Today's discussion question

[David Morris]

There is tension. Money and Power wielded by Religion is inherently
corrupting.  Voices from the wilderness that challenge the status quo are
seen as existential threats.  If the current Pope actually changes RCC
doctrine on LGBT issues, birth control, female priests, (what am I
missing?), then I might agree he is a game changer.  So far it's all just
show biz.

On Saturday, August 17, 2013, alice wellintown wrote:

> I suspect that I am misreading Ian here....the idea that the mystical
> experience is ineffable, as William James defines it in his famous
> definition is, I now suspect, what Ian is getting at.
>
> And, I agree with James and like his definition.
>
> But to argue that mystical experience and, say traditonal religion,
> the great religions, organized religion...etc. is at odds with
> mystical experience doesn't make any sense. There is tension,
> certainly.
>
> Take a look at Thomas Merton. What about the current Pope? All that
> money, tradition, power, bad history...but that man is a mystical one;
> he has experienced the devine. His practical approach to the church
> bank, to the homosexual faction in Rome, to his visit to Brasil, these
> may seem compromises a mystic would not make, but this is not the
> history of mystical experience.
>
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