False Spirituality
Not every path leads to God. Cloistering ourselves away from life is not God's intention.
I'm sure all of us who practice any spiritual disciplines hope that in doing so we will move into a closer walk with God. But we have to examine our choices carefully so that we don't go down a "way that seemeth right" only to find that it leads us away from God, or worse, down the path to destruction.
As we seek to move deeper in our spiritual relationship with God, a new universe of possibility opens before us. Our experience of life and our attitude toward everything around us is subject to change. In fact, the underlying assumption behind setting out on our spiritual journey and the impetus for beginning the journey in the first place is driven by the nagging feeling that things aren’t quite right and that something needs to change.
But this assumption can easily lead us down the wrong path. While it is quite certain that noone who truly opens him or herself up to an authentic encounter with the living God will not be affected by that encounter, the outcome of such an encounter is unclear and may not be the one that we expected. The goal of our spirituality in its most fundamental form must be a mystical union with God, our Creator. And that mystical union may not resemble the vision of relationship to God which we created and which we have carried before us as a banner on the journey. Authentic spirituality means that we open ourselves up to the work that God wills to do in our lives. Authentic spirituality means submission, allowing ourselves to be reshaped and our will to be bent to God’s purpose. If we truly desire to be molded into the shape God intended when creating us, we must give up our expectations of what it means to be related to God and allow God to show us what the outcome should be.
One of the dangers implicit in our journey is that we may begin to devote ourselves so entirely to the enterprise of loving God that we forget entirely the other great commandment which Jesus says completes the law and the prophets. It is not enough to love God with all of our hearts, souls, minds and strengths. Even if that goal could be reached by mere mortals, that love must necessarily reach out to those around us. Otherwise, our spirituality is just a narcissistic endeavor to secure a “me and Jesus” connection, oblivious to those others whom God might wish to bring into our conversation.
So a spirituality which cloisters one away in an ivory tower, lavishing love and praise and devotion on God while ignoring those around us, is a false spirituality. Devotion to God which is not rooted in love for others is a pretense. As Merton puts it “Meditation has no point and no reality unless it is firmly rooted in life.” Contemplative Prayer (p. 39) That is not to say that we do not need time apart from others, where we can focus our energies on God and gain strength from being in the presence of the divine. Without time set apart for meditation, scripture, prayer and contemplation, our Christian walk is doomed to superficiality and our relationship to God will continue to exist only on the most surface level. But that which we glean from our encounters with God is not to be encased in the museum of mystical experience inside our hearts. It is to be poured out in grateful sharing as we give and receive of God’s grace given to us all.
I'm sure all of us who practice any spiritual disciplines hope that in doing so we will move into a closer walk with God. But we have to examine our choices carefully so that we don't go down a "way that seemeth right" only to find that it leads us away from God, or worse, down the path to destruction.
As we seek to move deeper in our spiritual relationship with God, a new universe of possibility opens before us. Our experience of life and our attitude toward everything around us is subject to change. In fact, the underlying assumption behind setting out on our spiritual journey and the impetus for beginning the journey in the first place is driven by the nagging feeling that things aren’t quite right and that something needs to change.
But this assumption can easily lead us down the wrong path. While it is quite certain that noone who truly opens him or herself up to an authentic encounter with the living God will not be affected by that encounter, the outcome of such an encounter is unclear and may not be the one that we expected. The goal of our spirituality in its most fundamental form must be a mystical union with God, our Creator. And that mystical union may not resemble the vision of relationship to God which we created and which we have carried before us as a banner on the journey. Authentic spirituality means that we open ourselves up to the work that God wills to do in our lives. Authentic spirituality means submission, allowing ourselves to be reshaped and our will to be bent to God’s purpose. If we truly desire to be molded into the shape God intended when creating us, we must give up our expectations of what it means to be related to God and allow God to show us what the outcome should be.
One of the dangers implicit in our journey is that we may begin to devote ourselves so entirely to the enterprise of loving God that we forget entirely the other great commandment which Jesus says completes the law and the prophets. It is not enough to love God with all of our hearts, souls, minds and strengths. Even if that goal could be reached by mere mortals, that love must necessarily reach out to those around us. Otherwise, our spirituality is just a narcissistic endeavor to secure a “me and Jesus” connection, oblivious to those others whom God might wish to bring into our conversation.
So a spirituality which cloisters one away in an ivory tower, lavishing love and praise and devotion on God while ignoring those around us, is a false spirituality. Devotion to God which is not rooted in love for others is a pretense. As Merton puts it “Meditation has no point and no reality unless it is firmly rooted in life.” Contemplative Prayer (p. 39) That is not to say that we do not need time apart from others, where we can focus our energies on God and gain strength from being in the presence of the divine. Without time set apart for meditation, scripture, prayer and contemplation, our Christian walk is doomed to superficiality and our relationship to God will continue to exist only on the most surface level. But that which we glean from our encounters with God is not to be encased in the museum of mystical experience inside our hearts. It is to be poured out in grateful sharing as we give and receive of God’s grace given to us all.
posted by Frank at 1:01 PM
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