pt lior this ,iuson it was possible for the bandit who was crucifiejt the wlne} ro bc in Paradise with [im. In that lasr moment he saw the wholov With J:ten. suw his guilt and repentedl he became erernal. "Lord." he said-.)f Lilu=iY^a rrrc when thou comest into thy kingdom." This repentance liftq", reme\J's rlirncnsion of etemiry and rnade gSod for the whole ol'his finii] him tcJt::: is rnore joy in Heaven for one sinner who repenteth than for nin"'*\in. Th::: rrtcn who do not need repentance. -'V-nine jiri

Another parable in which the infinite meaning of finite wordq ;.

;'lJy.:,;H:ffi';f ,'ffi ltlT:[:f :'ffiX::];1,1f:';l:[1lsi--.[ffi r ihc second, one to the third, according to their ability. The first $.t, t*i l' n r()ncy fruitfully and became a rich man. The second wasn't o,,ilv"rt"qunlo hut hc clid manage to incrcasc his stake. The third. though. *iit\ *o.._

nr,,i',lfft

96 FREEDOM TO LIVE: THE ROBERT HARTMAN STORY

had no courage, he lacked faith, he played it safe, and he buried his in the ground. When the lord returned, he rejoiced in the initiative courge of the first two servants, but when the third gave him back money, saying, "Here it is, I didn't lose a cent," the lord was angry. o'Y

wicked and slothful servant," he said, "to outer darkness with you w there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth." The poor servant was dered. He didn't know his master. He feared him because he didn't stand him. He looked at infinity from the finite point of view. So he was saved, not lifted to the higher level of meaning, to the understanding of infinite value. He buried his own Self in the earth and lived like a mole. talent in the parable is our potentiality of spirit. If we do not invest it and I it grow, without hesitation and with spiritual boldness, we offend God we actually squander our good,let it decay and degenerate. If we don't develop that which we have, we lose everything.

Here, again, reappears the theme of the parables. Unto every one who shall be given. Ifwe use the intrinsic, spiritual treasure within us we can only.r gain. But if we do not use it we shall lose all, even our earthly possessiorlt, So it is with all the parables. Reading them with this theme in mind, you will, find the revelation of a new dimension. They are the map of the realnr of infiniry.

Jesus' whole life is a syrnbol of infinity, a metaphor of the spirit. Hitr miracles, for example, are p r a cti c al m etap h or s. When he changes water i nt0, wine he changes the terrestrial into the spirit in this metaphor water dool' not stand for spirit but wine does. When he awakens the dead he awakcnl, the spiritually dead to spiritial life, when he heals the sick he heals the spiritually sick - those who have the "sickness unto death." Kierkegaard, by the way, took this title for one of his books from John I 1:4, the story of Lazarus. To be physically dead is not the sickness unto death; to be spiritu. ally dead is. To interpret a miracle we have to find the mechanics o1'tho, infinite within it. One of the most spirited interpretations is Lloyd Douglas'l account of the feeding of the five thousandin The Robe.

'...It was growing late in the aftemoon. I had been so moved by the thirrgr I had heard and seen that I had not thought ofbeing hungry. Reuben and I, knowing there would be nothing out there to eat, had stopped at O market-booth in Capemaum and had bought some bread and cured fish, In any other kind of crowd, we would have eaten our luncheon. But now that we had begun to feel hungry, I was ashamed to eat what I had bcltrro the faces of the men about me; for, as I have said, iesus had been talking about us all being of one family, and how we ought to share what wc had with one another. I should have been willing to divide with the man ncxt

My Self and Religion 97 to me; but I didn't have much more than enough for myself. So - I didn,t cat; nor did Reuben.'

