{"id":25241,"date":"2025-05-19T11:12:34","date_gmt":"2025-05-19T15:12:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/?p=25241"},"modified":"2025-05-19T11:29:28","modified_gmt":"2025-05-19T15:29:28","slug":"25241","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/?p=25241","title":{"rendered":""},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"A New Commandment I give unto You Song Lyrics.\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/aqM2Ujl7Aas?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Scripture as validated by experience, and experience as validated by Tradition, are good scales for one\u2019s spiritual worldview.\u202f&nbsp;<\/strong><br>\u2014Richard Rohr&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>This week we highlight a central theme of Father Richard Rohr\u2019s teaching philosophy in&nbsp;<\/em>CAC\u2019s Living School<em>. <\/em><strong><em>Our personal experience is the filter through which we understand both Christian Scripture and Tradition.<\/em>&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>No matter the religion or denomination in which we are raised, our spirituality still comes through&nbsp;<em>the first filter of our own<\/em>\u202f<em>life experience<\/em>. We must begin to be honest about this instead of pretending that any of us are formed exclusively by scriptures or our churches or religious traditions. <strong>T<em>here is no such thing as an entirely unbiased position. The best we can do is own and be honest about our own filters<\/em><\/strong><em>.\u202f<\/em>God allows and invites us to trust our own experience. Then Scripture and Tradition hopefully keep our personal experiences both critical and compassionate. These three components\u2014Scripture, Tradition, and experience\u2014make up the three wheels of what we at the CAC call the learning \u201ctricycle\u201d of spiritual growth. [1]\u202f&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Historically, Catholics loved to say we relied upon the great Tradition, but this frequently meant \u201cthe way it\u2019s been done for the last hundred years.\u201d What we usually consider \u201cofficial teaching\u201d changes every century or so. In all honesty, most of our operative images of God come primarily from our early experiences of authority in family and culture, while we interpret those teachings from more recent traditions and Scripture reading to validate them!\u202f&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If we try to use \u201conly Scripture\u201d as a source of spiritual wisdom, we get stuck, because many passages give very conflicting and even opposite images of God. I believe that Jesus only quoted those Scriptures that he could validate&nbsp;<em>by his own inner<\/em>&nbsp;<em>experience<\/em>. At the same time, if we humans trust only our own experiences, we will be trapped in subjective moods and personal preferences. It helps when we can verify that at least some holy people and orthodox teachers (Tradition) and solid Scripture also validate our own experiences.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Jesus and Paul clearly use and build on their own Jewish Scriptures and traditions, yet\u202f<em>they both courageously interpret them through the lens of their unique personal experiences of God<\/em>. This is undeniable! We would do well to follow their examples. [2]&nbsp; <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>In&nbsp;<\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/email.cac.org\/t\/d-l-shjkitd-tlkrdrec-j\/\">CAC\u2019s Living School: Essentials of Engaged Contemplation<\/a><em>&nbsp;course, Brian McLaren teaches<\/em>:&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If we only had our own experiences to go by, every generation would have to start from scratch\u2026. But if Tradition and Scripture are used to silence our own ongoing experience\u2014our learnings, discoveries, thinkings and rethinkings, and quests\u2014<strong>then \u2026 Tradition and Scripture become not the foundation on which we build, but the ceiling above which we cannot grow.\u202f\u202f&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When we hold <strong>all three elements in creative tension, we\u2019re part of an ongoing story, a multi-generational conversation, bringing together the experiences of everyone everywhere, through time, <\/strong>so they can be shared, reflected upon, and reevaluated in community, as a growing bank of wisdom resources\u202ffor us and for future generations.\u202f[3]&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Honoring Experience<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Building on the metaphor of the tricycle of faith, Father Richard names that spiritual growth occurs as we pay attention to and learn from our own experiences:\u202f<\/em>\u202f\u202f&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The two wheels of sacred Scripture and Tradition<em>\u202f<\/em>can be seen as sources of outer authority, while only our&nbsp;<em>personal experience<\/em>&nbsp;leads to our inner authority. I am convinced we need and can have both. <strong>Only when inner and outer authority come together do we have true spiritual wisdom.<\/strong> Christianity in most of its history has largely relied upon official or outer authority, but we must now be honest about the value of inner experience. <strong>It was, of course, at work all the time but was not given much credence<\/strong>.\u202f\u202f&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I<strong>nformation from outer authority does not necessarily lead to transformation<\/strong>, and we need genuinely transformed people today, not just people with answers. I don\u2019t want the words in my books or these meditations to separate anyone from their own astonishment or to provide them with a substitute for their own inner experience. Theology (and authority figures) have done that for too many people and for too long. Instead, <strong>I hope my words simply invite readers on their&nbsp;<em>own inner journey&nbsp;<\/em>rather than become a replacement for it.\u202f<\/strong>\u202f&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I am increasingly convinced that the word\u202f\u201cprayer,\u201d\u202fwhich has become a functional and pious thing for believers to do, was meant to be a\u202fdescriptor and an invitation to inner experience. <strong>When wise spiritual teachers invite us to \u201cpray,\u201d they are in effect saying, \u201cGo inside and know for yourself!<\/strong>\u201d For too long we\u2019ve insisted on outer authority alone, without any teaching of prayer, inner journey, and maturing consciousness. The results for the world and for religion have been disastrous.\u202f\u202f[1]\u202f&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In our tricycle, experience is constantly balanced and critiqued by Scripture and Tradition. When all three \u201cwheels\u201d work together, we have a very wise person. That\u2019s the easiest way to say it. At the CAC, that\u2019s what we\u2019re interested in doing:<strong> raising up not argumentative or righteous people, but compassionate and wise people. That\u2019s our goal<\/strong>. [2]&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Brian McLaren points to the ways that experience created both Scripture and Tradition:&nbsp;<\/em>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If we have Scripture, experience, and Tradition around the table, it\u2019s really all experience. Scripture is the experience of a group of people far, far in the past in a very different setting. Tradition is the experience of another group of people who, for a long time, have been interpreting what that first group of people said. Then <strong>I come along and with my own experience and a community, which bring all its experience, too. It\u2019s a reminder that we have to be careful if any one person or group tries to edit out anybody else\u2019s experience, because they don\u2019t like it or they find it inconvenient.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I don\u2019t want to be stuck simply in my own experience. It\u2019s too limited. I need the experience that comes to me from Scripture and from Tradition. At the end of the day, we\u2019re dealing with people\u2019s experiences and interpretations of experience, and we need all the help we can get.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Scripture as validated by experience, and experience as validated by Tradition, are good scales for one\u2019s spiritual worldview.\u202f&nbsp;\u2014Richard Rohr&nbsp; This week we highlight a central theme of Father Richard Rohr\u2019s teaching philosophy in&nbsp;CAC\u2019s Living School. Our personal experience is the filter through which we understand both Christian Scripture and Tradition.&nbsp; No matter the religion or [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"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\/25241"}],"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\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=25241"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25241\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25243,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25241\/revisions\/25243"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=25241"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=25241"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=25241"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}