The Unique and the Ultimate: an Unorthodox Approach

Religious Studies: an International Journal Vol. 8, No. 1, January – June 2020

THE UNIQUE AND THE ULTIMATE: AN UNORTHODOX APPROACH

VALERIE FICKERT Humboldt University of Berlin

Fundamentally criticizing constructions of uniqueness in analytic philosophy as rather absolute and therefore too abstract, this paper prefers a more comparative approach to religion, drawing a parallel between the contemplative experience of Christian, Muslim and Jewish mystics such as Meister Eckhart and the deepness of Far-Eastern meditation in the tradition of Buddhism, Daoism and Confucianism. Actually, it is necessary to combine the term of the unique with the ultimate ground to stay directly in contact with the process of real life`s complexity in history as a part of the spatio-temporal continuum (Einstein, Bourdieu). Broadly considering the historical, the ethical- transcultural and metaphysical-pragmatistic dimension of the unique and the ultimate together (including both more principal and more ontological aspects), creates an unorthodox approach to tackle the ubiquitous singularity discourses. Finally, uniqueness unites the multiple dimensions of life and, in a theological perspective, creates a new idea of joy between humanity and heaven.

niqueness unites the multiple dimensions of our life: A really unique opportunity comes once in a lifetime. It is the perfect moment. On the other hand, the very unique or the U quite ultimate makes no sense: Both is logically impossible. It either is the ultimate aim or it is not. There is nothing in between. Since the core meaning of the unique1 and the ultimate embraces an absolute concept, they cannot be submodified. These absolute concepts obviously seem to reconstruct dimensions of the reality in which we live: When debating the problem of the unique and the ultimate, singularity and the non-comparable individual, we actually don`t refer to an abstract construction of reality, but to something really real. Otherwise absolute concepts would be nothing else but some kind of fiction. If there was absolutely no relationship to the radically different, in fact it would be the ab-solute, i.e. in a sense of mere isola-

1 See Oxford Dictionary of English (Second Edition 2005) 1927.

ISSN 1352-4624 Valerie Fickert 2 tion or solipsism.2 Singularity simply wouldn`t exist as something real. When discussing the topic of singularity, we are already in the process of dealing with the radically different. However, if we actually have to deal with something that really exists, we have to cope with it: At the very beginning, the radically different might be found to be something strange and rather odd. In science-fiction movies the arrival of the aliens is performed as the most scaring scene, followed by a dramatic fighting over the whole universe. Ultimately the radically different is found surprising and threatening, but in the long run we have to find a way to deal with it as another part of our reality. Coping strategies are various: The arrival of the aliens is the most scaring performance. However, in a real-life situation we will rather find a field of increasing complexity than such a battle or Huntingtons “clash of civilizationsˮ.3 So we will have to develop a more differentiated approach for solving our problem. Pointing out clearly the problems of an ontological approach to reality, the construction of absolute uniqueness in conceptions following Karl Barth can not be re-constructed and understood completely without regard to the theological-historical dimension, i.e. the singularity of their situational context after the disaster of World War II.

Absolute concepts – the theological-historical dimension For finding problem-solving strategies it is necessary to intro- duce both principles of the unique and the ultimate in this context: The terms of the unique, singularity and the individual in themselves refer to inner thoughts, i.e. uniqueness as a principle of interi- ority is always in danger of leading either into solipsism or isolation: The unique is neither the first nor the last of a series.4 So it is rather ab-solute, uniqueness therefore misleading when its meaning be- comes too abstract. In that respect John Hick`s hypothesis of the ultimate as “a single ultimate groundˮ and “the ultimate sourceˮ,

2 Cf. Valerie Fickert, Erfahrung und Offenbarung – Ingolf U. Dalferths Beitrag zur Debatte (Marburger Theologische Studien 124, Leipzig, 2016) 144,148. 3 Cf. Robert Cummings Neville, “Theory of Religion in a Pragmatic Philosophical Theology,ˮ in The Varieties of Transcendence (ed. Hermann Deuser, Hans Joas, Matthias Jung, and Magnus Schlette; New York: Fordham University Press, 2016) 270–288. 4 Just as Ingolf U. Dalferth explained preparing Claremont Conference 2018. 3 Religious Studies: an International Journal Vol. 8, No. 1, January – June 2020

“an ultimate transcendent reality which is the ground and source of everythingˮ is a critique of uniqueness misunderstood in a Barthian way as some kind of absolutism, excluding other religions.5 So I think, combination with the principle of the ultimate offers some advantages. As we have seen in the beginning, it also includes an absolute conception, but this term has been filled ontologically by Ne- ville: “The complex metaphysical hypothesis to be elaborated throughout the volumes of Philosophical Theology is that the ultimate reality of the world consists in its being created in all its spatiotem- poral complexity by an ontological act of creationˮ; “religion is not to be identified in truly concrete ways with religious traditions such as Buddhism, Christianity, Confucianism, Daoism, Hinduism, Is- lam, and Judaism. Rather, religion is to be identified concretely with the ways by which human beings have engaged ultimate realities and seek to do so today. Philosophical Theology argues on philosophical grounds that there are indeed ultimate realities and ultimate dimensions of experience, and that people have responded to them, still do so, and will need to do so in the future, just as they respond to the realities of their climate, the geography of their habitats, and their social and personal situations. The responses to ultimacy vary by differences in culture and history, just as do the responses to climate, geography, and social and personal situationsˮ.6 In an abstract way it can be seen as the last of a series, at the same time it is non- comparable, opening up new horizons. So in my opinion, both principles together – the unique and the ultimate – are helpful for a better understanding. After all, I think combining the unique and the ultimate (including both more principal and more ontological aspects) creates maybe a quite unorthodox, but hopeful approach to tackle the ubiquitous singularity discourses. Some of the various coping strategies are illusory and therefore not successful. They give a false sense of security by introducing reductions of complexity, that way losing their grip to reality. The motivation for such an approach comes from the challenge, uncertainty and fear, which leads directly into aggression and fundamentalism

