I saw an article this morning that for some reason lifted my spirits a little.
The article outlined a request from the National Park Service in the United States. The request was also a warning:
“Please don’t lick psychedelic toads.”
Amen!
I had heard something vaguely about this before, something about how particular toads secrete a substance that is toxic, but is thought by some to be a natural psychedelic.
Apparently there are people who seek out the toads in order to chase a cheap psychedelic high. As I read the article I thought of why people might want that. Sometimes the pressures of life are overwhelming. Sometimes we can’t get outside of our own heads, our own fears, our own listlessness or despair. I have read about how psychedelic drugs are being used to treat depression. They are also being used to treat various ailments in old age care centres. I suppose the reason that the article lifted my spirits was because it conveyed a sense of common humanity.
A kind of “I get it. Sometimes you just want to lick a toad.”
I can tell you some of why I feel that today. It has to do with the mid-term elections in the United States. I’ll spare you the politicking, but note that my feelings of woe in relation to American political and religious culture right now have to do with the place of supposed Christian faith in contributing to a culture of division, fear, anger, hatred, and dehumanization. My Christian faith is central to my life, my sense of meaning and beauty, how I aim to live in the world, and the hope I have about where history is headed. When I see the name of Jesus being used to demonize and hate, attack and belittle, it leads me to lament not only the state of politics, but the state of faith.
We ought to be more hopeful than this. We ought to love our neighbours better than this. It really is not important to me if you share my particular political view. I used to tell the congregation in which I was pastor that there should be people in our church who vote Conservative, Liberal, NDP, and Green out of their sense of Christian conviction. No one political party or movement gets to hold faith. Whenever a party presents itself as the defender of faith, there should be red flags going up among those who claim to share that faith. Steve Bannon’s pictures of Jesus in the background of his video podcast strike me not as a presentation of faith, but as an obvious co-opting of faith for reasons of power.
There are a lot of circumstances, in the American political landscape, that have contributed to my angst today. I’ll note just one. It is an ad for Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. It uses images of faith to present a “strongman” defender of the nation and defender of God depiction of DeSantis. If I saw something like this years ago I would have assumed it was a joke. I am still kind of hoping that it is. I will spare you the details, but if you want to watch it, here it is.
I repeatedly reference in this newsletter the biblical accounts of Peter saying over and over that he would defend Jesus. On at least one occasion he actually took a sword and sliced off the ear of one of the people who had come to arrest Jesus before the crucifixion. Jesus told Peter to stop and healed the man who he had attacked. Jesus said that this was not His way, not how His mission would be accomplished. Jesus does not need a defender. He did not then, He does not now. Have you noticed that historically those who claim to “defend the faith” have been up to something altogether different?
When Jesus began to speak directly about the fact that he would give his life, that he would die at the hand of the authorities, Peter boisterously declared that he would not allow such things to happen. He would defend Jesus. He would defend God. He would be a fighter.
This was when Jesus said the famous words, “Get behind me, Satan.” It’s not on me to claim the words of Jesus in response to what I find upsetting, but what he said to Peter I can at least imagine him saying in response to the “Eighth Day of Creation” ad. Knowing that Jesus warned against such ideas as “defending God” can help in troubled political times.
Or, sometimes you just want to lick a toad.
I leave you with this sage bit of spiritual wisdom from the United States Park Service:
“As we say with most things you come across in a national park, whether it be a banana slug, unfamiliar mushroom, or a large toad with glowing eyes in the dead of night, please refrain from licking.”
The organization that I work with, Reflector Project, exists to articulate hopeful rather than fearful theology and worldview. This weekend we are hosting a conference in Vancouver addressing some of the key areas where fearful theology has found expression for many people. The conference, called “Unashamed: Towards a Healthy View of Self and Sexuality,” has as the keynote speaker, Dr. Hillary McBride.
Many people of faith have longed to be able to accept and love others. Some have picked up damaging and judgmental views of self and of others from religious fear and condemnation. Many of us are looking for better ways forward and some people are hopeful for healing of trauma from negative views.
This two-day in-person conference will outline hopeful and positive understanding of self and others. We seek to consider some of the emotional and religious trauma we may have experienced and move toward healing. We will consider matters such as embodiment and views of self, as we hear from Dr. Hillary McBride and others who will help explain how we got here and outline how we can move forward with hope.
When: Friday, November 11 & Saturday, November 12
Where: Epiphany Chapel on the UBC Campus
Cost: $80.00 per adult / $60.00 per student
Thanks for your insightful post!