THE INTEGRATION OF ALL THINGS

Most Christians think dualistically:

human vs God/nature vs grace/male vs female

spirit vs matter/body vs soul/East vs West

science vs religion –

these are not the same but they are all One

with the crown chakra or 4^th stage of moral development

the integrated person becomes a paradoxical union of

masculine/feminine; autonomy/relationship;

rights/responsibilities; agency/communion;

wisdom/compassion;justice/mercy –

just like God

spiritual people need to reclaim not only compassion –

pleasure in righting relationships

but also passion –

pleasure in eros and the sharing of it –

both are God’s work:

“Any idea that spirituality means neglect of the body

is profoundly mistaken” – Albert Nolan

after Vatican II many Catholic thinkers

inspired by the Trappist and Benedictine monks –

Thomas Merton and Bede Griffiths –

started integrating Zen and yoga/

vipassana and transcendental meditation

into Christianity

Merton was Catholic because he believed the Church

gave him the greatest spiritual freedom

for it integrated Law and Spirit –

he would not be Catholic if he believed the Church

was just an institution with rules and laws

that demanded external conformity –

he believed the laws of the Church are necessary

but subordinate to the Holy Spirit and Love

and it is in Christ that true freedom is found

and the Church is Christ’s Body/Bride/living by Christ’s Spirit

for the Church to aid an emerging Interspiritual Age

spiritual/religious discussion cannot be separated

from secular/nonreligious discussion

from academic/historical/developmental discussion

from discussion about the new scientifically based cosmology

which integrates everything.