5 John Hick, A Christian Theology of Religions. The Rainbow of Faiths (Westminster John Knox Press, Louisville, Kentucky, USA 1995) 69, 102, 82. 6 Neville, Ultimates: Philosophical Theology Volume One (Albany: State University of New York Press, 2013) 1, 5. Valerie Fickert 4 with rigid ethical considerations. In the long run we have to find new dimensions of our previous reality, if we really want to understand. When we see armies of warriors fighting aggressively against one another in science- fiction movies, we actually see a struggle against the overwhelming increase in complexity that always leads to a kind of reduction in reality. After all, it is our task to work against such reductions of thought, mind and speech. At the end of the day these reductions lead directly into isolation. Therefore this kind of coping strategies are from the very outset destined to failure, and only solipsism remains as a final result. Successful problem-solving strategies can only be found if both ontological and epistemological- hermeneutical dimensions are adequately considered. Otherwise, ignoring the dimensions of inner faith as part of a spatio-temporal continuum (Einstein, Bourdieu) we can either get lost as singular individu- als in abstract thoughts or as part of a multitude remain “dull in feelingˮ7. As soon as we leave false abstractions and closing of the mind behind, we make experiences, out of which something totally new can arise. Moments like this are very creative. We must free our minds to find new hypotheses, i.e. terms of reality, but we can never fully achieve it. There is no direct approach, no perfect concept. Neither is it possible for us to comprehend God in the sense that we find the perfect absolute concept, nor should we totally give up conceptual thinking. Our concepts are becoming increasingly differentiated and ever closer to a better understanding, but there is still a fundamental difference between ab-solute reality concepts and reality, which is simply greater than any attempt to model reality. The ultimate is the last and therefore radically different to all our previous concepts, God`s

7 Cf. Albert Einstein, The World As I See It, in A. Einstein, Ideas and Opinions, based on Mein Weltbild (ed. Carl Seelig; New York: Bonzana Books, 1954) 8–11. “The really valuable thing in the pageant of human life seems to me not the political state, but the creative, sentient individual, the personality; it alone creates the noble and the sublime, while the herd as such remains dull in thought and dull in feeling.ˮ “A knowledge of the existence of something we cannot penetrate, our perceptions of the profoundest reason and the most radiant beauty, which only in their most primitive forms are accessible to our minds: it is this knowledge and this emotion that constitute true religiosity. In this sense, and only this sense, I am a deeply religious man… I am satisfied with the mystery of life`s eternity and with a knowledge, a sense, of the marvelous structure of existence – as well as the humble attempt to understand even a tiny portion of the Reason that manifests itself in nature.ˮ 5 Religious Studies: an International Journal Vol. 8, No. 1, January – June 2020 uniqueness above and including all our individual experience and all our conceptual thinking. To conclude with a theological-historical prospect: It has always been a certain kind of extreme and very concrete experience that makes scholars think outside the box and recognize that something has to be changed. Exactly this kind of experience is necessary to create the distance which makes it possible to realize how trapped we are in traditions and their respective schools, each of which considers itself the highest. At the dawn of the modern era Leibniz`s conception of monads as microcosmic mirrors of the universe emerged from the experience of singular cruelty in the Thirty Years War. But in the twentieth century humanity suffered an even worse disaster, again with fundamental consequences for theological concepts, especially in the field of ethics: After the Second World War, German theologians following Karl Barth have clearly seen the problems of an ontological approach. However, the way they thought of God as radically different to his creation and radically different to his creation of mankind was completely singular in the entire church history.8 In contrast to Barth`s solipsism continued by Jüngel, Dalferth and other theologians especially in the context of the Reformed Church, for authorities such as Paul, Augustine, Lu- ther, Schleiermacher the unique, singularity and individuality have been great achievements to aspire, but unlike Flacius they have still trusted in the fundamental goodness of creation, in God`s promise and in his final judgement Genesis 1:31 indeed, it was very good.9 – As John Calvin the next generation after Luther had shown most concretely in his Institutio II,1, our human minds are deeply corrupted: In spite of “aliqua Dei notioˮ (Institutio I,3,2) even in the heart of godless people, “original sin reduces fathers to the same level as sonsˮ10. Above the abyss of our deeply corrupted minds, Luther`s teaching of a process from lumen naturale to lumen gratiae and the ulti-

8 Valerie Fickert, Erfahrung und Offenbarung – Ingolf U. Dalferths Beitrag zur Debatte (Mar- burger Theologische Studien 124, Leipzig, 2016) chapter 1.4, 11–16, at 14. 9 In the whole paper I use the King James Version of the Bible (Cambridge edition along with the original 1611 edition in early modern English: King James Bible Online, www.kingjamesbibleonline.org, online since November 2007 as dedicated King James Bible website). 10 See William J. Bouwsma, John Calvin. A Sixteenth Century Portrait (New York: Oxford University Press, 1988) 131–188, Part IV, 144. Valerie Fickert 6 mate insight of lumen gloriae proves: the core of the Reformation mes- sage today, five hundred years later, still remains not fear, but trust and joy.

