Spiritual
Genealogy
“[Biblical]
Genealogy is not what skeptics and fundamentalists make it out to be; it is not
historical or biological fact. Every sacred tradition, every sacred text, every
religious denomination has contradictory genealogies. Genealogies reveal the
quest of ancient people to find a place in the universe and claim divine favor.”
Diana
Butler Bass (Grounded, p.145; Harper One, 2015)
There
are two genealogies listed for Jesus in the Bible: Matthew 1:1-17, and Luke 3:23-38.
Matthew emphasizes Jesus’ royal lineage establishing his right to be King of
the Jews. Luke traces the lineage back to Adam, relating Jesus to such Biblical
stars as David, Jesse, Jacob, and Isaac, Abraham’s son. Both are to show Jesus
as coming from good spiritual stock, and, since Luke traces all the way back to
Adam, to show kinship to the entire human race.
When we
trace our own genealogies, it’s surprising how learning about them changes us.
We may learn of relatives who were kings and queens, and even saints. The one that
impacted me most was a direct descendant who came to America with a land grant
from King George III. He and his family settled in South Carolina, built a
house on the Battery in Charleston, and established a plantation that grew rice. They
were slave owners. When I learned that I felt tremendous shame. Slavery is a
legacy Southerners will never be able to outlive or repair. It may be almost
two hundred years abolished but the damage done and the abuse that continues will
be a blight on this part of the world forever. And, frankly, it should be.
In Diana Butler Bass’s
book Grounded, she writes about having a German father, who ruled with
an iron fist, but her mother’s ancestors were Quakers. Since we typically trace
our lineage through our surname, it is most often the father’s and sometimes we
just can’t relate to the ideology and worldview of that part of the family. That was Diana's experience. Then
we consider the mother’s and suddenly have a more balanced view. In Diana’s
case, her mother’s Quaker faith, with its social activism and quiet meditative
worship helped her to identify herself as part of the family. As for me, the other side of
my family were “dirt famers,” in fact, were poor tenant farmers, providing the
ultimate grounding and balance. Thank God!
We should never underestimate
the power of genetics. What we are, and who we are is encoded in our DNA; not
just our physical characteristics but our traits, habits and even our gestures.
I sneeze like my mother. And I’m told I think like my great-grandmother though
I never knew her. I’ll bet you can look at your hands and know whose they are
and laugh and know where that sound came from.
This also goes for our consciousness. When you
and I work to bring ourselves to a higher level of consciousness, and by that,
I mean more universal consciousness, our progeny come here with a much higher
level of social understanding and emotional intelligence. That is how we grow
beyond all the crippling “isms” of our times—racism, sexism, nationalism, and
so forth. When you work on yourself, get past all the backward-looking tapes
that play in your head, you will move your decendents forward. Think of yourself as
a DNA library. Everything you need is there and all you have to do is check it
out. And, of course, add to it.
In the Spirit,
Jane
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