Categoria: Espiritualidade

From the solitude of a One to the communion of the Three

Leonardo Boff1 comentário

We previously wrote that God is mystery in Itself and to Itself. For Christians, it is about the mystery of communion, not solitude. It is the Most Holy Trinity: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Orthodoxy affirms: there are three Persons and only one God. Is that possible? Would it not be absurd, 3=1? Here we touch on what Christians understand when they say “God.” It is different from the absolute Jewish and Moslem monotheism. Without abandoning monotheism, we should clarify this Trinity.

The Three is certainly a number. But not as a result of 1+1+1=3. If we think that way, mathematically, then God is not three but one and unique. The number three functions as a symbol. indicating that under the name God there is communion rather than solitude, distinctions that are not exclusive but inclusive, that are not opposed but are composed. The number three would be like the halo we symbolically place around the head of saintly persons. It is not that these persons go around with their halos, but that to us it is the symbol that indicates that we are before saintly figures. The same occurs with the number three.

By the number three, we indicate that in God there are distinctions. If there were no distinctions, the solitude of the one would reign. The word Trinity (three) stands for love, communion, and inter-retro-relations. Trinity means exactly this: distinctions in God that permit the inter-exchange and the mutual offering of Father, Son and Spirit.

In truth, as the genius of Saint Augustine understood, it should not be referred to as three persons. Each divine Person is unique and the uniques are not added up because unique is not a number. If I say one as a number, then there is no way to stop: two, thee, four and to infinity would follow. Immanuel Kant erroneously understood it that way and for that reason, he rejected the idea of the Trinity. Consequently, the number three has a symbolic value, rather than a mathematical one. What does three symbolize?

C. G. Jung comes to our help. He wrote an extensive essay about the archetypical-symbolic meaning of the Christian Trinity. The three expresses the intimate and infinite relationship among distinct Persons that unify themselves, this is, make themselves one, an only God.

But if they are three Uniques, would it not result in triteism, this to say, three Gods instead of one; monotheism? That would follow if mathematical logic controlled. If I add one coat + one coat + one coat, I have three coats. But it is not like that with the Trinity, because we are faced with a different logic, the logic of interpersonal relationships. According to this logic, relationships are not added; they are interwoven and inclusive, forming a unity. Thus, father, mother and children constitute a unique set of relationships, forming a unique family. The family results from the inclusive relationships among the members who comprise it. There is no father and mother without a child; neither there is a child without a father and mother. The three are unified, are one, a unique family. Three different beings but one single family, the human trinity.

When we speak of God-Trinity, it is the logic of inter-personal relationships that is in play, not the logic of numbers. In other words, the intimate nature of God is not solitude but communion.

If there were but one single God, absolute solitude truly would reign. If there were two, one facing the other, there would be distinction, and both separation and exclusion (the one is not the other), and mutual contemplation. Would that not be double egoism? With three, the one and the two turn towards the three, overcoming separation and finding each other in the three. A circular communion, and inclusion of the ones in the others, by the others and with the others; in a word: the Trinity.

What exists first is the simultaneous nature of the Unique three. None is before or after. They emerge together, always communicating in a reciprocal and endless manner. This is why we say that at the beginning there is communion. As a consequence of this infinite communion, there is the union and the unity in God. Thus: three Persons and only one God-communion.

Are not modern cosmologists telling us exactly that? The universe is made up of relationships, and nothing exists outside those relationships. The universe is the great metaphor of the Trinity, all is relation of all with all: a uni-verse. And we are part of it.

See my book Holy Trinity: perfect Community. Orbis Books, NY 2000.

Gott, das bekannte Unbekannte

Leonardo Boff3 Comentários

Am 5. und 6. Oktober fand auf Initiative des Päpstlichen Kulturrats ein weiteres Treffen des „Vorhofs der Völker“ in Assisi statt, das der Frage nach Gott gewidmet war. Das italienische Staatsoberhaupt, Präsident Giorgio Napolitano, und Kardinal Gianfranco Ravasi, Ratsvorsitzender und berühmter Bibelexeget, hatten einen spannenden Dialog über „Gott, das Unbekannte“.

