Psalm 38:9

there is no neutrality

Deliver thou me from all my iniquities: thou hast made me a reproach to the fool. (Psalm 38:9 DR)

Although the righteous man who has begun to “leap-over” the attachments to this world will naturally find such things to be vanity and ultimately unfulfilling, this re-oriented mindset is regrettably not shared by most. To willingly forego the pleasures of this world and the pursuit of what it desires is thus seen as odd at best and a threat at worst.

This is especially true the more materialistic and consumeristic a society becomes, as the “good” of life is framed around the things we possess due to the sheer ease and convenience of possessing them. In the ancient world wealth and luxurious things were hard won, and thus there was a sort of “virtue” in possessing them in that it demonstrated that one had been willing to work, fight, etc., for them. As can be seen from the book of Job, to have great wealth was often also seen as a demonstration of one’s righteousness or favor with God, or at least an expected outcome.

But in a consumeristic society even that “virtue” is detached from the possession of things because of the ease of acquiring them. Something like a “smartphone” in terms of computing power, technological capabilities, etc., would have been out of reach to even the wealthiest only 50 years ago, assuming the technology had existed at the time. But the mass-produced nature of them makes them commonplace, so that even those without means generally have one.

But the irony is that far from fulfilling us or bringing us freedom, these things only serve to enslave us. It is this slavery that the consumeristic mentality sells to us as freedom, and we tend to see as “odd” those who don’t wish to participate in it. To reject consumerism, pop culture, and all the trappings and values of modern western society is more likely to make one a pariah than a prophet, because the one who does reject these things de facto holds them in contempt and brings reproach to those who embrace them.

The Psalmist has now over-leaped his attachments to the world and sees that his ways are now not like the ways of other men. This distinction makes him a spectacle to them (cf. 1 Corinthians 4:9) and a cause of derision:

You have so willed it, that I should live among those, and preach the Truth among those, who love vanity; and I cannot but be a laughing-stock to them. (St. Augustine, Expositions on the Psalms, 38, 15.)

However, it is because the things of this world are vanity that those who chase after them feel chastened and threatened by those who reject the vanity of this world. For they know within themselves that the things of this world are vain and transitory, but the pleasures of the flesh can numb us to that reality. The reality and presence of those who hold the pleasures of the world and its goods in contempt thus become an intolerable reproach to those love this world and its pleasures, for their very existence allows the sting of conscience to penetrate the miasma of self-delusion.

Thus, it is not enough for those who reject the things of this world and its values to leave everyone else alone or mind their own business; they must be made to positively affirm the values of this world and a decadent society. Their lack of participation in the preoccupations of the flesh and its pleasures is itself a judgment on that society, which is why any pretended notions of toleration can only go one way. Well do the Scriptures describe the mindset which cannot tolerate a lack of participation in the vanity of this world:

Let us therefore lie in wait for the just, because he is not for our turn, and he is contrary to our doings, and upbraideth us with transgressions of the law, and divulgeth against us the sins of our way of life. He boasteth that he hath the knowledge of God, and calleth himself the son of God. He is become a censurer of our thoughts. He is grievous unto us, even to behold: for his life is not like other men's, and his ways are very different. We are esteemed by him as triflers, and he abstaineth from our ways as from filthiness, and he preferreth the latter end of the just, and glorieth that he hath God for his father. (Wisdom 2:12-16 DR)

Our Lord (who is the fulfillment of the passage from Wisdom) directly challenged the values of this world and its pleasures, and in His preaching often upbraided His hearers for their attachment to the goods of this life and their concern for their possessions. For there is no neutral ground between love of God and love of this world; it is always an either/or proposition. It is in this context that He becomes the “reproach to the fool:”

No servant can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or he will hold to the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. Now the Pharisees, who were covetous, heard all these things: and they derided him. And he said to them: You are they who justify yourselves before men, but God knoweth your hearts; for that which is high to men, is an abomination before God. (Luke 16:13-15 DR)

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For this animation I wanted to come at it from the notion of foolishness. I’m don’t remember how I came across this image, but I found this funny-looking sheep and I thought it’d be interesting to have it hopping up and down. I cut it out in Photoshop and precomped it in After Effects and then rigged up the image using the Puppet Tool and attached the pins to Nulls using PuppetTools 3.

I then animated the pins to have the legs flailing about as if it were hopping up and down. I added in a little shadow to give some sense of presence. I finally duplicated that precomp several times and arranged them in the main composition and added some Time Remapping so I could offset the precomps and have different things happening at different times for visual interest.

Enjoy.

View a higher quality version of this gif here: