Spirituality is: a critique of institutional religion
a yearning for new gods as the old gods fail
a search for fresh connections to God/others/self.
God can be our Mother/Lover/Friend
representing Agape/Eros/Philia
taking care of others/self/world.
Dante: every scripture passage
for example, the Passion/Resurrection narrative
can be taken literally: Jesus rose bodily from death
morally: we should focus on eternal not temporal things
allegorically: we too will rise from death to eternal life
mystically: eternal life is present right here and right now.
Some see life through stained glass windows:
theirs is a sacramental view of the world –
“The Earth Is bread, the Sun is wine”
all sin/oppression/violence are the Passion of Christ.
Shadow is often falsely equated with sin
but sin is rejection of God
and shadow is rejection of self.
The false self is more bogus than bad
and only bad when it pretends
to be more than it is – a costume we need to shed
so we can see the light of the true self.
Churches can help us find this light
by envisioning the true dignity of human beings:
both male and female are made in God’s image
capable of knowing and loving their Creator
masters of all creatures on Earth
and responsible for stewardship of them
in a way that honors God.
Jesus chased all creatures out of the Temple
in order to end the ritual slaughter of animals
“What God desires is mercy not sacrifice”
Hosea 6:6 and Matthew 9:13.
But institutional religion did not accept
this New God
and slaughtered him instead.
Intelligent Christian Spirituality 