The Desires of Andvari The Norse myth about the dwarf Andvari tells of craving, lust, foolishness, and death. As retold by Liz Greene and Juliet Sharman-Burke, [1] Andvari is walking along the river one day when he sees the reflection of gold among the rocky riverbed and falls in love with the glittering metal. But the gold is guarded by the daughters of the river god, Father Rhein. Like the Sirens of Greek mythology, these young nymphs lure men with their unattainable beauty. Seeing them, Andvari longs for them with a deep and relentless longing. He calls to them desperately, rushing toward them with open arms. Laughing, the maidens drift…
-
-
Love and Our Neighbor
Loving Our Neighbor We humans are relational creatures. In the normal course of things, we develop bonds of caring and support that, when they grow strong enough, we call love. This love can be reflected in action, such as when we tend to wounds, offer gifts, hug and hold, when we visit another, smile at him, cook and clean for her, read to him, give her money or clothes, smile, or pray. We can also show love by sacrificing ourselves for our beloved. It is said we know how much God loves us because he gave his first born son to save us. To be like Jesus, then, must we…
-
Memorial Day and Healthy Grieving
Repressed Grief When we don’t address it, grief hangs on. We can we numb ourselves from our pain with force of will or sullen silence, with bursts of anger, or drugs, or busyness, yet the hurt does not go away. Instead, it settles into our joints, scars our muscles, makes our head hurt. Unable to face the enormity of our loss, some of us go to our grave frozen and miserable. Over the years, I’ve sat with many newly sober people who were shocked by the intensity of their ten- or twenty-year-old grief. Suddenly caught with no buffering substance, they felt overwhelmed by emotions they had forgotten how to process,…
-
Birth, Death, and Rebirth
Birth and Reincarnation While looking through my books for a story about birth and rebirth, I came across one from Laos that I’ve used before to talk about love and justice. [1] This time, as I read the tale’s sequence of birth, death, and reincarnation, I was reminded of what it’s like to struggle with addictions, illness, and bad habits. Two spirits, Orphan Boy and Yer, are deeply in love. Before they are incarnated, they agree to spend their lives together. However, as they wait to jump into the pool that will take them from the spirit world to Earth, Orphan Boy becomes so eager and excited, he runs ahead and…
-
Jesus, Nonviolent Resistance, and the Gospel of Mark
Jesus Heals In the Gospel of Mark, Jesus performs many healings, including one he does without even intending to. Having just returned from Garasene where he used exorcism to cure a man who had been driven mad by demons named Legion, Jesus is stopped by Jairus, a leader in the synagogue. The man throws himself at Jesus’ feet and begs him to save his twelve-year-old daughter who is dying. So Jesus goes off with Jairus. Before they can get to the girl, however, a woman who has suffered from hemorrhages for twelve years and spent all her money on physicians and their remedies only to get worse, touches Jesus’ cloak,…
-
Recovery and Restorative Justice
Recovery and Justice In this column, I had planned to unpack what justice means in a life of recovery. In his blog, “Selected Papers of William L. White,” White writes: “Recovery is many things, but it is at its best a platform for justice. Recovery without justice is a strained and haunted recovery.”1 White is referring to our need to make amends for the harm we have done to others and ourselves during our addiction. When we pile harm upon harm in our quest for oblivion or our craving for comfort, we accumulate what White calls “debt” that we must face in our recovery. The process of facing our debts,…
