91原创

Words like 鈥淕od鈥� and 鈥淛esus鈥� can be loaded with a range of meaning and emotion, sometimes intended, sometimes not, and sometimes听projected by people reacting to those terms.听听I presume this is also true of similar words in non-Christian religions, but I don鈥檛 know this as I know those contexts less well.

Words that can be heavily burdened with meaning and emotion can be tricky to use.听听They鈥檙e potentially explosive like hand grenades.听听They鈥檙e words of special sensitivity. 听

Yet this has little to do with the letters we combine to make those words or even with the words themselves.听听Rather it has everything to do with the meaning and feeling we impart to them.

Here are two examples from opposite ends of the spectrum.听听The first is a听Times 91原创听letter-to-the-editor that asked readers, 鈥淧lease try to avoid the flippant use of 鈥極h, my God!鈥� which is so hurtful to Christians.听听This expression is appropriate for calling on the Most Holy God, the Creator and Sustainer of the universe.鈥漑i]

The second example is from my own experience.听听I grew up with an aversion to the words 鈥淕od鈥� and 鈥淛esus.鈥澨�听When I heard those words, it was as though something was being imposed upon me, as though I was in danger of being press-ganged into some organization against my will.

Yet as an agnostic 21-year-old in France in 1972, I toured medieval cathedrals and always admired their aspiration and the qualities of community and devotion that were essential to their construction.听听My aversion had to do, I think, with doubts about the church as a human institution run by fallible people and, perhaps even more, with my father鈥檚 negative experience of 鈥渁ll the palaver of religion鈥� at British boarding school where he received 鈥渃hapel twice daily, and a couple of lengthy 鈥榮hots鈥� of church every Sunday.鈥漑ii]

My perspective shifted in the mid-1970s.听听Several things happened, but one was uppermost: an experience of grace, an implanted thought at a critical moment, four simple words, 鈥淪teer steady and true.鈥澨�听It was the most galvanizing experience of my life.

When the soul speaks, according to Rudolf Steiner, it says, 鈥淚 will tell thee in an unquestionable way.鈥澨�听Brother David Steindl-Rast adds that such an occasion is a 鈥渕ysticism experience鈥�. We cannot grasp it.听听But we can understand it鈥�. It does something to you.鈥漑iii]

The experience听grasps us.听听As it does, we are given the opportunity to understand anew, reintegrating our internal world, broadening our horizons, enabling us to become expanded, fortified, and renewed versions of ourselves.

Dutch diarist Etty Hillesum underwent a profound spiritual transformation during the thirty-four months prior to her murder by the Nazis at Auschwitz in November 1943.听听In 1942, when she was 28, she addressed her dead mentor, Julius Spier: 鈥淵ou taught me to speak the name of God without embarrassment.鈥漑iv]听听Her previous embarrassment is an example of the alienating power of the word 鈥淕od鈥� and the myriad meanings it can have for people.

Far from having forgotten my old aversion to the words 鈥淕od鈥� and 鈥淛esus,鈥� it has inculcated the belief that we should not impose our ideas on others.听听Rather we should seek to create conditions of safety and trust that may, in turn, through relationship and exchange, enable emergence and self-discovery in their own time.

I鈥檝e made peace with the words 鈥淕od鈥� and 鈥淛esus.鈥澨�听The former is now a convenient shorthand for what some mystics refer to as 鈥渢he Generative Mystery,鈥� while the historic Jesus and the notion of the Christ, with which he is associated, have become subjects of interest and exploration.听

Author/historian Patrick Wolfe has an abiding interest in grace and the mystic.听听The story of his 鈥淪teer Steady and True鈥� grace experience can be found in the 鈥淢emoir鈥� section on his web site:听\