This page has moved... if you are not redirected follow this link... http://epages.wordpress.com/2008/10/14/elements-of-prophecy-reflections-on-the-interior-life/ Elements of Prophecy Copyright © Michael W. Clark 2008. All Rights Reserved. Steven Spielberg’s futuristic film Minority Report (2002) contains an interesting idea. Three clairvoyants called PreCogs (i.e. precognitives) spend their lives floating in a pool of water, wired up to a kind of amplifier in a deep state of meditation. The PreCogs' job is to predict murders that could happen in the future. Tom Cruise, a good and honest cop, relies on the PreCogs' leads to arrest people just before they're about to commit homicide. The film puts an interesting twist on the idea of precognition, mostly because people with such gifts are often treated with suspicion and disrespect. But the PreCogs' abilities are esteemed and they receive a kind of eerie reverence.

In my journey on and off the web, complex and fascinating seekers have crossed my path. Some say that spirit beings or God appears and speaks to them. Others claim to see objects, places and souls through astral travel. Several believe they can read my mind. Some apparently have been given a vision of Christ or the Holy Trinity. And like the PreCogs, others claim to foresee the future.

In school I studied these things. It’s one thing to read about them, another to actually communicate with people claiming to possess so-called paranormal gifts and abilities. Those believing in God would probably say that I'm providentially hooked up with the "right people" at the "right time" so I’ll continue to learn and grow.¹ Dealing with alleged psychics and mind-readers can be rewarding, but also a challenge. If their abilities are genuine, there's no guarantee that they'll use them in a sane or ethical manner. For instance, those who haven't dealt with personal pain could take a compensatory turn to self-aggrandizement—and that kind of self-delusion could lead even the best down a very dark lane to nowhere.²

One might regard visionary and prophetic claims as a sure sign of mental instability, perhaps even insanity. But in my adult years I don't dismiss this end of the human spectrum without careful investigation and, perhaps more importantly, recognizing the limits of conceptual understanding.

Out of curiosity and concern, from time to time I’ve become acquainted with some of the homeless. Before graduate school, I did some volunteer work in a psychiatric ward. All the while I’ve talked to people as people, rather than as sterile objects scoped out by the clinical gaze of contemporary medicine. Nor have I fallen into the trap of scapegoating those who happen to be different. Scapegoating is an age-old practice alive and well today, one perpetuated by ignorance, cowardice and what we might call the brutish mentality.

However, some folks do take wrong turns in the spiritual life, and some might be continually deceived. Interior perception is an exacting process. Writers on mysticism such as Evelyn Underhill point out that the sincere mystic need be humble and scrupulously analytical to avoid deception, either by his or her imagination or by negative spiritual influences.

With regard to prophets, it seems that most speak in such roundabout terms that their predictions could mean a thousand different things to a thousand different people. And when flat wrong, the hokey prophet tends to fudge things. False prophecies once brazenly proclaimed as fact are quickly swept under the rug or perhaps turned into "symbolic" predictions. Philosophers of reasoning call this an ad hoc hypothesis or possibly an instance of ex post facto [after the fact] reasoning. Rather than openly admitting mistakes as an emotionally mature psi researcher would, sham mystics usually do their best to cover up goofs.

As for genuine forms of prophecy, this involves a supernatural source. But revealed or infused information likely passes through and is reinterpreted by various aspects of the recipient’s personality. In some instances, but arguably not all, the degree of accuracy is directly proportional to the spiritual purity of (a) the recipient’s personality and (b) the source of the information. In other words, a message may be subject to personal interpretation, distortion, or worse, distorted to begin with.

This raises another issue. If God is all powerful, couldn’t weak and tawdry personalities be chosen for genuine prophecy, even for a short while, like a temporary override or "download" from above? To draw an analogy, a foreign spy uses the internet illicitly but once in a while she or he visits life affirming web sites. Recall from the Biblical tradition that the young David slew Goliath in the name of the Lord, later to become an adulterous King. David wasn't a prophet, per se, but he's a good example of God doing miraculous things through weak people.

An integrated view sees the end content of prophecy and the personality of the prophet as two items in dynamic relationship where things happen as they should. According to this perspective, God knows in advance how a prophet will interpret a given revelation, and tailors the style and content of that revelation to fit with the prophet’s psychological makeup. The final result is a message appropriate for a given culture at a specific historical time and place.

Most Muslims, for instance, believe that Muhammed is God’s perfect messenger. The Koran says that Moses and later Jesus were prophets right for their time, but a much-needed update was provided in the person and teachings of Muhammed. Meanwhile Jews tend to see Jesus as a very wise man—nothing less, nothing more. Hindus tend to see Christ as another avatar or messenger who is special but not unique.

