---quite true, authfriend, I like your analysis! Looks like she was on the verge of a genuine spontaneous breakthrough into pure Consciousness (the "Presense" mentioned); but the organized Church is basically incapable of providing a nurturing environment for such development; since although there are major differences between Catholocism and Evangelical theology, the bottom line is that the Christian experience is all about one's dualist relationship to Jesus, not a direct experience of the nondual Presence. Thus, she was destined to find no sympathy for nondualism in the Catholic Tradition. She might have taken the course of action taken by former Nun Karen Armstrong, who was able ultimately to clearly distinguish between Fundie dualism and the experiential wisdom of Gnosis. She chose the latter and became a best selling author, (leaving the Nunnery far behind).
In [email protected], "authfriend" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > --- In [email protected], "curtisdeltablues" > <curtisdeltablues@> wrote: > > > > "He's so intellectually dishonest. He says, > > "Teresa's response to her own bewilderment and > > hypocrisy (her term) reveals just how like > > quicksand religious faith can be." But then he > > doesn't tell us what her response *was*, so his > > comparison of religious faith to quicksand is > > just an empty assertion." > > > > I think it was her reaction that makes this a story at all, she kept > > quiet about it carrying on with her "I have a special relationship > > with God" routine. That's what I thought he was referring to. > > But he didn't say any of that. I think he didn't > have a clue how to describe her response so it > would fit with his "quicksand" analogy, so rather > than discard the analogy, he just left out anything > about her response and hoped nobody would notice, > just as he hoped nobody would notice that he failed > to say anything at all about what had been the > motivating force of her entire life, what she > perceived to be the experience of God's presence. > > That's why she started the whole Calcutta deal, > after all. She was on her way to a vacation from > her order when she believed she heard God's voice > telling her to start a mission to help the poor > and homeless instead. > > It was only after she had overcome all kinds of > obstacles and actually managed to get the thing > going that this sense of presence suddenly vanished, > for the first time in her life. > > It's no wonder Harris didn't know how to > characterize her response; he left out what she > was responding *to*. She wasn't "bewildered" > because she was having doubts, she was > bewildered because God seemed to have left her > in the lurch, shut her out of his presence. > > Of course *one* of her reactions was going to be > to begin to wonder whether God really existed, > but from what I've read of those letters, most > of her questioning had to do with why God had > deserted her and how she was supposed to deal > with that. > > I'm no big fan of Mother Teresa, by the way. I > just am appalled at the cavalier and dishonest > way Harris dismisses her struggle. >
