The greatest spiritual teacher teaches us how to see clearly and keep our hearts open in hell.
The moments of hell come when everything militates against the open heart.
Times come when we can think of hundreds of logical reasons to close our hearts.
Don't most of us do that?
Some are already closed down in their late teens.
...In contemplative prayer, we move into a different realm.
It is not the arena of merit, of reward and punishment;
it is such an utterly different world from the ground up that most religion drags along the reward/punishment system since it can understand no other.
Crime, punishment, performance and reward are the only ways we know to get people in the game.
But love flourishes only in the realm of freedom.
* Richard Rohr
The moments of hell come when everything militates against the open heart.
Times come when we can think of hundreds of logical reasons to close our hearts.
Don't most of us do that?
Some are already closed down in their late teens.
...In contemplative prayer, we move into a different realm.
It is not the arena of merit, of reward and punishment;
it is such an utterly different world from the ground up that most religion drags along the reward/punishment system since it can understand no other.
Crime, punishment, performance and reward are the only ways we know to get people in the game.
But love flourishes only in the realm of freedom.
* Richard Rohr
No comments:
Post a Comment