'I daresay there were plenty of men in the crowd who faced the same clilemma,' surmised Marcellus. 'well - the disciples were around Jesus telling him he had better dismiss the people, so they could go to the little villages and buy food. Justus told me afterward that Jesus only shook his head and told them that the people would be fed. They were much bewildered and worried. There was a small boy, sitting very close and overhearing this talk. He had a little basket, his own lunch, not very much; just enough to feed a boy. He went to Jesus with his basket and said he was willing to share what he had., Marcellus' eyes lighted, and he leaned forward attentively. 'Go on,' he dernanded. 'This is wonderful.' 'Yes - it really was wonderful, sir. Jesus took the basket and held it up lbr the people to see. And then he told how the boy wanted to share his lbod with all of the people. And he looked up and thanked God for the little boy's gift. It was very, very quiet, sir. Then he began breaking the srnall loaves into bits, and the fish he tore into liuie shreds; and he gave these fragments to his disciples and told them to feed the people., 'Did the crowd laugh?' asked Marcellus. 'Well - no sir. We didn't laugh, though almost everyone smiled over

such a big crowd being fed on almost nothing, as you might say. As I told you, I had been ashamed to bring out the food I had, and now I was rrshamed not to; so I unwrapped my bread and fish, and broke off a piece, rrnd offered it to the man next to me.' 'Wonderfull' shouted Marcellus. 'Was he glad to get it?' 'He had some of his own...But there were plenty of people who did not

lrave any food along with them, sir. And everyone was fed, that dayl After it was over, they gathere d up a dozen basketfuls of fragments, left t)vcr' '...This is really a marvelous story, Hariph!' 'You believe it, sir?' Hariph was happily surprised. 'lndeed, I do! And I believe it was a miracle! Jesus had inspired those

stingy, selfish people to be decent to one another! It takes a truly great nrnn to make one harmonious family out of a crowd like that.7

.lcsus, Douglas shows us, is not concerned with miracles in space and Irrrc; le is conceruedwith miracles in the inner Self.

l'lrc Gospel seeks to make very clear the differences between the finite irrrrl lhc infinite, between social and metaphorical language, between the r'r tlinsic and intrinsic. Take thc conversaion between Jesus and Nicodemus. It'rrrs tclls lriln, "tJnlcss a rnan tro lrom again he cannot see the Kingdorn of

tJX I l{l l,'l}()M t(l t.tVlt:THEROBERTHARTMANSTORY ( irrrl " Nrt'.rlcrrrtrs rrrrswcrs, "How can a man be born when he is old? c Ir. r'rrrcl rlrr.: sccontl tin-re into his mother's womb?', (John 3:3-4). Jesuc ('rilrrc rrses tho word "bom" metaphorically; he means spiritual birth, llcslr irnrl thc spirit, the social and the morallndividual, have entireltdi crrt tlirncnsions; in our axiological terminology, they are those of extri lnclintrinsic value, respectively. "Birth" in orie aimension is entirelydi cnt fiom "birth" in the other. That which is bom ofthe flesh is flesh; and which is born of the Spirit is spirit." (John 3:6.) This difference ii ect by a modem philosopher, Nicholas Berdyaev, in sravery and Freedom,

Personality is not a biological or a psychological phenomenon, but ethical and spiritual one. The individual is closJly hnked with the ma world. He is brought to.birth by the generic process... personality is born of the family and the cosmic-procesi, not born of a father anf mother, but emanates from God; it makes its appearance from a world.

This means that while the individual is ofthe extrinsic world, the person. ality is of the intrinsic world. This intrinsic world is infinitely richer than tho extrinsic world and therefore, says.Berdyaev, ..The entire world is nothing in comparison with human personality, with the unique person ofman." Tho same thought has been expressed by pico, pascar, Bergson, and othe*i quantitatively man is a. minute particre in the universej quaritatively ho incomparably exceeds the universe.

The Gospel juxtaposes the two kinds of values - extrinsic and intrinsio - most explicitly in the conversation between Jesus and the woman of Samaria (John 4:7-39). It begins:

There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water: Jesus saith unto her, 'Give me to drink.' (For his disciples were gone away into the city to br,ry meat.) Then saith the woman of Samaria.,nto hi-, lHow is it that thoi, being a Jew, asketh drink of me, which am a woman of samaria? fbr tho Jews have no dealing with the Samaritans.,

"Jesus saith unto her" - already this is an act of intrinsic valuation, usually, Samaritans are not spoken to by Jews; the individual Samaritan is never valued as a person but only as a member of the class of Samaritans, But Jesus speaks to the woman, not as a samaritan but as a woman, and, indeed, as this particular woman, as becomes clear rater. He speaks to hcr in everyday language, bllt metaphorically: ..Give me to drink.,,

