The early Aryans who would be the conquerors of India were a very religious people. Their religion was a progressive one. Literally. Every morning they would create an altar to the east of their tents before dawn. As the sun broke the horizon their sacrifices, with the attendant rituals, would be made to their gods. As a part of their evening ceremonies, these nomadic raiders would move their tents around this altar that would become the centerpiece of their home for the evening. Like I said, this was a progressive religion. It was gradually leading their entire society eastward.
These Aryans also started out with a very violent religion. Their god was a violent god bent on raiding, treachery, and conquest. When they lived on the arid steppes, this was almost a necessary thing. If all around you people were raiding and warring, you needed to be able to do the same or you would very quickly be overrun. This was a society that could live by the sword or die by the sword.
Over the slow course of time this gradual movement eastward brought about two changes. First, they came into more and more contact with another culture that was not warlike. They had a name for this new people group: easy prey. Also the land itself was becoming more and more fertile as they moved into the Indus river valley. The need for such frequent raiding became less and less urgent.
The priestly class that were the leaders of this society did not want the religion to die as the situation changed so they began to focus not so much attention on the action of what they were doing but rather on the understanding of why they do what they did. This gradually led to more and more ritualized ceremonies and sacrifices and over time the proper way to perform these rituals became more important than both their theology and even the rituals themselves.
We dont know who the first one was, but there had to be a first. Someone, somewhere looked at a society that was becoming complacent and said, there has to be something more. They looked at what had become of a very ritualized, intellectual religion and said, there has got to be something more. He looked at the old ways they were leaving behind and said, this is not the answer. He looked at himself and asked, how bad do I want it? Then he cut himself loose from his religion and his possessions. He severed his ties with his culture and his family and set out on the great adventure of seeking after Truth with all his heart and soul.
This first renouncer must have passed through another village where another man was experiencing the same discontent. This second man thought to himself, that guy may not have the answer yet, but he knows how to find it. That second man also renounced everything that he had in his quest for something more. Soon a third, then a fourth, and a fifth person gave up everything to gain something more. Although they never became a significant percentage of the population, eventually there were enough that, about three thousand years ago, the renouncers made their way into the annals of history.
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The progression of the Aryan religion was not exclusive to them. We see the same tendency in the early church as well. The first few generations of the church were focused on following after Christ. Although they never would have put it this way, it is clear that by the time of the great church councils the focus had shifted from doing what is right living to proper knowledge. Over time even this emphasis gave way to proper church order.
But God provided a cure to this trend. Beginning around Alexandria Egypt first one, then another, then another courageous man gave up everything they had to find their soul. I firmly believe that these early unheralded monastics like: Saint Antony of Egypt, Abba Pambo, Saing George of Choziba, Saint Theognius, and even women like Syncletica of Palestine were a beacon of light that God used to keep the early church from losing its way. In fact, Thomas Cahill has written a book arguing that the next generation of renouncers, the Celtic monastics, saved not just the church but all of western civilization.
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I also am prone to follow in my own life the same trend as the Aryans and the early church. God has wired me with a love to read and study and learn. This makes it easy for obedience to start playing second fiddle to knowledge. As this happens I find myself doing the right thing out of rote rather than from love. This is ritual. I am aware of this and do my best to keep from slipping into this trend by making small sacrifices and surrenders. This makes my spiritual life look like a rollercoaster. Idealy, in the ups and downs, I am over time gradually becoming more and more like Christ. God in His grace is using my floundering efforts to make me less and less prone to wander.
But what if there is a better way? What if, instead of just singing the song, I really did surrender all? What would it look like if I renounced everything for the cause of Christ? How dramatically would I be able to impact my world? How drastically would God be able to impact me?
