"I think the Mother is gradually revealing itself to me and taking over. But it is not the Mother alone. It is the Mother and the Father, the male and the female, sort of gradually having their marriage."
~Bede Griffiths
Feast of Dunstan, Archbishop of Canterbury, 988 I suddenly saw that all the time it was not I who had been seeking God, but God who had been seeking me. I had made myself the centre of my own existence and had my back turned to God. All the beauty and truth which I had discovered had come to me as a reflection of his beauty, but I had kept my eyes fixed on the reflection and was always looking at myself. But God had brought me to the point at which I was compelled to turn away from the reflection, both of myself and of the world which could only mirror my own image. During that night the mirror had been broken, and I had felt abandoned because I could no longer gaze upon the image of my own reason and the finite world which it knew. God had brought me to my knees and made me acknowledge my own nothingness, and out of that knowledge I had been reborn. I was no longer the centre of my life and therefore I could see God in everything.
Topic: Christianity
Source: None
"The ultimate Mystery of being, the ultimate Truth, is Love. This is the essential structure of reality. When Dante spoke of the 'love which moves the sun and the other stars', he was not using a metaphor, but was describing the nature of reality. There is in Being an infinite desire to give itself in love and this gift of Self in love is for ever answered by a return of love....and so the rhythm of the universe is created."
~Bede Griffiths
Randy England discusses Bede Griffiths on pages 70 to 72 of his book The Unicorn in the Sanctuary: The Impact of the New Age on the Catholic Church. (Rockford, Illinois, TAN Books and Publishers, Inc., 1991.)
"It is the conventional wisdom of the mission field that the missionary must learn of the ways, language and culture of the people he would convert. The situation in the East has gone a step further, and we find that it is the pagan that has instead converted the missionary. Jesuit priests have started imitating the Hindu holy men, taking the title 'swami' and wearing saffron robes and sporting begging bowls. The so-called 'Indian rite' uses the mantra 'OM,' the name of the Hindu god Krishna.[1] Fr. Bede Griffiths is one of these Christian gurus."[1] (page 70)
"The initial religious formation of Dom Bede Griffiths, O.S.B. was minimally Anglican. Of immense influence upon him was his early reading of the Hindu Bhagavad Gita and other books of Eastern spiritual wisdom introduced to him by a friend of his mother. This friend, who was to have such a strong effect on him, was a Theosophist...."[2] (70-71)
"Griffiths, once a student of C.S. Lewis at Oxford, converted from unbelief to Catholicism at about the same time Lewis was undergoing his own conversion to Anglican Christianity. He entered a Benedictine monastery within a few weeks of his conversion and was later ordained a priest.
"Bede Griffiths had assumed that he would preach the Gospel, but learned he could not teach that which he was still searching for. He went to India to help found a monastery, and never left. His community, called Shantivanam ("Forest of Peace"), is affiliated with the Benedictine community of Camaldoli in Italy, but follows the customs of a Hindu ashram, with Griffiths as guru.[3] He says: 'Certainly from a Christian point of view the importance of Indian philosophy can hardly be overestimated. It marks the supreme achievement of the human mind in the natural order in its quest of a true conception of God."[4]
"Griffiths calls the Hindu temple a 'sacrament' and is caught up in admiration for these people who have so penetrated the 'ultimate mystery.' In the temple of Shiva the destroyer, the innermost holy place contains the lingam or phallus where the worshipper communes with the ultimate reality.[5]
"He claims that it is easy to meet the Hindu on the level of liturgy, language, music and art, but very difficult to meet him on a theological level. Nevertheless, Fr. Griffiths believes that the task is possible. Unfortunately, this is only accomplished by subordinating Christianity to Hinduism. He accuses Christians of having an imperfect understanding of Christ (which may be true), but he then proceeds to send us to Hindus and Muslims to clear up our misunderstandings.[6] In the end he sees no rationale for preaching the Gospel, for at bottom we are all believers. Fr. Griffiths says:
"No one can say in the proper sense that the Hindu, the Buddhist or the Muslim is an 'unbeliever.' I would say rather that we have to recognize him as our brother in Christ. . .
