The Agony of Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane

What can we learn from this scene to address the current signs of the times?

I keep thinking of the scene of the agony in the garden of Gethsemane during these days of the global rise and domination of authoritarian leaders and governments. In the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola, the exercitant/retreatant uses their imagination as they read and contemplate a gospel scene to grow deeper in friendship/companionship with Jesus. I imagine Jesus the man had so much fear, sadness, anger, and many other emotions as he agonized over his impending torture and death on the cross. And the Divine aspect of him, the fully self-realized Avatar that he was, was at peace or blissful, knowing that the soul or Self can never die. How do we like Jesus move forward with the knowledge that we too will suffer and even might die in our resistance of the authoritarianism of the Christian nationalism running our government. I think a significant message or symbol of the agony in the garden is Jesus modeling how grief or grieving allows for growth and transformation—death and rebirth. Grief is political. By grieving and mourning we are able to allow that to flow through us and not stagnate within us, which only holds us back or keeps us stuck in our grief. We can learn to let our grief teach and accompany us on this journey of individuation.

So, as constitutional and social issues continue to unravel here in the United States, how might we build a resistance that is deeply rooted in our humanity and divinity? We need to grief first before we can act. We must have our moment(s) of agony in the garden. We must feel our suffering and not push it aways. I believe figures such as Jesus Christ, Buddha, Krishna, and many others have much wisdom to teach us in these times. How might we learn how to handle our suffering as Christ did? How might we learn how Eastern wisdom traditions have taught us how to understand our suffering? Can we collectively learn how to make meaning of our suffering yet hold space for mystery? Can we also learn to see how suffering is merely the opposite of pleasure and that we can transcend those opposites?

I wonder how we move forward and not delay action due to our fear of suffering. This is where tools such as active imagination or Ignatian contemplation of the agony in the Garden and Jesus’ torture and death on the cross can help us draw strength and courage to keep moving forward with love, compassion, and justice even while knowing we might suffer greatly for it. Through the power of imagination we can develop a deeper knowing and relationship with the suffering and crucified Christ. We can think of the Civil Rights Movement here in the United States, which organized out-of-faith communities in the South. They were led by faith in a nonviolent Jesus who stands with the oppressed and marginalized as Messenger of Good News to set captives free. Liberation theology was taught and practiced in Latin America by base communities in the ‘60s-’80s was in direct response to the many authoritarian dictators that were supported by the United States Government.

Thus, we have many examples throughout the history of the world of people and communities that resisted authoritarianism. We merely need to study them and learn how we can integrate best practices and strategies from their previous movements and imagine new ways of adapting to the signs of our times. But more importantly, it’s the spiritual work of this type of work and resistance that is truly needed. We can become more attuned to Christ consciousness and become more aware of our bodies here on Earth. This is the Integral Yoga that Sri Aurobindo taught and practiced. It is the “Double Vision” that John Welwood wrote about in his writings. We can hold the two opposites or the paradox of life in tension. We transcend so that we descend more fully into our humanity, which is part of our divinity. Our divinity and humanity are two sides of the same coin. We are both spiritual beings having a human experience as well as human beings having a spiritual experience.