Daring to notice the Abyss
Nietzsche once said, "He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you."
I am reading Frank Lake's "Clinical Theology." It deals with listening. One of the dangers of listening is that to do so very deeply and intentionally means that you face the abyss of another: the deepest desires, rages, lusts, fears that they have. Staring into such an abyss can remind us of our own abysses. The abyss begins to stare back at us. For this reason, we do not listen overly intently. We do not care to see our deepest selves, so we keep others at arm's length. But life must go on; we must still live and (if religious) worship with others. In the place--not necessarily a church, but the individual's interpretation of the church they attend--where there is no listening, then, to borrow a line from Lake, "Church-going...can be little more than a tribal ritual for sealing over the cracks that lead down into the abyss." The abyss, if not confronted, will stare out, looking for whom it may devour. Ignoring the abyss only disguises the path we walk through everyday life.
I am reading Frank Lake's "Clinical Theology." It deals with listening. One of the dangers of listening is that to do so very deeply and intentionally means that you face the abyss of another: the deepest desires, rages, lusts, fears that they have. Staring into such an abyss can remind us of our own abysses. The abyss begins to stare back at us. For this reason, we do not listen overly intently. We do not care to see our deepest selves, so we keep others at arm's length. But life must go on; we must still live and (if religious) worship with others. In the place--not necessarily a church, but the individual's interpretation of the church they attend--where there is no listening, then, to borrow a line from Lake, "Church-going...can be little more than a tribal ritual for sealing over the cracks that lead down into the abyss." The abyss, if not confronted, will stare out, looking for whom it may devour. Ignoring the abyss only disguises the path we walk through everyday life.
posted by Aaron Perry at
11:13 AM
2 Comments:
I was listening to someone describe their abyss yesterday. I think your author is right, it's very difficult b/c the problems in the abyss can't be dealt with in a day or even a year. All you can do well is listen. And that reminds us of our own enduring dilemnas.
first off, I'm amazed that I understood what you were saying on my first read-through. second off, what Lake is describing is one of the ultimate problems faced by counselors and the thing we're so often not trained for...successfully helping others recognize and deal with their abyss while still trying to balance your own. it's friggin hard.
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