Articles - From the Vicar

June 2000

Pees maketh plente;
Plente maketh pride;
Pride maketh plee;
Plee maketh povert;
Povert maketh pees.¹

Rowan Williams, now Archbishop of Wales, quotes this fifteenth century poem in his book The Truce of God. Williams sees in the poem a summary of what he calls 'the advance from false peace to true'. He goes on to say: " (we) go from ease to complacency, to aggressive assertion, defensive struggle, humiliation and - peace; the crucial turning point is perhaps what we do with the humiliation, and whether it can be a real occasion of unselfing. On that depends whether or not the last line simply takes us back to the start again."

I am taken by Williams's use of the word 'unselfing'. In it there is an echo of the memorable passage in St. Paul's letter to the Philippians in which Paul describes Jesus as having 'emptied himself, taking the form of a servant.' In emptying himself, or (as we might say) 'unselfing' himself, Jesus gave to all his followers an example of true humility which we should seek to emulate. Such true humility has to do with placing the needs of others before our own needs, with ensuring that our own comfort is not bought at the cost of indifference to our neighbour's situation. Becoming humble in this way will free us to work for peace, unencumbered by the relentless pursuit of possessions and liberated from the rivalry and suspicion that such relentless pursuit brings with it.

As the Jubilee 2000 Campaign against world debt has constantly tried to demonstrate, unselfing need not be an activity confined to individuals. A change of attitude on the part of multi-national companies or powerful western governments - past masters at the aggressive pursuit of economic advantage - might help in the process of building up a peace that is based on justice, integrity - and true humility.

1. Peace causes prosperity; prosperity causes pride; pride causes legal disputes; legal disputes cause poverty; poverty causes peace.