![]()
> 2. What happens if the true self leads a person to have less religion
> or less emphasis on God in his or her daily life?
The true self will never take you away from God any more than the
river can take you away from its water. If we become an auto mechanic
and live our life in and with the presence of God and as an expression
of God then that is a far deeper communion than some theologians may
experience. The cerebral cortex is one of the greatest barriers to
realizing God although we want to keep churning it away in hopes that
the next book or the next great idea or the next zippy quote will get
us there. Intelligence is a useful thing though- don't get me wrong.
There is a turning away from religion that can take us further from
God and then there is a turning away from reliance on religion that
brings us closer. The spiritual life is slippery and each must find
how this is true for them. Similarly, Merton warned repeatedly that
there can be a solitude and turning away from society that brings us
closer to God but at the same time there can be a type of solitude
that is actually just a cult of individualism. Discernment required.
In regard to the true self, as analogy, we don't really understand
what electricity is despite the volumes of scientific research. Some
understand electricity through books and school. Some have heard about
some aspects of it from others. --and some have inadvertently pissed
on an electric fence. One of those is a life altering way of learning
about electricity and the belief is irreversable, even though that
person may or may not continue to study about electricity. Different
ways of knowing.
There is the story of the Unitarian who dies and approaches Heaven. He
sees a sign pointing to the left which says "this way to Heaven." He
also sees a sign pointing to the right which says "this way to go to
learn how to think about Heaven." Off he goes.
Dennis
|
THIS SITE:
(1) DISCUSSION BOARD HOME
(2) HENRI NOUWEN SOCIETY MEDITATIONS
(3) POST A COMMENT by e-mail
|