Real-life situations – the ethical-transcultural dimension So far we have considered the unique and the ultimate as absolute concepts including their theological-historical dimension. For John Calvin the Romans were an example for “the superficiality of pagan virtueˮ11, i.e. pagan virtue ethics seems to be valueless or at least suspicious for him. I think here is the point where we can see it is necessary to shift from an abstract perspective of abstract concepts directly into specific situations and the dimension of personal experience. In a modern world the dimension of personal experience actually is an ethical-interreligious dimension. I am a Lutheran minister, doing research on the ethics of life-forms in a theological perspective at the university of Hamburg. Working a lot intellectually and spir- itually, some physical exercise is doing good, so I train in Far- Eastern martial arts and meanwhile have gained some experience with Chinese Kung Fu as well as Okinawa Karate, a tradition which is more than 1500 years old: When legendary Bodhidharma brought Buddhism from North India to China in the 6th century, this was the beginning of Chan (in the Western world better known under the word “Zenˮ) and Kung Fu in the Shaolin Temple. Teaching the forms, our grandmaster emphasizes that it is important to transfer the knowledge of martial arts from master to student directly by experience and not only by words. One of the various forms of fighting is called the flowerfist, which reminds us of an unorthodox approach to reality, truth and life: Buddha holds up the flower – and Mahakasyapa spontaneously understands and smiles.12 In Bud- dhism we have the awakening process as a path to enlightenment, in Christianity we have eternity at the dawn of Easter morning. Sun- rise at the dawn of a new day, to feel pain and to feel joy is an expe-

11 Ibid, 147. 12 Wu-men Hui-k’ai, Ch’an-tsung Wu-men kuan (German translation Zutritt nur durch die Wand by Walter Liebenthal, Heidelberg, 1977) 54. First English translation by Sensaki Kyogen und Paul Raps, The Gateless Gate (Los Angeles, 1934). 7 Religious Studies: an International Journal Vol. 8, No. 1, January – June 2020 rience of reality, uniqueness, which cannot be expressed by words or abstract concepts. It is an experience we share with other religions. The culture of Asia is really unique, and I`m impressed with the martial arts skills as well as the personality of our grandmaster. Ac- tually, the longer I am training, the more I am sure we are sharing one and the same experience of the ultimate reality, the One Great Origin.13 I am convinced that a parallel can be drawn from the contemplative experience of Christian mystics such as Meister Eckhart with the deepness of Far-Eastern meditation: For ages there has been the dream of pure future life in a spirit body inspired by rebellious (neo)Taoism in Chinese minds.14 Confucianist Neville15 clearly points out the direct relationship to reality of all religions in common, especially at that point which had been so suspicious for Cal- vin, i.e. at the point of virtue ethics. After misleading strategies to deal with diversity and increasing complexity have been shown from a historical perspective, now more successful approaches can be developed. The dialogue seems to be a more hopeful candidate than a false path of isolation. There- fore, Western scholars have good reasons to face reality, for example, in the Far-Eastern, Buddhist and Asian perspectives with their particular understanding of virtue, compassion and situation ethics. By healing on the Sabbath, Jesus breaks some rules, but not the law. This kind of situational ethics tells us something about freedom and responsibility at the same time – and, finally, it gives us a certain idea of human dignity. On the other hand, neither solipsism nor isolation of the singular individual helps for a better understanding of the unique, i.e. God`s uniqueness. These questions are closely related to the field of research I am doing on ethics of life-forms, different ways of living together in our society. As a Lutheran minister I deeply regret discrimination of life-forms in Christian church grow- ing out of fundamentalism and fear. We have to overcome this kind

13 Cf. Sino-American Bruce Lee, Tao of Jeet Kune Do (edited by his wife Linda Lee, Cali- fornia, USA 1975; sixtieth printing 2007) 1 “Dedicated to the Free, Creative Martial Art- istˮ. 2 See also the drawing of a Taoist priest: “Victory is for the one,/ Even before the combat,/ Who has no thought of himself,/ Abiding in the no-mindness of Great Origin.ˮ 14 Walter Liebenthal, Santiniketan, Chinese Buddhism During the 4th and 5th Centuries, Monumenta Nipponica 11:1 (1955) 44–83, 52.63. 15 Neville, Varieties, 270ff. Valerie Fickert 8 of darkness and closing of the mind to open up new horizons. Con- sequently Nevilles understanding of the ultimate leads to tolerance and openness both in ethical and interreligious questions. Neville explicitly calls those groups “subculturesˮ who limit marriage to heterosexual couples, expect women to stay at home and raise the children, while men earn the money.16 We find these forms of discrimination in all religions, Neville considers “social evilsˮ such as sexism and racism as “ritualized behaviorsˮ, i.e. “as malfunctions of ritualsˮ.17 In my opinion serious critique of such perversion of religious experience is necessary for a better understanding of the real value of religious experience of the unique and the ultimate.

Unorthodox solutions – the pragmatistic-metaphysical dimension Pursuing this critique of the basic approach leads to a new pragmatistic metaphysics, which, semiotically mediated, goes far beyond the individual to an ethics for the whole community. Thus, classical American pragmatism has recently been modified in a promising way.18 However, in the actual situation today Hick`s and Neville`s concepts of the ultimate no longer accept alien traditions to be treated “as valueless or even as demonicˮ19: fundamentalism and bigotry are illusory and therefore no successful problem-solving strategies in the face of challenges arising in a modern world. Re- spectful dialogue of the richest traditions in global history such as Far-Eastern sense of virtue, compassion and situation ethics20 seems

