{"id":19771,"date":"2021-02-01T09:44:25","date_gmt":"2021-02-01T14:44:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/?p=19771"},"modified":"2021-02-01T09:46:36","modified_gmt":"2021-02-01T14:46:36","slug":"doubt-a-necessary-tool-for-growth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/?p=19771","title":{"rendered":"Doubt: A Necessary Tool for Growth"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/wGvfagBOHJE\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen=\"\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n\n\n<p><em>My good friend and colleague Brian McLaren\u2019s recently published book, <\/em>Faith After Doubt,<em>&nbsp;shows\nhow doubt and periods of unknowing are necessary for spiritual growth. Brian\nproposes a four-stage growth process of Simplicity, Complexity, Perplexity, and\nHarmony. He writes:<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Doubt, it turns out, is the passageway from each stage to the next.\nWithout doubt, there can be growth within a stage, but growth from one stage to\nanother usually requires us to doubt the assumptions that give shape to our\ncurrent stage. . . .&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>At the Center for Action and Contemplation, one of our core teachings is\n\u201cthe path of descent,\u201d the idea that the spiritual life will eventually require\nus to descend into a dark tunnel, to descend into unknowing and doubt, to\ndescend into a loss of certainty, to descend through a process that feels like\ndying. As with Jesus in the Gospels, we find ourselves crying, \u201cLet this cup of\nsuffering be taken from me\u201d [Matthew 26:39] and \u201cMy God, my God, why have you\nforsaken me?\u201d [Matthew 27:46]<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>This deep\nanguish characterizes what Brian calls Stage Three: Perplexity. Brian\ncontinues:<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When I studied the mystics . . . &nbsp;I learned that they spoke often\nof purgation (or <em>katharsis<\/em>) as the portal to\nillumination (or <em>fotosis<\/em>) and union (or <em>theosis<\/em>). They saw purgation as the painful and\nnecessary process by which we are stripped of know-it-all arrogance, ego, and\nself-will. Perplexity, I realized, was working like an X-ray of my soul,\nexposing much of my so-called spirituality as a vanity project of my ego, an\nexpression of my arrogant desire to always be right, my desperate and fearful\nneed to always be in control, my unexamined drive to tame the wildness of life\nby naming it and dominating it with words. The doubt of Perplexity, the mystics\nhelped me see, was just the fire I needed to purge me of previously\nunacknowledged arrogance. In this way, <em>self-knowledge <\/em>was another gift that came,\nunwanted, during my Stage Three descent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>[Through the Christian mystics,] I was exposed to \u201cthe dark night of the\nsoul,\u201d a period of desolation in which God feels absent, a period in which one\ncan\u2019t see or understand what is going on, a deep valley during which one feels\nabandoned and lost. To my surprise, the mystics believed this was not something\nto be avoided, but rather it was a passageway into something deeper and\ngreater. In fact, only the path of descent into spiritual dryness and\nsoul-darkness could lead the soul to a deeper experience of union with God (or <em>theosis<\/em>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Richard again: Ironically,\none of the few things I can say I truly <\/em>know<em>&nbsp;is that not-knowing and often not\neven needing to know is\u2014surprise of surprises\u2014a deeper way of knowing and a\ndeeper falling into compassion. This is surely what the mystics mean by \u201cdeath\u201d\nand why they talk of it with so many metaphors. It is <\/em>the<em>&nbsp;essential transitioning. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The Inadequacy of Words<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>My thoughts are not your thoughts, my ways are not your ways. . . . As high as the heavens are above the earth, so my ways are beyond your ways, and my thoughts are beyond your thoughts. <\/em>(Isaiah 55:8\u20139)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Jesus had been formed by this quote from\nIsaiah, which teaches Jews humility before the mystery of God (see Ecclesiastes\n3:11; Job 11:6; Psalm 139).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When we presume we know fully, we can all be\nvery arrogant and goal oriented at the expense of other people. When we know we\ndon\u2019t know fully, we are much more concerned about practical, loving behavior.\nThis has become obvious to me as I try to observe human nature. Those who know\nGod are <em>always <\/em>humble;\nthose who don\u2019t are invariably far too sure of themselves (which is different\nthan grace filled self-confidence).