The woman answers correctly to the act of intrinsic valuation, but not to the intrinsic language. "How is it that thou being a Jcw, asketh clrink of nrc,

I

My Self and Religion

rvlrich am a woman of Samaria?" Jesus answers by showing herthe intrinsic rnurning of what he said: "If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that ,lrith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of Him, and He rvould have given thee living water."

lloth he and the woman are in the realm of value, and she could have irilicd of him as well as he of her. The water he wants in communion with lrcl is not empirical water but living spirit. She does not understand and irl)l)lies the language of the world to his metaphor: "Sir, thou hast nothing Io rlraw with, and the well is deep..." Jesus continues to make clear the two l irrtls of value: "Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: but rvlrosoever drinketh of the water that i shall give him shall never thirst." I lrrrst is of the body, of the empirical world, where there is space and time

rrrrrl hence subtraction and longing for satisfaction. ln the Kingdom of God tlrcrc is no space and time, no subtraction; everything is added unto us, and nll arc in creative unity: "The water that I shall give him shall be in him a rvcll of water springing up into everlasting life."

'l'he woman begins to understand vaguely. She asks for this water. Jesus t'orrnters by drawing attention to her own life situation. "Go, call thy hus- lurnd and come hither." To have a husband and love him is intrinsic value ,rrrcl belongs to the realm of the living water. But the woman said, "I have no husband." ln fact she has had five 'husbands,' and Jesus brings home to lrr'r the difference between extrinsic and intrinsic valuation. Husband is an irrtlinsic term and refers to one and only one in a lifetime. "And he whom tlrou now hast is not thy husband; in that saidst thou truly."

-[he woman begins really to understand, but she understands in her own

rviry. The rnan who speaks intrinsic value is something outside her own rvorld, and all she knows of such a man is that he is a prophet. The prophet lvorships at a certain place and time. But Jesus makes clear that God is not ol'this world but within us and rray be worshiped within us anylvhere, any tirnc:

Ilut the hour cometh and now is, when the true worshipers shall worship thc Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship llim. God is a Spirit: and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth.

Now the woman divines the whole truth; she calls him the Messiah. At tlris moment the disciples return from the city, and now the conversation is rcpcated in a different key. One of the disciples asks him to eat, and Jesus rclloats the metaphorical game: "I have meat to eat that ye know not of." The tlisciplcs, like thc wornan, mistake the meaning: "Hath anymanbroughthim rrtrght to cat?" Ancl now.lcsus makes his whole meaning clear, using not only

99

IOO FREEDOM To LIVE: THE ROBERT HARTMAN STORY My Self and Religion

i1-:.ttf:#j"Tjl'"9::$1itr'i'g that grows and is created - Wirh rcc-o^+ _: ,.-,1:::oTg metaphors of the parables.

Arrother example: the philosopher Immanuel Kant, a lirrle lrrl tall, was out walking one day when there came towarrl iii

*"yXg:.S;l,,H"Hl*standiigth"E;i';;:.i:",i,,1?i:',i0.*,., in their un rt erqranrr i n _ :Xil^,.|; 9j :.lO J"r ar the starr o f tfr"i. up*ioiic

Ittt tall, a butcher with an apron and a big knife, ready to slo, lrlrilosopher. Kant looked up at him, smiled, and said,

..1f[ hrrtchering day is Thursday, and today is Monday." "Oh, ; rrurn said.

There is in the Gospel p"1rr".-".ffir";ffiore fundamentar jur,rX',,j,,"JJ**:*:,: j:g,,heinnnite,notln'ilg,ug"butinsubstance_ What is the secret? You have to find a logic that is diffh"..... - !

llrc: cvildoer but which embraces both him ""J;;;. Sir.iTll'l hnlIrrrrrtr - where he is on one side anrl vorr are nn itl" .,ri..--

rrls ltt8le h i[?ff;':'.T, : :f,.?q. "

o e' i t re s u s i s avi n ;; ;"#',s.9 l.i H fl'Ji, #

understood. m,,ch rn ,l"j:^T"Ell: qigooil grlcod:;i;"yi# "ot

t e

Irrritc - where he is on one side and you are on the other .- 1,"."'rl{ llfi roirrsertthelogicoftheinfiniteintoihesituation.Thiswill'ttc'-\tlreliT{ Irirn on the same level. liftins him to vours. It will l.r itI"ntllt'o y$tlun ders tood. m u c h ro tr.,