16 Neville, The Good Is One, Its Manifestations Many. Confucian Essays on Metaphysics, Morals, Rituals, Institutions, and Genders (State University of New York Press: 2016 State University of New York) 208. 17 Neville, The Good Is One, 215.216. 18 Note the criticism of classical American pragmatism in Varieties of Transcendence. 19John Hick and Paul F. Knitter, Editors, The Myth of Christian Uniqueness. Toward a Plu- ralistic Theology of Religions (New York 1987) 16–36 John Hick, The Non-Absoluteness of Christianity. At 20. 20 Neville considers himself as a Christian, but also as a scholar of Confucianism which “is probably the richest ethical tradition in global historyˮ. Cf. Neville, The Good Is One, Its Manifestations Many. Confucian Essays on Metaphysics, Morals, Rituals, Institutions, and Genders (State University of New York Press: 2016 State University of New York) XI–XIX, XIII. Neville refers to Plato, The Collected Dialogues of Plato, Including the Letters (Ed. Edith Ham- ilton and Huntington Cairns. New York, NY: Bollingen Foundation, 1961). Neville`s pla- 9 Religious Studies: an International Journal Vol. 8, No. 1, January – June 2020 to be more promising from a pragmatistic perspective, nevertheless considering the metaphysical dimension of an unorthodox approach. This is most important, because a new pragmatistic metaphysics can by no means be some kind of relativism. Taking into consideration all the aspects of the unique and the ultimate men- tioned above, an unorthodox approach is by no means to be understood as any intermingling of religions, which had been Ratzinger`s critique. Both absolute concepts together, the unique and the ultimate, with their theological-historical dimension, guarantee a direct approach to real situations in contrast to a mere abstract construction of reality (while presenting this paper in Bologna, Italy, I re- membered my time at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome where they had expressed it in the following Italian words: se tu cos- truisci qualcosa…). Truth must be somewhere in between such an abstract construction on the one hand and mere situation ethics on the other hand, a process of continuing growth of our knowledge and understanding in contact to reality.21 Actually, Neville is totally right to regret “the neglect of meta- phyics in so many compartments of current global thinkingˮ: It is a disaster indeed, with “distorting results for moral thinking and ac- tionˮ.22 According to Neville “[t]he root problematic of ultimacy has to do with the problem of the one and the many.ˮ23 “The world might be as discribed by Platonic processes and forms, Aristotelian substances, Plotinian emanations, Daoist flows, yin-yang vibrations, dharmas of consciousness, atoms and subatomic particles, fields of consciousness, Cahoonean orders of nature, or f(x)s. Whatever you might imagine!ˮ24 Like Plotinus’s One (τὸ ἕν), the first ultimate in that sense can be understood as “an ontological creative act that creates all the determinate things, whatever they turn out to be, in-

tonism at the same time integrates Plotin`s neoplatonism, that way creating a new form of (neo)platonistic-confucianist metaphysics of the ultimate source. Considered by Neville as one of the richest ethical traditions in the world, Confucianism itself neglects the field of metaphysics as an elitarian intellectual game. 21 Cf. the holistic perspective of Nida Rümelins Methaetik, Interdisziplinäre For- schungen 8 (Innsbruck/Wien/ München, 1999) 17–30, 20. 22 Neville, The Good is one, 214 (epilogue). 23 Ibid, 3. 24 Ibid. Valerie Fickert 10 cluding the temporal unfolding of processesˮ.25 Neglecting metaphysics leads directly into the kind of problems we have seen: On the one hand we have the “assumption of the unique superiority of Christianityˮ26 as a form of absolutism and fundamentalism which calls all the other religions untrue, among them some of the richest traditions in the world. Karl Barth even calls all the other religions lies except Christianity (KD I/2, p. 377). On the other hand the lack of metaphysics and the loss of traditional roots leads to a new life-form of egomania and self-centeredness in religion. The US science-fiction film “Star Wars: The Last Jediˮ (2017) shows this contemporarily widespread kind of spirituality: after the old scriptures of the Jedi religion have been lost in the fire, only individual experience by meditation is left. When great Star-Wars he- roes die, it is constructed as their destiny: At the end they are totally in peace when they go into the light, i.e. into full communion with the reality of their great original power. But religio, i.e. re-ligio is dead without its roots. There is no way back to the origin without shared experiences, the richest traditions of mankind through thou- sands of years, experiences in Christianity as well as in the Chan Buddhism of Shaolin Temple and in all the other Religions. The loss of traditions is a loss of approaches to the reality of the unique and the ultimate. Taking carefully into consideration the pragmatistic- metaphysical dimension of unorthodox solutions makes sure that we get on the one hand from a self-centered perspective to holeness, on the other hand respecting the value of each tradition makes intermingling of religions or relativism impossible. The ultimate reveals itself in different religions, each of them a unique approach to reality which is one, without schizophrenia between our everyday experience or scientific experience and spiritual experience. As a student in Tü- bingen I struggeled with Karl Barth`s conception, which has finally been the motivation for my dissertation about revelation and experience. And again this motivation leads me doing research on the ethics of life-forms, the way of living together in a theological perspective. If openness for unorthodox solutions in the ethical-

25 Ibid. 26 Hick, A Christian Theology of Religions. The Rainbow of Faiths (Westminster John Knox Press, Louisville, Kentucky, USA 1995) 82–103 Incarnation and Uniqueness. 11 Religious Studies: an International Journal Vol. 8, No. 1, January – June 2020 interreligious dimension of specific situations isn’t misunderstood as relativism, as Ratzinger and others say, it is actually the beginning of a process of continuing growth to a better understanding of religions and their faith, a development towards an ever better self- knowledge and self-understanding of all religions.

