The highest norm of human life is the divine law –
objective/universal/eternal – by which God
governs the whole universe and the human community
with a plan conceived in wisdom and love.
But Bernard Lonergan’s greatest criticism
of the old/dogmatic theology
was its exaggerated notion of the objectivity of truth
and its corresponding neglect of the subject, the self
particularly since in the recent history of thought
Hegel/Kierkegaard/Nietzsche/Heidegger/Buber
emphasized the importance of subjective truth.
According to Carl Jung, “individuation” is the process
of continually finding parts of our subjective self that were lost –
this refinding of the whole self/True Self
is what the parables of the lost coin/lost sheep/
lost prodigal son were really about –
Jesus was way ahead of modern psychology.
The “prosperity gospel” sees success as the sign
of God’s blessing, but success is never what your True Self
is really about/never the real goal of the journey of life –
success only feels good/right temporarily
and then it is gone – all things must pass – except God.
After the Second World War everyone wanted to blot out
of their consciousness that disaster which pointed out the lie
of the liberal ideology of eternal progress
by highlighting our capacity for total depravity –
so everyone got into success and upward mobility
and to accommodate this we developed a culture
of choice not obligation – there were no longer any
religious or social obligations – there was no longer any pressure
from others to be religious – it became a choice not an obligation –
and many chose to be spiritual but not religious.
Once we were old enough to make conscious acts of love
our life became a never-ending series of choices
between our false self with its selfish ambitions for success
and our True Self with its loving consent to
God’s Mercy
despite our lostness and total depravity
which the True Self includes and transcends.
Intelligent Christian Spirituality 