Saturday, September 22, 2012
If like me you're a certain kind protestant uncomfortable with praying for repose of souls - it's not something we do much, & in Methodism it doctrinally may not even be considered possible (I'd have to look it up), don't hesitate to ask Catholic friends if it will bring you some peace in your mourning. They are accustomed to it, it is important, & the very request is an act of friendship for them, something they want to do for you & for souls.
I cannot say with any certainty that we have a consciousness eternally entwined with God. But if we do, we have it also when we are here in our burdensome human bodies. The mystical experience repudiates the concept of here & there. We are always in communion with the Divine, just unable to discern it from our side. Our separation from God - & from each other - is an illusion. Dreams may overcome our resistance with metaphors that are wonderfully reassuring or disturbing.
"If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be." Thomas Jefferson
I cannot say with any certainty that we have a consciousness eternally entwined with God. But if we do, we have it also when we are here in our burdensome human bodies. The mystical experience repudiates the concept of here & there. We are always in communion with the Divine, just unable to discern it from our side. Our separation from God - & from each other - is an illusion. Dreams may overcome our resistance with metaphors that are wonderfully reassuring or disturbing.
