The second take on economy: The temple metaphor

You, don´t shy away now, is a temple of God. I´ll say it too, I am a temple of God. More important than the Parthenon, greater in the eyes of God than St. Peter´s in Rome, definitely more original and unique than any of what Gothick Revival church have you. Now, the point of a temple is twin: to be a habitation of God, as in the olden days when no man was allowed therein for fear of His presence, but also as nowadays when we may boldly enter and be welcomed by Him, for: “Come, all is prepared”. The temple is the interface between God and human, and as such your life, your body, your existence may be the dwelling place of the divine. I´m not saying (nor the Bible or any sound Christian doctrine) that this means BEING God, for it is quite appearant that none among us are, at least I would have noted it for my own part. Any book telling me otherwise, I would throw down and get rid of, be it Bible or otherwise. At the end of the day the experience of existence can hardly be refuted.

What does this have to do with economy, you may ask? A great deal actually, namely the ends of economy, the goal of it all. For if we be temples, what is that but a space for God, the worshipper, alone and in communion, and the few essential things needed to make that space functional, durable and beautiful? You don´t clutter a temple with leftovers, or whatever come cheapeast and most convenient. Everything chosen to be there should aim to be worthy the glory of God, to the degree we be reflective and committed, our glory, as planets circling close to the sun may be luminiscent.

Let us not fall for the old enemy of all good religious architecture, “horror vacui”, the fear of emptiness, but rather let God be that emtiness, and our space be Her/His form in our lives. Then we need not fear that God will reject us on account of furnishing we could not dispense with, but rather trust in the mercy and grace which overlooks all our small images, tokens and habits we think go along with a life in nobility. They matter not, not to God, nor to us.