Introductory notes for readers of this thesis - Theses - Flinders ...

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But in fact, this ‘swift upward glance of the soul’ is at one and the same time a downwardglance into the depths of the human spirit, largely ignored in the normal rush and tyrannyof the humdrum. In the process of becoming more present to the depths of their innerbeing, individuals become present to the God of all glory and grace who is always presentin grace, and ‘closer to them than they are to themselves’ 80 . Humans must enter into theirown sense of nothingness, and there discover, in their embrace of powerlessness, thepower and life of God which becomes their life. ‘Deep cries unto deep: the depth of ournothingness unto the depth of the power and majesty and wisdom of God’ 81 . The‘splendid paradox’ of entering more deeply into the self is that in ceasing to be oneself—in the sense of living a life characterised by control and preoccupation with that which ismanageable, concrete, material—individuals become more entirely at one withthemselvesbecause God is more the true centre of our being than we are ourselves. The sheerimmensity of God urges us to realise our being to its fullest through transcendingthe limitations impose by choosing to remain our own centre…In this newfreedom from thraldom to self, every word and act becomes a lived prayer,because the presence of God suffuses the whole pattern of living82 .The way down is paradoxically, the way up! This is highlighted in the followingcomments which articulate more clearly what Rahner means by the proximity of the holymystery and the human ontic capacity for participation in the divine life.Deep in our buried heart, we find this seed of the Divine, this restless reaching outtowards something infinitely beyond the things of this world; and we find strengthto pray 83 .These glimpses of strange infinities within us are pointers to a thirst for Infinity,for God, which has been placed by our Creator in the very depths of our nature.We must not seize on these infinities—these ‘magic casements opening’ into therecesses of our being—as idols to be enthroned in our lives. Their verymultiplicity would only increase that modern disease we have called Angst andwhich is a vague dread accompanying the apprehension of freedom and limitless80 An Augustinian phrase that Rahner repeatedly makes use of in this text.81 Ibid, 15.82 Ibid, 16.83 Ibid, 19.101
possibilities but without a definitive object. The far-flung horizons within us mustlead us to the infinity of God, if we are to find peace and rest 84 .Our Father Who art in the depths of my heart, transforming its hollow emptinessinto a heaven on earth 85 .Rahner’s concept of mystery in proximity is more than a clever abstract philosophicalreflection on the meaning and dimensions of the presence of grace in human life. ForRahner, mystery in proximity powerfully emerges from the spiritual experience andpastoral observation of the Christian layperson/pastor/priest. Thus, Rahner’s speculativephilosophical argument is always servant, rather than master, to the expression of hisdeepest and most profound personal experience of God.Critical reflection on the mystery of infinity in proximityTrying to grasp Rahner’s idea of the supernatural existential conceptually is like trying toget a firm grip on liquid soap! What does it really mean that the true centre of a person’slife is actually external to the person, located in the sacred other; and that God isconstantly present to all people as gift, as possibility, rather than as a saving presence?How can a person really participate unconsciously in a recognisably Christian life offaith? In his development of the concept of the supernatural existential, Rahner is seekingto affirm a concept of grace that permeates rather than overlays the creation; at the sametime he is seeking to preserve the essential Augustinian argument: grace as gift ratherthan as natural component of human beings, and arguing for an understanding of grace asthe gift of God himself rather than an external substance separate from God. Rahnerargues for the universal experience of grace as existential: an unavoidable aspect ofhuman experience but not an actual ‘substance’ or ‘property’ of the individual. As he wassomewhat unclear about the exact relationship between the supernatural existential andgrace itself, the ambiguities and seeming contradictions that arise within the Rahnercorpus around his definition and explanation of this concept are hardly surprising!84 Ibid, 25.85 Ibid, 19.102
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‘A Spirituality of silence’An i
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Chapter 4: The human experience of
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Summary of thesis:This thesis offer
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The particular angle from which thi
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somewhat superseded by more recent
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Rahner: I have nothing against that
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One brief but notable spiritual inf
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dialectic between these two, has le
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odies of knowledge, history and alt
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superiors, having decided that he w
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High School Week, Rahner began his
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Earlier in this chapter, Rahner’s
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These anecdotes testify that Rahner
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As you see, at the top of the carto
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Central to Rahner’s thinking is t
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Kilby notes that in regard to this
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Introduced by Cardinal König to a
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influence will continue to spread a
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We see from Rahner’s pastoral con
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European power 4 , and that he was
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Over a period of days and weeks, th
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The outcome of this encounter: the
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Modras has pointed out that Ignatiu
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Rahner the Ignatian spiritual direc
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facilitate this joyful and liberati
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Rahner’s often-quoted comment tha
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The master of the Exercises in no w
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Endean argues that Rahner is interp
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The Ignatian Exercises—especially
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Rahner advocates that all believers
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The sacrament of the wordIn reflect
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‘theological aesthetics’. With
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Many things in life act as signs th
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Rahner’s dual commitment to recei
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living human being, and each indivi
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The church is sacramental in the se
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spiritual rhythms that trace direct
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the missionary tasks of the Church;
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unhelpful assumptions that diminish
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expressions of mystagogical 142 ini
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Does this lead Rahner into compromi
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) ) an ongoing contemporary influen
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Hosek shifts the soteriological foc
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Is this vision of silent spirituali
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Being in silence as a way of creati
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word of life and hope within them.
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Level 1:PremoralStage 2:Instrumenta
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These new monastics see the local c
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eliefs that have been tried and tes
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of mature theological reflection co
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ecognised in his Christological ass
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inability or unwillingness of the e
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Kanyini—an Australian Aboriginal
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The film Kanyini demonstrates the c
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estless and always in a hurry to ge
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considered the sole and ultimate au
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We define spirituality as a conscio
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supportive conversation with expres
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A glance at table 4 75 (above), Hug
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In the worldview of contemporary Au
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It certainly seems somewhat disinge
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A good starting point for examining
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Christian contemplative-prayer trad
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Of course, a small number of the vi
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For better or for worse, and despit
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energy, intellect, prayer, love and
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Rahner, K. Karl Rahner - Prayers an
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Kelly, G.B. (ed.). Karl Rahner - th
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Van Vorst, B. ‘Kung and Rahner: d
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Harden, J.A. ‘Ignatian Spirituali
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Tyson, P. ‘Contemporary Australia
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