The feast of Pentecost could be viewed from various angles, evolving from the Jewish feast down to Christianity as ‘supernatural intervention’ in the life of Judo-Christian history. The Church celebrates it as its “Birth Day” in which the early Apostolic community, gathered in the upper room of the closed door, frightened of the Jews, received the “gift of the Holy Spirit” as had been promised by Jesus during his life-span and thereafter.
Having received the Holy Spirit, the radical life-style to the point of Martyrdoms vindicates the “social and psychical conversion and transformation”, effected by the early Apostolic and Christian Communities, and consequently, the multi-cultural growth of the Church as we have today. After 2000 years of Christianity, we are once again challenged with the similar Social arena. If two thousand years back, the apostles were in the ‘Closed door’ frightened of the Jews, today, we are in the ‘locked down’ frightened of the ‘evil incarnate’, the ‘Corona Virus’, dousing the ember of the Holy Spirit within.
In this article, I make an attempt to discover the ‘psychic dimension of the Spirit’ (Pneuma/ Parakeet Gk’) that no empire of Satan could put out, for ‘Pentecost is a discovery of God given “image and likeness” (Imago-Dei) within. Probably, it is the experience of Hindu sages who discovered of human existence as “Aham Brahmasmi”. (I am the particle of God).
Faced with Challenges and threat to life, the Apostles had no one for their refuge except in the promise of Jesus- that he would be with them “until the end of the world” and that they “will be given a helper”, the Parakeet, the Resurrected presence of Christ to help out in their mission of being “salt to the earth and light to the world”. Hoping against the hope, they became totally “self- emptied, (Kenosis) and hence, they could be “filled”. Emptiness is a necessary pre-condition for Filling. Becoming “Nothing” is the basis for “Everything”. God created the world “out of nothing (Chaos)”.
The ‘Big Bang’ theory of the origin of universe is based on this Biblical dictum. Phil.4 states, “Jesus emptied himself, became obedient unto death, So God raised him…” Thus, the law of nature shows that the “Negative concepts “in our eyes contains a “positive concept”. Fear contains love. Death contains Resurrection.
The psychologists are of the opinion that “Fear and Love” are the two archetypal “feelings of man”. All other emotions/ feelings originate from them, positive or negative. Even a new born babe would, without any reason, “cry and smile” in his dreamy state, may be an expression of these basic feeling of ‘fear and love’. The babe who was secure in his mother’s womb begins to feel the ‘insecurity ‘of having to breath from the atmosphere. Fear brings “insecurity” and “insecurity” brings dependence. No fear, no dependence towards God or man. We notice this state of ‘dependence- independence dynamism’ interacting in the life-span of mankind at various stages like childhood, adulthood, sickness and old age. What if man ‘denies dependency?”.
This culture is much more evident in European communities where the children often have not much attachment to parents, family or Church. In India too, despite the joint-family tradition, individualism is oozing the mud from the foundation. Until the first half of the second millennium, emphasize was paid to “fear of God”. It resulted in “too much sense of sin, guilt and hell” that men could not experience the ‘saving love of God’ and from the 19th c. stress was paid for “Love” which is continued till today.
As a result, many are not “afraid of anyone or anything”, no fear of God, not of one’s own parents or teachers. Fear and Love goes hand in hand. So, the Bible says, “Fear of God is the beginning of Wisdom (Sophia). In the reception of Decalogue by Moses at Mount Sinai,(Jewish’s Pentecost) we find Mosses standing far from the ‘burning bush”, (Ex.), for he knew the place where he stood was “Holy”. Abraham too, was moving from “Ur’ to ‘Haran” at the command of God, giving up his clan, cattle’s and all the security he had. Any lop-sided ‘psychic growth’ is detrimental to the ‘reception and growth of ‘wholistic personality’. Influenced by the modern psychology of ‘positive thinking ‘which admits ‘no corrections ‘possible, the young generations turn “too individualistic”, losing the individuality.
In fear, there is a love, in love, there is a sacrifice, in sacrifice, there is a giving in or surrender. Holy Spirit begins to work in man when he ‘totally surrenders’ losing all his dependency on the worldly. In the past Agrarian society, the children experienced this surrender of parents for the welfare of their children and so the children too thought to surrender their lives for the parents and Church by accepting God’s call. Every surrender is a ‘slavery’ towards “Freedom”, the one who loves it.. St. Paul says, “I am the salve of God”, “Gold is as worthless as sand” and “foolishness of God is better than the wisdom of man”.
A true Pentecost, hence, is a “happening or re-connection of my little spirit (penuma) (image and likeness within” with the Trinitarian “Ruha” (Heb) / Parakeet”. But today the modern generation run behind ‘false security’ and ‘insecuirty’ of money, power and position, annihilating or ‘covering up his ‘consciousness’, God’s image within. This “Spirit within” is the “Truth” that Jesus claimed as himself “Truth and Life” that “sets one Free”. Even the Vedas states that this Truth is God when it says, “ Sathyam is Sivam”. Those who discover this God’s presence within will have no choice but to relate to Him and proclaim loudly (Kerussein GK) that the” Lord is Risen indeed “Alleluia.