This great sun above is part of Vincent van Gogh`s “The Sow- erˮ, which is well-known in the Christian context. The sower then symbolizes Jesus Christ, but in the centre we have this great sun, warmth and light. The wheat grows towards the sun. Revelation of the unique and the ultimate in the Christian tradition is a way finally to share Jesus`s experience praying trustfully ABBA – heavenly Fa- ther who is neither an abstract principle nor a vague fantasy of power and light, but the original reality, both personal and above personality, creator and spirit, who has called every human being by name (Isaiah 43:1). Respecting other religions and their experience of the ultimate means respecting the uniqueness of their tradition, which has far too often been ignored by fanatic missionary workers, but also by too narrow and too orthodox theological concepts – both forms of intolerance which can be found in all religious traditions in the world. Respectful dialogue between different religions which is not intermingling finally leads to more concreteness for each of the traditions. For example the way of self-conditioning in Chinese Confucianism can make us discover false interpretations of freedom which mistakenly refer to the Christian gospel: Indeed neither Paul nor Martin Luther have forbidden to realize one`s responsibility or to work hard for the vision of doing a good deed. Re-ligio in that unorthodox sense referring to the unique and the ultimate can be understood as a life-form facing reality consciently as a human being, Valerie Fickert 12 finally as the “transformation of human existence from self- centeredness to Reality-centerednessˮ27.

Vincent van Gogh (1853–1890), The sower, circa 17 – 28 june 1888 Collection Kröller-Müller Museum, Otterlo, the Netherlands

Humanity and Heavenly Joy – Future Life in the Image of God the Creator You know what I want to think of myself? As a human being. Because, I mean I don`t want to be like “As Confucius say,ˮ but under the sky, under the heavens there is but one family. It just so happens that people are different.28 Si- no-American Bruce Lee embodies this idea of humanity as a martial artist, philosopher and actor. Asked in an interview whether he still felt Chinese or American, he just answered that he thinks of himself as a human being. Actually, he lived this idea of humanity in dialogue

27 John Hick, Religious Pluralism and Salvation (Faith and Philosophy, Vol. 5, No. 4 Octo- ber 1988) 365–377. 28 Bruce Lee, The Lost Interview (https://www.azquotes.com; 24th March 2019). 13 Religious Studies: an International Journal Vol. 8, No. 1, January – June 2020 between two completely different cultures. He wanted to show the beauty of his own culture, at the same time integrating Western sense of freedom when he broke with old school methods and developed a completely unorthodox way of fighting: In a combat situation the ability to act is the only thing that counts. Unless people have three arms and three legs, there won`t be a different way of fighting. That`s why Bruce Lee doesn`t believe in styles any more. They are not the gospel truth, he considers martial arts as a way of living to gain freedom beyond orthodox styles to express yourself honestly – totally and completely.29 Bruce Lee`s vision as a martial artist and actor highlights the great transcultural dimension of humanity. Actually, Daoism, the tradition where he comes from,30 has always been critical about cul- turally constructed forms of understanding such as Confucianism, one of the richest ethical traditions in the world. Following this fundamental critique and transferring it into a theological context, it is important to realize that future life in the Image of God (Martin Luther, Disputatio de homine, WA39/1,175, especially 177 Talis est homo in hac vita ad futuram formam suam, cum reformata et perfecta fuerit imago Dei.) no longer refers to God`s Word in the horizon of strong confession- alistic delineations between Catholic, Protestant or whatsoever. But then again, according to Harnack there is a fundamental difference between the gospel truth of future life, love and joy in the Coming Kingdom of God, i.e. the gospel of Jesus (“Erstlich, das Reich Gottes und sein Kommen, Zweitens, Gott der Vater und der un- endliche Wert der Menschenseele, Drittens, die bessere Gerecht- igkeit und das Gebot der Liebe.ˮ31), and the gospel of the churches,

29 Bruce Lee, Tao of Jeet Kune Do (edited by his wife Linda Lee, California 1975). 30 Explicitly reflecting on ZEN Buddhism in chapter one “On Zenˮ of his book “The Tao of Jeet Kune Doˮ, in fact, the text refers to Taoism more implicitly – in spite of its title (“The Taoˮ) and the picture of a Taoist Priest on the second page. 31 Adolf von Harnack, Das Wesen des Christentums. Sechzehn Vorlesungen vor Stud- ierenden aller Fakultäten im Wintersemester 1899/1900 an der Universität Berlin gehalten (edited by Claus-Dieter Osthövener, Tübingen, 2012), 37, cited by Michael Seewald, Dog- ma im Wandel. Wie Glaubenslehren sich entwickeln (Freiburg im Breisgau, 2018) 221 (220 chapter “6.4. Höhepunkt und (vorläufiges) Ende der Entwicklungstheorien: Die Modernis- muskriseˮ). According to Seewald, Harnack differentiates between the “Evangelium als Gegenstand der Verkündigung Jesuˮ and “Jesus als Gegenstand der Verkündigung des Evangeliumsˮ. Valerie Fickert 14 which is then about Jesus. Created equal then we all share the belief in God`s truth, love and life, the destiny of heavenly joy.

1. The idea of humanity and real life`s complexity If there is one great family under the sky just as Confucius says, different cultures will share their knowledge. In fact, Chinese inven- tions such as gunpowder, paper, the art of printing and magnetic compass could easily be taken over. In mathematics and astronomy, Western science and Far-Eastern insights quickly reached the same level, but in biology it has been more difficult (especially in the field of botany). In medicine it has been impossible, so until today we still have two completely different systems: Western school methods and traditional Chinese medicine. Since 4000 B.C. in Chinese philosophy and medicine, further for the way of moving in martial arts, Taiji-Qigong and basic principles of Taijiquan with the dynamic of Yin and Yang it is fundamental how to deal with Qi,32 i.e. life-energy in its various, ever changing forms and structures including their full potential. The aim of regular work on Qi by practising continuously Buddhist, Confucianist or Daoist Qigong is to strengthen the vitality of the body as a whole. In Okinawa, the birthplace of Karate, mas- ters keep on practising even in their nineties, and there is no other place on earth were people can easily get more than one hundred years old, at the same time staying so healthy and happy. While energy turns into matter and vice versa (E=mc2), Qi is the missing link between form and movement, then in medicine between physical structure and its function. The substances and organs of the body cannot be understood without seeing the complete dynamical system of interrelations embedded in the wholeness of Qi. In Dao- ism, Yin and Yang can be seen like waves, their peaks and valleys in the One great Ocean.33 Therefore the daoist Taiji-monad of Yin and Yang tells us something broad and fundamental about the nature of life in general: While Aristoteles (384-322 B.C.) asks for the reasons a priori questioning why, Lao zi who lived about at the same time was

