thesoulpurposedotorg

I just found this old inteview on-line with Susan Howatch very interesting. A Novelist Looks at Faith and Fiction
Here’s a quote from it:

I think if mystics try to operate outside a church framework, they go over the top into gnosticism and cloud cuckoo-land. You need a framework to stop you from being dishonest. In the Starbridge books the mystics had to have spiritual directors to focus—otherwise how do you know if you have it spot on or not?

This is such a struggle for me: to be a part of an institution that seems so dysfunctional and petty; every church seems to fall into this category. And yet, I cannot live without it. Cannot practice the spiritual disciplines without the context of corporate worship. Another quote that speaks to me:

Christianity being a very superior religion, a first-class, world-beating religion has to appeal to everyone. So what I see as the Christian story, which is actually beyond the story, are great fundamental truths about life and the universe, and it is given to us in the form of a story, it is given to us in the form of a human being, Jesus Christ, so that we can understand it better. Over the years the Church has developed an intricate network of dogma and doctrines; even though dogma has a pejorative meaning, it only describes what is. There is no conflict with psychology. All roads lead to truth. If you are secure in your framework, you can step outside and explore all kinds of things because you know you can come back into the framework and feel secure. If you ditch the framework, then you are way out into the New Age, wandering about talking to mother earth and anything goes.