The sexual/social/self-preservation drives
are the raw material of who we are as humans
and so cannot be killed off
although ascetics try their hardest.
According to Rohr/Rolheiser/Fox
these drives are all good and just need to be
harnessed/channeled/integrated not killed off
so they give energy to our spiritual endeavours
and serve us not destroy us – they are good
not evil monsters/dragons/demons.
According to Immanuel Kant as you move morally
from being biocentric (sex and survival) to egocentric
to ethnocentric to worldcentric (universal compassion)
you also discover your higher/truer/deeper self.
If you expand your heart and mind infinitely
you come to God’s Infinite Love, the “Ultimate Thou”
and to your self as the “Ultimate I”
culminating in the “Ultimate I-Thou Relationship.”
But as we take on jobs/get married/join religions
everyone pressures us to do
in order for us to live up to their ideals
and as we shove more and more stuff
into our shadow-bag
by midlife we are a mere slice
of the 360-degree-self we started with.
We become fraught with “sins of omission”
including: not living lives of justice/
not being transformed/being ‘born again’
only once instead of many times/
leaving creativity/divinization/original blessing/
the cosmos out of our theology.
Radical Amazement by Judy Cannato
invites us back into contemplative awe/awareness
of black holes/supernovas/the wonders of the universe
which are the key to self-transformation
and transformation of the world.
Intelligent Christian Spirituality 