Page 62 - The Irony Board

Into the Body

Absent from
Temptation,
Monks avoid
Their weakness:

Keeping strong
To guard the
Heritage
Of meekness.

The psychological arena of conflicting desires is also territory
mapped out by religion for its crusade against sin and heresy. This
larger topic is covered in more detail below; I include this poem here
because of its relevance to personal morality. The monastic life
reveals a basic irony, generated by the scriptural equation of purity
and salvation with innocence and incapacity. Belief that they will
ultimately gain global control allows the pious to disdain corrupting
themselves with worldly involvement, while maintaining all the pride
and arrogance appropriate to the true rulers of the world.
Unlike the Eastern monk who renounces all possessions and
attachments, wanders penniless through the streets and bazaars
begging for his meals, and expects no reward beyond release from
the karmic wheel of birth and rebirth, his Western counterpart
builds a wall between himself and the rest of society, tends orchards
and vineyards for the benefit of his church, and expects a better
judgement on high than will be passed on lesser mortals who must
dirty their souls in battle with the devils of temptation. That
weakness could be a prerequisite of strength is not merely ironic in
theory but morally dubious in practice.

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