“Most of us, having struggled to forge our own autonomous ways in the spiritual life, wind up in some tradition that is not unlike that of our own genetic and cultural forebears.”
—Gerald May in Will and Spirit (HarperOne, 1982), p. 320.
In Will and Spirit, Gerald May writes that at some point it is necessary for us to establish a relationship to some valid existing spiritual tradition. The choices are enormous. We could choose Anglican formality, Roman authority, Quaker simplicity, Methodist fellowship, Presbyterian morality, Baptist freedom, or Evangelical and Pentecostal zeal. We could find ourselves in the center of the Sufi’s twirl, in the Navaho’s dance, or responding with the correct answer to every Zen koan. All traditions have a core of truth pointing to a single, loving energetic Source of creation.
Polytheistic religions tend to maintain a balance between male and female images of deities; while monotheism fosters a male, father-like image of God. May writes that it is primarily the father’s personality that determines the offspring’s image of God, even though people learn most of their loving from mothers. May believes that even though the mother plays an important part in our psychological development, fathers are crucial. The monotheistic, male father-like image may become more balanced through devotion to Mary in Roman Catholic Christianity and Eastern Orthodoxy. Rohr and other contemplatives also believe this sole masculine image of God is changed as we relate to the parts of the Trinity as both masculine and feminine.
Rebecca Spooner is leading a morning retreat about the Enneagram at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church on Saturday February 29th from 9 to 1. The Cost is $15. Sign up on St. Mark’s website lovesaintmarks.org. Go to What’s on, then Events.
Joanna joannaseibert.com