The "way" forward... (Main Forum)

by Brian Coyne , LINDEN, NSW, Thursday, May 17, 2012, 11:57 (374 days ago) @ clommer

Thanks, clammer. I remain totally pessimistic about the institution. The latest information I've just posted about this supposed "divide & conquer" strategy with the SSPX only increases my pessimism. It's more "shuffling of the deckchairs" on the Titanic as the institution is claimed by the waves of history.

I remain totally optimistic though of where humanity is heading spiritually. I am impressed by the vast majority of young people I intersect with today, or observe through the internet and on the news. I don't have a sense that society is becoming less moral and we're all heading back to some jungle. The Leveson Inquiry going on in the UK demonstrates that the powerful in society are still being called to account. There are many other similar developments going on around the world. The new generations of leaders amongst the younger generations emerging are not going to lead society into anarchy and mayhem but are continuing to build a fairer, better society along the lines of what Jesus Christ was all on about in his ideas about "building the kingdom" — and what all the other great religions of the world have also been trying to build on "the golden rule". Our world is not going to pot in some handbasket.

I do think huge questions remain unknown at the moment — for example is institutional religion going the same way as feudalism, the old monarchies, the Holy Roman Empire, the collapse of Nazism and Communism? Or what will the religio-spiritual landscape of the future look like?

I doubt anyone has answers to a question like the last one just yet. The most valuable contribution we can make is simply to "encourage the conversation" that might help shape the future and place our trust in the Spirit that has guided the development of humankind thus far that we do not end up getting bushwacked by too many side tracks, blind alleys and dead ends in this great maze and mystery we call Life.

Brian Coyne
[Editor & Publisher]