Easter, Reality, and Sanity

I have posted this quote twice before in this space, and I'm doing so again because it's what I'm thinking about on Easter Sunday.

From Frank Sheed and his book Theology and Sanity.

[I]f we see things in existence and do not in the same act see that they are held in existence by God, then equally we are living in a fantastic world, not the real world. Seeing God everywhere and all things upheld by Him is not a matter of sanctity, but of plain sanity, because God is everywhere and all things are upheld by Him. What we do about it may be sanctity; but merely seeing it is sanity. To overlook God's presence is not simply to be irreligious; it is a kind of insanity, like overlooking anything else that is actually there...

God is not only a fact of religion: He is a fact. Not to see Him is to be wrong about everything, which includes being wrong about one's self...

...We live, indeed, in a vast context of things that are, events that have happened, a goal to which all is moving. That we should mentally see this context is a part of mental health. Just knowing that all things are upheld by God is a first step in knowing what we are, so a clear view of the shape of reality is a first step toward knowing where we are. To know where we are and what we are--that would seem to be the very minimum required by our dignity as human beings.
This is what I believe is at stake with the empty tomb. What is the nature of reality? Get this first and most fundamental question wrong and everything downstream will go off track. Your life will never quite "fit" or "attune" with the cosmos. The melody of your existence will be discordant and off-pitch. You'll be singing the wrong song. Your life will never quite "work." Much of this dislocation will be manifested in your mental health, a buzzing in your ears, something jagged in your soul always snagging. You'll try to fit different keys to the lock of your existence only to discover, over and over again, that none of them work.

To see wrong is to be wrong about everything.

This is the question of Easter.

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