A friend recently sent me a quote from Sebastain Faulks’ novel ‘Paris Echo’. The quote runs thus ”’Whoever teaches about the invisible world is a priest’, he told me. ‘All thinkers are priests’”. The word “priest” has, implicit in its origins, the idea of one who is in front, who leads. (As in a cattle herder. Truly a pastoral task!) I have in mind a quote whose source I cannot find but which runs, I think, like this “It is the duty of a priest to present God to the people and the people to God.” I like this idea of the priest’s mediating function. He (or she) occupies two worlds – the sacred and the secular. A task that when done well reminds God of his origins in humanity and humanity of their roots in the Other. To put in another piece of etymology, the roots of “to think” are conveyed by the idea of “causing to appear to oneself”. There’s something incarnational in that idea.

So we have a picture of someone driving a herd of ideas to somewhere. The market place? The milking parlour? Another pasture? All could be true. Some ideas will end up at the slaughter house for whatever reason. Too old. Infertile. Prone to infection. This is the decision of the herdsman. Others will have a different end to their journey. Some as milkers. Some for breeding. This again is the herdsman’s choice, based on his knowledge of his herd.

How does any of this tie in with Faulks’ quote at the beginning of this blog? For me it’s about ideas. Thoughts. Dreams. Fantasies. There are so many words, each with a slightly different shade of meaning but all pointing to an idea beyond them. Goethe commented that “daring ideas are like chessmen moved forward. They may be beaten but they may start a winning game.”

A priest stands before and between a people and their God, explaining to one the ways of the other. (A dangerous position. Not quite belonging to the Gods. Not quite belonging to the people. But answerable to both. A kind of crucifixion?) “Thinkers are priests” says Faulks. As such it is their task to represent their worlds — whatever those may be – to the people. And vice versa. And, of course, all incarnations need a midwife to help the mother have a safe delivery. To assist its arrival into a new world. So all priestly thinkers need someone to help their offspring find their own way in the world.