It is the battle against self-deceit that is a special vocation for the religious person. For we very easily establish an idea of God in our minds, and it spawns many, many phantasies, erroneous notions, solipsistic arguments and miserable binds. The religious person, perhaps very particularly in these age and culture, spends most of his time talking to the various idols which his mind has spawned, and obeying the edicts which these idols have ordained. Good Lord, he is talking to himself.
It is important and helpful to remember that the truth - the way things really are - is what the religious person is or should be after. The truth, however, is not a religious possession. If is is truth at all, it is reality, it is how things are when viewed with clarity and sobriety. If we run from anything that is true out of fear for protecting the religious, we do ourselves a great disservice.
Prayer should always be an exercise in quieting down. The truth, by God's grace, will involve love. It will also scare the shit out of us, and most likely we will have to die if we hope to have it emerge from our lives.
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