Tolerance of ambiguity and Catholic mystagogy

 

Understanding the Terms

• Tolerance of Ambiguity — A personality trait describing one’s comfort with uncertainty, complexity, and unresolved questions. People high in this trait are more open to paradox, nuance, and mystery.
• Catholic Mystagogy — A spiritual process of entering into the mystery of faith, especially after receiving the sacraments. It emphasizes reflection, symbolic depth, and ongoing revelation rather than fixed answers.

1. Shared Comfort with Mystery

Mystagogy is not about explaining everything—it’s about dwelling in mystery. Those with high tolerance of ambiguity are naturally suited to this:

• They don’t need immediate closure or rigid definitions.
• They can sit with paradox (e.g., Christ as both human and divine) without anxiety.
• They’re more likely to engage mystagogy as a lifelong unfolding rather than a checklist.

This trait supports the contemplative, poetic, and symbolic nature of mystagogical formation.

2. Resistance to Over-Simplification

Mystagogy resists reductionism. It invites believers to move:

• from symbol to reality
• from visible to invisible
• from sacrament to mystery

People with low tolerance of ambiguity may struggle here. They may want clear rules, fixed meanings, and binary categories. Mystagogy asks them to loosen that grip.

3. Openness to Spiritual Development

Mystagogy is not just post-sacramental—it’s ongoing. It requires:

• reflection on lived experience
• openness to new layers of meaning
• willingness to revise one’s understanding of God

High ambiguity tolerance supports this developmental arc. It allows for spiritual evolution without fear of incoherence.

4. Integration of Psychological and Spiritual Growth

Some Catholic mystagogical models (e.g., Biersbach’s integration of psychology and theology) explicitly link emotional maturity with spiritual depth. Tolerance of ambiguity is part of that maturity:

• It supports emotional regulation in the face of mystery.
• It allows for spiritual formation that includes doubt, complexity, and symbolic richness.

This makes mystagogy not just a theological process, but a psychological one.

5. Implications for Catechesis and Formation

Catechists and spiritual directors may tailor mystagogical experiences based on ambiguity tolerance:

• High tolerance: invite open-ended reflection, poetic language, symbolic exploration.
• Low tolerance: offer structured guidance, clear connections, gradual exposure to mystery.

Mystagogy can stretch both ends of the spectrum—but knowing where someone starts helps shape the journey.

In Summary

Tolerance of ambiguity enhances Catholic mystagogy by:

• supporting comfort with mystery and paradox
• resisting oversimplification
• enabling ongoing spiritual development
• integrating emotional and theological growth

Mystagogy thrives when believers can dwell in mystery without needing immediate resolution. This trait doesn’t determine faith—but it shapes how faith is formed, deepened, and lived.

note: post not intended to be doctrinal or reflect dogma; it is speculative

post inspired by Blest Atheist by Elizabeth Mahlou

Book description

As a young child, outraged by the hypocrisy she finds in a church that does nothing to alleviate the physical and sexual abuse she experiences on a regular basis, Beth delivers an accusatory youth sermon and gets her family expelled from the church. Having locked the door on God, Beth goes on to raise a family of seven children, learn 17 languages, and enjoy a career that takes her to NASA, Washington, and 24 countries. All the time, however, God keeps knocking at the door, protecting and blessing her, which she realizes only decades later. Ultimately, Beth finds God in a very simple yet most unusual way. A very human story, Blest Atheist encompasses the greatest literary themes of all time – alienation, redemption, and even the miraculous. The author’s life experiences, both tragic and tremendous, result in a spiritual journey containing significant ups and downs that ultimately yield great joy and humility.

Book review

Brendan M. Howard

Flawed protagonist, honest struggles

DISCLAIMER: I received this book as an early review copy.

Elizabeth Mahlou's autobiography and tale of coming to believe in God has a lot going for it.

Her candid descriptions of physical, emotional, and sexual abuse at the hands of relatives gripped this reader in a flood of sympathy and horror. Mahlou's great reserve of optimism and compassion as child and adult seems initially boastful. But in light of her life of childhood trauma, physically and mentally challenged children of her own, her commendable hunt for intellectual success, and a cycle of poverty that she constantly fights to escape, readers will find themselves rooting for Mahlou more than most any other autobiographical subject in English letters. The story of her hurts and triumphs, unlike those of writers reeling from the obscene horrors of the Holocaust, horrific genocidal wars, or horrendous serial killing drama, is scary in its possibility. Parents who don't know how not to hit their kids? Medical and educational leaders who blindly try to force or refuse treatment to her children? These are realities for many, and her strength will be succor to those fighting against establishment figures.

But Mahlou's chief reason for writing this very personal tale is not to offer succor, but to tell the story of how an atheist came to believe in God. As a very intelligent, very compassionate nonbeliever-turned-Christian, Mahlou is a captivating example of religion's pull even for those who aren't writhing in self-pity, aren't blind to all but childish reasons for religious belief and aren't obediently following their parents' and parents' belief systems.

This is a tale of belief hard-fought-against, wisely considered, and spiritually experienced.

For more posts about Elizabeth Mahlou and her books, click HERE.

For more posts about religious conversion, click HERE.

For more posts about atheism, click HERE.

For more posts about spirituality, click HERE.

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