"Our task in India is not so much to bring Christ to India (as though he could be absent), as to discover Christ already present and active in the Hindu soul."[7]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"God had brought me to my knees and made me acknowledge my own nothingness, and out of that knowledge I had been reborn. I was no longer the centre of my life and therefore I could see God in everything." ~Bede Griffiths
"I am rediscovering the whole sexual dimension of life at the age of 86, really. And that also means discovering the feminine. So the whole of this dimension, which I had been seeking for a very long time, is now sort of opening itself up to me."
~Bede Griffiths
"The inspiration came suddenly again to surrender to the Mother. It was quite unexpected: And so somehow I made a surrender to the Mother. Then I had an experience of overwhelming love. Waves of love sort of flowed into me." ~Bede Griffiths
"I suddenly saw that all the time it was not I who had been seeking God, but God who had been seeking me. I had made myself the centre of my own existence and had my back turned to God." ~Bede Griffiths
"You must be ready to give up everything, not only material attachments but also human attachments - father, mother, wife, children - everything that you have. But the one thing which you have to abandon unconditionally is your self." ~Bede Griffiths
"I was being called to surrender the very citadel of my self. I was completely in the dark. I did not really know what repentance was or what I was required to repent of. It was indeed the turning point of my life." ~Bede Griffiths
"Obedience is detachment from the self. This is the most radical detachment of all. But what is the self? The self is the principle of reason and responsibility in us. It is the root of freedom, it is what makes us men." ~Bede Griffiths
"I suddenly saw that all the time it was not I who had been seeking God, but God who had been seeking me. I had made myself the centre of my own existence and had my back turned to God." ~Bede Griffiths
"It is no longer a question of a Christian going about to convert others to the faith, but of each one being ready to listen to the other and so to grow together in mutual understanding." ~Bede Griffiths
~Bede Griffiths
Feast of Dunstan, Archbishop of Canterbury, 988 I suddenly saw that all the time it was not I who had been seeking God, but God who had been seeking me. I had made myself the centre of my own existence and had my back turned to God. All the beauty and truth which I had discovered had come to me as a reflection of his beauty, but I had kept my eyes fixed on the reflection and was always looking at myself. But God had brought me to the point at which I was compelled to turn away from the reflection, both of myself and of the world which could only mirror my own image. During that night the mirror had been broken, and I had felt abandoned because I could no longer gaze upon the image of my own reason and the finite world which it knew. God had brought me to my knees and made me acknowledge my own nothingness, and out of that knowledge I had been reborn. I was no longer the centre of my life and therefore I could see God in everything.
Topic: Christianity
Source: None
"The ultimate Mystery of being, the ultimate Truth, is Love. This is the essential structure of reality. When Dante spoke of the 'love which moves the sun and the other stars', he was not using a metaphor, but was describing the nature of reality. There is in Being an infinite desire to give itself in love and this gift of Self in love is for ever answered by a return of love....and so the rhythm of the universe is created."
~Bede Griffiths
Randy England discusses Bede Griffiths on pages 70 to 72 of his book The Unicorn in the Sanctuary: The Impact of the New Age on the Catholic Church. (Rockford, Illinois, TAN Books and Publishers, Inc., 1991.)
