According to Augustine, God is the Light - a sort of intellectual sunlight - in which we are able to see the truth of any idea. Interestingly, this would include the so-called "secular" ideas of science, technology and the liberal arts. Here, God is not so much an object that might appear before our mental vision. Instead, God is the light of awareness in which we see OTHER objects. As such, God is innately humble and self-effacing. Similarly, we as human beings are meant to mediate God's light by becoming the luminous sky in which OTHERS are able to know and appreciate themselves. A spirituality such as this is important in our era of religious self-aggrandizement. For it remains humble and self-emptying just as God is.
Photo: Alpine sunflowers appear against a backdrop of mountains made hazy by forest fire smoke from the Waldo Canyon Fire; Georgia Pass, South Park, CO; June 23, 2012
No comments:
Post a Comment