Easter week is the perfect time to reflect on the symbolic meaning of the statue of Christ the Redeemer, Corcovado Mountain, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. For several years, I’ve had two photos of the statue as laptop screensavers from www.webshots.com. One is a view of the statue from a distance - the back of the statue is in shadow as it faces the light of day. The photo says, nonverbally, Christ is the Light of the World. The second photo view is from below, looking up at the draped robe, torso, arms, hands and face of the statue flooded with golden light, the cobalt blue sky in the background. Having these two photos as part of my screensaver slideshow reminds me regularly who I am, who we all are. We are the light of the world. It’s up to us to shine our light. We are human and divine. We are here to love.
The statue is noticeably in the shape of a cross. The Christ from head to foot is the vertical portion of the cross. The outstretched arms are the horizontal portion. The two intersect at the heart, bringing us the profound message of the importance of staying centered in our hearts, in love. This was Jesus’ essential teaching – that we love one another. Comparing our own bodies to the statue, we can see its form is our form - we have vertical and horizontal elements crossing at our heart. The vertical part of our body extends from our feet on earth up to our head and toward the cosmos, indicating we are both human and divine. The outstretched arms are for embracing the full spectrum of life with all its contradictions: joy-sadness, peace-conflict, light-dark, comfort-pain. We are free to choose. We can embrace life fully or not. To embrace is to take or clasp in the arms. To embrace is to press to the bosom, to hug. To embrace is to receive gladly or eagerly. To embrace is to accept willingly. To embrace is to take in with the eye of the mind. The temptation is to experience only the part of the spectrum we consider "good" or "desirable." The temptation is to avoid experiencing the part we consider "bad" or "undesirable." My sense is that the soul, or spiritual self, came to experience it all. I have found in accepting the sadness in my life, my joys are exceedingly precious. I have found it is sometimes essential that I be willing to embrace pain.
I have a friend dying of metastatic bone cancer. I love her and do not want her to hurt. I would like her to have enough pain medication so she doesn’t. Yesterday, I realized I did not want to be with my own pain – the pain of seeing her in pain. I wanted to avoid it, not embrace it. I saw it might not be in her best interest to have as little pain as possible. She values her consciousness. She values being present. She does not want to be drugged. She prefers to be in some pain so she can be more present to her own dying, able to make final decisions, able to complete her life. My ability to embrace the pain of seeing her in pain is a gift I can give her. My soul says, “Embrace the pain.”