32 For what is Qi cf. Ping Liong Tjoa, Grundlagen des Taijiquan und des daoistischen Qigong. Eine Synthese von östlich-energetischer und westlich-anatomischer Betrachtungsweise des menschlichen Körpers (Stuttgart: International IDOGO Association, Second Edition 2010), 17 chapter 1. 33 Ibid. 22, cf. Lao zi, Daodejing, 4th century B.C. 15 Religious Studies: an International Journal Vol. 8, No. 1, January – June 2020 more interested a posteriori in ways of how to deal with the real-life situation. In that sense his approach was close to experience and quite pragmatistic, i.e. an approach to direct perception of reality and the multiple dimensions of living in the world without necessity to ask for the Creator of the whole dynamical system.34 As already men- tioned above, Daoism focuses on the natural, Confucianism more on the ethical, socially constructed dimension of life-forms. The knowlegde about life and the diversity of life-forms is far more complex than anorganical subjects. Life-forms are really living forms. There is a fundamental difference between algorithms for technical calculation and intuition for acting spontaneously in real-life situations. In a Daoist sense Bruce Lee said, that in a combat situation the highest technique is to have no technique35 – just let nature follow its course, and it hits all by itself: “The great mistake is to anticipate the outcome of the engagement; you ought not to be thinking of whether it ends in victory or in defeat. Let nature take its course, and your tools will strike at the right moment. Jeet Kune Do teaches us not to look backward once the course is decided upon. It treats life and death indifferently. … Jeet Kune Do is the enlightenment. It is a way of life, a movement toward will power and control, though it ought to be enlightened by intuition.ˮ36 The secret of life has neither been understood nor is it under our control. Human life may never be instrumentalized for econom- ical motives, in Chinese history there has been no slavery.37 In the Western tradition Plato and Plotin had an idea about the One, they tell us something about the Good and about Man. Is the idea of humanity an endangered idea? – In my opinion, it is not, i.e. if humanity is considered as an abstract idea, misunderstood as a rigid principle constructed by the human mind, then real human life will finally break up all artificial ideas modelling reality of life. In that sense – and only in that sense – it is good if the idea is endangered, because in a theological perspective humanity is full of life, human beings

34 Ibid. 26f. 35 Bruce Lee, Tao of Jeet Kune Do, 200 “To float in totality, to have no technique, is to have all technique.ˮ 36 Ibid, 12. 37 Joseph Needham, Science and Civilization in China (Cambridge 19XX). Valerie Fickert 16 are creative, humanity means life in abundance, life in the image of God and life in Christ. As Paul says in Acts 17,28 For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring. But then again, it should be noted that there is a parallel of experience in depth between the spiritual practices of contemplation in Christian, Jewish or Islamic mysticism38 and Buddhist practice of meditation while just sitting quietly in Zazen, between insight in the Christian tradition opened by the action of the Holy Spirit in the letters of Paul (πνεῦμα) or the restless heart in the confessions of Au- gustine and spiritual enlightenment in Buddhism. Finally, what the psychologist James calls Stream of consciousness/Stream of thought is actually embedded in God`s pure river of water of life, the living fountains of waters (Revelation 7 and 22). These parallels in practical experience exist regardless of “Do- gen`s esteem for the purity of religion and his hatred of easy com- promiseˮ39. “[H]e asserted that the theory of ‘the unity of the three religionsʼ (Confucianism, Taoism, Buddhism) was the greatest here- sy of allˮ40. But at the end of the day Mahakashyapa`s smile in the light of Buddha`s flower teaches us that ZEN is truely unorthodox, and directly after his return from China to Japan in 1227 in his “General Advice on the Principles of Zazenˮ in Shōbōgenzō41 [10] RAIHAI TO- KUZUI Dogen “shows a broad tolerance, admitting that the laity, both men and women, could achieve buddhahoodˮ42, whereby “en-

