{"id":20051,"date":"2018-11-08T14:02:57","date_gmt":"2018-11-08T22:02:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dminlgp\/?p=20051"},"modified":"2018-11-08T14:02:57","modified_gmt":"2018-11-08T22:02:57","slug":"mirror-mirror-on-the-wall-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/mirror-mirror-on-the-wall-3\/","title":{"rendered":"Mirror, mirror on the wall…"},"content":{"rendered":"

Reading Elliott\u2019s Contemporary Social Theory: An Introduction<\/u> and events of this week have left me in a melancholic state. I had a sense of sadness hearing the creatures who do not seem to know<\/em> their Creator draw from every concept imaginable to define life on this planet. As I write this blog I have just been made aware of a mass shooting in my community, named the safest city in the country, which left thirteen people dead and 21 people hospitalized. It is two days after the midterm elections in the United States and my Twitter feed looks like another type of war zone as the divide pulling this nation apart grows ever more widely. Our denomination\u2019s disaster relief ministry has been called upon more this year than ever before. As I watch the news now, in the midst of this tragedy, I long for a social theory based on the goodness in mankind. What is in the human being that brings out the best that they would sacrifice themselves to save another in the mist of such a heinous crime? What unites a community to come together to help those they have never met before? It seems our best human attributes are sometimes revealed in the face of the worst calamity.<\/p>\n

In considering the mirror and image concepts in regard to social theory it seems personal identity is regularly linked to social well-being. How we view ourselves has a direct impact on how we relate to the other.[1]<\/a> How humans relate in the world is directly linked to the image they see in the mirror. Most of us, at some point, find ourselves looking in the reflecting glass and asking, \u201cWho am I?\u201d The idea of mirroring was described by J. Lacan as a stage of an infant between six and eighteen months in which the child is gawkish physiologically and psychologically fragmented, and finds a version of self. He builds upon Freud\u2019s thought that the ego is formed in self-love and the metaphoric mirror casts this vision in a child. In Lacan\u2019s 1949 writing he uses the primal word imago<\/em> in this mirroring discussion.[2]<\/strong><\/a> <\/em>I could not help but make a connection with the Imago Dei, \u201c <\/em>So God created humankind\u00a0in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.[3]<\/strong><\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Though troubled by Freud and Lacan\u2019s descriptions, the language was familiar and took me to scripture:<\/p>\n

11\u00a0<\/sup><\/em><\/strong>When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became an adult, I put an end to childish ways.\u00a012\u00a0<\/sup><\/strong>For now we see in a mirror dimly but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known.\u00a013\u00a0<\/sup><\/strong>And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love.[4]<\/strong><\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Human beings look into a dimly lit mirror yet even there we find glimpses of our true self and how that self relates to others. When one recognizes who we see in the mirror is the likeness of our Creator, who is Love, it sets within us an identity that responds to tragedy with passion and care. When one sees the image of God in the mirror it is then reflected onto others. When one can begin to understand how fully one is known in love it changes how we are in the world with our fellow human beings.<\/p>\n

When asked what is the greatest commandment, Jesus replied that all of the law and prophets are summed up in this: love God with our all and our neighbors as ourselves. As I consider the reading of this week and the events on the news the complexity is overwhelming. I must fix my gaze on the simplicity of Jesus\u2019 message. We humans love ourselves through understanding we are made in God\u2019s image and we love him because he first loved us. From that place of identity in Him, being grounded in love, we are able to love one another and live together.<\/p>\n

Elliott brings many theories together as people are trying to make sense of our world and our being in it. His conclusions are somewhat dire on one hand but pique interest regarding \u201cfresh challenges\u201d on the other. \u201cUndeniably, the global challenges we face demand global solutions, and ones that are both future-regarding and geared to the actual needs and desires of others.[5]<\/a><\/p>\n

Mirror, mirror on the wall\u2026please show us the greatest One of all that we may see others in His image and live in the love for ourselves and one another that only comes from God.<\/p>\n

Disclaimer: This post is as disjointed as my mind today. Thank you for your prayers.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

[1]<\/a> Anthony Elliot, Contemporary Social Theory: An Introduction <\/em>(Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge, 2014), 118.<\/p>\n

[2]<\/a> Ibid.<\/p>\n

[3]<\/a> Genesis 1:27 New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)<\/p>\n

[4]<\/a> I Corinthians 13:11-13 New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)<\/p>\n

[5]<\/a> Elliott, 377.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Reading Elliott\u2019s Contemporary Social Theory: An Introduction and events of this week have left me in a melancholic state. I had a sense of sadness hearing the creatures who do not seem to know their Creator draw from every concept imaginable to define life on this planet. As I write this blog I have just […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":112,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[743],"class_list":["post-20051","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-anthony-elliott","cohort-lgp9"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20051","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/112"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20051"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20051\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20052,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20051\/revisions\/20052"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20051"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20051"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20051"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}