Abbey of the Genesee (Part 5)

Another reality about the way we "are" as we walk through our days -- at some level we are always seeking God. M. Scott Peck used the image of a "God Shaped Vacuum" to help his readers understand the continuous hunger we experience. At any given moment there are regions within that are hurting or dissatisfied. The hunger has a sort of vacuum effect that draws in all sorts of "stuff" that we erroneously believe will complete or satisfy our longing. Material items, attitudes, compulsions, relationships all masquerade as the "thing" that will fulfill. Sometimes this illusion is self perpetuating.... so that we fall into the trap of desiring even more the object that is masquerading as God. This, ultimately, may lead to addictive behavior of all sorts.

Rev. Charles Royden said, in his Christmas Sermon for 1997: "We are each one of us in a state of incompleteness, of searching. As human beings we are at our most vulnerable when we achieve some great desire. For it is then that we are likely to be confronted with reality, it just doesn't really make any difference. We all have 'Divine Dissatisfaction', a desire which no natural happiness can satisfy. The things which we desire are often good images of the spiritual things which we really desire but as 'things' they are never really good enough. If we mistake material things for the real thing then they will turn into dumb idols and eventually break our hearts. As C.S. Lewis said, 'These are only like the scent of a flower we have not found, the echo of a tune we have never heard, news from a country we have not visited'.

Human desire, the longing for something that will satisfy us points beyond finite objects and finite persons. It points through these objects and persons towards their real goal in God himself. Jobs, qualifications, relationships, none of these can ever provide that for which we search. If we think that relationships with other people can satisfy us we are asking too much of another human being. Without God even our best human relationships are under too much strain, no wonder relationships are on the rocks. The quest always fails to find its object, even when the search seems close to its end we find we have yet another corner to turn. Whatever we think it is that we are pursuing remains elusively ahead of us, evading our grasp."

'You have made us for yourself, O Lord,
and our hearts are restless until they find their rest in you' St. Augustine