" a.trr,,,.ni ; i;ffiH ;:;;r.,r:;1" liil: ?:l9if:*:::i,*9:,'^,lf yl;l1,ffig#;rillatr,rasreatconlmand,

Ir irn on the same level, lifting him to yours. It will let fr ; *' .]..' ttcro X$l,l uurkc him understand you, thJugh in his own, .o-"tl-"" 1",*" lhua

'l'he caoaciw to use this kind of losic seems to he inhn---:" '\'(ls wlly,"Res i sr n ot Ev i 1,. ( Matthew s, 3 e ;,2;, ir" ;ilit ;;i[l gfi i::""ffi T1 igood" (Romans 12:21). f"ru. gir..'r;;.; the meaning ofttr;.

".-r-qn;mo-+. ..\rrL ^ -

rlous examples in explai

in th e i r u nd e rs tand i n, ;il $ \i.; ili'J,i'#:;[T,:[],] ::fi :;",:: ffiliterally, and rhus o"i'r.::.0,"-rrir;i_;il i".". not, hearing we hearoqn,T:l *l*o*.,rt is still *tr,.. .,ii.yoni".

themeaningof thiscommuna-J,rt,:riiioro#il:X?,",:lTiJff #"rl#ll *::f ,ffi ::.1n j::,:,n:l*1.1 _iryffi:;?: : q) r once heard a,",n o, lwhich the preacher said, ..The w";;;;, #;iih,:T.iffilf,;rill:islaps you on one cheek tum to him tfr" otfr.,

"fr"ek to see how he diJ it, o

",,EltjSI;"3,..,:1o1.resus_m;;;ffi .;"","eantwharhesaid:or.rbrr

o th er ch eek ar s o to b. .;i ;;;: rh #;.T; ffi l,:T,Jii1,ff 1X,*l1l' lt?ofthe sail ofthe other,s ang".i;;;;;lr rt r*"r* incentive roi-evil<t,ingthan resistance to it. whdy;;;;;;;;;* ""i1,;,ou

drain the tun frorn it,Nothing is more disconceni"g t" , *idffian poriteness. And do you knowwhat a dog does when he i. #;;;s*;ffii' '-;,;;,i;;;i. "i"-i, Hc riorooyl::,, four legs lp, an9,rr" ret;; d"oes nothingHere are more of Je.sur'

"*u-!"t"r,;if ;;y ,nun *ir-r sue rhee a*hc raw,and take thv coat. ret him t;" ,oi;;rr "[l. And whosow;;;;ir cornpor.?';,f ff#n, ffi yJll'il

##;?M"fi ew 5 : 4o-4 1 ) Ir means we shourd gyercome the finite by the infinire, the logic of.rinitothinking by the rosic orinririt. tn;;ffi. il)";;;;il,i;il;'r:,::,;il

up toa higher level of rn"earrrg. w" ri";ffii; Iile evirdoer ov..,",,lrgiirn, rryour exampre. rhe snirit of.the Kingd";;e;. n"r, "r"liu"'ion"is,,rory,ifyou know how. f'ake AO*r,u*iir.o;' ilh.,1r:,Iebody reproachcct hirn,saying, "whv are vo, so kind to;;;r";;i;s? why don,t you annihiratothem?" Lincorn ruid "Don'tl il,hjj#;;enemies by making fricncrs.r,them?" An Es q u i re cartoo.n t o*.J t o .r"Ji^"r_ ir r,fr..li U.ur rtirr..i

"an l n gon their bigclubs' and tooting on in

"r"r"."r, "ta third """;;;'r, g;inringhappily' bouncingalongwiti "

rinr"'t"rqr"r of flowcrs in his ha-nd..r,rrccaptron: "Boys, I've revolutionized ro"".'."r^taud ol.basrrirrg i, thc rrcarrsot'his rivals. he won rhe hearr;il;i. 'r;

'l'he capaciry to use this kind of logic seems to be inborn -- ^'rts WllI, I rrlic my toy, fo, instance. My brother and I once prun"i.ltliotttc pcoplg, ,rrling at Niagara Falls with our families. My brother'; f;J.,t: *tcct litr utt I I an-d mybo),about 13. Mybrother's boywas u *ifJeuY

w€s tltctt abttrtt lrc wouidn'ihurt a fly. t said to mybrotier, ,ppr.t"n-Ji'

rvrroewas tlliltl v,rrr boy; you know my boy. Before you know it there'ji?'

