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| Harvard Yard (Photo by chensiyuan) |
Earl Walker Jackson, Sr., the great-grandson of Virginia slaves, has quite the impressive record.
He served three years in the Marine Corps and then became a Harvard-educated lawyer and preacher. Wikipedia
reports that he "served as a minister with the chapel of the Boston Red Sox for five years, and also served as the Protestant chaplain for the Boston Fire
Department." He
was recently named the Republican Party candidate for Lieutenant Governor of Virginia in what the Richmond Times-Dispatch
called a "stunning upset" over his contenders.
Nevertheless, Jackson still finds the time to criticize yoga (along with much else). Betsy Woodruff of the National
Review quotes some of Jackson's admonitions regarding the "dangers of yoga." These
were culled from his book Ten Commandments to an
Extraordinary Life.
Jackson states: When one hears the word meditation, it conjures up an
image of Maharishi Yoga talking about finding a mantra
and striving for nirvana… (What? No meditating
Christian monks striving for illumination?)
He continues: The purpose of such meditation is to empty oneself… Beware of systems of spirituality
which tell you to
empty yourself. You will end up filled with something
you probably do not want.
Let's give Jackson the benefit of the doubt here. Perhaps they just didn't teach kenosis at Harvard Divinity School. Or
perhaps they did, and Jackson put his own negative spin on it. Nevertheless, there are many Christian interpretations of kenosis that "end up" being filled with something you probably do want – i.e., the
Will of God.
Resources
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E._W._Jackson
http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/350215/virginias-republican-lt-gov-candidate-wrote-interesting-book-betsy-woodruff
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenosis
Copyright June 6, 2013 by Linda Van Slyke All Rights Reserved
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