Inner Authority and Transformation
Spiritual growth demands that we pay attention to our own lived experience. Scripture and Tradition offer critical guidance, but they are not enough without our own inner knowing. Both outer and inner authority matter. We have relied too heavily on doctrine, often dismissing the transformative potential of personal encounter. Experience is not a threat to truth—it is its necessary companion. Without it, religion becomes abstract and disconnected. Prayer is not about performance; it is about interior awareness. Information from outer authority does not necessarily lead to transformation, and we need genuinely transformed people today, not just people with answers. Real spiritual maturity requires all three: experience, Scripture, and Tradition, in honest dialogue. When we silence one source, especially experience, we weaken the whole. We must allow personal insight to inform our path, not as the only guide, but as an essential one.
May we become not people with answers,
but people transformed by the deep truth of lived experience.
(inspired by Richard Rohr, Things Hidden; Brian McLaren, Expanding Our Understanding of Scripture)