-You kltow

rrurybe my toy will be throwl into Niagara." "Well," ruiJ ,-.,"f_u fight nlrtl rIrriught about that, but let's see whaihappens."'$;;'}^:rothcr, "l'vc lrrrrdt-y shaken hands before my brothe.'r boy kicked;; ;'::land we had My bty crouched, hopped along on the other t"g, ,nd'"JuJ tn the shins' rvoLrnded." hnmediateiy, the aggiessor put his u.ri r.o,rrrd;1'*-uuch, I'rn

l,,;.i,i:}nX'f ;*,1,*1,fr f l,Ly'"r"sbthevptaved*";"iJJ"%:'#:l; 'l'he logic of the infinite, the brotherhood ofman, can be r rea, :^

lrow. The most tremendous example of this that I ever he*j .l,lliY:u know ;r lirrmer member of the German ernbassy in Mexico Cit . .,Julil

told me by liorcign Office in Bonn. He was in the battle of Stalinp"r'ru

lS,now in the

"u",yihing he had - his gun, his bayonet, his ammunitior]"1,I-iS had lost

lrrrnped into a shell holJand was sitting there, shiveri; i.";;:.:ls coat. He ilrc battle raging all around, when a i'uge Russiar, 6il'l'"tjtnter cold, r . w a rd him. ;suidenly t saw myself and tlis Rus sian to eei'6 :j i:"-S' I un ged .l'nothing, and it was ridiculous," my friend tora -".-';#i'^Tthe middle lowald mE, I coutdn't help it: I grinned. That fellow lo"k.

";;:'"5 jumped

tlrrows away his gun, puts his arm around me and by sig, tai"i'.'^ips, gnns, that whoever loses the battle will be the others prisoner." A "il;::

we agree

llrc whole madness of war and converted. the 'ienemv" ini" I'I],t, took away

'lhc secret, then, is to steep oneself in the logic of the l,riil:'^oY man. rrs tlo this as a mattcr of courst, intuitively, in a rTariety of.inl""j,tll' Many of Iogic fbllowccl by mothcrs wlrcn thcy clcfy the taws lr".iii,J'jlls- It is the thc scconcl clrikl incl thc tlrrrcl ,'* ,r,t,ch as thc fir'st. *ittrnut ,timilfiill i;J:

IO2 FREEDOM TO LIVE: THE ROBERT HARTMAN STORY

love for the first child. They can love a dozen children, each of thern hundred percent, for their love grows with every child. It is the logic of teacher who gains the more he gives of his knowledge to his students, whose greatest sorrow would be not to have others equaling him in standing and inspiration. It is the logic practiced by the African tribo condemns a rnurderer to many the widow of the victim in order to a life for the one he has taken, and by the Chinese restaurant owners were ruining each other by competition in the same sffeet, until they the solution. They swapped management but retained ownership -- coo tion by competition and competition by cooperation. To sum up in the of a wit: "If someone hands you a lemon, make lemonade." In tho instance it is just plain cornmon sense, for common sense is precisely to the traces of the infinite in the finite worid.

This is the logic, then, of overcoming evil by good. I was finally even to reduce it to a formula which I gave to two of my students to try out various situations to see whether it would hold water - and it did. If U V symbolize two values - either I. E, or S - then the formula is (Uy) for example. 1Ig)qI. There you have (within parentheses) a systc"r'nll disvaluation of an irYtrinsic value - an inhuman use of a system - revcrscd; turrred around, devalued by the intrinsic valuation of the systemic - tltg human use of a system. In other words the inhuman use of a system il righted by the human use of a system.

A German friend of mine who at Niagara Falls left the U. S. for a walk out on the international bridge was caught between systems. He found he could not reenter the U.S. because he did not have his passport with him, and frrf the same reason he could not enter Canada. Should he spend the rest of hil life on the bridge? In this predicament, (Ig), the Canadians iet him entcr A yard into Canada and issued an expulsion order for him which met the U.S, immigration requirements, and he was able to leave the bridge. The hurnnn use of a rule of a system, (Sr), undid the inhuman use of another rule of tho system, (Ig).