38 Giuseppe Cecere et al., Les mystiques juives, chrétiennes et musulmanes dans l`Έgypte médié- vale. Interculturalités et contextes historiques. Avec Préface de Sylvie Denoix (Cairo: Institut fran- çais d`archéologie orientale, 2013). 39 Eihei Dōgen (A.D. 1200–1253). Cf. Aishin Imaeda, Dogen, in: Shapers of Japanese Buddhism (edited by Yusen Kashiwahara and Koyu Sonoda, First English edition Tokyo 1994; originally published in Japanese by Shakai Shisosha under the title Nihon Meiso Retsu- den 1968 by Yusen Kashiwahara, Koyu Sonoda, et al.) 97–122, 121. Aishin Imaeda is pro- fessor emeritus of the University of Tokyo. 40 A.a.O., 117f. Cf. The Eye Treasury of the Right Dharma. By Dogen, 1231-1253. [Japa- nese Dōgen Zenji: Shōbōgenzō] (Translated by Kōsen Nishiyama as Shōbōgenzō: The Eye and Treasury of the True Law. Tokyo: Nakayama Shobo, 1988) [91] SHIZEN BIKU. 41 Dōgen Zenji, ibid. 42 Aishin Imaeda, a.a.O., 121. But note that Dogen`s views changed over the years: Toward the end of his time in Kyoto “[h]e emphasized the superiority of a secluded, or- dained life, saying that Zen training necessitated rejection of the hindrances of secular life and the embracing of a secluded life in the mountainsˮ, “now denying that lay persons of either sex could achieve buddhahoodˮ. 17 Religious Studies: an International Journal Vol. 8, No. 1, January – June 2020 lightenment would be attained not by offering incense or bowing or reciting the sutras, but by zazen aloneˮ, just sitting quietly.43 Life`s complexity makes human beings ask themselves who they are and who they want to be, so that they gain self-awareness to recognize themselves consciously – their true motives and their place on earth. At the same time this is the origin of human longing for the love and life of their creator. Psalm 121 1 I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help. 2 My help cometh from the LORD, which made heaven and earth. Humanity`s longing for truth, love and life, the feeling of pain and joy, the experience of sunrise on Easter morning makes humanity`s uniqueness and the ultimate difference between an abstract idea and the process of real life. By healing on the Sabbath, Jesus highlights the ultimate difference between lifeless normative constructions and God`s commandments promoting and protecting life. Jesus acts and speaks in a simple way, whereas scholars in general tend to make things complicated instead of just seeing things as they are. Actually we need not make things complicated, it is enough just directly to realize this mere suchness. The reaction of the Pharisees is well-known – it shows that they have misunderstood the scriptures and that they do not have understood life`s secret. Actually, the idea of controlling life through religious laws, politics or the life sciences comes from a reduction of the idea of humanity. From the very beginning, there is a continuing growth of complexity in the process of human life. The more complexity, the more diversity in our society. Therefore, a modern de- mocracy is open to different cultures. It won`t accept discriminatory subcultures arising out of fundamentalism that neglects the historical Christian context in time and space. On the other hand, the idea of humanity contains the necessary critical potential to question both blind scientism and naive belief in progress, as well as the potential to see through systems of totalitarian worldviews, all of which have one thing in common: Neither do they have an idea of life`s complexity, nor do they understand the progress of real life. The experi-

43 A.a.O., 100.117. Valerie Fickert 18 ence of the ultimate teaches us, that not everything can be integrat- ed into the totality of an abstract idea, nor can everything be reduced to logos, so ideo-logies in real history have never worked. At the end of the day that`s why the experience of the ultimate is so fundamental as a link to the whole cosmos including all the various forms of life, at the same time as a link to what is finally meant by the word God, transcending theoretical thought experiments of a priori knowledge (e.g. abstract constructions of analytic philosophy such as Swin- burne`s approach) as well as life`s experience a posteriori (Dewey) as part of the same polarity. Forms of living in a body considered as part of the continuum of time and space (Einstein, Bourdieu), forms of living in relation to the unique and the ultimate then undergo a continuing process of symbolical and historical transformations as result of experience in real life. Therefore, understanding sensus divinitatis inscribed in the human mind in the way Descartes, Calvin or Plantinga did, proves misleading in that sense outside particular time and place in the world. Such a constructed human mind forever lacks the ability to act spontaneously in a particular situation, as the constructed figure of An- tigone does who actually has no alternative.

2. Ideas, illusions and the true Image in a theological perspective And God said: Let us make man in our image, after our likeness… Gene- sis 1:26 tells us something fundamental about Man`s real destiny in life, about human identity and dignity in a theological perspective – including human freedom to fail. From the very beginning, humans make decisions against life. So God the Creator asks Kain about his brother Abel. Kain had deceived his brother and taken his life vio- lently. In fact, besides the great idea of humanity, human beings can be cruel. But then again, martial arts embody an essential intercultural dimension of humanity in time and space. In a well-known film44 scene the Shaolin Abbot teaches Bruce Lee about the opponent who has only images and illusions behind which he hides his true motives. In Chinese literature of the 13th/14th century (Yüan dynasty) there is the old

44 Enter the Dragon (USA/Hong Kong, 1973). 19 Religious Studies: an International Journal Vol. 8, No. 1, January – June 2020 motif of life as a dream and awakening from a dream.45 This basic human experience we share transculturally because humanity includes the opportunity of corruption and perversion, in a theological perspective the opportunity to fail original life and dignity. At the same time, there is the opportunity to live in relation to God, which includes the dimension of future life as God`s true Image. God actually knows Man`s true motives behind all of his ideas, illusions and images – the envy as well as the longing for love and life of his creatures. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. – From the perspective of the New Tes- tament, Genesis 1:27 points out the fundamental difference between creative freedom and artificial copies, i.e. all kinds of self-made human idols and illusions of discriminatory cultural constructions, scien- tisms, totalitarianisms or whatsoever. Genesis 1:28 And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it. Inspired by Christian values, the idea of humanity includes the great vision of life in freedom and justice, life in harmony without constraints due to social background, gender or political situation. Galatians 3:28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. Humanity, understood as an idea of real life`s complexity, includes the biological dimension (life-form), the sociological and (in- ter)cultural dimension (way of living and lifestyle), finally the ethical dimension of human life – the vision of a good life in harmony. In a theological perspective the core meaning of this goodness cannot be mere emptiness or nothingness in a sense of non-existence. Never- theless I still stand by my criticism regarding the Barthian point of view as some kind of solipsism or mere absolutism, because in his KD he explicitly calls all the other religions liars. As a passionate martial artist practising both Chinese Kung Fu and Okinawa Kara- te I am fascinated by Far-Eastern culture. For example, in terms of women's equality, there is an amazing thing about the Asian tradition: While Pope Gregory the Great founds the patriarchal Papal