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When we speak of God and things transcendent,\nall we can do is use metaphors and pointers. No language is adequate to\ndescribe the holy. As in a familiar portrait of Saint John of the Cross, we\nmust place a hushing finger over our lips to remind ourselves that God is\nfinally unspeakable and ineffable. Or, sharing Jewish tradition, we may even refuse\nto pronounce the name \u201cYHWH.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In my experience, <em>the people who find God are usually people who are very\nserious about their quest and their questions, more so than being absolutely\ncertain about their answers. <\/em>I offer that as hard-won wisdom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Bible, <em>in\nits entirety,<\/em> finds a fine balance between knowing and not-knowing,\nbetween using words and having humility about words. The ensuing Christian\ntraditions have often not found that same balance. What I\u2019ve called\n\u201cChurchianity\u201d typically needs to speak with absolutes and certainties. It\nthinks it has the right and the obligation to make total truth-claims and feels\nvery insecure when it cannot. &nbsp;Thus, it is not very well trained in\ninsecurity and trust.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I understand that early psychic need for\nclarity, certitude, and identity, especially to get us started when we are\nyoung. Religion, though, also needs a balancing agent to unlock itself from the\ninside, which most of us would call the mystical or prayer tradition.\n(\u201cMystery,\u201d \u201cmystical,\u201d and \u201cto mutter\u201d all come from the Greek verb <em>muein, <\/em>which means \u201cto hush\nor close the lips\u201d). Without this unlocking, we will not produce many mature\nChristians, and certainly not Christians who can build any bridges to anybody\nelse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This internal balancing act emerged as two streams in the world of spirituality: the <em>knowing <\/em>tradition and the <em>not-knowing <\/em>tradition. \u00a0The formal theological terms are the <em>apophatic <\/em>or \u201cnegative\u201d way, where you move beyond words and images into silence, and the <em>kataphatic <\/em>or \u201caffirmative\u201d way, where you use words, concepts, and images. I believe both forms are necessary, and together they create a magnificent form of higher consciousness called biblical faith. This great and healing balance is still rather rare, however, because the ego insists on certitude and perfect clarity (as if that were even possible with things divine).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>________________<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Jesus Calling&#8230;..FOLLOW ME ONE STEP AT A TIME. That is all I require of you. In fact, that is the only way to move through this space\/time world. You see huge mountains looming, and you start wondering how you\u2019re going to scale those heights. Meanwhile, because you\u2019re not looking where you\u2019re going, you stumble on the easy path where I am leading you now. As I help you get back on your feet, you tell Me how worried you are about the cliffs up ahead. But you don\u2019t know what will happen today, much less tomorrow. Our path may take an abrupt turn, leading you away from those mountains. There may be an easier way up the mountains than is visible from this distance. If I do lead you up the cliffs, I will equip you thoroughly for that strenuous climb. I will even give My angels charge over you, to preserve you in all your ways. Keep your mind on the present journey, enjoying My Presence. Walk by faith, not by sight, trusting Me to open up the way before you. PSALM 18:29; PSALM 91:11\u201312 AMP;<br> 2 CORINTHIANS 5:7 NKJV<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Young, Sarah. Jesus Calling Morning and Evening Devotional (Jesus Calling\u00ae) (p. 66). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>My good friend and colleague Brian McLaren\u2019s recently published book, Faith After Doubt,&nbsp;shows how doubt and periods of unknowing are necessary for spiritual growth. Brian proposes a four-stage growth process of Simplicity, Complexity, Perplexity, and Harmony. He writes: Doubt, it turns out, is the passageway from each stage to the next. Without doubt, there can [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19771"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=19771"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19771\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19773,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19771\/revisions\/19773"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=19771"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=19771"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=19771"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}