In general the disvaluation of a value is righted by the corresponding valuation of the disvalue. Since there are nine basic disvaluations of a valus possibie, namely (Sg), (SB), (S1), (Eg), @g), (E1), [g), (Ig), (I1), there aro nine basic forms of the simple rule, "overcome evil by good."

There are also more complex forms, e.g. (I(qg))(sE;I. This could mcan that the devaluation of a human life (I) by a gadgete6r of the nuclear bomb (gE) could be overcome by the human use (I) of this gadget (gE) - atoms for peace instead of atoms for war. Each of the many theoretical forrnulae of the structure (UV)vU has an infrnity of applications. The field of evil is as varied as that of gobd.

M1t Self and Religion 103

We need desperately to develop our sensitivity to evil, just as we need to rh'vclop our sensitivityto good, for we cannot overcome thatwhich we don't hrrow. So few people can smell evil, sensitively or vicariously, precisely lrt'cuuse they have failed to develop their sense of values. The possibility of Ir rrtrclear war that would wipe out civilization is great. Yet how few people rlc cnough aware of this tremendous evil to say or do anything about it! llow few people are enough aware of the infinite, intrinsic value of human lr lc to protest plans to eliminate it from Creation. They say, "Well, suppose \vc {6 311die. Would that be so terrible?" How few really CARE for God's r'r!iltion!

A nuclear war would be the overcoming of good with evil; it would prove llrirt man is not made in God's image but instead is, after all, a devilish llcahrre. But I refuse to believe this is true. I assert that this is God's world, nol the devil's, that man was made in God's image, not the devil's, andthat tlrc principle of good in the world outweighs the principle ofbad. We speak o l l nuclear war which would be the overcoming of good by evil. At the end ol'a nuclear war, in a devil's world, we would end not as vegetables but as irloms. Therefore, I have to say that not believing in a nuclear war I believe llrirt man will end up closer to the angels than to atoms.

llut it's still up to Adam to move up or down from the center of the world. ll's still tremendously important for him to know evil when he sees it or I rcurs it.

At the start of Hitler's rule, there were 600,000 Jews in Germany. Fewer lhrn one-fourth saw the Nazi evil clearly enough to get out, even though thcy had six years to do it. The same kind of evil represented by Hitler in lris contempt and hate for other people is present in the United States today. l)cmagogues, political opportunists, and hate hucksters are peddling the slrme kind of semi-violent, semi-literate, black and white, "anti" philosophy, rrsing the same techniques of distortions, repeated lies, and malicious gossip t() prey upon dull, frustrated people with no place to go and nothing con- sl"ructive to do. So these victims of demagoguery go along with the mob, gulled into irrationality and madness. It is a dangerous game, one which can push a nation of 175 million people, as well as the rest of the world, into an orgy of self-destruction, all in the name of a false Americanism and a false lcligion. Wrote the apostle John in I John 4:20:"If aman say, 'I love God,' rrud hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom lrc hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?" These people, o I course, do not want to be evil. They think they do good - as did Hitler. Somehow their values must be reversed; what they call 'ogood" must be shown to be evil, and what they call "evil" to be good. Thus, again, evil must ho ovcrcome by good - and by love.

TO4 FREEDOM To LIVE: THE ROBERT HARTMAN STORY

*X*,":"::^o:::T:::i:i,ive toevil? well, good and evil go to ,t:;::lll:"-::1":llq',ib*t".o.itlui;y;;;L?;;.:'il;;;t;;:HX I*]*:,i::,fl T:l'l,ll*,"atr,o-"J',h;;;i";;i#;:?J;:,f; 3:t9:f:1i.,!lttre s ai d : "rnere i s;;;;h " r #ffi:1 i:i

j 59 .,*: l: lil,l", ::f*it any; he *,;;" ;;;;;;;i ; #dH;J :1.11]:1li:"s1y

lived th.e crimes ""a

i"*"., "?#ffi"-fi'il f :ffX.:,:X:"':."-",i^"-:"*q1,,"*#*.ffi

^.,*,il;i,lld[Tli

essarily."n:J:i. "rritler,s

evitness. B-ecause *" oio ""iiTrrYJfjffiffil Thus, the road to spirituar, intrinsic goars goes through rnoral evir

