Author: Bruce Tallman

Since 2002 I have been a full-time spiritual director in private practice in London Ontario. I have published two books on spiritual direction for spiritual directors. One of them, "Finding Seekers," is a best seller in the field. I have also published two books on spirituality for the general public. The latest one is called "God's Ecstatic Love: Transform Your Life with a Spiritual Masterpiece." It is a 21st century update of Francis de Sales' classic "Treatise on the Love of God." See Amazon.com The London Free Press has published hundreds of my articles on spirituality, theology and ethics and I have facilitated marriage preparation with over 3500 couples since 1988. For more information see www.brucetallman.com

The Fifth Awakening

Awakenings occur when society’s old institutions break down:

the First Awakening (1730-1760) in North America

ended European forms of religion

and ushered in Protestant Evangelicalism

the Second Awakening (1800-1830) 

ended Calvinist dominance of theology

the Third Awakening (1890 – 1920) had two parts:

the social gospel and Pentecostalism

the Fourth Awakening (1962-1965)

was the Second Vatican Council

the Fifth Great Awakening has been happening 

since the 1970s thru the new science

which does not prove or disprove the existence of God 

nor does it contradict the basic beliefs of our faith

what the believer looks for in science is not proof

but a more accurate understanding of reality

The Tao of Physics by Fritjof Capra showed how 

outstanding scientists shocked by 

relativity and quantum theory

turned to Eastern mysticism to understand reality

and Carl Jung’s belief that all humans 

are communally connected and interdependent 

led to his theory of the Collective Unconscious

which fit well with the quantum universe

and Jesus, like mystics everywhere, was a unitive thinker 

who talked about his unity with the poor: 

“To the extent you took care of one of these 

sisters and brothers of mine, even the least of them, 

you did it to me”

– Matthew 25: 31-46

to love Christ is to take care of the most needy –

that is why ministers of the gospel, as Henri Nouwen put it 

must be “wounded healers” 

or they cannot enter authentically into the suffering

of a dislocated world/

a rootless generation/

a dying person

unless they have experienced the awakening of suffering 

in their own heart.

Preferring the Poor

If we believe that science and religion are incompatible

we will live in one world

and pray and believe in another

the Newtonian view of the world

did not include the human person –

everything was mechanical

and even when the new physics gave us a dynamic cosmos

religious consciousness was stuck in a medieval cosmos:

a perfect/immutable/unchanging/hierarchical/

anthropocentric world

evolution may be a painful movement forward

marked by dramatic suffering and losses

the losses cannot be ignored

but neither can the progress

from hunter-gatherer

to mythic religious empires

to pluralistic informational societies

spiritual regress happened with Nietzsche’s

“will-to-power”

which is not “will” in the psychological sense

nor power in the sociological sense –

for Nietzsche will-to-power

is ontological/basic reality/the way things are

spiritual progress happened after the death

of Brother Lawrence of the Resurrection in 1691

when his Abbott published Lawrence’s Practice of the Presence of God

and it exploded around the world

spiritual progress also occurred with Gustavo Gutierrez

and his radical theology of the poor –

theology from the perspective of poor people not victors

the polar opposite of Nietzsche’s will-to-power

and mirrored in the Second Vatican Council’s

“preferential option for the poor.”

 

Authentic Spirituality

Spirituality should move people from 

mortality to immortality/

sin to salvation/

law to grace/

bondage to freedom/

ignorance to enlightenment/

suffering to fullness of life

without transformation religion is merely

the institutionalization of spirituality –

a belief and belonging system –

there is no change of consciousness/motivation –

conversion means moving from outer to inner authority

– from “the Church says”

to “given what the Church says

what also does the Holy Spirit/my conscience/

my experience say?” –

inner authority leads to the True Self/God within

true piety is not turning our face from West to East

true piety gives of its substance:

alms to the needy/strangers/travellers

ransoming of slaves

when I seek God, every event/moment/

sows God’s seeds in my will

and eventually Bibles burst out of my mouth

we are paradoxically both empty and full

full of emptiness/empty of fullness

and there is satisfaction in being empty

if we let God come in and fill us up

the divine/human encounter 

in the Sacraments

is with my own True Self/the Church/God

and therefore should change 

planetary/cosmic consciousness

transform the small/egoic self/the Church/

and the world’s cosmic messiness.

TEACHINGS OF THE LIVING CHRIST

The birthing of the universe is miraculous:

one-trillionth of a % faster = universe flies apart

one-trillionth of a % slower = universe collapses into itself

only God could pull this off

only God is able to do all things

including bringing life out of death

as with Christ

according to the Buddhist saint Thich Nhat Hahn

“After Buddha’s death devotion turned 

from the Dharmakaya (the teaching)

to the Eternal Buddha (the Teacher)

Buddha became in Mahayana Buddhism

the Buddha of Faith/the Living Buddha

like the Christ of Faith/the Living Christ”

(Living Buddha, Living Christ)

Jesus taught thru the Bible that love takes place

in personal care for:

children: “Let the little children come to me, 

and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven 

belongs to such as these” (Matthew 19:14)

parents: “Honor your father and mother

that your days may be long in the land 

that the Lord your God is giving you” (Exodus 20:12)

the sick and poor: “Come to me, all you who are weary 

and burdened, and I will give you rest –

take my yoke upon you and learn from me

for I am gentle and humble in heart” (Matthew 11: 28-30)

Jesus also taught thru the Church 

“Contemplative prayer is a gift/a grace

that can only be accepted in humility and poverty” 

(Catechism of the Catholic Church)

and he taught thru the saints 

like Teresa of Avila 

that “If you get to the fifth inner mansion

there is absolute certainty

that God has planted Godself

in the center of your soul

and at that point your only desire

is to do God’s will”

(The Interior Castle).

