Abstract of a paper by Michael O’Sullivan for the Cave of the Heart Conference, St. Mary’s University College, London, 28-30 June 2012.
This paper is available to SSCS members by sending a request to the CSStudies moderator.
From the abstract: “Interiority, for Bernard Lonergan, the internationally renowned Jesuit theologian, philosopher, and methodologist of human consciousness, is the foundational self-presence that enables us to know and choose. Mary Frohlich, a leading spirituality scholar, who draws on his work, has developed the concept of critical interiority as a distinctive methodological principle for the academic study of spirituality. In my paper, however, I will argue that spirituality as lived experience and as an academic discipline is grounded in an interiority that I call authentic interiority. The term critical, like the term mindfulness, can suggest an overly intellectualist approach to spirituality. Authenticity, on the other hand, suggests more clearly, I hold, that living and studying spirituality requires the practice of a holistic integrity. Spirituality as the disciplined practice of such integrity in living life, and studying it, is a practice involving four basic operations of consciousness, namely, experiencing, understanding, judging, and deciding (including the decision to believe or trust). Being authentic with respect to each of these operations involves a different practice depending on which operation the person, group, society, or religious tradition is employing at the time. Authentic experiencing involves attending to all the relevant data; authentic understanding involves raising all the relevant questions about the data; authentic judging involves being critical about the different interpretations arrived at by understanding; and authentic deciding involves acting consistently with correct judgment for the sake of promoting the good and the lovable. I will demonstrate this ascetical practice of authentic and transformative interiority during my paper.”
Thanks for the paper,
You are welcome. Thank you for noticing it and letting me know. Michael
Is the full paper available in some way electronically?
Mary: We don’t currently archive papers but feel free to contact Michael whose e-mail address is linked in the blog post. – Jonas (blog moderator)
Mary, I am emailing you the paper on the understanding that a creative commons license will apply. Best wishes, and thank you for your interest in the paper. Michael