Intolerance Of The Intangible

It is an irony that those who are most open to the direct experience of God can at the same time be driven away from the church by institutionalized rigidity and enculturated expectations. Even in communities that purport to favour contemplative development there can be elements which work against it. This bent towards impatience and intolerance of the intangible creates an environment where a calculated presence of God is measured and weighed. Culturally complicit commitments that supposedly are designed to favour contact become elements that seriously frustrate it since the tempo of community life rises to a pitch that harmonizes with those who are least inclined toward it. Why all this attention on exteriours? Is not infused contemplative experience dependent upon God? Should not a 'regulated' contemplative life liberate one's self from ego and superego? But on the other hand, watch out! Even eremitism can become its own prison.