"You already know. The Spirit is with you and the Spirit is in you." John, 14:17
"Do not plunder the Mystery with concepts." Zen masters
"...Can we begin to attain the mystical gaze Rahner suggests we must? I think we are on the very edge of history - and about to be edged over - by the depth of the need and from the depths of our own desire." Richard Rohr. (all quotes taken from The Naked Now, by Richard Rohr)
For me, reading The Naked Now brings me back to the future, in more ways than one. For one, I have speculated on the future of deep truth, of a reignited spiritual world, several times before. For another, much of our speculation - both mine and others such as Rohr - is based on a return to a way of thinking that we now consider archaic and, frankly, superstitious. Try as I might, I cannot believe in the myths of traditional groups. I must see in them something archetypal, as if that could convince the world of a 'something else,' of a greater reality, of a great mystery, in the midst of our humdrum world. But it cannot. Perhaps for a few old hippies and mystics like me, but for the rest of the world? It doesn't seem possible.
The above quote from the Zen masters is absolutely on target - do not plunder the Mystery with concepts, for that reduces the mystery to the understood, similar to trying to discover the essence of life by dissecting a corpse. And yet, without talk, without an attempt at some coherence, will people become aware of the Mystery? Will people even care? What we see in the news is about money and power - who has it and who is hording it - which is behind much of the strife in the world, including those groups who claim they are killing for God. Where, in this, is the Mystery? Where in the emerging one-world consciousness is this, the sublime, the essence?
And so, in trying to decide the future of the Mystery in humans, when we look to the world stage, we cannot help but become pessimistic. Except - except when we consider what John said, above: "You already know. The Spirit is with you and the Spirit in in you." Yes, it is; we already know, but have been distracted. But Rohr says it will show itself, this Spirit, out of need and desire.
WilI it? Do we have a cause to be optimistic? This Spirit is within us and it is essential. It is what we are missing and, if it is within us already, we know it is missing. Part of the mystery, though, is how and why this profound base, or essence, of humans has been hidden. Here, too, we can look to myth and perhaps begin to see a clearer pattern, something that begins to make sense out of a Garden or a Flood, or Grandmother Spider, but they lead us back to mystery. The "why" is still largely unanswered, as anyone knows who has questioned the reasoning behind the expulsion from the Garden of Eden.
None of that, these "concepts," are enough. But it might be enough, as John said, to know that we "know." It seems likely, then, that (as Rohr said) this inner knowledge would stir such desire and need that we will turn back, to see more clearly as the primitive mind had, to find that which is our quintessential birthright. We are part of the beauty, the solitude, the magnificence of the Mystery, which is the All. That we have forgotten this is true, but somehow it is also true that we still know this, too. So I think Rohr is right: the need and desire will bring us back to ourselves.
The only question that remains, then, is something that has also been addressed here before; will this re-awakening happen through evolution, or through the dark night of the soul? Suffering in every tradition I know of is the prerequisite for deep knowledge. Will our suffering be enough as it is now, as we struggle in our world of quiet desperation, trapped in our objective, this- or- that mind? Or will we have to go down the road to the bloody end, until our vision of a reality absent Spirit has bled us dry? Could we, instead, learn to trust the sages and know that the Spirit is within us now? With that, we will know what to do and where to go, and so avoid all the drama. But that possibility lies in the future, and the future, as always, is part of the Mystery. FK
"Do not plunder the Mystery with concepts." Zen masters
"...Can we begin to attain the mystical gaze Rahner suggests we must? I think we are on the very edge of history - and about to be edged over - by the depth of the need and from the depths of our own desire." Richard Rohr. (all quotes taken from The Naked Now, by Richard Rohr)
For me, reading The Naked Now brings me back to the future, in more ways than one. For one, I have speculated on the future of deep truth, of a reignited spiritual world, several times before. For another, much of our speculation - both mine and others such as Rohr - is based on a return to a way of thinking that we now consider archaic and, frankly, superstitious. Try as I might, I cannot believe in the myths of traditional groups. I must see in them something archetypal, as if that could convince the world of a 'something else,' of a greater reality, of a great mystery, in the midst of our humdrum world. But it cannot. Perhaps for a few old hippies and mystics like me, but for the rest of the world? It doesn't seem possible.
The above quote from the Zen masters is absolutely on target - do not plunder the Mystery with concepts, for that reduces the mystery to the understood, similar to trying to discover the essence of life by dissecting a corpse. And yet, without talk, without an attempt at some coherence, will people become aware of the Mystery? Will people even care? What we see in the news is about money and power - who has it and who is hording it - which is behind much of the strife in the world, including those groups who claim they are killing for God. Where, in this, is the Mystery? Where in the emerging one-world consciousness is this, the sublime, the essence?
And so, in trying to decide the future of the Mystery in humans, when we look to the world stage, we cannot help but become pessimistic. Except - except when we consider what John said, above: "You already know. The Spirit is with you and the Spirit in in you." Yes, it is; we already know, but have been distracted. But Rohr says it will show itself, this Spirit, out of need and desire.
WilI it? Do we have a cause to be optimistic? This Spirit is within us and it is essential. It is what we are missing and, if it is within us already, we know it is missing. Part of the mystery, though, is how and why this profound base, or essence, of humans has been hidden. Here, too, we can look to myth and perhaps begin to see a clearer pattern, something that begins to make sense out of a Garden or a Flood, or Grandmother Spider, but they lead us back to mystery. The "why" is still largely unanswered, as anyone knows who has questioned the reasoning behind the expulsion from the Garden of Eden.
None of that, these "concepts," are enough. But it might be enough, as John said, to know that we "know." It seems likely, then, that (as Rohr said) this inner knowledge would stir such desire and need that we will turn back, to see more clearly as the primitive mind had, to find that which is our quintessential birthright. We are part of the beauty, the solitude, the magnificence of the Mystery, which is the All. That we have forgotten this is true, but somehow it is also true that we still know this, too. So I think Rohr is right: the need and desire will bring us back to ourselves.
The only question that remains, then, is something that has also been addressed here before; will this re-awakening happen through evolution, or through the dark night of the soul? Suffering in every tradition I know of is the prerequisite for deep knowledge. Will our suffering be enough as it is now, as we struggle in our world of quiet desperation, trapped in our objective, this- or- that mind? Or will we have to go down the road to the bloody end, until our vision of a reality absent Spirit has bled us dry? Could we, instead, learn to trust the sages and know that the Spirit is within us now? With that, we will know what to do and where to go, and so avoid all the drama. But that possibility lies in the future, and the future, as always, is part of the Mystery. FK
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