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*Brian Wilcox. "is & is becoming". Flickr.
Faith as experience lies deeper than words and concepts. It is an inner gesture by which we entrust ourselves totally and unconditionally to life~life perceived as our own, yet as a power greater than ourselves.
*David Steindl-Rast. Deeper Than Words.
* * *
One evening, a man was handed a menu by the waitress. He looked at the menu, being delighted by the sight of the delicious-looking food. Before the waitress returned to take his order, he ate the menu. Upon the waitress’ return, the man complained both about the bad tasting food and a stomachache. Fuming, he declared he would never return. He stormed out, yelling refusal to pay for his meal. That was fine with the waitress, he had not ordered anything, anyway.
* * *
Corrine Ware, in Saint Benedict on the Freeway, writes from her Christian contemplative orientation, "God is the primary text." She continues, "There is no substitute for God.” And, “… God is simply not found in the Cliff Notes.”
Likewise, Ware posits that there are "secondary texts." She remarks regarding reliance on the secondary texts:
We bootleg our spiritual experience from sources other than from our direct experience of God. We seek a religion exported to us by writers, magical objects and places, compelling speakers, heightened group experiences, televangelists, or celestial beings. … they are not the "primary text."
* * *
we refer to the 'primary text'
in different ways
personal
abstract
Tao
God
Goddess
Father
Mother
Yahweh
Allah
Love
Life
Grace
Truth
Buddha
Christ
the Real
Great Spirit
and, still, are pointing
to the same Mystery ~ the Mystery
our paths to and with the primary text
will, likewise, differ
some, for example,
devotion, stressing communion
others
knowing, accenting union
others
both
words and paths
are means, are signs
Continued... |
