Came across this from Teilhard de Chardin –
How… can it be that ‘when I come down from the mountain’ and in spite of the glorious vision I still retain, I find that I am so little a better man, so little at peace, so incapable of expressing my actions, and thus adequately communicating to others, the wonderful unity I feel encompassing me?
Is there, in fact a Universal Christ, is there a Divine Milieu?
Or am I after all a dupe of a mirage in my own mind?
I often ask myself that question.
[Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, The Heart of the Matter, Collins, London, 1978, 101, quoted in Ursula King, Christ in all Things: Exploring Spirituality with Teilhard de Chardin, SCM Press, London 1997, 91]
I know exactly what he means, less about the mountain perhaps, but certainly the feeling of being stuck in a rut, or perhaps better, a deep hole, getting nowhere and feeling intensely the pointlessness, futility and suffering that afflicts so many people. There is so much energy in the world willing love, compassion, peace, healing, forgiveness and an end to suffering, yet it seems to have little effect on the rich and powerful who determine our political and socio-economic structures. Teilhard talks about the ‘mountain’, I prefer to think of the depth beneath the surface of our everyday reality.