Diabolical happiness or radical faith!

In moving into the new year of 2013, we come face to face with possibilities, perhaps hopes and dreams. This gives us an opportunity to take stock of what spiritual faith means. In New York Times article entitled, The Freedom of Faith (http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/12/23/the-freedom-of-faith-a-christmas-sermon), matters of  human need and human conscience are addressed. Miracles, mystery, authority pull for religious subservience! The human psyche comes face to face with choice, to yield to that which is outside and demanding or to listen to that which comes from within and nourishes freedom.

The article refers to the famous passage in Fyodor Dostoevsky's, The Brother's Karamozov, where Jesus has been imprisoned by the Church and is being questioned by the Grand Inquisitor:  “We have corrected Thy work and founded it on miracle, mystery and authority. . . .Why has Thou come to hinder us?” In this, one of the greatest novels of all time, we witness the confrontation of religious imperialism, exposed as having coming into leagues with dark forces that manipulate human need and force the human soul into subjugation.

Diabolical happiness provides the contentment of ready made answers to complex questions. Black is black, white is white, goes this mentality. In reality, as humans we struggle. Yes, we have faith, but a faith that is always tempered by a healthy dose of doubt and ongoing openness.  2013, a new year, of exploration along the path of the soul, the avenue of fervent faith in all that is human, open, and free!