Holiness is… transcendent… spiritual… and communal…
To say this is to ignore the communal aspect of holiness, which is critical. A two legged stool cannot stand!
Without a community, we are aimless.
And it is within a religious system that we find that community.
Plusses and minuses are also found there, for sure, but there can be no holiness outside of community, and so religious practice/participation is indispensable.
Root Page: Spirituality
My wife and I were sitting in our kitchen drinking coffee one morning when the variable light switch behind me rotated from full on to full off in an instant.
I heard the click as it did so and at first thought the sound I heard was the breaker switch ‘breaking’. But it was not, it was the light switch rotating from full on to full off.
There is literally no ‘purely material’ explanation for this event.
Root Page: Fullness of Reality
My own instinct is that there are giant swaths of (spiritual) reality including diversity of spiritual beings of which we are almost entirely unaware.
Could there be such a thing as ‘engineer angels’. That is, angels that tinker with biological life (create it, but also modify it).
Messenger angels.
“Praise angels’.
Warrior angels.
Etc…
Root Page: Fullness of Reality
Because it is only through faith that we can realize our true potential.
‘Blind’ faith is a terrible thing, but everyone MUST believe something.
This is the starting point.
And then… the belief must be tested against reality and either strengthened or discarded.
Tested faith is what leads to growth in holiness.
Unfortunately, there is no real way to differentiate an entrenched bias from healthy faith. This is where the community of other humans comes in. It is our duty to keep each other honest.
Root Page: Faith
True evil is to choose one good to the exclusion of another good when it is clearly evident that the good excluded is far superior.
For example, one might commit suicide to end the pain when existing, even with pain, is far superior.
Or, one might overeat, appreciating the feeling of comfort that food provides, when good health is far superior.
Why would anyone do this (or make any other similarly erroneous choice)?
I honestly have no idea, but I do it all the time…
As for the question, ‘Why would a good god create a world where this is possible?’ See the original post and related Discussion.
Root Page: The Problem of Evil
Is a misplaced sense of entitlement.
The ‘problem of evil’ is only a problem if we believe God to be obligated to meet our expectations of an existence free of challenge, loss, pain, or suffering. If, in fact, we are entitled to an existence free of these things, then God is not good (and therefore by definition, does not exist).
If we are NOT entitled to these things, however, then the fact that we experience adversity, loss, pain, or suffering is irrelevant to the question of God’s existence.
Root Page: The Problem of Evil
At a high level, holiness has two parts, spiritual AND material.
The spiritual part is a ‘feeling’ of transcendence. Letting go and being one with all things, and ultimately with the source of all being.
The material part is virtue in action. Transcendence enables all the virtues and putting those virtues into action is the definition of love (love isn’t a a feeling, and it isn’t an action, it is ‘virtuous action’.)
So, holiness, is both a state (having the power) and a process (exercising the power). It is by both receiving and exercising this power consistently that one grows in holiness over time.
To grow in holiness, cultivate transcendence. But do not stop there, do something!
Root Page: Holiness
The Holiness Project 