f""?t,fl::*"0:J1""::'^:,"r.rry tived. Rti;&*" i, tr," ,i"v r."ir cvitgood, through rhe horrors of tle sour," u{" J"prr, "ff;*"U#li:i];11i::'11,:._.:{ u:d a precarious or.lu"ii i. _Lr";;;;;i;r""than not living morallv at all, Uut u-o.ufi,,lraiff..""ifv. ii;;;il:T

3m#y:::It:i,:t.1X gl;-",r*ng particurarry bad or anythp artic ut arly goo d, have ri ve d a c c o rdG i;';ff ;iffii' :rJ;;":: :lil ;:iY 11:,:fjlllilSlYlf: wlr neve? ey". r1"* *r,"i-"."ii#,r,have. You have nevei .rivel oped u r"n.t,i"iry-#':#ftil",i i,,:"# i: iXil*.f.r"":i?,,^:T*::f:here cannot Ue mucn;oy in Heaven rora zonrbio]The tutlest meaning of ,ife cornes to us only wil*;;;;d;ffi;ht: rual being' If we do not deverop.our rpirit ttrrough ,"oritirity IJ jooa andevil, we have limited our contiibutioi io-trr"-universe. As a mattJr of {aet,we all have infinitely more spiritual por..,hu., *";.;. il;'""*rr usc ofour spirirual resources, _ whiin u.e ioe*t aurtible, _ il ;;;;ffitial urcof them abour as rhe need of our littrofi;;;,. to the riving of our rivcs.obviousry, the instihrtion with th_e gr-.?i"rt opportunity and motivationto develop spirituar power in the indivlduai. to sensitize him to good andevit, and to solve the great problem or*u, unip;!,, i, *gili)lo"i.riginn,To this end, I tried tJ be active i,

"rrr."rrlrairs. I was aSunday schoorteacher' I became a ray reader ortr," ipi..opar Church in Lake Forcst. Iserved as chairman of the commission on peace and peace Action of trreIntemational Counc, of.lgmmunitv crrr."-rr"r. I saw tt. ct r.J^ieuding agreat moral crusade to fill_the spiritual void in the world and bring pcace.I must say that I, as well a! many.r,u..nl"uO.r., ;;;;;ii ,;ffi;,r,,*-pointed. Is the srruggle for spirituai:t;;rhL*g "n"",*"iv-",iiJt"a on.lencouraged bv the churches? Have ttrey inruseffiiil;;##ffi"ss intoeveryday life - let alone the great aeci.ioos corrr"r,irg ,, ,il.i?u, *.unthe life and death of all marJ<inaz ru"ri"*iie great impression popc .rohnXXIIIrnade on all mankild

ry1s^bec1ur. rr", *itfiorri;;ir';";;;;;#, ol,.dthe vacuum rhe churches had left. ai"r, rrir'*"rk did not leid to action anct.like Jesus, he left us no methoa t" foifo*i, ,p.

My SelJ'and Religion

( )ur society, both East and West, is deeply materialistic, utterly unspiri- lrrrrl. "Spiritual," indeed, is an avoided word in many circles today. Except r rrr Sundays, it is not considered quite ri propos . The reality of the spirit, I Inrl, wili have to be established by bold men who will have to risk their lrrtstige - and perhaps their lives - to prove to mankind that there is a higher rrrrlitv than that of the systemic and extrinsic levels. It disturbs me greatly tlrirt lbr too often today a church service is largely a social affair rather than n vital spiritual experience. Jesus remains an historical and almost legendary r'lurracter. He does not live with us. We turn away from what he says, lr rrgctting as quickly as we can, or neatly ducking. "He sure gave it to them, rlrrhr't he?" We say to our neighbor after the sermon. To them - not to us. llow often do we turn the other cheek, go the extra mile, give the man our r'loll<? How often do we try to overcome evil by good?

