The Seeker's Way.
You cannot create experience. You must undergo it.
Albert Camus
In my spiritual journey I have always been more interested in attempting to live into my experience of God than to attempt to have answers about God. I am more interested in what God is doing in your soul than I am your doctrine. I have engaged countless people over the years who have shared their experience of God, that is, what God is doing in their soul. I worked as a Chaplain with Roman Catholics, Unitarians, Baptists, Muslims, practicing Jews and others. What I found profound was when we engaged about our experience of God and what God was doing in our soul rarely did we have conflict, for our focus was not on how our beliefs differed, but on our experience of God. Obviously I did not share the same beliefs as my peers, but we often shared very similar experiences—a God of love, mercy, peace, and grace.
Working toward my Master degree over the past few years I quickly learned that reasonable minds differ on various understandings of scripture and God. I love scripture, but long before scripture existed there was a community of people who had an experience of God. It seems that the problems come when we attempt to control how others believe. I’ve learned to be much more comfortable in the question than I have with answers.
I am reviewing a book, The Seeker's Way: Cultivating the Longings of a Spiritual Life by Dave Fleming. Dave explores six longings that move us along on our spiritual journey. These longings make up a path he calls, "The Seeker's Way." The longings also put us in touch with the essence of our being--the place from which we grow and express the original person we are becoming.
In the first chapter, From Answers to Experience, he addresses the idea of moving beyond answers we sought early in our spiritual journeys. Fleming does a wonderful job of addressing some of the longings happening in the hearts and souls of Christians today, especially with some in the the emergent conversation. Dave suggests using answers as doors that will lead one deeper search into their faith journey and perhaps into a deeper experience of God. Fleming says that experience is transformational and that "true experience always changes me." I look forward to reviewing The Seekers Way. If you are bored with sytematic theology and a search for never ending answers and you are longing for a deeper expression of your faith, check it out now.
4 Comments:
I am more interested in what God is doing in your soul than I am your doctrine.
i wish i had written that. this sentence completely sums up who i am right now, and where i am headed in my spiritual journey, i have no clue.
i'll be honest here (and probably on my own blog, eventually): i am finding, as a Roman Catholic, that i am running into more and more people with religious spirits than i would care to mention -- however, don't be as surprised as i was to learn that these spirited folk are not all catholic, either.
i don't wish pinpoint what it was that bothered me, but i think with all the posts i have been reading over the past couple of weeks (from about Holy Week forward), i am shocked and dismayed that some of my brothers and sisters in Christ feel the way they do and it pains me.
how can we ever become one church if we are all so split on even what the essence of the Gospel is, that essence being love?
instead of the question *what is truth?* i am finding more and more i want to ask *what is love*?
This was a wonderful post, Rick. I, too, loved your senteniment, "I am more interested in what God is doing in you soul than I am your doctrine." This primary experience of God, of a relationship with God, of knowing God intimately is the true treasure of a spritual life. I would love if it was this we could share our experiences of this more abundantly, and that we could all loosen the grip we have on doctrine.
I also liked the notion Dave Fleming wrote about using answers as doors that will lead us deeper search into our faith journey and perhaps into a deeper experience of God. I was reminded of these opening lines of a poem by Derek Walcott:
The time will come
When, with elation,
You will greet yourself arriving
At your own door, in your own mirror,
And each will smile at the other’s welcome.
The gist of this is, I believe, through your searching, door after door, finally finding God within your very own soul.
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