Why Zebras Don’t get Ulcers
In returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and trust shall be your strength. Isaiah 30.16. Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things; 42 there is need of only one thing. Luke 10.41-42.
We live in an era of stress and anxiety. The long-term consequences of continued stress and anxiety effect our mental health. The Australian Bureau of Statistics has released some recent census data and it shows that more than 8 million people have a long-term health condition, including about 2.2 million (roughly one in 12 people) with a mental illness.
Stress and anxiety levels increased during the COVID pandemic. Although lockdowns are leveling off, anxiety levels are still elevated because of stress:
· The stress of climate catastrophes
· financial stress
· job stress
· personal relationships
· international instability
· social unrest and polarization
I have entitled today’s sermon Why Zebras Don’t get Ulcers. It is adopted from the work of Robert Sapolsky who documents the detrimental physical and psychological effects of stress in a book of the same name. Robert explains that while the stress response is an effective tool to remedy immediate and short-term danger, for example a zebra being chased by a lion, the problem is that humans activate that same stress response for psychological reasons too often. Prolonged activation of the stress response intensifies a range of illnesses including ulcers, colitis, heart disease, depression and more. In the Gospel text today, we can almost taste the stress emanating from Martha: “‘Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself?” Jesus detects her stress response clearly: “Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things; 42 there is need of only one thing.”
There must be more to life than the continual stress that statistics and lived experience describe. There must be a better life available. We too easily identify with Mary’s complaining: “Lord do you not care”. Many long for quietness and rest described by Isaiah 30.16: In returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and trust shall be your strength. It would seem that the discovery of the one thing is the doorway to returning and rest, quietness and trust, but what is the one thing?
The one thing
What is the one thing? I suggest that the one thing is precisely that: One thing…or oneness. When Jesus talks about The One Thing or Oneness, what Jesus is describing is unitive consciousness, non-duality, or mutual indwelling: I am in God, God is in me, God is in you, you are in God, we are in each other. The most common biblical word for this oneness with God is “abide”. In John 15 Jesus uses the symbol of the vine and the branches to describe mutual indwelling and oneness: “I am the vine; you are the branches. Abide in me as I in you” (15:4-5). Jesus recognises that the core of his identity is oneness with the Divine: “the Father and I are one” (John 10:30) — the statement is as blasphemous today as it was then. However, Jesus does not see his abiding in God as his exclusive privilege but rather something that is shared with all humans. There is no separation between humans and God, there is also no separation between humans and humans: if you are one with God and I am one with God we are one with each other. No separation between human and human is a powerful notion. Jesus taught: Love your neighbour as yourself” (Mark 12:31, Matthew 22:39). We may think that we are to love our neighbour as much as yourself or that we need to learn self-love before being equipped to love others. this is not what Jesus is saying. “Love your neighbour as yourself” implies a continuation of your very own being, that your neighbour is you, that you are cells of the one great Life, each precious and necessary.
The one thing or oneness means this: We flow into God and God flows into us because it is the nature of love to flow.
What the text does not say
Let us be clear about what the text is not saying. The text is not saying that in the church some of us are Marthas and some of us are Marys. The text is not a discussion about the tension between active, practical people and contemplative people. Nor is the text suggesting a tension between social justice on the one hand and a prayer practice on the other.
I suggest instead that Mary and Martha represent two types of consciousness:
1. A unitive consciousness where we are one with God which I have described as the one thing.
2. A dualistic or egoic consciousness that continually separates the world into good and bad, inside and outside, right and wrong, up and down, good and evil, reward and punishment, subject and object.
In other words, it is not what we do that is important, but who is doing it. Martha could easily have been seated at the feet of Jesus, but the same attitude would have come through: “Could you hurry up Jesus, do you not care that I have things to do in the kitchen?” It is not what is done but the consciousness of the one doing it that matters. For example, imagine two nurses caring for patients in a hospital. One nurse, fixated in an egoic or dualistic consciousness cares for his patients is a busy fashion, and mechanically completes his tasks with little conversation with the patient and is not fully present. Another nurse, open to unitive consciousness, celebrating oneness with God and others, is fully present and available to the patient. His actions are more than loving, they are the act of love itself. He too completes his tasks, but he is an unhurried presence, and every task is itself a prayer. In both cases the tasks are completed professionally. The second example contributes to healing in the world and makes prayer and love more visible.
Another way to describe the different types of consciousness in operation is to use the world of computers. A computer has an inbuilt operating system. It is this operating system that allows the programmes on your computer to function. From time to time you will need to upgrade your operating system so that the computer runs smoothly and has the most up to date security. We are born with a dualistic operating system, but we can upgrade to a unitive consciousness operating system. These two different operating systems mean that we show up in the world in different ways. To return to my earlier remarks regarding stress, I suggest that stress emanates from the egoic, dualistic worldview. Any attempts to alleviate stress will not succeed long-term if one remains fixated in a dualistic consciousness. Conversion to a unitive consciousness of mutual indwelling however is our salvation, it is the one thing that obliterates stress forever: in returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and trust shall be your strength. Isaiah 30.16.