...the sense of reverence that arises in us when we contemplate the mystery of life. This attitude of awe sprang from that universal human experience of the numinous. The prophets of Israel had experienced this as a profound shock when they had their visions of holiness. Romantics such as Wordsworth had felt a similar reverence and sense of dependence upon the spirit they encountered in nature. Schleiermacher's distinguished pupil Rudolf Otto would explore this experience in his important book The Idea of the Holy, showing that when human beings are confronted with this transcendence, they no longer feel that they are the alpha and omega of existence.
The human experience of, or thought about "the mystery of life" and the fact that the various sciences provide only partial perspectives leads to the central insight, assumption, and contribution of Formative Spirituality: the existence of the "mystery of formation" and its central position vis a vis distinctively human formation in its quest for increased consonance. So central is this to Formative Spirituality that Byrne identifies "the mystery of formation" as the concept upon which Formative Spirituality is founded. He writes:
The process of formation is a mystery. Although the physical and human sciences can demonstrate a certain lawfulness in the rising and falling of nature's forms and in the dynamics of human existence, this lawfulness always remains beyond complete discovery by scientific exploration... In van Kaam's thought, the formation mystery is both hidden and revealed. It transcends our comprehension. As a mystery in which we ourselves are involved, we cannot objectify it totally. The mystery is ultimately veiled to eyes that see only from within it. Yet, the formation mystery is disclosed in its manifestations or "epiphanies." This means that the mystery appears to human consciousness through the phenomena of formation events.
This mystery is the most foundational, comprehensive, and potentially unifying phenomenon and concept that underlies human existence... The transcendent mystery of formation is manifest in the transcendence-ability of human beings: their ability to go beyond their immersion in the cosmic and organismic manifestations of the formation mystery.
The science of foundational human formation is built upon our desire to understand the formation mystery... We seek such understanding that we may live in consonance...
When we speak of the mystery we are not speaking of a thing. Rather, this mystery, as an object for thought and contemplation, is indicated or implied by means of our physical, social and psychological experiences. Van Kaam and Byrne label this implication present through all experience as an "epiphany" of the mystery. The mystery is shown forth by means of a cosmic, human and transhuman epiphany.
By "cosmic epiphany" is simply meant the mystery of the physical universe. It is what spurs the natural sciences. The quest for understanding of how life works, how stars are formed, how other animals behave all stems from the fact that reality appears to us as a mystery which elicits our close observation of events.
By "transhuman epiphany" is meant the alleged possibility of action by the mystery itself: "...a revelation and self-communication to humanity of the ultimate source and absolute power of formation." This is primarily an issue related to religion as distinguished from spirituality.
By "human epiphany" is meant that in all human activity this same formation process is manifest as it is in the physical, non-human world. But in the human there is an element of distinction from the merely cosmic or physical processes of formation:
What is distinctive, however, about the epiphany of the mystery of formation in human beings is the unique transcendent dimension of human life. The transcendent mystery of formation is manifest in the transcendence-ability of human being: their ability to go beyond their immersion in the cosmic and organismic manifestations of the formation mystery.
So, not only does human formation participate in the form reception and donation that characterizes the physical universe-- the cosmic epiphany-- but there is also another type of formation process present only in the human form (as far as we know). The human goes through a process of transcendence by appreciatively apprehending form and by appraising directives to form reception and donation that may arise out of that appreciative apprehension. This dynamic not only gives form to that which is appreciatively apprehended, but it also gives rise to new forms not found in the cosmic realm. The formation process of, say, water on a rock is not appraised by either the water or the rock, nor does the water or the rock give rise to anything new or unpredictable. This physical reception and donation of form, one to the other in the consonant "fitting together" that we observe, is "blind". Human formation is both spontaneous in a similar manner, but is also, at times, deliberate. "Persons begin to emerge as distinctively human when a minimum of reflection enters their life."
Human formation is not necessarily "blind". We apprehend directives to formation, and thus an element of choice-- of freedom-- is introduced into the formation process. Do I hang this picture or that picture on the wall of my house? Do I buy this suit or that suit? Do I ask this person to marry me? Do I accept this job offer or reject it? Such questions point to this phenomenon of apprehension and appraisal of directives to formation that shows the human as having a degree of transcendence and uniqueness. Some may question if this is really "freedom", but such a question becomes irrelevant in that it is indubitably an observed phenomenon found only within the human. The presence of art, of social and symbolic forms found nowhere other than the human realm are evidence of this transcendence-ability. More importantly, this transcendence implies, and symbolic forms give evidence to, the statement that the human generates new forms out of itself. The human is itself a dialogical process out of which forms emerge. It is in this creative and generative process that we are observing human spirituality.
The human spirit is the power to give form to our life and its corresponding formation field in a way that transcends an absolute determination [by materialist/social forces].
The apparent human ability to transcend purely mechanistic processes necessarily implies an underlying awareness of the mystery. This awareness and the forms it itself generates are the arena of traditional, pre-scientific discourse about human spirituality such as the various religious traditions. To the degree that there are skills that may be learned and utilized in this process of transcendence we can talk of "spirituality" in a way similar to how we could talk about, say, "sociability" as referring to the degree of interpersonal skills a person may or may not know and utilize. In that this is always, essentially, the appearance of new forms, these skills are, in essence, similar to the skills of creativity.
The human, because of this apparent freedom-through-transcendence, does not necessarily generate, or give and receive forms that "fit in" or are experienced as consonant with other parts of experience. The forms we generate out of form reception and donation may elicit experiences of dissonance, of the parts of my life not "fitting together". Indeed, due to the very presence of indeterminacy and unpredictability in human formation the human form is always in a state of some degree of dissonance. A healthy spirituality thus becomes the skills of minimizing this dissonance in so far as the degree of consonance or dissonance is related to the degree of awareness of, and manner of response to, the mystery.
The mystery "epiphanizes" or appears by means of all that is experienced. It "surrounds" us and is the element of consistency throughout the variety of experience. It is an essential and foundational component of the experience and observation of anything. Mystery thus becomes the primal, foundational experience, issue and concern of the human form. "Mystery is the best name for reality." It indicates not an absence, but an over-abundance.
...any thorough description of human questioning, human searching for meaning and order, makes it plain that reality takes on the character of a deepening mystery..." Mystery, it soon becomes clear, is the best name for "reality," and mystery does not mean the absence of light or intelligibility but the surplus or excess.
According to van Kaam, the initial response to the appearance of the mystery takes the form of a primal human question as to the meaningfulness and beneficence of life. The question thus leads to a primal human option of freely choosing an interpretation of the mystery: "Do we choose to abandon ourselves in trust to the mystery of formation or do we let ourselves feel abandoned in a meaningless formation process?" Essentially there are only three main interpretations of the mystery. The mystery is seen as benevolent, indifferent or hostile towards consonant human formation, and within those possibilities it can also be interpreted as personal or impersonal (though neither van Kaam nor Byrne bring this out). These are the essential faith options concerning reality that are available to the human.
The primordial decision implies a basic choice of meaning pertaining to the ongoing formation of one's own life and that of other people, universe, world, and history... All other decisions are influenced by this primordial foundation. We cannot stress this point too strongly. Our life formation hinges on it. This underlying decision coforms all our perceptions, feelings, thoughts, memories, images, anticipations, and actions.
To choose what van Kaam calls an "appreciative abandonment" to the mystery is to enable one to apprehend hidden or novel possibilities for human consonance, thus fueling the impetus to transcend and thus generate form, that is, to exercise one's spirit.