Mit dem „Vorhof der Völker“ war ein weiteres Bestreben, zu Gesprächen zwischen Glaubenden und Nichtglaubenden aufzurufen. Der Vorhof war der Platz rund um den Tempel Jerusalems, der für die Ungläubigen (Heiden) zugänglich war, die ansonsten keinen Zutritt zum Tempel gehabt hätten. Nun gibt es ein Bestreben, die Verbote aufzuheben, um allen den Zugang zum Tempel zu ermöglichen.

Hierzu erlaube ich mir eine Überlegung anzumerken, die mich schon mein ganzes Leben als Theologe begleitet hat: Gott zu denken als jenseits der religiösen Objektivierungen (Metaphysik) und zu versuchen, Gott als ein stets unbekanntes und gleichzeitig bekanntes Mysterium zu interpretieren. Warum dieser Weg? Einstein gibt uns den Hinweis: „Derjenige, dessen Augen nicht für das Mysterium offen sind, wird auf seinem Lebensweg niemals etwas sehen.“

Tatsächlich finden wir überall, worauf wir schauen, auf das Größte oder Kleinste, nach außen oder nach innen, nach oben oder nach unten, das Mysterium. Das Mysterium ist nicht das Unbekannte; es ist das Bekannte, das uns fasziniert und anzieht, um immer mehr darüber zu erfahren. Bei dem Versuch, es besser kennenzulernen, spüren wir, dass unser Hunger und Durst nach mehr Wissen darüber nie gestillt werden kann. In dem Moment, in dem wir es zu fassen glauben, entgleitet es uns ins Unbekannte. Wir verfolgen es pausenlos, und doch bleibt es ein Mysterium, trotz allen Wissens, und ruft in uns eine grenzenlose Anziehung, tiefe Ehrfurcht und unleugbare Hochachtung hervor. Das Mysterium ist.

Meine Grundaussage lautet: Im Anfang war das Mysterium. Das Mysterium war Gott. Gott war das Mysterium. Gott ist Mysterium für uns und für Gott.

Gott ist in dem Maß ein Mysterium für uns, als wir niemals aufhören, danach zu forschen, sei es durch den Verstand oder durch die Liebe. Jedes Zusammentreffen hinterlässt in uns eine Leere, die zu einem neuen Treffen führt. Jede Erkenntnis öffnet ein weiteres Fenster zu einer neuen Erkenntnis. Das Mysterium Gottes ist nicht die Grenze der Erkenntnis, sondern die Grenzenlosigkeit der Erkenntnis. Es ist die Liebe, die keine Ruhe kennt. Das Mysterium lässt sich in kein Schema pressen und lässt sich schon gar nicht in den engmaschigen Religionen, Kirchen oder Doktrinen gefangen halten. Es wird immer zu erforschen bleiben.

Das Mysterium ist eine abwesende Anwesenheit. Und auch eine anwesende Abwesenheit. Das Mysterium manifestiert sich in unserem völligen Unbefriedigtsein, das unermüdlich und vergebens nach Befriedigung sucht. In diesem Hin und Her zwischen An- und Abwesenheit vollzieht sich das menschliche Sein, tragisch und glücklich, fertig und doch nicht abgeschlossen.

Gott ist Mysterium in sich selbst und für sich selbst. Gott ist Mysterium in sich selbst, denn seine Natur ist Mysterium. Das heißt, Gott als Mysterium erkennt sich selbst, und doch hat seine Selbsterkenntnis keine Grenzen. Das Wissen um Seine Natur als ein Mysterium ist jederzeit vollständig und reichhaltig und ist gleichzeitig immer offen auf eine neue Fülle hin, wobei es immer ewiges und unendliches Mysterium für sich selbst bleibt. Wenn dies nicht so wäre, dann wäre es nicht, was es ist: Mysterium. Folglich ist Er ein absoluter, grenzenloser Dynamismus.

