This is the gift of self-knowledge. It is the repeated gospel call to choose the true self over the false self: to lose our life to save it, to be the servant and not the one served, to be the last not the first. This transformation of consciousness is the goal of deeper prayer, which simply clears the way for us to see what already is. For Teresa, the “practice of prayer” was the serious pursuit of God.
These insights from Teresa’s message expose both the personal and social components of the sinful mentality that society produces in us:
- We are locked into a false consciousness.
- This false consciousness creates a world-view that is a gross distortion of reality. It is a viewpoint, nevertheless, that we embrace as true.
- Part of this world-view is fostered by a society and culture that identifies us primarily as consumers.
- We become constrained by the deep and hidden prejudices aimed at protecting our economic, political, cultural, gender, social, and racial privileges to the exclusion and deprivation of others.
- Our powerful ego struggles relentlessly to avoid any diminishment of its control over our false consciousness.
The Third Dwelling Places of Teresa in the Interior Castle is especially forceful in exposing the deceptive power of the ego, self-absorption.
Our culture’s deeply flawed view of death contributes to this false consciousness. The consumer mentality has a hidden agenda. Among its many lies is the attempt to persuade us that we can become immortal if we just acquire the right products. Further distortions come from the worship of youth as an idol.
The Carmelite tradition has always seen the need for personal transformation as the stepping stone to that which is final and most real in life. This is union with God. Whether it happens in this life or the next with the help of purgatory, the human heart was created to be one with God. All that is truly real in life leads to this calling. God is our partner in any authentic human development.
This process of transformation begins with the initiative of God who loves us first with a love that is always seeking us. We need to be open to the appeal. Love is what we seek, and we need to be purified to experience love in its truest expression. When it comes to love, only God can offer the real deal.
One wisdom figure of our time is the renowned author Wendell Berry. One of his more profound and insightful statements on death and human love is a beautiful development of Teresa’s message on the topic.
Our culture’s deeply flawed view of death contributes to this false consciousness. The consumer mentality has a hidden agenda. Among its many lies is the attempt to persuade us that we can become immortal if we just acquire the right products. Further distortions come from the worship of youth as an idol.
The Carmelite tradition has always seen the need for personal transformation as the stepping stone to that which is final and most real in life. This is union with God. Whether it happens in this life or the next with the help of purgatory, the human heart was created to be one with God. All that is truly real in life leads to this calling. God is our partner in any authentic human development.
This process of transformation begins with the initiative of God who loves us first with a love that is always seeking us. We need to be open to the appeal. Love is what we seek, and we need to be purified to experience love in its truest expression. When it comes to love, only God can offer the real deal.
One wisdom figure of our time is the renowned author Wendell Berry. One of his more profound and insightful statements on death and human love is a beautiful development of Teresa’s message on the topic.
“Only in confronting death can earthly love learn its true extent, its immortality. Any definition of health that is not silly must include death. The world of love includes death, suffers it, and triumphs over it. The world of efficiency is defeated by death; at death, all its instruments and processes stop. The world of love continues, and of this, grief is the proof.” (“Health is Membership,” 1994)We need to change a lot of things to accept the consequences of this call to transformation and union. Jesus is God’s invitation into this wonder of everlasting love. Teresa insists that we place our eyes on Jesus who is the symbol of God’s passionate love for each of us. He is God’s continuing invitation to loving intimacy. Because of his saving Resurrection, death is the final act of freedom and the passage to our heart’s final destiny, to be one with God forever.
