Ishi Means Man: Some Reflections

Reading Merton's Ishi Means Man - absolutely brilliant. A superb illustration of the fact that the past has plenty to say to us about our current struggles and follies, if we but have the wit to see it. A series of essays about various Amerindian cultures, it touches on such matters as the centrality of a God-given vision to what it means to be human; what happens when we deny those different from us personhood; the place of art and religion in civilization – many, many things in this book have sparked connections in my mind.

 One of my favourite points is in the piece “The Cross- Fighters”, concerning the Caste War of Yucatan, in which Merton notes:

“It is curious to see with what fervor some of the Maya prophets at the same time accepted the message of Christ and rejected the messengers as unworthy.”

This has real resonances for us today. Why else would the single largest grouping of Christians in this country be those who do not attend any church, nor identify with any denomination? I remain convinced that Jesus is attractive to people, but the institutional churches continually interpose themselves between Jesus and the people who want to get nearer to him. Indeed, a lot of Merton's points in Ishi... are around the fact that Western “culture” (which includes institutional churches) cannot accept that other cultures can accept Christ without accepting all the “benefits” of our society. We must recognise that our way of living is not the only way of living, indeed that it may not even be the best way way of living!

 As long as wholesale Western enculturation remains the only way for us to be prepared to recognise the personhood of those from other cultures, we will remain moral and mental midgets.

Peace.

Originally posted 20/04/10