“The Mystical Core of Organized Religion” by BR. DAVID STEINDL-RAST, OSB

“The Mystical Core of Organized Religion” by BR. DAVID STEINDL-RAST, OSB

Mysticism has been democratized in our day. Not so long ago, “real” mystics were those who had visions, levitations, and bilocations — and, most important, were those who had lived in the past; any contemporary mystic was surely a fake (if not a witch). Today, we realize that extraordinary mystical phenomena have little to do with the essence of mysticism. (Of course, genuine mystics had told us this all along; we just wouldn’t listen.) We’ve come to understand mysticism as the experience of communion with Ultimate Reality (i.e., with “God,” if you feel comfortable with this time-honored, but also time-distorted, term).

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"A Revolution of Authority" by David Steindl-Rast
God, Christianity, Ecumenicalism Wisdom2be God, Christianity, Ecumenicalism Wisdom2be

"A Revolution of Authority" by David Steindl-Rast

The editorial staff at What Is Enlightenment? magazine ask: These days there is a wary climate regarding people who hold themselves out as spiritual authorities. There is a tendency to be very skeptical about the possibility that someone could be a genuine authority. Yet traditionally it’s been fairly common for people to seek out a spiritual teacher for guidance, and to commit themselves to that teacher. What are your thoughts on this?

Brother David replies: Some twenty years ago, there was a much greater openness to making anybody who came along and seemed to have some great credentials for teaching your guru. Nowadays many people have been burnt and they will look twice. That is skepticism, and it can easily become cynicism

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