All in the Same Boat by Bro. David Steindl-Rast O.S.B.

What would the world be like if there was one day on which nobody would have to go hungry? If we could only strive for that.

[Cont. from page 4] ... How do Christian ethics tie in with the personal mystical experience?

One of the aspects of this experience is the sense that “I belong – I belong to everything and everybody, and everybody belongs to me.” That was actually the first characteristic that Maslow singled out in the peak experience: an overwhelming sense of belonging. Now, what are the consequences of that? “If I belong to other human beings, I have to behave to them as one behaves when one belongs together.” See, that is why religion could be such a powerful force in our world: we would realize we all belong together, we are all in the same boat.

This kind of ethics has worldwide implications. The ethics are sometimes codified, and all sorts of morality and moralism go over it. Again and again, you have to bring it back to the original intuition: “I belong to everybody." I can’t say, "Yes, I should love my neighbors, but neighbors are those and those, and outside are others whom I will not love."

What does it mean to you to love your neighbor?

Loving means saying yes to your belonging. It isn’t just an emotional thing. “Love your neighbor” means that you belong together and you say yes to that belonging. That is the ethical side. And in addition to the ethical and doctrinal sides, the rituals of every religion also express the original intuition.

Is there ritual in all religions?

Yes, even in your private religion you somehow have your private ritual. You can’t help that – they always crop up somehow or other, and so every religion has its rituals. The Buddhists sit in meditation, for example, because Gautama Buddha had his original intuition sitting under the Bodhi Tree. Buddhists recognize the original insight sitting in silence; this has become the central ritual.

What is the central ritual of Christianity?

It’s the breaking of the bread, the sharing, the common meal. This is what Jesus was reported to have done all around: break bread, eat, have parties everywhere, and on those occasions teach, heal, and tell people stories. So that is the ritual that comes down to us: the breaking of the bread. The Eucharist we call it, and that is significant because Eucharist means Thanksgiving. One of the first, earliest descriptions that we have of the Christian community is that they were the ones who broke their bread with thanksgiving.

Again, that comes back to our contemporary situation. Daniel Berrigan many years ago said: “What would the world be like if we all sat around one table and broke bread?” What would the world be like if there was one day on which nobody would have to go hungry? If we could only strive for that.

What are the Christian teachings about social awareness? Are there examples Jesus gave about helping out?

There’s the very famous story of the good Samaritan, of course – that’s one of the central stories in the Christian tradition. In answer to the question “Who is my neighbor?” Jesus told the story of a man who goes from Jerusalem to Jericho, along a road that to this day has roadblocks and robberies. The robbers strip him of everything he has and leave him lying there half-dead. A priest and a Levite pass by, and do nothing for fear of defilement (they’re on their way to temple service and if they were to touch a dead man, they could not participate). Then comes the Samaritan, who does absolutely everything that one can do for another person.

In this story, the question “Who is my neighbor?” is answered in a very round-about way. You see, you couldn’t expect a good Jew at the time of Jesus to identify with the Samaritan. They were absolutely the scum of society. We have no analogy in our society for such an outcaste: everything that was evil was the Samaritan. Instead, the person listening to Jesus would have identified with the man who fell under the robbers, and then he would think to himself, “Well, gee, I wish the others had acted as if they loved me like their neighbor, but the Samaritan was the one who did that.” I think this is the true meaning of the story. When you are in trouble, you will know that we all belong together, because you will wish that even somebody who is such an outcaste as the Samaritans were at the time of Jesus would do something nice for you. Do you see?

That is an interesting twist.

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