It's understandable that Catholics are happy they have a new pope. A page has been turned and there is naturally a feeling of optimism for the future. Not being a Catholic, I have a slightly different perspective. It may be that the pope makes a difference to rank and file religious Catholics, but from the deeper spiritual perspective the pope is irrelevant. I know nothing about the new incumbent but while a good pope is better than a bad pope (though different people will define good and bad differently in this context), the pope is merely the representative of an outer institution. That institution may carry some spiritual force derived from the inner worlds, but in and of itself it is an outer thing which means it is of the world. This is even more the case in our day when all outer forms have less contact with spirit than has ever been the case - and that includes all religious institutions and organisations.
The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit. No doubt this can be interpreted in various ways, and clever theologians will bend it to say what they want it to, but its essential meaning is obvious. Spirit cannot be put in a bottle, any bottle. Some bottles are beautiful and some are cunningly fashioned but even those that hold refreshing liquid cannot hold more than a limited amount, and people who wish to drink deeply from the well of life must go elsewhere. The great problem in being a Catholic is that you have to be a Catholic. That is to say, your Catholicism must take spiritual precedence over your own connection to God. But God created you. He did not create the Church. Even if you believe Matthew 16:18 as interpreted, God is certainly in you more deeply than he is in the Church. For the ordinary man or woman it may be enough, but for those who wish to know the mysteries of existence more fully there is a point at which adherence to an outer structure becomes spiritually limiting.
I'm writing this for those who already, in some part, agree with its premise. I'm not trying to convince anyone of anything they don't believe, and any faithful Catholics who come across this piece will reject it out of hand which is fine. But for those who have doubts, I would say use the church as support if you wish but seek the deepest truth within yourself. You are made in God's image. The church is not. It may be able to guide those who cannot yet find the spirit within themselves, but it is not the living image of God as you truly are.
The time has come when God will only be found by those who are willing to break barriers and cross frontiers. I do not mean this in a rule-breaking or antinomian sense, but in the sense of going beyond the everyday. It is the pioneers exploring new land who will find God not those who remain in known territory. This is not an excuse for individualism or anything that goes against nature. What was unlawful remains unlawful. However, new wine cannot go into old wineskins, and the Catholic Church, like all churches, is an old wineskin. You don't have to reject it because the truth that was in it remains in it, and transcending something means seeing it in a new light, from above, not necessarily rejecting it completely. But you do have to expand beyond it.
This can be a dangerous doctrine because not everybody is ready to strike out into the spiritual wilds. However, the rewards if you are and if you can do so with humility and wisdom are commensurate with the risk. It may be the new pope can reorient the Catholic church to its traditional self, though I personally doubt it. In any case, in our day, that is no longer enough.
6 comments:
Thanks for this. It really resonated with me. I grew up in a cultural Catholic atmosphere and pretty much live within one now to some degree. Having said that, a long time ago I realized that I could not be a prototypical Catholic, loyal to the institution/doctrines despite everything. Other Catholics have attacked me for this. So be it. I also realized that I could not be a prototypical any-kind-of-institutional Christian. Though I still attend and maintain some ties with my local village RC church, I'm more or less a denomination-less, solitary Christian.
Thanks Frank. I know some people won't like the opinion expressed here but anyone mystically inclined will understand. I appreciate the wit of the saying that mysticism starts in mist and ends in schism, and it can indeed do so, but those who really wish to know God must, especially now, go beyond all institutions and not allow themselves to be constricted by doctrines. Religion is really no more than scaffolding, and there comes a time when the scaffolding must come down.
If you want to live in the building!
I think some Catholics realize that the depth of the problem is beyond any imaginable Pope. Most respond by clutching at straws, as if a still-corrupt but (perhaps) slightly better Pope might make a significant positive difference, somehow.
But others may realize that the intractable problems of the RCC mean that God (the creator, loves us each individually) *must have* opened up other spiritual possibilities for every person, including those who can no longer believe in the spiritual validity of a Christian life rooted in obedience to the external guidance of the actually-existing RC Church.
This does Not mean people need to leave the RC church, or cease to practice - these may (for particular people, in their circumstances) be valuable and maybe spiritually essential; but it does require an inner change in attitude about the nature of ultimate reality, and about how God works in this world.
In a nutshell, people must recognize that God does not Have To work via any human institution. When a church is become net-evil and riddled with worldliness, corruption, mere-expediency; then God is Easily capable of finding other ways for individuals to grow spiritually during mortal life, and to attain salvation after death.
Putting it in conventional terms, the Holy Spirit may once have been in the church but it has largely withdrawn because the time has come for individual men and women to locate it within themselves. This may seem a bad thing, and probably is in the short term, but long term it is a great spiritual advance or has the potential to be.
And, after all, it was hardly an ideal situation for mankind that salvation was once believed to be restricted to those who had the full benefits of a single church, and were in good standing with that church. It seems strange to suppose that God couldn't come up with a better scheme!
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