Richard Rohr explains how experiencing God can be both scary and alluring, and ultimately wonderful.
In his book The Idea of the Holy, scholar Rudolph Otto (1869–1937) says that when someone has an experience of the Holy, they find themselves caught up in two opposite things at the same time: the mysterium tremendum and the mysterium fascinans, or the scary mystery and the alluring mystery. [1] We both draw back and are pulled forward into a very new space.
In the mysterium tremendum, God is ultimately far, ultimately beyond—too much, too much, too much (see Isaiah 6:3). It inspires fear and drawing back. Many people never get beyond this first half of the journey. If that is the only half of holiness we experience, we experience God as dread, as the one who has all the power, and in whose presence, we are utterly powerless. Religion at this initial stage tends to become overwhelmed by a sense of sinfulness and separateness. The defining of sin and sin management becomes the very nature of religion, and clergy move in to do the job.
Simultaneously, with the experience of the Holy as beyond and too much is another sense of fascination, allurement, and seduction, a being pulled into something very good and inviting and wonderful or the mysterium fascinans. It’s a paradoxical experience. Otto says if we don’t have both, we don’t have the true or full experience of the Holy. I would agree, based on my experience.
Mysticism begins when the totally transcendent image of God starts to recede, and there’s a deepening sense of God as imminent, present, here, now, safe, and even within me. In Augustine’s words, “God is more intimate to me than I am to myself” [2] or “more me than I am myself.” St. Catherine of Genoa shouted in the streets, “My deepest me is God!” [3]
To spiritually know things on a deeper level, we must overcome this gap. Then, ironically, we’ll know that Someone Else is doing the knowing through us. God is no longer “out there.” At this point, it’s not like one has a new relationship with God; it’s like one has a whole new God! “God is my counselor, and at night my innermost being instructs me,” says the Psalmist (Psalm 16:7). God is operating with us, in us, and even as us.
The mystics are those who are let in on this secret mystery of God’s love affair with the soul, each knowing God loves my soul in particular; God loves me uniquely. We are invited into that same mystery. All true love gives us this sense of being special, chosen, and like nobody else. That is why we are so joyful in the presence of our lover, who mirrors us with a divine mirror.
| Dec 13, 2024, Skye Jethani The Idol of Tradition: Innovation Isn’t the Answer |
All week we’ve been talking about the dangerous idol of tradition—the way our dedication to inherited beliefs and practices can blind us to the presence of God and interfere with our obedience to him. No one should assume, however, that all traditions are bad and ought to be abandoned for every new trend we encounter. Innovation can be just as flawed as tradition when followed blindly. A recent study by the University of York has found people are drawn to things labeled “new” even when the items possess no new qualities. They concluded that identifying something as “new” produced a placebo effect, increasing a person’s sense of enjoyment and satisfaction. This is the result of a consumer culture that venerates innovation and youth over tradition and experience. We’ve been shaped to believe that something new is inherently superior to something old. That’s why “new and improved” attracts more attention in advertising than “old and reliable.” Our cultural bias for new, young, and innovative things is not only chronologically arrogant, but it may also prevent us from incorporating the hard-earned wisdom of prior generations. Just as tradition can keep us locked in the past and unable to see what God is doing in the present, so a relentless addiction to what’s new will cause us to foolishly disconnect our faith from the foundations that give it strength and durability. In the end, neither tradition nor innovation should be our guide, but communion. Does a practice or idea—whether old or new—draw us into more intimate communion with God? Does it deconstruct the lies we’ve believed and build up the truth? Does it stir our affections for God and our neighbor and move these affections to action? These are the questions we should be asking, not whether a practice or idea is popular, innovative, or historically rooted. When God himself ceases to be our goal, we can be certain a false god has taken his place in our lives. Sometimes that false god is very old, like tradition. But it may also be something brand new. As John Calvin said, “The human heart is a perpetual idol factory.” That means we’re always inventing new, false gods to worship instead of the real One. DAILY SCRIPTURE 2 Timothy 4:1–4 2 Peter 1:12–21 WEEKLY PRAYER A Gaelic prayer God guide me with your wisdom, God chastise me with your justice, God help me with your mercy, God protect me with your strength, God shield me with your shade, God fill me with your grace, For the sake of your anointed Son. Amen. |
