Resonance Theology

I recently gave a sermon on what I have termed "Resonance Theology". What is this? Some traditions teach that we are basically totally full of sin and essentially worthless. I strongly disagree with this viewpoint. Scripture is very clear that we are first and foremost created in God's image. So at our core we are essentially good and desire good. It is what Christianity calls "the sin nature" and Judaism calls "the yetzer ha-ra (evil inclination)" that oftentimes overshadows this essential goodness. But our deepest and truest selves are created in God's image. When we have inordinate desires such as lust, greed, and hate, we are distorting this essential goodness.

Given my viewpoint, then, our deepest desires are godly desires. We really do want to have peace, love, compassion, and so forth. It just that these other urges and drives get in the way. But if we connect to these deeper, truer desires, we connect with who we are at our essence; children of God.

This then provides the background for my term "resonance theology". Rather than it being that we are merely conduits for God's love, as some teach, we are actually partners with God's love. When I have compassion on someone, it's not just me having compassion, nor is it just God have compassion through me because I am incapable of it. It is rather, God and I having compassion together. We are resonating! When we connect with our True Self, we find ourselves resonating with God's love, compassion, empathy, etc...

In my Jesuit spiritual direction training we studied Ignatian discernment, which talks a lot about the Good Voice and the Bad Voice. The Good Voice is defined as God or the Holy Spirit. The Bad Voice is defined as either our evil inclination or Satan. I think that another source of the Good Voice is us! When we listen to our deepest selves, we hear not only God's voice, but also our own! Sometimes people ask me, “How do I know that it is God’s will and not my own?” My answer is that sometimes it doesn’t matter! If we are resonating with God, if we are hearing the Good Voice, then it doesn’t matter really if it is God or our True Self. We are probably hearing them both and there is no real benefit in trying to sort them out. In fact, it only adds to confusion and desolation if we try!

So when you are giving spiritual direction, listen for this resonance. Listen for the joy! When a person is connecting with this resonance down deep inside of them, it truly is a great consolation for them. We should encourage this in our directee. We need to help them savor this. We should honor and celebrate when this happens.