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Dear Jesus, give us the grace
to know and not know.
Wisdom Saying
Self-deceived is the person who claims to love God above all and, yet, so clings to her beliefs about God that she cannot release them in respect for the mystery of God. This person does not love God above all; she loves her ideas of God above all, and even above God.
Wisdom Story
Long ago a younger neighbor appeared at his aged friend's cabin. The young man asked, "Friend, will you let me borrow your donkey?" "O wonderful friend,"’ came the reply, "I would like to help so dear a neighbor. I regret that my donkey is not here today." Then the donkey began braying. "It appears I am blessed with good luck and your donkey is here after all,” said the young man. The aged friend retorted, "What! Are you willing to accept the word of my donkey and to doubt me, a man advanced in years, whose beard is white and hair is gray?"
Comments
We are daily faced with the competition of competing truth claims, and this is as much so in the domain of spiritual truth as in any other area. We find persons with equal respect, for example, for the Bible claiming on one hand that it teaches just war and on the other pacifism. Some say Jesus was God, while others say Jesus was a great teacher. Some persons say their denomination is the sole true, apostolic Church and others that their group is the only true, apostolic Church. Some claim God is "Yahweh," others say God is "God," and others claim God is "Allah." Some claim these refer to the same Being. Some claim only their group is going to a heaven after this life; other persons claim only their group is going to a heaven after this life.
Could it be that there is a godless mixture of both arrogance and ignorance in many religious claims? Could it be that we have come to some absolute, never-changing decisions that we as humans just have not been made privy to, thought we act on the little insight given us as through we have great insight?
We all need a periodic humble-check in our claims to truth. Could it be that the Mystery we call God, and other names and titles, is most delighted in a faith that humbly admits the limits of human knowledge? In being over-confident in our own knowledge about religious matters, is it possible we are playing God?
I am not claiming we are totally left in ignorance. God has spoken to us in many ways: sacred scriptures, nature, common wisdom, Christ, great mystics, esteemed religious teachers, ... However, the interpretation of the ways have been shaped by the times and mindset of persons over centuries and cultures. No one receives his or her faith free of the cultural and prejudicial shaping of others. That is not all bad; it simply means we are human.
We are not meant to be so set in our thinking that we are closed to Truth's ongoing revelation in our larger world and personal lives. If we are humbly open to truth, we will be led by the Inner Spirit and through whatever means the Spirit chooses to teach us. If we are pridefully closed to such guidance, the Spirit will let us stay in our stubborn little closed-mind prison and breathe in our prideful, pathetic self-absorption. Which, of course, is a shroud over the fearful little child who is scared and has to hide behind a facade of over-confidence in matters sacred and mysterious.
If we are humble, we can rightly hold a loving and open-hearted faith that does not close our minds to change or leave us awash on the shores of a groundless, subjective spirituality that has no roots except a pathetic counter-prejudicial rejection of all absolute claims to truth.
Suggested Reflection
1. Can a person use being open-minded as an excuse not to commit to something she needs to commit to?
2. Can open-mindedness be just another word for being too proud to have faith?
3. Have you ever felt it right to change a dear religious belief, for you had come to believe differently than before? Explain that process.
4. What role does the Holy Spirit have in forming our religious belief-system?
5. What is the difference between "faith" as trust in God and "faith" as a religion?
6. Explain how you have grown over the years in your spiritual beliefs?
7. What process do you go through in seeking to discern what is true and not true in matters of faith? From where did you learn that process?
8. Why are so many persons afraid to be open to new truths~not necessarily new in time, but never before heard by them~in matters of religion and spirituality?
See next page for Purpose of OneLife and reference to a couple of the writer's written works; and reference to sources.
See next page for Invitation to writer's contemplative village, purpose of OneLife, data on ordering author's book and upcoming devotionals 2008, and material on citations.
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