In religion, only non-dual seers are the experts
the only ones who can hold contrary/opposites together.
One non-dual seer was Augustine
who perceived that God is
merciful yet just
ancient yet new
hidden yet present.
There is an ambiance of
light/peace/wisdom
around great sages –
even when they are not present
their life and words show us the way.
Similar to Augustine
the author of the Cloud of Unknowing
was not anti-intellectual
but believed reason is limited:
God cannot be known by thought –
only by love.
Reason by itself alone would give us
God as a loveless clock-maker
who winds up the universe like a toy
and lets it run on its own till it runs out
in which case all revelation/ scripture/prophecy
are irrelevant.
The ‘dialectic of progress’ is ongoing
gains and losses – one era sees and solves
the problems of the previous era
but then has its own problems
but there is a net gain
and therefore a direction to evolution.
God is the direction.
If rational people equate holiness
with perfection – for this is what reason dictates –
these ‘perfect people’ would not see
their shadow, and project it onto others.
The more shadow is repressed
the more it grows, becomes autonomous
and dangerous.
If you haven’t worked through
your personal complexes then repressed conflict
between say, sex and religion, prevents you
from getting to the transcendental level.
We need to feel the fear
and make it our companion, not our enemy.
Beyond the shadow
Vedanta Hinduism warns:
If you think your Higher Self is God
and you are not your body
you won’t get out of the way
of a charging elephant –
you will be crushed.
It is important to know your place.
In Islam, beneath Allah
are three created intelligences:
angels made of light
jinn (spirits) made of fire
humans made of dust.
Many jinn have accepted the True Faith
and are good. The bad jinn
work with the fallen angels
particularly Iblis, chief of the fallen angels.
In countering the chief of the fallen angels, Satan
Jesus tried to move everyone to the good
to wake us up
out of our hypnotic cultural trance/collective sleepwalking
by countercultural actions/teachings/parables –
tools for turning the status quo upside down.
Jesus was often abrasive with hypocrites –
his crucifixion was not without cause
nor was it just personal –
it holds global/cosmic implications
which we usually overlook
just as we overlook our present global/cosmic disaster.
The crucifixion of Christ and of the planet
always need serious theological reflection:
the mission of Christianity and all religions now must be
to save the world
from climate change.
Intelligent Christian Spirituality 