Destroying Idols

Many fundamentalist christians are vehemently, rabidly anti-catholic. Their main criticism is usually idol worship. After all catholic churches have all those statues. Statues are idols, right? Guilty as charged. Of course this shows a complete misunderstanding of the role of image in catholic theology. But something more subtle is going on in the critics' own backyard. Naturally critics don't like to look at their own backyard. They much prefer pointing out the flaws of others.

The commandment against idol worship is simple when it is restricted to physical images. But of course this is the most restrictive application of the commandment. By far the most dangerous idols are those of the imagination, the mental concepts we have of God that stand between us and the 'real' experience of God. When we think we know God, that He in some way 'belongs' to us, that he is understandable or understood, we cling to our conceptions of God.

This isn't faith at all, but a poor substitute which is more about intellectual knowing than trusting. As I have written before, it is the difference between clinging to wreckage in the water and learning to swim. Christian theologians have sounded this warning through the ages. They talk about the via negativa, the approach to God which depends on saying what God is not.

Buddhists have an interesting teaching in this regard. It is encapsulated in the saying: ' If you meet the Buddha on the road, kill him'. The idea being that any Buddha you meet is a concept that leads away from realization of the self. We cling to concepts. Real mysticism is letting go.