Encounter

Your still, small voice called

from no where to somewhere

from questions to answers

from myst'ry to sureness

and scared poor Elijah

upon the mount of Horeb

Your word is a "no-word"

safely wrapped in a gathered mist

a promise spake in a "nothing-said"

a strong assurance midst disbelief

*Thoughts of Alan Jones:

  -The believer is often bedeviled by a neurotic aim at perfection.  Indeed, it is acceptable in psychoanalytical circles that perfectionism inhibits human growth and saps our capacity for delighting in life.  And the great demand of religion is, of course, "Be ye perfect!"  Perfectionism uncovers those compulsions that drive us to bring into being  a tyrannical, idealized self.  And if the idealized self cannot make it, then so much the worse for others and the world.

  -We can, in short, cope with the world by strategies of seduction, aggressiveness, or withdrawal. These are the neurotic forms of three basis movements that are important to all of us: to give affection, to stand up for oneself, and to keep apart on certain occasions.  These have their religious counterparts: the longings for intimacy, the desire to belong without being swallowed up, and the hope for a true identity in God.

  -The saint who thinks he casts no shadow is very dangerous.  That is why, traditionally, the two marks of the saint are joy and penitance:  joy because one knows that one is not God, and yet with God all things are possible.  The saint knows that perfection rests in divinity and not in the ability of the believer to negotiate reality so that one "comes off best."  The saint knows that he or she is not God, and yet knows how easily one can forget this simple fact.  The saint knows about darkness and shadows that cloud judgement.