Gott ist ein Mysterium für sich selbst, d. h. wie weit auch immer Er sich selbst erkennt, so ist seine Selbsterkenntnis doch niemals erschöpft. Gott bleibt einer Zukunft gegenüber aufgeschlossen, die eine wirkliche Zukunft ist. Folglich ist Gott aufgeschlossen gegenüber etwas, das noch nicht geschehen ist, doch das geschehen könnte und für Gott selbst neu wäre. Mit der Menschwerdung begann Gott etwas zu werden, das Gott nicht zuvor war. Daher findet in Gott ein Werden statt, ein Zu-etwas-Werden.

Doch das Mysterium offenbart sich selbst ständig und kommuniziert mit sich selbst durch einen inneren Dynamismus. Es geht aus sich selbst heraus, kennt und liebt das Neue, das sich durch Es zeigt. Was offenbart wird, ist keine Reproduktion, sondern immer etwas Anderes und Neues, auch für Gott. Im Gegensatz zu einem Rätsel, das sich selbst auflöst, indem man es löst, erscheint das Mysterium, je mehr es erkannt wird, als etwas immer Unbekannteres, d. h. als Mysterium, das zu mehr Erkenntnis und zu größerer Liebe führt.

Gott-Mysterium zu sagen, bedeutet einen Dynamismus ohne Rückstände auszudrücken, ein Leben ohne Entropie, ein Eindringen ohne Verlust, ein Weiterentwickeln ohne Unterbrechung, ein ewiges Ins-Sein-Kommen, das immer Sein ist. Eine Schönheit, die immer neu und anders ist und die nie verblasst. Mysterium ist Mysterium, jetzt und allezeit, von Ewigkeit zu Ewigkeit.

Im Angesicht des Mysteriums blockieren sich die Worte, erlöschen die Bilder und verschwinden die Bezugspunkte. Was uns zukommt sind Stille, Verehrung, Anbetung und Kontemplation. Darin zeigt sich die adäquate Haltung dem Mysterium gegenüber.

Mit einem solchen Verständnis werden alle Mauern fallen. Es wird keinen Vorhof für die Völker mehr geben, noch wird es einen Tempel geben, denn Gott hat keine Religion. Gott ist einfach das Mysterium, das alles und jeden und das ganze Universum verbindet und rückbindet. Das Mysterium durchdringt uns, und wir sind eingetaucht ins Mysterium.

Übersetzung: Bettina Gold-Hartnack

No princípio está a comunhão dos Três e não a solidão do Uno

Leonardo Boff15 Comentários

        

        Escrevíamos anteriormente que Deus é mistério em si mesmo e para si mesmo. Para os cristãos trata-se de um mistério de comunhão e não de solidão. É a Santíssima Trindade: o Pai, o Filho e o Espírito Santo. A ortodoxia afirma: há três Pessoas e um só Deus. É possível isso? Não seria um absurdo 3=1? Aqui tocamos naquilo que os cristãos subentendem quando dizem “Deus”. É diferente do absoluto monoteísmo judeu e muçulmano. Sem abandonarmos este monoteísmo, faz-se mister um esclarecimento como  combinar três com um para não carmos no “creio porque é absurdo”(credo quia absurdum).

         O três seguramente é um número. Mas não como resultado de 1+1+1=3. Se pensarmos assim, matematicamente, então Deus não é três mas  um  e único. Aqui o número três funciona como símbolo para sinalizar que sob o nome Deus há comunhão e não solidão, distinções que não se excluem mas que se incluem, que não se opõem mas se compõem. O número três seria como a auréola que colocamos simbolicamente ao redor da cabeça das pessoas santas. Não é que elas andem por ai com essa auréola. Para nós é o símbolo a sinalizar que estamos diante de figuras santas. Assim ocorre com o número três.