45 Cf. the 45th Yüan drama by Ma-chi-yuan, first translated into a Western language by Hans Rudelsberger in 1922 directly from Chinese into German, in Altchinesische Liebeskommödien (Wien, 1923/Zürich, 1988) 111–127 Das Leben ist ein Traum. Kommödie in vier Traumbildern, einem Vorspiel und einem Nachspiel. Valerie Fickert 20

States in Italy in AD 590–640 and declares Mary Magdalene a pros- titute in AD 591, just seven years before in AD “584 Buddhist sanc- tuary is built within the Ishikawa residence of Soga no Umako, where Zenshinni and two other female priests (the first Japanese Buddhist priests) resideˮ.46 Nevertheless in Japan today women are faced with unexpected problems at the beginning of their career; in China they are already very successful in business as managers, but there are still only few female leaders in politically important posi- tions. Finally, as a Lutheran minister and theologian I have certain reasons indeed not to convert to Daoism or Buddhism. That's why I need to be a little clearer at this point. From a theological perspective in contrast to a Daoist understanding of humanity we are Men because the Creator knows our name and calls us by name. This is our identity, our dignity. This is what makes the creative difference between an abstract idea, a normative project of social constructions and future life in the Image of God that truely exists. This dimension of future life overlasts humanity`s failure, the temptation of Babel – let us make us a name (Genesis 11). The explicitly polemical episode in Genesis about the ziggurat in Babylon draws a picture that symbolizes the increasing ignorance of distinction between divine and human by building the tower step by step. This fundamental distinction also gets lost when there is in- sufficient differentiation between Christian visio beatifica, i.e. recog- nizing the face of God, and absorption into the absolute, i.e. the ultimate extinguishing of the Self in Buddhism. Therefore, when Bruce Lee talks about the One “Great Originˮ,47 this is already an intermingling of religions, because in an originally Buddhist sense he would have rather said “the oceanˮ (that has no beginning and no end) instead of “Originˮ that is in a Western sense understood as the beginning. Actually, Buddha knows “forty-nine hundred life formsˮ48 but re-

46 Shapers of Japanese Buddhism, edited by Yusen Kashiwahara and Koyu Sonoda (first English edition, Tokyo 1994; originally published in Japanese by Shakai Shisosha under the title Nihon Meiso Retsuden 1968 by Yusen Kashiwahara, Koyu Sonoda, et al.) 306–332 Chronological Guide, 307. 47 Bruce Lee, Tao of Jeet Kune Do, 2 “the no-mind-ness of Great Originˮ (picture of a Taoist Priest). 48 Suttapitaka – Dīghanikāya No. 2 Sāmann᷈ aphala᷈ -Sutta in the ‘four noble truthsʼ of Bud- dhism (edited and translated into German by Klaus Mylius; Stuttgart, 2015). 21 Religious Studies: an International Journal Vol. 8, No. 1, January – June 2020 jects the existence of an immortal soul.49 If there is no “Iˮ, because the “Iˮ does not exist, and at the end of the day it is just the water drop that goes back to the ocean, then despite a great sense of compassion in Buddhism, there is no difference in value between life and death. This kind of indifference we find in Chan/ZEN as well as in all kinds of Far-Eastern martial arts such as Chinese Kung Fu or Karate-do as the Japanese way of fighting. It is helpful indeed for survival in a combat situation and therefore can also be used for po- lice and military training. But from a theologian point of view this kind of kamikaze attitude cannot be considered as human. And that`s exactly what makes Asian philosophy as an atheistic non-religion, though generally considered as peaceful, so vulnerable to totalitarian regimes. An example in recent history is the world`s great disap- pointment about Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi from Myanmar, who had done nothing about the persecution of the Rohingya people in her own country. If there is no difference between life and death, if there is no heaven, no YOU and I, no God, this is mere negation. The Nega- tor`s existence is dependent and inferior, a parasitic existence in contrast to the sovereignty of the truely original human creature. That`s exactly why Christian confession is not about the Negator, but about the belief in God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. From a theological point of view it is hard to imagine the existence of a human being without a centre in itself, which is called in our tradition “soulˮ, whereas an existence of either negation or imita- tion, this state, this non-place is meant by the word “hellˮ. But, of course, Buddhism is right about its fundamental critique of self- centeredness and egomania, which is indeed also hell: Finally, in a theological sense the core meaning of the word “sinˮ is incurvatio in seip- sum. In a theological perspective, real human sovereignty includes the opportunity to fail, so in the long run it will win. No pain, no gain. Truth, love and life will gain, because human identity and dignity come from God the Creator who calls Man by name – through all the inner conflicts and hidden motives, human destiny is

49 Ibid. Majjhimanikāya No. 22 Alagaddūpama-Sutta. See also Dōgen Zenji: Shōbōgenzō (Frankfurt am Main, 2008) 36–49 [1] BENDŌWA. Valerie Fickert 22 freedom. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. Galatians 3:28. In that sense humanity truely exists only embodied in real life in time and space, not in an abstract model outside the context of history. There is a fundamental difference between human life in the Image of God and artificial copies, self-made idols, ideas, illusions. Human life knows about its uniqueness, origin and death. So Christians can pray Abba – Heavenly Father in the spirit of joy and in freedom. Neither can the Creator be grasped with pictures nor does he reveal himself by name. And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM. Exodus 3:14. To- gether with human beings under the sky, under the heavens, the sons and daughters of Abraham are on their way to God – in respectful dialogue with different cultures around the world for an ever better understanding of revelation as well as the idea of humanity.