At worse, we give lip\u00a0service\u00a0to God\u2019s\u00a0presence, but then feel and act as it we were completely on our own. I think of church committee meetings, pastoral\u00a0counseling\u00a0sessions, or even spiritual direction\u00a0meetings\u00a0I\u00a0have\u00a0attended. They often begin with a\u00a0sincere\u00a0prayer,\u00a0\u201cGod, be with us (as if God might be in attendance at another meeting<\/em>)\u00a0and guide our decisions and our actions.\u201d Then at the end comes,\u00a0\u201cAmen,\u201d and the door crashes shut on God-attentiveness. Now we have said our prayers and it is time to get down to business. The modern educator Parker Palmer<\/a> Gerald G. May Gerald May was one of many who\u00a0helped guide me years ago through some unexplored\u00a0theological territory, which eventually led to\u00a0The Sin of Certainty<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n![\"dark](\"https:\/\/peteenns.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/dark-night-194x300.jpg\")
The problem for most of us is that we don\u2019t\u00a0realize<\/em> how united we are with God.\u00a0Except\u00a0in rare moments of mystical experince, most of us don\u2019t\u00a0generally\u00a0feel such intimacy with the Divine. Even if we believe devoutly that God is\u00a0present with us, our usual\u00a0experience\u00a0is that we are\u00a0\u201chere\u201d and God is\u00a0\u201cthere,\u201d loving and gracious perhaps, but irrevocably separate.\u00a0\u201cWe just don\u2019t understand ourselves,\u201d says Teresa [of Avila]<\/a>,\u00a0\u201cor know who we are.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com\/e\/ir?t=inspirandinca-20&l=as2&o=1&a=0787947350\")
The Dark Night of the Soul:
A Psychiatrist Explores the Connection
Between Darkness and Spiritual Growth<\/a>
<\/em>p. 44<\/p>\n
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