         Com o três dizemos que em Deus há distinções internas. Se não houvesse distinções, reinaria a solidão do um. A palavra Trindade (número três) está no lugar de amor, comunhão e inter-retro-relações. Trindade significa exatamente isso: distinções em Deus que permitem a troca e a mútua entrega entre as divinas Pessoas.

       A rigor, como já viu o gênio de Santo Agostinho, não dever-se-ia falar de três Pessoas. Cada Pessoa divina é única. E os únicos não se somam porque o único não é número. Se disser um em termos de número, então não há como parar: seguem o dois, o três, o quatro e assim indefinidamente. Immanuel Kant erroneamente o entendeu assim e por isso rejeitava a idéia de Trindade. Portanto o número três possui valor simbólico e não matemático. O que ele simboliza?

         C. G. Jung nos socorre. Ele escreveu longo ensaio sobre o sentido arquetípico-simbólico da Trindade cristã. O três expressa a relação tão íntima e infinita entre as diversas Pessoas que se uni-ficam, quer dizer, ficam um, um só Deus.

         Mas se são três Unicos, não resultaria no triteísmo, vale dizer, três Deuses paralelos em vez de um: o monoteísmo? Isso seria assim, se funcionasse a lógica matemática dos números. Se somo uma manga+uma manga+uma manga, resultam em três mangas. Mas com a Trindade não é assim, pois nela nada se soma ou se subtrai. Estamos diante de outra lógica, a das relações inter-pessoais.

          Segundo esta lógica, as relações não se somam. Elas se entrelaçam e se incluem, constituindo uma unidade. Assim, pai, mãe e filhos constituem um único jogo de relações, formando  uma única família. A família resulta das relações inclusivas entre seus membros. Não há pai e mãe sem filho, não há filho sem pai e mãe. Os três se uni-ficam, ficam um, uma única família. Três distintos mas uma só família, a trindade humana.

         Quando falamos de Deus-Trindade entra em ação  esta lógica das relações interpessoais e não dos números. Em outras palavras: a natureza íntima de Deus não é solidão mas comunhão.

         Se houvesse um só e único Deus reinaria, de fato, a absoluta solidão. Se houvesse dois Únicos, num frente a frente ao outro, vigoraria a distinção e, ao mesmo tempo, a separação e a exclusão (um não é o outro) e uma mútua contemplação. Não seria egoísmo a dois? Com o três, o um e o dois se voltam para o três, superam a separação e se encontram no três. Irrompe a comunhão circular e a inclusão de uns nos outros, pelos outros e com os outros, numa palavra: a Trindade.

         O que existe no princípio é a simultaneidade dos três Unicos. Ninguém é antes ou depois. Emergem juntos, sempre voltados uns para com os outros, se comunicando reciprocamente e sem fim. Por isso dizíamos: no princípio está a comunhão. Como consequência desta comunhão infinita e deste infinito entrelaçamentos dos três Unicos resulta a união e a unidade em Deus. Então: três Pessoas e  um só Deus-comunhão. Temos a ver com um monoteismo, mas  trinitário, singularidade do Cristianismo.

         Não nos dizem exatamente algo semelhante os modernos  cosmólogos? O universo não resulta da soma de todos os seus seres. É constituído pelo conjunto das relações que todos entretém com todos. Tudo é relação e nada existe fora da relação nos dizem N. Bohr e W. Heisenberg, os dois fundadores da física quântica.

Dessa consideração resulta que o universo é a grande metáfora da Trindade, criado à sua imagem e semelhança: tudo é relação de tudo com tudo: um uni-verso. E nós imersos dentro dele.

Veja meu livro A Trindade é a melhor comunidade, Vozes 2009.

God, that known unknown

Leonardo BoffDeixe um comentário

On October 5th and 6th. in Assisi, Italy, there was another edition of «The Atrium of the Gentiles», an initiative of the Vatican’s Pontifical Council of Culture, devoted to the question of God. The President of Italy, Giorgio Napolitano, and cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi, head of the Council and famed Biblical exegete, had a thought-provoking dialogue about «God, that unknown».

