something about the subject. Reality ultimately is spirit, not forms of belief. And spirit is how a man acts, not codes of behaviour, or the letter of the law. No system of thought is satisfying, nor philosophy, nor religion, unless it concedes that the heart of life is action, not theory.
In this context it is instructive to see how Christ coped with the problem. His intimate teaching of his disciples is almost entirely contained in John Chapter 13 onwards. He begins by washing his disciples' feet, and telling them that they are to behave to others as he has done to them. He then theorises on the master-servant relationship. So he begins with an act, and develops his theory from that; not vice versa. He then gives them a commandment - to love one another. He does not command them to believe the Athanasian Creed, nor the 39 Articles, nor in the Virgin Birth, nor in the infallibility of the Pope; he tells them to love one another. He then offers some advice; “Trust always in God”. This is not a command; it is to “set their troubled hearts at rest”. How are they to trust? He replies, “I am the way, the truth, and the life”; in other words, “Your lives are to be like mine”. Lest anyone should doubt his meaning, he goes on to say that his disciples know God, that he dwells in God and God in him as lovers do; and that the result of this should be tremendously creative action in the lives of his disciples. “He who has faith in me will do what I am doing; and he will do greater things still because I am going to the Father”. Nowhere does he suggest that dwelling in God is to be a peaceful daydream, a narcotic to help us endure the suffering of this world, which was Freud's pathetic understanding of religion. The medieval mystic, John Ruesbroke, agrees with him; the contemplative life is not the perfect life; the perfect life is when a man perfects his contemplation, and then goes out and leads an ordinary life in the community. Ruesbroke expounded this idea in an essay called, A Treatise on the Perfection of the Sons of God. But to continue; Christ tells his…