"The soul is our meeting place with God. And the soul is born in God when we become aware that our psyche is inseparable from God whose image is at its center. So when we withdraw from the world-- introvert, in other words-- the libido that once flowed from us, outward, to the world and things now flows inward and activates the soul. God responds to this inner activation by drawing near and ultimately being born in us, that is, His presence is consciously recognized and acknowledged.
Here in a capsule, is the psychology of relgious experience. It no longer need be seen as a haphazard matter; it follows quite definitive laws of our psychic nature. Here then is the meaning of religious retreats, of silence, of monastic withdrawal. They are the means by which, through a turning away from externals, the internal life is activated.
Here in a capsule, is the psychology of relgious experience. It no longer need be seen as a haphazard matter; it follows quite definitive laws of our psychic nature. Here then is the meaning of religious retreats, of silence, of monastic withdrawal. They are the means by which, through a turning away from externals, the internal life is activated.
This is the treasure hid in a field, the pearl of great price. These are symbolic expressions for something that is hidden deep within us. They are not make-believe; they belong to the equipment of our souls, and require only an earnest, inward quest on our part to find them.
But to do so requires the recognition that our soul, our "inwardness" is such that God can indwell, and that even the squalor of the manger of our instincts and passions He can organize and use for His glory. In His holiness He does not abhor the lowliness of our instinctual life. It is because we tend to think of God as so high above us that He is altogether removed from these aspects of our living-- too holy to look upon them other than as sin-- that we have lost the sense of His nearness and intimacy."
~ C. B. Hanna
But to do so requires the recognition that our soul, our "inwardness" is such that God can indwell, and that even the squalor of the manger of our instincts and passions He can organize and use for His glory. In His holiness He does not abhor the lowliness of our instinctual life. It is because we tend to think of God as so high above us that He is altogether removed from these aspects of our living-- too holy to look upon them other than as sin-- that we have lost the sense of His nearness and intimacy."
~ C. B. Hanna
