Those who cling to tradition and fear all novelty in God’s relation with His world, deny the creative activity of the Holy Spirit, and forget that what is now tradition was once innovation; that the real Christian is always a revolutionary, belongs to a new race and has been given a new name and a new song. God is with the future.
— Evelyn Underhill
Like so many people who explore the contemplative life, I place a great emphasis on meeting the Spirit in the present moment. “Be here now” is more than just a book by Ram Dass, it is a timeless (pun intended) spiritual principle.
But if life has taught me anything, it’s that everything casts a shadow: even a great nugget of wisdom. And in regards to “the sacrament of the present moment,” it’s helpful to remember that, without a willingness to learn from the past or prepare for the future, even the sacred now can become a cage of sorts.
To say “God is with the future” does not repudiate the present, nor does it violate the contemplative recognition that the only place we meet God is now. But we must meet God — and the present moment — in freedom, which includes the freedom to allow the Spirit to surprise us with new ways of liberation and healing: which are, of course, promises for a transformed future.
I know a monk who likes to say, “Don’t worry about the future — God is already there.” The corollary to this would be “Don’t fret about the past.” The God of the future (and of the past) is the same God who brings us freedom right here and right now.
Does this mean tradition is useless, or dangerous? Not hardly. Tradition is no bad thing, and I am confident that Evelyn Underhill affirms its value. But when she reminds us that “what is now tradition was once innovation,” she is inviting us to be careful not to become so subservient to the wisdom of the past that we forget the possibilities for the present — that will shape the future.
So just as we hold the pain of the past lightly, so too we may hold the wisdom of the past lightly as well. Often that wisdom guides us, and tradition serves us well. But sometimes it is time for tradition to humbly yield to the Spirit’s creative innovation. Such moments may feel dizzying with their lack of certainty but they can also be heady with the freedom that can only come from liberating love.
Quotation Source: Evelyn Underhill, An Anthology of the Love of God (New York: David McKay Company, 1953), p. 73.