Liberating the Will of Australia. Geoffrey Burn

Чтение книги онлайн.

СКАЧАТЬ complex problems and also how release from these problems can come about. It is important to understand that I am not suggesting that the situation in Australia is like either of these case studies. Rather, understanding the underlying dynamics of these examples gives a new way of looking at what has happened in Australia since the coming of the first Europeans, which is key to understanding why harm continues to be done to the First Peoples in Australia, even when good is intended, as well as showing the way out of this continuing problem. The second case study is important because it helps us to shift our perspective from individualism to see the dynamics of how whole nations can become gripped and driven by forces of which they are not fully aware, where the individual is caught up in systems from which there seems to be no escape.

      In the second section, these theological tools are used to read the biblical book of Ezekiel. It is a case study of how bound willing has been working itself out in a nation over many generations.

      The final section in this movement will briefly look at the situation in Australia, giving further definition of what we have been calling the Root Sin, and also giving three simple case studies of how bound willing can help us to understand why things went wrong when good was intended.

      The Intermezzo will give a much larger case study of the dynamics of bound willing, being an examination of The Land in court cases and legislation over a period of half a century.

      I

      Bound Willing and True Freedom

      We are used to thinking of society as a collection of individuals who have the free will to choose how they will act. When looking at a wrong action, moral reasoning traces back from the action to the thing that caused it. Moral judgment requires the relationship between the act and the individual to be personal, a person acting freely, and we escape responsibility if the act can be shown to be compelled, determined, or otherwise unavoidable. In this system, we cannot be morally praised or blamed for that which we have not freely chosen or could not avoid. Even if wrongdoing is done by freely willing agent, the person may still not be accounted guilty, because, for example, the wrong action may have been an unforeseen consequence of an action (or inaction).20

      The theological concept of bound willing asserts that we are never truly free; we can only be free from. Human beings are shaped by what happens to them and how they respond to what has happened. This includes being shaped by our culture; we are parts of communities which have been shaped by their histories.21 There is a tension between the passive and the active, between sin as a fundamental distortion received with one’s humanity and the way that one actively enacts and personally joins oneself to it.

      Bound willing further posits that there has been a total and universal moral collapse which makes avoidance of wrong actions problematic, and that we are accountable for this situation and for our individual acts of sin which this situation preconditions us to commit.22 Moreover, people are guilty not of their own acts but they also inherit the guilt of others’ actions; human beings do not enjoy the sort of freedom which enables personal action and moral accountability. Rather, they are bound to sin, not to freedom.

      Now, I am aware that this could seem very negative, but it is only negative if we are thinking that there is a negative judgment associated with this, even that we might be punished for our wrongdoing. Rather, this is a liberating way of viewing the world, because we can acknowledge and understand the complexities of the situations in which we find ourselves, that we are part of something that is much bigger than individuals, and that we are at a loss to see how to put things right. It is the other half of the story of bound willing which reveals that we can be set free from our bound willing, for God is at work in the world to bring good. In turning to God, we see that our bound wills have blocked the overflowing love of God from bringing good, and in turning towards God we position ourselves so that good is able to come as our wills are freed from their bondage to sin. The concrete practices which can take hold of this liberation will be explored in the Second Movement.

      In order to help understand the dynamics of these theological concepts, we turn to the work of Alistair McFadyen. Unlike McFadyen’s rigor, we will be proceeding by example rather than by doctrinal development.

      McFadyen has two major case studies in his book: the experience of children who have been sexually abused; and the Nazi holocaust of Jewish and Gypsy peoples, as well as other groups of people. He also spends considerable time considering the plight of women, who are often oppressed in our society. He has a deep concern that both popular and academic ways of talking about these issues do not have sufficient explanatory power to comprehend the full depths of these pathologies, nor are they able to offer any real way of resolving the problems. His presentation is subtle and full of compassion. Inevitably, any summary of this work is not going to be able to capture the full nuances of his argument and it risks being taken up with what seem like technical philosophical and theological issues, whilst appearing to abandon any compassion for the real damage and pain that is caused by the pathologies that he discusses. This is especially the case here, where the main purpose is to lay out his theological framework in order to cast light on a different situation, namely, understanding the plight of the First Peoples in Australia and the possibilities for life-giving transformation for all the peoples in The Land. There seems to be no way around this, and so I apologize in advance for those who have experienced the traumas that will be so quickly covered here, drawing out the theological insights rather than a full description of the pain that has been experienced. Please accept my apology for this and please take time to seek help concerning any personal issues that are opened up by these examples.

      The first case study is of the sexual abuse of children, which he defines thus: “children are sexually abused when they are involved in sexual activity, are exposed to sexual stimuli or are used as sexual stimuli by anybody significantly older than they are.”23 The study is focused on the experience of those who are abused. It demonstrates that abuse can only happen through isolation and the construction of a false normality, a world where what is good and right and true has been radically distorted and redefined. It can lead to the internalization of the dynamics of the abuse, so that a person’s direction in life is reoriented, disorienting a person’s desire and will.

      In more detail, the sexual abuse of children will include many of the following features.24 Sexual abuse can only happen if a child is isolated, from the effective care, interference and concern of other adults, and from the codes, values and interpretive frameworks belonging to normal social relationships. Abuse can only happen to those who are already isolated or can be made to be so. There is a need to stop others knowing about it, usually by disenabling the child from telling others, so abuse can even happen in public spaces; physical seclusion is not necessarily needed. Abuse creates a false normality, making the wrong seem normal, such as it occurring during bathing. It can be unwittingly reinforced by others who misinterpret the child’s complaint, for example, by thinking that the child is complaining about being bathed by her father, rather than what the father is doing during the bath. An abuser may create illusions of consent. If this has been done, then the child may internalize feelings of guilt, blame and responsibility, and she can become inextricably bound into the realities of the abusive relationship. In this situation, she is less likely to seek outside help. Often abusers make sure that they are the most significant emotional relationship for child, so that the child cannot get out because he does not want to lose that relationship, even if he senses that some of what happens is bad. The person being abused is bound in silence; no one is allowed to be told about the relationship. Various forms of threat may be used to force compliance. Common threats are: firstly, that the abuser is more powerful than any others who might try to help (now and at any time in the future); secondly, if the abused person tells someone and is believed, then she would be stigmatized, and so she will not be worthy of the care that others are allowed; and thirdly, being blamed for the consequences (e.g., the father goes to jail and family is broken up). Secrecy is essential. Secrecy encloses. It not only stops bringing information to public expression, but it also inhibits communication, and the СКАЧАТЬ