Our Search for God
Dec 28, 2015
The Search for God is Innate
We are born with the need to make sense out of life – a search
for meaning.
We seek answers to the “bigger” questions –
Who am I? Why am I here?
Restlessness Lies Deep in the Heart
• Everyone has a fire or passion within • What we do with that passion = spirituality• A “holy longing” exists for transcendence,
something beyond ourselves • Everyone seeks and finds something to fill the
longing: GOD• God takes on many forms. . . .some true and
some false
The Search for God Is Recorded in All Cultures, All Disciplines
• Philosophy• Psychology• Anthropology• Ecology• Science• The Arts• Etc.
Only Religion Dares to Answer Ultimate Life Questions:
• Is there a purpose for life?
• What is the ultimate nature of reality?
• What is the meaning of suffering?
• Is there objective Truth?
• What is evil?
• Why does the unexpected happen?
• What do we make of the absurdities of life?
• What happens when we die?
• Who is God?• What is faith?
The Search for God Lasts a Life Time
• The search changes as we change• The search goes in stages• The search is developmental
“In seeking God, we have already found God.”
Fr. Louis F. Knight
Defining Faith As. . .
A Process
• An evolving sense of relatedness to other persons.
• An evolving sense of soul or spirit
• A dynamic, evolving pattern of the ways we find meaning in life.
A Gift of the Spirit
• A Theological Virtue
• Grounds us in relationship
• Gives meaning and coherence to our lives
Faith is Paradoxical. . .
• Depends on God• Depends on Us• A “simultaneous dance of Spirit”
“Pray as though everything depends on God, work as though everything
depends on you.”St. Benedict
Primal Faith The Incorporative Self
0-2 years
Image of God:Mirrored in Parents
Shaping what is to come
Prayer of Parent
Stage 1: Intuitive-Projective Faith
the Impulsive Self 2-6 years
Image of God:Literal, real
Baby in a Manger, Man on a Cross
Rote, Memorized Prayer; “God Bless……”
Stage 2: Mythic-Literal Faith The Imperial Self
7-12 years
Image of God:Parent deity who
rewards & punishes
Imaginative Prayer;Intercessory, Prayer of
ContritionBargaining
Stage 3: Synthetic-Conventional
Faith The Interpersonal Self
13-20 years
Image of God:Best Friend, companion
Prayer is “Talking to God”
Stage 4: Individuative-Reflective Faith
The Introspective Self
Adults Seriously on the Journey
Image of God: nebulous, changing
Prayer: Contemplative, Meditative,
New forms, changing
Stage 5: Conjunctive Faith
The Inter-Individual Self
Adults seriously on the journey for more
than 20 years
Image of God:ever-changing
Prayer is Listening and StillnessContemplative Lifestyle
Stage 6: Universalizing Faith
The God-Grounded Self “The Saints Among Us”
Image of God:Free of images,
steeped in experience
Prayer is Unitive, MysticalDeep abiding Stillness