With «The Atrium of the Gentiles», an effort is being made to initiate dialogues between believers and non-believers. The Atrium was the space around the temple of Jerusalem that was accessible to the gentiles (pagans), who otherwise never could have entered the temple. Now there is an effort to erase all prohibitions, so that all may have access to the temple.

To this end, I engage in a reflection that has been with me my entire life as a theologian: thinking of God beyond the religious objectifications (metaphysics) and trying to interpret God as Mystery, always unknown and simultaneously, always known. Why this path? Einstein gives us a hint: «the one whose eyes are not open to Mystery will go through life seeing nothing».

In effect, wherever we direct our sight, towards the largest and the smallest, outwards and inwardly, to the high and the low, in every direction, we find the Mystery. Mystery is not the unknown; it is the known that fascinates us and impels us to know it more and more. And, at the same time, it causes estrangement and reverence in us. Because it is always there, it constantly offers itself to our knowledge, and when we attempt to know it, we realize that our thirst and hunger to know it is never satisfied. Just as we capture it, it escapes us and heads towards the unknown. We pursue it ceaselessly, and it nonetheless continues being a Mystery in all knowledge, creating in us an endless attraction, fear, and an undeniable reverence. Mystery is.

My basic thesis is this: In the beginning there was Mystery. The Mystery was God. God was the Mystery. God is Mystery for us, and for God.

It is Mystery for us to the extent that we never stop fathoming It, either through reason or intelligence. Each encounter leaves a void that leads us to another encounter. Each knowledge opens another window to a new knowledge. The Mystery of God is not the limit of knowledge, but unlimited knowledge. It is the love that knows no rest. Mystery does not fit into any scheme, nor is it captured by any doctrine. Mystery is always there to be known.

Mystery is an absent Presence. And also a present Absence. Mystery is manifested in our absolute dissatisfaction, that seeks satisfaction, tirelessly and in vain. The human being, tragic and happy, whole but unfinished, is realized in this transit from Presence to Absence.

God is mystery in Itself and to Itself. God is mystery in Itself because the Divine nature is Mystery. Therefore, God as Mystery knows Itself, and still, the Divine self knowledge never ends. God reveals Itself to Itself and retracts from Itself. The knowledge of Its nature as Mystery is ever more whole and plentiful, and, at the same time, always open to a new plenitude, remaining always Mystery, eternal and infinite to God Itself. If it were not so, it would not be what It is: Mystery. Thus, it is a boundless, absolute, Dynamism.

God is Mystery to Itself, this is, no matter how much God knows Itself, Its self knowledge is never exhausted. God is open to a future that is truly a future. Consequently, God is open to something that has not happened yet, but that could happen and be new to God Itself. With the incarnation, God began to be that which God was not before. Thus, there is in God a process of evolution, a self making.

But the Mystery, through an intrinsic dynamism, permanently reveals and self communicates. It goes out of Itself and knows and loves the new that is manifested through Itself. What will be revealed is not a reproduction, but is always different and new, also to God. Contrary to an enigma, that once known, disappears, the more Mystery is known, the more It appears as unknown, this is to say, as Mystery, that invites more knowledge and more love.

To say God-Mystery is to express a dynamism without residue, a life without entropy, an appearance without loss, an evolving without interruption, an eternal coming to be that is always being, and a beauty that is always new and different, and that never withers away. Mystery is Mystery, now and always, from all eternity to all eternity.

Words drown before Mystery, images weaken and references die. What behooves us is silence, reverence, adoration and contemplation. These are the appropriate attitudes before Mystery.

With that understanding, all walls will fall. There will no longer be an Atrium of the Gentiles, nor will there exist a temple, because God does not have a religion. God simply is the Mystery that links and re-links every thing, every person, and the entire universe. Mystery penetrates us and we are submerged in Mystery.