Idolatry and the Sublimation of Self

The root word of sublimation is sublime. It refers to the process of making something gross into something more sublime.

Scientifically, sublimation refers to the process of transition of a substance from the solid phase to the gas phase without passing through an intermediate liquid phase.

In psychology, sublimation is when socially unacceptable impulses are consciously transformed into socially acceptable behavior which serves a higher cultural or socially useful purpose.

I suggest that in religion, sublimation refers to the transformation of natural human impulses and needs into religious activities that serve the interests of the institution.

I recently had a conversation with a young man. I asked how he was doing. He said he was going through stuff right now but that he was alright. I invited him to share what he was going through. He had just been dismissed from the staff of a large church. He and his wife and children were shocked to discover that he was made redundant by the church leadership and was suddenly unemployed and in quite desperate shape financially and vocationally. I said something like, “Wow!” He countered, “No, no! It’s okay. I understand. I questioned some things. I guess the pastor figured I wasn’t as on board as he wanted so he had me dismissed. Makes sense.” I felt angry for him. I had been through that kind of thing more than once, and I knew the pain of it very well. I told him, “No way! That’s not right. I’d be angry about that. I hate that when churches punish you for not being 100% with the program!” We talked for quite a while. I don’t think we parted in agreement.

This happens all the time. Not just to staff but to members. It has happened to me several times. So I know it must be happening many times a day.

This is idolatry. When you don’t serve the idol in whatever shape it manifests itself, when you don’t submit to it with complete and unquestioning loyalty, when you are not fully sold out to it, when you don’t transform your natural human self into useful religious energy and activity, then you are rejected by the idol, its vision and its authorities. Religion sacrifices the human spirit and peoples’ lives to its sublime agenda.

Whether this has its place in some corporations, businesses, organizations and institutions, is one thing. But it is counter-spiritual in the church because it is primarily against the human being. It is so prevalent in this world that when it happens in the church very few question it, even when they are direct victims of it. Rather than the church being a fellowship of sinners, normal human beings gathered in voluntary community, it has become the alchemical locus for cooking people into something more desirable, productive, fertile and useful to the religious program. And like all idols, it is hungry for more and more human flesh in order to consume it and transmute it into the security and promotion of its own life.