Written for Exodus 90 in 2023, as part of a series of ten reflections on the art of accompaniment.
In his monumental work on the Theology of the Body, Pope St. John Paul II introduced some key terms: “original solitude,” “original unity,” and “original nakedness.” Original solitude described the state of man in the beginning when he was alone with God. In that state, the man had self-awareness, a sense of purpose, and a capacity for self-determination. He could experience himself as a person from the inside. He could carry out God’s task to name the animals. He could also follow God’s command not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Furthermore, as he named the animals he could also see that none of them were like him. They did not have the “original solitude” that he had. When he looked into their eyes, he could not see a heart with its own personal story. He only saw a blank stare. There was nothing in them that could say “I.”
In this original solitude, Adam was in the image and likeness of God and he had a personal relationship with God. He was in a state of grace. He was without sin. Isn’t this the goal of the spiritual life? This is often what we are striving for. On our own, we try harder, try to follow all the rules, try to carry out the tasks and try to overcome sin. As Christians, we might dutifully note that we could not do it without God’s grace. We could not achieve this state of perfection without Christ. Sometimes that is a deeply felt truth, having come to know our own weakness, and having found true strength in Him. But sometimes it is merely lip service, knowing that we should mention the Name of God and give Him some credit in our successes. Honestly, though, we don’t really know how He was involved in our successes.
Most surprisingly, God declares that even all this perfection in behavior is not the ultimate goal: “It is not good for man to be alone.” As the creation narrative unfolds, we discover that we are made in an original unity and for a communion of persons: “I will make a helper fit for him.” Pope St. John Paul II teaches that although man is in the image and likeness of God in original solitude, he is MORE in the image and likeness of God when he is in a communion of persons (cf. https://www.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/audiences/1979/documents/hf_jp-ii_aud_19791114.html). Sometimes we have the notion that relationships are merely a means to an end, as if other people are only there to help me be perfect, because the real goal is for me to go and be perfect on my own. Genesis teaches us that, to the contrary, solitude with communion is imperfect—it is not good for man to be alone. Developing a communion of persons with other human beings is an essential part of our destination. In fact, heaven is a total communion of persons.
In this light, we can see the importance, but also the relative value of our personal spiritual exercises. We can also see the ultimate importance of our relationships. Our anchor, our group, our family, our friends, are not added extras. They make up the communion of persons which is already becoming a foretaste of heaven.