...division and anarchy are but temporary aberrations
in an otherwise loving universe...
Connecting to the Whole
Father Richard describes the holiness we experience
through connection and healing:
Holiness reveals itself through our capacity for
positive connection. The more we can make connections,
and the more with which we can connect, the “holier” we
are. God is precisely the One who connects all things,
one to another. Before enlightenment or wholeness, we
rank things up or down; afterward, we connect things
horizontally—almost automatically!
Many have said most of our problems today tend to be
psychological, but the solution is always spiritual.
Only healthy, great religion is prepared to realign,
re-heal, and reconnect all things, and reposition us
inside the whole universe of things. Thomas Merton said
the True Self should not be thought of as anything
different than life itself—not my little life, but the
Big Life. [1]
I’m not going to call the True Self just “life” or
“being.” More basically, I’m going to call it “love.”
We were made for love and love is who we are, as I
believe we are metaphysically created out of the
infinite love relationships that are the Trinity (see
Genesis 1:26–27). There is increasing evidence that
love is the basic physical structure of the universe,
as revealed in all things existing in orbital,
contextual, magnetic, and sexual ways. The Song of
Songs (8:6) says love is as strong as death, and the
flash of love is a flash of fire, a flame of YHWH.
Everything can be seen as a little experience of the
Big Flame. We’re just a little tiny flicker of a much-
larger flame that is Life itself, Consciousness itself,
Being itself, Love itself, God’s very Self. Once we say
it, it seems obvious. What else would it be?
On one level, soul, consciousness, love, and the Holy
Spirit can all be thought of as one and the same. Each
of these point to something larger than the self,
shared with God, and even eternal. That’s what Jesus
means when he speaks of “giving” us the Spirit or
sharing his consciousness with us. One whose soul is
thus awakened has the “mind of Christ” (see 1
Corinthians 2:10–16). That doesn’t mean the person is
psychologically or morally perfect, although such a
transformed person does see things in a much more
expanded and compassionate way. Ephesians calls it a
“spiritual revolution of the mind” (4:23)—and it is!
In chapter 14 of John’s Gospel, Jesus calls this
implanted Spirit the “Advocate” (v. 16) who is “with
you and in you” (v. 17), makes us live with the same
life that he lives (v. 19), and unites us to everything
else (v. 18, 20). He goes on to say that this “spirit
of truth” will “teach you everything” and “remind you
of all things” (v. 26) as if we already knew this
somehow. Talk about being well-equipped from a Secret
Inner Source. Religion’s main and final goal is to
reconnect us (re-ligio) to the Whole, to ourselves, and
to one another—and thus heal us.
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