The word “Transformation” draws me into the mystery of spirituality. It begins with the simple “yes” which isn’t really simple at all. My Spiritual Shepherd is Richard Rohr and has been since the 1970’s at New Jerusalem in Cincinnati (https://substack.com/@richardrohr371312). He always pierces my heart with arrows of meaning.
Ed Goode, Pastor and Photographer, (https://substack.com/@imagoscriptura) quoted Ross Gay today, “I will pause here to offer a false etymology: de-light suggests both ‘of light’ and ‘without light’…Being of and without at once…joining is a kind of annihilation. What if we joined our sorrows? What if that is joy?”
Richard Rohr says the same thing when he talks/writes about unitive consciences and shows how Jesus brings opposite ideas together. Paradoxes. The Gospel of John is full of these paradoxes, notably John 11:25-26: I am the Resurrection and the Life. The one who believes in me will live, even though he die.”
Then, I have these disconnected/connected thoughts.
“Faith means not knowing.” I think Richard Rohr said this.
JOYning is a kind of annihilation. We need community where we are continuously asked to accept change in ourselves and others and the world as a whole. Sr. Joan Chittister has spoken about the advantages she and her sisters have over parish priests who don’t have a community to go home to. I find her on YouTube when I need a sip of the holy wine she serves.
Dying to myself is a source of Joy. It’s not just a one time thing.