"It is the conventional wisdom of the mission field that the missionary must learn of the ways, language and culture of the people he would convert. The situation in the East has gone a step further, and we find that it is the pagan that has instead converted the missionary. Jesuit priests have started imitating the Hindu holy men, taking the title 'swami' and wearing saffron robes and sporting begging bowls. The so-called 'Indian rite' uses the mantra 'OM,' the name of the Hindu god Krishna.[1] Fr. Bede Griffiths is one of these Christian gurus."[1] (page 70)
"The initial religious formation of Dom Bede Griffiths, O.S.B. was minimally Anglican. Of immense influence upon him was his early reading of the Hindu Bhagavad Gita and other books of Eastern spiritual wisdom introduced to him by a friend of his mother. This friend, who was to have such a strong effect on him, was a Theosophist...."[2] (70-71)
"Griffiths, once a student of C.S. Lewis at Oxford, converted from unbelief to Catholicism at about the same time Lewis was undergoing his own conversion to Anglican Christianity. He entered a Benedictine monastery within a few weeks of his conversion and was later ordained a priest.
"Bede Griffiths had assumed that he would preach the Gospel, but learned he could not teach that which he was still searching for. He went to India to help found a monastery, and never left. His community, called Shantivanam ("Forest of Peace"), is affiliated with the Benedictine community of Camaldoli in Italy, but follows the customs of a Hindu ashram, with Griffiths as guru.[3] He says: 'Certainly from a Christian point of view the importance of Indian philosophy can hardly be overestimated. It marks the supreme achievement of the human mind in the natural order in its quest of a true conception of God."[4]
"Griffiths calls the Hindu temple a 'sacrament' and is caught up in admiration for these people who have so penetrated the 'ultimate mystery.' In the temple of Shiva the destroyer, the innermost holy place contains the lingam or phallus where the worshipper communes with the ultimate reality.[5]
"He claims that it is easy to meet the Hindu on the level of liturgy, language, music and art, but very difficult to meet him on a theological level. Nevertheless, Fr. Griffiths believes that the task is possible. Unfortunately, this is only accomplished by subordinating Christianity to Hinduism. He accuses Christians of having an imperfect understanding of Christ (which may be true), but he then proceeds to send us to Hindus and Muslims to clear up our misunderstandings.[6] In the end he sees no rationale for preaching the Gospel, for at bottom we are all believers. Fr. Griffiths says:
"No one can say in the proper sense that the Hindu, the Buddhist or the Muslim is an 'unbeliever.' I would say rather that we have to recognize him as our brother in Christ. . .
"Our task in India is not so much to bring Christ to India (as though he could be absent), as to discover Christ already present and active in the Hindu soul."[7]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"God had brought me to my knees and made me acknowledge my own nothingness, and out of that knowledge I had been reborn. I was no longer the centre of my life and therefore I could see God in everything." ~Bede Griffiths
"I am rediscovering the whole sexual dimension of life at the age of 86, really. And that also means discovering the feminine. So the whole of this dimension, which I had been seeking for a very long time, is now sort of opening itself up to me."
~Bede Griffiths
"The inspiration came suddenly again to surrender to the Mother. It was quite unexpected: And so somehow I made a surrender to the Mother. Then I had an experience of overwhelming love. Waves of love sort of flowed into me." ~Bede Griffiths
"I suddenly saw that all the time it was not I who had been seeking God, but God who had been seeking me. I had made myself the centre of my own existence and had my back turned to God." ~Bede Griffiths
"You must be ready to give up everything, not only material attachments but also human attachments - father, mother, wife, children - everything that you have. But the one thing which you have to abandon unconditionally is your self." ~Bede Griffiths
"I was being called to surrender the very citadel of my self. I was completely in the dark. I did not really know what repentance was or what I was required to repent of. It was indeed the turning point of my life." ~Bede Griffiths
"Obedience is detachment from the self. This is the most radical detachment of all. But what is the self? The self is the principle of reason and responsibility in us. It is the root of freedom, it is what makes us men." ~Bede Griffiths
"I suddenly saw that all the time it was not I who had been seeking God, but God who had been seeking me. I had made myself the centre of my own existence and had my back turned to God." ~Bede Griffiths
"It is no longer a question of a Christian going about to convert others to the faith, but of each one being ready to listen to the other and so to grow together in mutual understanding." ~Bede Griffiths
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3:46 AM
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