Spiritual/Political/Philosophical Blog on the Nature of Truth and Falsehood and Heaven
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| Sunny Days in Heaven Spiritual/Political/Philosophical Blog on the Nature of Truth and Falsehood and Heaven |
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Friday, April 26, 2002 Thought from a Sunny Day (or wondering out loud) 87 If contemplatives are the soul of humanity, what might happen if enough Christian mystics begin to set aside the authority of church and scripture, and teach Love, selflessness, and the bare essentialism of the risen Jesus? Might not Christianity eventually change to embrace the wisdom of God and faith? (That is, put more faith in God than in principles and doctrines about God.) As Thomas Merton saw, contemplation is the heart and soul of the Catholic Mass and liturgy. If contemplatives steer faith toward freedom from the unessential, will the Church ever follow? I tend to doubt it, but I can't rule it out. A church that is purged of dogmas, though, may not be a church many want to belong to. That being the case, then, I don't see how the institution will allow itself to disintegrate. Power rarely abdicates. Yet, I firmly believe that modern contemplatives are creating a movement and literature that is tolerant of skepticism toward dogmas and doctrines. The effects of prayer are such that rationality is increased and systems of theology are more easily discounted. If enough people are able to see and communicate their insights past the previous cut off points (heresy), and if their writings are fair and trustworthy, I don't see how the Church can ignore the Eckharts, Roberts', and Mertons. My writings are subversive, but are they false? I think that will get harder to insist upon as the years go by, as more and more people recognize the truth in some of what I see or question. Of course, a lot of people love and admire William Blake, but has he had much affect on religion? No. He affects many future mystics when they encounter him so he is in the mix but is easily surpassed by a person of real practice in faith and prayer posted by Mark Butterworth | 1:40 AM | |
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