Post 36.
Today's post is pretty Catholic specific. It is rooted in Catholic theology and philosophy. If these aren't of interest to you, please skip to the next post. But a spiritual praxis is a practice of specifics. Not a 1980s style new age, hippie "spirituality" of poorly thought-out generalizables but a spirituality rooted in religions, which are specific ligaments (re-ligion) connecting us to specific bodies. It is from these bodies that we encounter the other, and can have ecumenicism. Thanks!
One cannot but encounter God everywhere.
This is something Charles Taylor writes in his book, “A Secular Age,” about previous generations. Taylor suggests atheism was practically unimaginable in 15th Century Europe; but it is an alternative in 20th and 21st Century America. But, I suppose that if one cannot but encounter God everywhere in the 15th Century, then it is also true that one cannot but encounter God everywhere in the 21st Century.
It’s merely true.
And this is where many theologies that ignore science—that don’t do the hard work of integrating scientific insights into their theologies—fail. An intellectual, or really anybody that wants to live an integral life—integrating the wisdom of their body, mind, and spirit—cannot but reject religion that has a short view of history based on the exact days mentioned in the bible. The bible wasn’t written by God. It wasn’t canonized by God. It was written by people who were inspired by God. But they still had human brains. And it was brought together into its cannon by people who were inspired by God, through a specific political process (a somewhat democratic one at that). People. Humans with human brains. And democratic social structures made by people. Not God. And so, the bible points toward God, but it doesn’t overthrow or contradict the gospel of nature—God’s creation.
We keep pets, non-human beings that God puts into our care. We walk at parks. We tend gardens. We feed birds. We clean up the side of our highways. We recycle and compost. We act in our local communities to make them more sustainable. And we teach for ecological literacy. All of these are encounters with God, because God is encountered everywhere.
One cannot but encounter God everywhere.
And so we see God also in other people. Humans are, after all, God’s creation just as are birds, and canyons, and sunshine. Even the worst humans have some God-nature. So we have to step back from our politics. A leftist is asked who the worst people are, and they identify Hitler, and Nixon, and Trump. And certainly they’re all rightfully identified as bad people. A rightist is asked who the worst people are, and they identify Stalin, and Castro, and Clinton. And they’re right too. But even the worst of God’s creation has some light. Even Judas Iscariot carried something of the light of God—and was blessed in such an enviable way to be Jesus’s companion for three years. So, as Christians we’re called to step back from our politics and encounter God everywhere. And that is hard work. But as St. Benedict held up prayer and work (ora et labora) as two of the highest virtues, so we should be glad to do the work of stepping back from our politics. Of encountering God. Everywhere.
DJS
Today's post is pretty Catholic specific. It is rooted in Catholic theology and philosophy. If these aren't of interest to you, please skip to the next post. But a spiritual praxis is a practice of specifics. Not a 1980s style new age, hippie "spirituality" of poorly thought-out generalizables but a spirituality rooted in religions, which are specific ligaments (re-ligion) connecting us to specific bodies. It is from these bodies that we encounter the other, and can have ecumenicism. Thanks!
One cannot but encounter God everywhere.
This is something Charles Taylor writes in his book, “A Secular Age,” about previous generations. Taylor suggests atheism was practically unimaginable in 15th Century Europe; but it is an alternative in 20th and 21st Century America. But, I suppose that if one cannot but encounter God everywhere in the 15th Century, then it is also true that one cannot but encounter God everywhere in the 21st Century.
It’s merely true.
And this is where many theologies that ignore science—that don’t do the hard work of integrating scientific insights into their theologies—fail. An intellectual, or really anybody that wants to live an integral life—integrating the wisdom of their body, mind, and spirit—cannot but reject religion that has a short view of history based on the exact days mentioned in the bible. The bible wasn’t written by God. It wasn’t canonized by God. It was written by people who were inspired by God. But they still had human brains. And it was brought together into its cannon by people who were inspired by God, through a specific political process (a somewhat democratic one at that). People. Humans with human brains. And democratic social structures made by people. Not God. And so, the bible points toward God, but it doesn’t overthrow or contradict the gospel of nature—God’s creation.
We keep pets, non-human beings that God puts into our care. We walk at parks. We tend gardens. We feed birds. We clean up the side of our highways. We recycle and compost. We act in our local communities to make them more sustainable. And we teach for ecological literacy. All of these are encounters with God, because God is encountered everywhere.
One cannot but encounter God everywhere.
And so we see God also in other people. Humans are, after all, God’s creation just as are birds, and canyons, and sunshine. Even the worst humans have some God-nature. So we have to step back from our politics. A leftist is asked who the worst people are, and they identify Hitler, and Nixon, and Trump. And certainly they’re all rightfully identified as bad people. A rightist is asked who the worst people are, and they identify Stalin, and Castro, and Clinton. And they’re right too. But even the worst of God’s creation has some light. Even Judas Iscariot carried something of the light of God—and was blessed in such an enviable way to be Jesus’s companion for three years. So, as Christians we’re called to step back from our politics and encounter God everywhere. And that is hard work. But as St. Benedict held up prayer and work (ora et labora) as two of the highest virtues, so we should be glad to do the work of stepping back from our politics. Of encountering God. Everywhere.
DJS
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