Positive Masculinity
One of the confronting (at least from my perspective) statistics to emerge from the recent US election was that significantly more young Australian men would have voted for Donald Trump than Kamela Harris, had they had a vote. It is one indication that young men feel disenfranchised from popular culture, as the ABC program Q&A explored recently. There is some truth to this. Just look at your social media feed at the jokes made at men’s expense, then imagine the reaction if the genders were reversed!
Let me give an example from a “friend” of mine on social media.
Employer: We’re looking for someone who can do the work of two men.
Woman: Oh, so it’s only part-time?
Just try reversing the genders in this post and wait for the reaction!
In this context, I wish to offer a positive approach to masculine spirituality, which you may find helpful. For many people, particularly for men I think, spirituality is very hard to practise, because we get so caught up in the day-to-day busyness of life. There is always work to do; there are always things to set up and technology to play with or make work for you. It can be hard to get your dose of spirituality or, to use an even simpler concept, it’s hard to take time out to reflect and think.
For me, the reading about Elijah in the cave on the mountain-top (1 Kings 19: 11–16) has always been an encouraging one to help me think about my own spirituality. If we immerse ourselves in the story, I think it’s fair to say that Elijah has been involved in a few conversations that moved from being healthily assertive to down-right aggressive. King Ahab and Queen Jezebel have forsaken the Jewish faith and turned to Baal, all the other prophets have been killed, and Elijah himself has in turn killed some of the prophets of Baal; of the ‘true’ prophets only Elijah is left.
He could easily be an Ernest Hemmingway character, Here he is, on top of the mountain, living in a cave, the last true man of faith standing against the world. I don’t think it’s just a male-thing – but men perhaps feel it keenly at times – that we are the only person holding our bit of the world together. Isolated, alone, we are the only reason the universe has not descended into chaos. This is certainly Elijah’s story. Yet, precisely because he takes time out, he discovers God again – not in the extraordinary things, the wind or the earthquake or the fire – but in the sound of silence. It is in this moment he hears God’s voice and God provides him with the way forward for the people of Israel: the appointment of Elisha as Elijah’s successor being particularly important.
I think we miss out on times of spirituality and, more broadly, self-reflection, in our lives because our lives are so full of noise. We are surrounded by noise and busyness. There is a beautiful moment in this respect in the film Alive, which a few of us used to use in the year 11 Religious Studies program. The story–line, based on an actual event in 1972, is that a plane crashes in the Andes in South America, but there are survivors.
This in the days before sophisticated tracking devices, so when it becomes apparent that the rescue effort has failed and has been called off (the survivors manage to get a radio working, reception only, and hear this), two of the survivors decide to hike through the Andes for help. During this incredible journey, hiking in the most desperate of circumstances, they take a moment on the top of a mountain to enjoy the extraordinary view and to listen to God. One of them comments that in the midst of busy lives in the city, you lose sight of God. It’s almost as if there are too many distractions, too much noise; and it’s true: there is too much noise and, ironically, given our busyness, we forget that we’re not isolated individuals, eking out an existence, just trying to survive, Elijah before his mountain-top experience; we forget that we are part of something bigger, something transcendent.
I think that when we talk about God – the word, I mean, or the name: God, or Yahweh or the Holy Trinity – it’s the tradition’s way of talking about connecting with something bigger than ourselves. It’s about realising that we’re part of something greater than ourselves, and also that there’s more to life than just ourselves.
That’s what I experience when I get into the flow of cycling, those moments when I have a tail-wind and there’s no traffic, and I’m working the legs: I can feel the muscles working hard, but it’s all happening, the breathing’s composed, the tyres are humming on the road, the chain almost silent and I feel like someone’s watching me, enjoying the ride with me. For other people it’s rejoicing in the view from the mountain-top, or near the ocean, or hitting the perfect shot in golf or cricket, or losing themselves in the gardening or in reading for pleasure, but it’s that realisation, if you realise what’s happening, that you’re a part of a bigger project.
If we take a moment to enjoy the quietness, the stillness, we will feel God’s presence, and it is precious.
The Reverend Dr Theo McCall
School Chaplain