THINKING ABOUT ‘MA-AT’ AND. . .

Last year I made a note in one of my journals.  I was reading Will Durant’s ‘Our Oriental Heritage.’  In it he made a reference to the ancient Egyptian concept of ‘Ma-at.’  As far as I could discern, ‘Ma-at’ meant, among other things, truth, justice, balance, and the stately progression of time.  The way things are supposed to be – all of those things and other things are contained in this one word: ‘Ma-at.’

Throughout the centuries conditions change (a bit of an understatement I know) and people change.  In order to thrive amidst change the concepts that ‘Ma-at’ referred to required on-going searching conversations.  As history – ancient and contemporary – tells us, the absence of continuous depth conversations – searching conversations – the wisdom we received from the elders evolves into unreflective orthodoxy (think: ‘My way or the highway!’).

In many ways technology has not helped us.  We now live in a world where there are few fixed places anymore.  We speak out of nowhere.  We can be – and are – anywhere.  It appears that less and less can be ‘fact checked.’  Almost anything we can imagine is, in the end, true.  If ‘facts’ and ‘truth’ can’t be checked then how are we to judge?  Within the past few months, non-truths have become ‘alternative facts.’  Sweeping statements are defended as ‘truth.’

I am a theist – as distinct from a deist.  I believe in one God.  Now I am not alone.  For example, I stand with the other two Abrahamic Traditions (Jews and Muslims).  There are other traditions that also believe/believed in one God.  I am also a Trinitarian.  I believe that there are three persons in one God (now, this concept has always been a mind-stretching and mind-blowing and mind-challenging one for me).  It is important that for me, in this instance, the word ‘believe’ means ‘faith.’  Many years ago someone asked me ‘How do you know it is faith?’  I had to think about this for some time.  Here is my response: ‘You know it is faith because no sane person would believe it.’  That’s the best I can do when it comes to answering the question.

As a Trinitarian I have come to think about each of the God-Persons in this way.  I employ three concepts that have been stimulating us humans for thousands of years: Truth-Beauty-Goodness.

For me, ‘Truth’ is the province of Jesus-the-Christ.  He was pretty clear: ‘I am the Way, the Truth…’  ‘Beauty’ is the province of God-the-Creator.  The Creator endowed us humans with some of His creative abilities (I am recalling a bumper sticker: God creates beauty-not junk).  Of course, we have free-will and we can choose to destroy as well as create.  ‘Goodness’ is the province of the ‘Spirit-of-Life’ (aka: ‘The Holy Spirit’).  The only sin, for a ‘Christian’ that is not forgivable is the ‘sin against the Holy Spirit’ (we Christians have been attempting to figure exactly what that sin entails; theories abound).

We humans are capable of great goodness and we must be sustained in our quest for we are also capable of great evil.  The Holy Spirit animates and sustains our quest to choose goodness more than evil (being the imperfect folks we are, of course, we will fail).  But, ‘Truth-Beauty-Goodness’ also support love, forgiveness, reconciliation and healing (remember ‘Religion’ is rooted in ‘religio’ – to rebind and make whole).

I find the concepts of ‘Ma-at,’ Truth, Beauty and Goodness to be concepts that are ‘real’ and yet are not easily ‘fact-checked’ – most of us know, however, when we experience them.  Which is nice – and it feeds my hope.