" Dig, beneath the surface of, life"..... Pope Leo, X1V.
" The capacity to learn...Is a gift. The ability to learn....Is a skill.
The willingness, to learn...... Is a,......CHOICE." (Anonymous"
" Come Holy Spirit and humanize, the hardened heart, of this complacent one"
The prophet Amos, " Woe, to the complacent....they are not made ill, by the collapse of Joseph "
The Prophet for our time, Pope Leo, is encouraging us, "to dig the beneath the surface of life", to my present understanding, this means to, GO Deep, and be open to the revelations that will come from, soul work. Honest, soul work, is an never ending process that we human beings are called, destined to participate in, as a life long challenge. Souls work sinks roots, for a healthy growth of the trunk, branches, leaves and fruit. No roots, no fruits. The more we respond to this challenge, the deeper we will go. The journey into the depths results in us gradually discovery of a well. From this well is springing all the nourishment, grace, we are in need of to make an, authentic, human journey.The more we drink from this well the more we will be in touch with our unique, sparkling, vivifying, true selves. This nourishes the spirit within, so we can join The Dove, in spiritual flight. WOW !!! WOW !!!!
Our ongoing, soul work, gradually reveals the, moment to moment battle, between, the true self, which is The Gracious creation, and the false self which is our creation. The false self is created so we are able to endure, survive in a, dysfunctional world. The false self, whose sole occupation is the possession of endless sources of " power, property, and prestige." (Rohr) We make, "power, property, and prestige" (Rohr), the barometer, the gauge for the judging , our intrinsic value and worthwhileness. Now we are going to add to these real life destructive addictions, " control, comparisons, and contradictions, and we find ourselves in real life choking, life destructing, doodoo .
How do we break free of these life destruction forces ? Sad to say there is no way into the freedom of the true self, except for, a real life reclaiming, conversion. I am really sad, really sad, to share with you conversion only happens, at least to my present understanding (2025), trough these contradictory statements, " Discover the powerlessness of, power, and the power, of, powerlessness"( Rohr) This power is the result of our Paschal Journey, being repeated and repeated. The Historical Rabbi Jesus, endured His Calvary experience just once. We make the journey through suffering, death, tomb time, Resurrection resulting in the experience of a new way of acting and a new way of thinking.
This reminds me of this old adage, " we cannot think our way into, a new way of acting, we have to act our way into, a new way of thinking." To be brutally honest, I wish I never was exposed to this life changing, life enhancing challenging reality. My false self, wanted, no constantly demanded an easier softer way. That ended in my experience of deep alienation, isolation and life destructive practices, which lead to Joe believing the lie of the false self, this is really living. Living a common lie, not in The Truth.
No, Joe now says , that experience of Joe slowly realizing that he was dying, because of his life destructive addictions, and compulsions. Through grace, I was blasted out of complacency. into the journey of discovering, the powerlessness of power and the power of powerlessness.Because I was so very selfish, wanting complacency eventually lead to the change of heart, the conversion. This conversion that was ESSENTIAL, a conditio sine qua non, for the discovery, and entrance into a wonder-full, awe-full experience. Real freedom, supplanting apparent freedom. This new freedom was, experiencing the freedom of living the life of, the true self. I now know the existential meaning of, " I have come that you will have life, and have it to the fullest" By writing this, I pray in some mysterious way this will be your experience. Complacency will not get anyone anywhere on the harsh, and crooked trail that leads one into the experience of an authentic, healthy spiritual reality. " First blog ,as an, 86 year old.