Often glossed over by well-meaning seekers and dignitaries, alike, these three interpretations nevertheless differ from the Christian tenet that Jesus is not just another prophet, messenger or nice guy but the long-awaited messiah and savior. Some get upset over this kind of statement, probably because of Christian abuses throughout history, and perhaps in some cases because people are angry at a significant other or event and transfer unresolved anger onto Christianity as a whole. But facts are facts. Different faith groups see Jesus differently. And politically correct or not to say so, non-Christian religions often directly or subtly challenge the Christian belief that Jesus is the unique incarnation of God and man.

Turning to Christianity, another issue arises concerning prophecy. For believers, Jesus' predictions were often misunderstood and mocked. But for Christians the greater meaning of the message more than compensates for any initial misunderstandings. For Christians, Jesus’ prophecy is about the triumph over evil.

Consider the following:

Jesus answered them, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." (John 2:19)

Later, Christian theologians would say the temple is God’s own body. Three days after Jesus’ crucifixion (i.e. the destruction of the temple), he rises again (i.e. the rebuilding of the temple).³

While the meaning of this particular prophecy isn't clear at the outset, for believers it's couched in symbolic terms for soteriological purposes. Elsewhere I've described this as a type of intuitive knowledge containing theological meaning. The Jesus of scripture doesn't use his gifts for a comfortable lifestyle, nor does he try to conscript workers for overt socio-political activism (recall that Judea was under military occupation by the Romans). His mission is about leading souls to their rightful place in everlasting heaven.

Jesus, so Christians believe, is perfect. As God’s only son and as part of the Holy Trinity, he is both fully human and fully divine. Christian followers, on the other hand, are imperfect. Thus for sincere Christians the issue of prophecy after the time of Jesus becomes complicated because the imperfect can be deceived.

In Catholicism, private revelations occurring after the time of Christ are said to add nothing to the Christian faith as defined by the Catholic Church. But revelations declared authentic may contain personal, inspirational or cultural value.

Throughout the ages, there have been so-called "private" revelations, some of which have been recognized by the authority of the Church. They do not belong, however, to the deposit of faith. It is not their role to improve or complete Christ’s definitive revelation, but to help live more fully by it in a certain period of history. Guided by the magisterium of the Church, the sensus fidelium knows how to discern and welcome in these revelations whatever constitutes an authentic call of Christ or his saints to the Church. Christian faith cannot accept "revelations" that claim to surpass or correct the revelation of which Christ is the fulfillment, as is the case in certain non-Christian religions and also in certain recent sects which base themselves on such "revelations"⁴

Of course, many question the authority of a body of individuals who've proved to be susceptible to temptation and prone to human error just like anybody else. Viewed historically, it seems the Catholic Church has made horrific mistakes, only to apologize hundreds of years later. Joan of Arc, for instance, was terrorized, brutalized, and burned alive at the stake in 1431 as a heretic. In 1920, almost 500 years later, she was canonized. Could a more subtle kind of persecution occur if a sincere saint were alive today?

The Church will find itself attacked by waves of a secret sect,
and corrupted priests will scandalize the Church

– Sr. Marianne de Jesus Torres (17^th century)

This prophecy of St. Marianne de Jesus Torres has proved to be at least partially true.⁵ And it might point to one of the reasons why so many intelligent and caring people are asking tough questions about not only Catholic, but most forms of organized religion in the 21^st century.

1. It's my sincere hope that others might also gain something positive from these interactions.

2. Many saints lament that vanity and jealousy come into play in the spiritual life. Apparently the more we open to spiritual realities, the more we become vulnerable to temptation and deception. Because evil is about destroying souls, it uses every trick in the book to trap them in astral realms or worse, hell itself. As the Book of Genesis suggests, the serpent is the subtlest of all creatures in the garden of Eden.

3. (a) Related passages:

4. Catechism of the Catholic Church, par. 67. Catholic theology has looked at the problem of prophecy in its own unique way. Probably due to the complexity of his thought, St. Thomas Aquinas is often cited in Christian discourse. But we should recall that Aquinas, himself, apparently said that his voluminous writings seemed like a "house of straw" after he had a direct encounter with God toward the end of his (earthly) life.

5.While some try to downplay pedophilia among the priesthood and subsequent cover-ups, there really is no way to put a good face on this perverse and shameful phenomenon.

I just noticed that Jeffrey Mishlove reviewed Speilberg's Minority Report from a different angle. The review is informative and has some good links.

—Michael Clark, January 25 2008 / 5:45 A.M.

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Elements of Prophecy © Michael W. Clark 2008. All rights reserved.