We forget that we do not become Christians merely by joining or attend- trrg a church. Christianity is not a collective matter; only what happens in tlrtr individual counts. We become truly Christian, truly religious, only by tliscovering our own inner depth, our Self; and this is a solitary, not a group. rrtlvcnture. This is a direct, individual, person-to-God experience. It is the r ctrrm of the Holy Spirit, and it must refurn, else we remain comforlless, the Irvo sides of our being - mind and spirit - hopelessly spiit.

I have been particularly disappointed that in general the church thus far lrrrs lailed to become an effective influence for peace, though many church lcuclers have struggled to make it influential. The German parson in 1914 conrplimented his countryrnen on the use viciously and well of their bayo- ne ts. And Hitler's armies did not lack chaplains, despite the otherwise v iuorous opposition of the church. A drama by Hochhut, now playing to full Irotrses in Germany, castigates the acquiescence of the church to Hitler.

A chaplain of the U. S. Army Air Forces at Tinian, in the Marinas, blessed tlro llrst atomic bornb mission to Hiroshima. "We shall go forward trusting irr '[hee," he prayed, "knowing that we are in Thy care now and forever." I'hc mission, as you knolv, resulted in honible death for one hundred thou- srrrrd human beings.

Nor has the record of the church on inter-racial problems been entirely ('hristianlike. The image ofthe church as one of the most segregated institu- tions in the United States does much damage to Christianity- and to Amer- ica throughout the world. The white churches of the South, asserts Ralph McGill, editor of the Atlanta Constitr.ttion, are perhaps the greatest single obstacle to racial harmony. Yet church missionaries to Africa and Asia continue to assure the natives that "God is love," that we are our brothers' kccpcrs.

ls it irrational of mc to hopc for the church and its Christian members to tlkc thc lead in proclairling thc axiological truth that hurnan life contains

t0s

I

il

t

106 FREEDOM TO LIVE: THE ROBERT HARTMAN STORY

the supreme vaiue in the world, that man degrades himself, surenders his humanity - and his divinity and insults God rvhen he overvaiues his creations and undervalues God's Creation - liJb? Our lore is full of stories of men laying down their lives for the sake of what they think or what rher have or what they want; but how many have laid down what they think or have or want tbr the sake of their iives?

Man-made systems have mlcd supremeiy in history and human beings have fallen their victims. All the slaughters committed legally by civilizec man and nations have been comtnitted in the name of sorne abstraction - solne concept ofnation, God, race. and now, of all things, economic systems. Always there has arisen the protest in the name of the individual. as Castelhc protested when Johl Calvin burned Servetus for unitarian heresy, and as th- Bible protests in the old, seldom-understood r,vords, "Overcome evil b,. good."

James Baldwin, the Black writer and leader, makes the bitter but trenchar. obscrvation that the po\\cr [o crtcrrninate ourseives "seems to be the enti:- sum" ofhuman achievement and that it was accomplished "in God's na1re.. in the name of the white God." And it is tme that God's Creation. which h. regarded on the sixth day as good, is in imminent danger of being finishe; otT as ultimately bad - in His name! because the instinttion to which s; really piedge our greatest and highest allegiance is not the church. It is th. state. This is our church proxy, our spirirual prory yes. our Godpros,.

Nevertheless. I still have hope that the church wiil provide the leadershr: for a dlnamrc program to restore true religion, revive the human spirit. ar: resurrect the supremacy of intrinsic human values. The church is movrn_- What tremendous spiritual power could be generated by the churches of thr, collntry if all of them were reailyr to concentrate Sunday after Sundar'. ,r-. ctfter dav, month after month, upon the vital problems of human value. 1i-. and God!

Today the church needs to address itsclf to something besidcs the horc., of hellfire beyond this rvorld; it can - and must, I should think - deai u,.: the problem of hydrogen hellfire right here on earth, the problem of hos . keep a small tiaction of the human race from dooming all humanitr extinction. It would be difficult to imagine a more difficult. more exacrr-_- and, at the moment, less popular leadership roie: yet if iife is to go on. il',.,. are to escape racial Self-destruction, it is a role that somehow must be tak;:

Individually, however, we need not wait for such an organized spirir.--. renaissance. Intrinsic value exists as it has always existed. The Bible has : - - changed. As always, it stands ready to become a living Book for us u'hl;-- rvill enable us to link the infinity of our spirits with the infinite meaninq its sacred text.