One Christian's Girardian Meditation on the Paris Tragedy

Dom Thomas Keating, founder of a contemporary Christian contemplative movement, is wont to say that God’s first language is silence and everything else is but poor translation. How I wish we all remembered that when desperately trying to hear His message among the garbled voices of man-created idols purportedly speaking  to us from the pages of sacred books, demanding from us first and foremost (this is their trademark) absolute obedience and loyalty. Or, for that matter, from “sacred” nationalist propaganda circulars showing no mercy to those disloyal and of impure blood, or from “sacred” revolutionary manifestos consigning those doubting or espousing the wrong ideas and, again, those disloyal, to the guillotines of all times, or from...

Yet when we stop drowning ourselves with those pseudo-divine self-hallucinated utterances, in the ensuing utter silence, we are all the more forcefully driven by our primal appetite for meaning and purpose. And as our “conscious” selves are groping for ways to quench this thirst in order to regain their bearings, we apparently have no alternative but to turn to others to have this emptiness filled out. We are, as Rene Girard says (prophetic present tense!), interdividuals. And though I claim with many others that this primal desire (or drive or appetite) is not discovered or created only in an encounter with an other, the manner it is going to be satisfied certainly is.

We are blessed with the body of knowledge Girard has imparted to us, also because it creates a space of freedom for and within us. When applied with meditative mindfulness, it gives us a choice whom to follow and whose promptings to avoid, though many a time it is easier said than done. We very easily undifferentiate from an initial disagreement, often over differences in our sacred books or their meaning, but also when interpreted as apparently showing an intolerable lack of respect, into the unanimity of mutual resentment or hatred. This leads us into verbal or physical violence, or that consisting in exclusion or expulsion; or killing.

Yet Girard not only has revealed this mechanism for us, but also himself pointed to the One whose imitation, nay, mimesis is valid and worthwhile. It is Jesus Christ whose witness and revelation of God actually let him stumble on it and formulate his theory. Christ’s voice continues to speak to us across the intervening centuries, many a time distorted by those who claim to be His followers, yet again made crystal clear (at least to us Girardians) through Rene Girard’s prophetic exposition. May it be given wings of the Spirit just as it was undeniably the case with the underlying Jesus’ revelatory message of nonviolent self-sacrificing love spreading far and wide and unstoppably despite initial cruel persecution.

Then knowing all of that, and if we feel inclined so, let us support one another through mutual mediation of Christ-centered mimesis. He is the only true model, and innermost mediator as well, for He is Truth incarnate, all other truths are but mere reflections. Many a time did He withdraw into the desert to commune with God. May we then one and all be interdividually led by Him in a contemplative hush of our “inner room,” the private desert of our hearts, into the source of Silence, into the-seen-of-none God whose appellation in His words is Abba or Father. To encounter Beauty to which to abandon ourselves upon the silent loving touch of Abba’s Presence.

Surely there are apocalyptic tones in Jesus’ message, pointed to also by Girard in contexts resembling that of today as we are teetering on the verge of an apocalypse at our own hands. Yet this is in Christ-modeled-and-mediated communities of contemplative prayer that we must address today’s despair and pursue our task of reconfirming our commitment to Christ’s message. So that we may courageously face the apparent absurdity of our continuing hope as we pray that the grief may be assuaged and that those aggrieved may be able to forgive in due course. So that we all may know how to stand firm for peace and dignity and mutual respect, and not succumb to undifferentiation of mutual hatred. So that we may witness our unfailing hope that love shall prevail yet.