The sense of transcendence

By Fr. Roy Cimagala

 

WE have to be more aware of our need to develop and sharpen our sense of transcendence. It is to help us cope with the fullness of the reality that governs us. It is the reality that includes the spiritual which we cannot see and touch because it is not accessible to the senses, and the supernatural which we cannot reach with our own natural powers alone but only with God’s grace, through faith, hope and charity that work on our natural powers.

We have to realize that the sense of transcendence does not mean that we ignore or have no need or simply give little importance to the here and now, to the material and natural dimensions of our life. Rather, we have to realize that our sense of transcendence can only be exercised through these natural dimensions of our life, but we need to go beyond them, not trapped in them.

A sense of transcendence that belittles or disregards the role of the here and now, the material and the natural dimensions of our life, will not be an authentic sense of transcendence. It would not be able to go the distance. The here and now and the material and the natural dimensions of our life are, in fact, the launching pad from which we can enter into the world of the spiritual and supernatural.

We have to be wary of the tendency to exaggerate the importance of the spiritual and the supernatural to the extent that it would lead us to look down on the material and the natural. This phenomenon can be described as the disorder of spiritualism and pietism that considers the spiritual and supernatural as the only reality.

Of course, we have to wary of the other disorder called materialism that regards material universe as the only reality, completely oblivious of the spiritual and the supernatural world. We have to avoid both extremes, and try to find a way to see the unity, the blend between the material and the spiritual, the natural and the supernatural, the temporal and the eternal.

We have to realize more deeply that the reality created by God for us includes both the material and spiritual, the natural and the supernatural, the temporal and the eternal in one organic whole. We cannot have one without the other, though the spiritual and the supernatural have priority over the material and the natural. As Christ said, we are in the world, but we are not of the world. We are in the world but we are not worldly. (cfr. Jn 17,16)

In this regard, we have to learn the art of how to be both active in the middle of the world while being contemplative as well. We have to learn how to put our hands and feet on the ground while setting our heart on heaven, “on the things above,” as St. Paul recommended. (cfr. Col 3,2) We need to help one another in developing and sharpening this sense of the transcendence, trying to inculcate it as early as possible in the children, first in the setting of the home, then in the other settings as the children grow and get into the other levels of society. Everything in society should reinforce this basic human need of ours.

We have to help everyone learn the art of prayer, of discerning the presence of God and reading his will in every moment. We all have to be aware that our earthly life is God’s time in his eternity to create and redeem us. He is actually intervening in our lives always, and we are supposed to correspond to those interventions.

We also have to convince ourselves that by developing this sense of transcendence, we would be approaching the fullness of our humanity. Contrary to what some people think, this sense of transcendence does not undermine our humanity, but rather perfects it.

Email: roycimagala@gmail.com