Divine Pathos

The depth of human emotion sometimes just blows me away. Reading what is going on in the lives of some of my friends tonight just goes to show the beauty in the joys and hurt that is life. It's amazing the range of emotions that a person can feel in just a short amount of time, just remembering parts of their own life.

Joy - One of the things that I like to question people about on occasion asks; "Describe a night/day that was just perfect. A time when the stars aligned just right in the sky and everything was so perfect that you will never forget that time as long as you live!" I think everybody has an event like that in their life, in fact most have many. It may be a night a new relationship started, or the day of a wedding. It may be a special trip or adventure. It may be something as simple as a night out on the town that was extra special. For me the night I like to remember as just being full of unbridled joy was a night in Chicago with a bunch of friends I really didn't know that well at a dueling piano bar. It was a night I had no cares in the world, a few to many drinks, and more laughs then I can explain.

Sadness/Loneliness - A friend of mine recently experienced a loss, and is hurting right now. As high as somebody can be with Joy, they can feel just the opposite with pain, sadness, loneliness and despair. There are many things that can make people feel this low in life. Deaths, a difficult breakup, failure at something, even just a few unkind words. In my life I have known two people who I spent time with on a daily basis feel these feeling so deeply that they choose to end it by taking their own lives. I can't say that I will ever understand these emotions to that extreme, but I have experienced hurt. I know what it is like to be in the room with somebody, and feel more alone then I have in my life. I know the pain of losing somebody very close to me.

Excitement - This feeling is similar to joy, but it speaks of unfulfilled promise. It's looking forward to something that has the potential to change a life. It's possibility about to be fulfilled. With this emotion I think about the bride looking forward to the words "I do." It's the high school senior waiting to be handed the piece of paper that signifies four years of achievement. Think hard and I'm sure you can remember a time of sheer excitement. Not knowing just what to expect, but ready for it with all your heart. I was so incredibly excited years ago as I was promoted to management in the company I worked at. The promotion meant moving for the first time out of Colorado, to Indiana. The newspaper headline for one of the major Denver newspapers the day I packed up what I needed into my car and headed off to Fort Wayne said it best as it was reporting the death of a longtime Denver journalist; "Goodbye Colorado."

Fear - This is one of the most primitive of human emotions, and not one easily forgotten. We hear a lot about this emotion these days as we turn on our televisions and listen to the latest news regarding terrorism in the world. Terror or fear is a powerful weapon, so strong can this emotion be. Fear can be paralyzing at times, and can push us into action into others. Both requiring no thought. It can be dumb things that prompt fear. I am afraid of snakes. The other day Ty and I were walking near the Mississippi river and came across a tiny gardner snake. I knew there was nothing to fear at all with such a small creature, but as soon as it crawled toward my shoe, without even thinking, I jumped away with a fright. Fear can also be deeper then just a quick emotion though. I remember going camping with a friend when I was little. We went fishing with his family and as we were going from one spot to another I decided to head back to the campground. I was pointed up the road were camping on, but somehow got off the road somehow. I was probably lost for only a few minutes, but it seemed like hours to me having heard what can happen to kids who get lost in the mountains.

I could really write for hours there are so many different emotions that bring us to the highest of highs and the lowest of lows. Emotion is the real, raw, powerful, force that makes us human, and makes life worth living.

We were discussing in my Old Testament class the other day the work of Abraham Joshua Heschel and his theory of Divine Pathos. Pathos comes from the Greek πάσχειν, meaning "to suffer" or emotion. The key to this theory is that God feels emotion; that God cares. God is intimately involved with human life and as such infinitely more sensitive then we are. As we feel joy, God feels it infinitely more. As we feel pain, again God feels it infinitely more. Scripture shows the emotion of Christ very simply and strikingly in John 11:35. "Jesus wept." There is a lot more to the theory of Divine Pathos, but for my purpose tonight all I can say is I like the idea of a God who feels emotion. It blows my mind the range of emotion that I can feel just watching a movie, or surfing the internet reading all my friends blogs. I can't even comprehend God feeling infinitely more then I can, but while it may not be understood, it definitely comforts. God cares, and he understands.