THE PARADOX OF RELIGION

The paradox of being human is that 

we have two competing drives:

the desire to belong

to find the security of community

and the desire to stand alone

and have a personal relationship with God

we also long for freedom

but therein lies another paradox: 

true freedom is found in community

not isolation/rejection of all institutions 

including religious organizations

still another paradox: religious people 

because they set their standards high

are particularly susceptible to shadow-problems –

they think they always have to be good/virtuous

but striving for this paradoxically activates 

their dark side by repression

so their subconscious mind contains

all their unChristlike drives

even clergy could not get excited about religion

since they defined “religion” as “institution”

and “spirituality” as “experiential/personal/lively faith” –

therefore not religion but spirituality turned their crank/

brought them to the living God

however, so much holiness is lost to religious organizations

because men refuse to share the secrets of their hearts 

with one another in community –

“Men preach to one another to avoid self-disclosure 

and thus paradoxically avoid holiness”

– John Henry Newman

but other religious men are prophetic conduits of Spirit 

like Canadian folk legend Bruce Cockburn 

who take the Cross as their window on the world 

allowing them to face the apocalyptic world

all around and within them –

their awareness of the Cross allows them  

to compassionately handle shadow-problems

in the heart of the world and in their own hearts.

LONELINESS IN A FRANTIC WORLD

All beings have a propensity to unite with other beings

without this internal propensity which some call “gravity”

from atoms to galaxies

love would not appear at higher levels –

this propensity to unite, this gravity, is “attraction”

the primordial beginning of love

 

“Love/conviction/service not theology

are the keys to the Great Awakening –

it is not ‘what’ we believe but ‘how’ we believe

what is ‘actionable’ that counts”

– Diana Butler Bass

 

if God made you with this internal propensity to love

and made you intrinsically important to God

why would God change her mind in the next life?

God’s Love is the one eternal thing that takes away

our foundational fear of death/annihilation

 

so we never need to feel alone

God is always with us

but loneliness is not the same as being alone or solitude 

loneliness is a feeling of not being a part of anything/

being cut off from others and life/

being intrinsically unworthy of love/

a feeling of guilt/a taste of death

but Love is stronger than death

 

we can be alone and be happy

if we feel we are still part of a loving family/community –

Church was originally meant to be the Beloved Community

 

but people try to fill the hole in their soul –

their loneliness – with work

but a distinction exists

between sound/healthy/meaningful/life-giving work

and frantic work

done out of loneliness/fear/greed/

our sins/society’s sins

 

Love and our recognition of that Love

are the only answers

to our frantic lives in a frantic society

in a frantic world.

 

IMAGINING GOD

How we image God makes all the difference –

it impacts how we relate to God/others/ourselves –

Karl Rahner imagined God as “Incomprehensible Holy Mystery”

not concretely definable yet concretely involved

in all aspects of life

the ancient Greeks imagined God as Zeus –

 a god cleverly involved in human destruction –

not just by throwing lightning bolts

but also curing human lust for power 

by increasing our power at the expense of wisdom

until us mortals destroy ourselves –

what today we are on the verge of doing 

with artificial intelligence

in the past we made God and spirituality

the Great Escape from reality –

the holiest thing was to be holed up in a monastery

or in the monastery of your heart

never seeking restorative justice

but the True God and true spirituality

are not dead to the body/sex/nature/beauty/

justice/humor/and excellence

previously we cut God and Spirit off from all that

but God’s Spirit excludes nothing and no one

the Holy Spirit as the Breath of Divine Life 

is the Source of all life

in fact, aliveness is the best witness of God’s Presence –

when Francis of Assisi said to the almond tree

“Speak to me of God’s Presence”

the tree blossomed

similarly, we mortals blossom when we practice 

the Presence of God

for “while I am with God, I fear nothing”

“The Paschal Mystery is now grafted 

onto the tree of humanity and the history 

of each individual” – John Paul II

so, Ramakrishna (1836-1886), the great Hindu saint

may have met Jesus in his heart since Jesus said

“I have other flocks that are not of this sheep pen –

they will listen to my voice” (John 10:16).

CURING INDIVIDUALISM

Scripture says Satan, the Father of Lies

loves to deceive mortals

and so all private revelations/claims of visions/voices

are subjected to rigorous discernment

by Vatican authorities

Teresa of Avila had a private revelation

a vision of an Interior Mansion inside everyone

and we progress from one inner mansion to another

and riches/treasures/joys are in the fifth mansion

and the majority of people gain admittance there

and the devil is kept out

and the Vatican approved this vision 

as far as visions go, believers cannot trust society

to tell us the ways of God and Satan 

because society is confused/blown about 

by constant winds of change/

only concerned with pragmatism/and immediate consequences

and so, believers must somehow learn

to trust God again 

and there is objective good/objective truth

society cannot save us for 

“It has become normal to feel ill-at-ease

as we watch the fraying rope

of our culture unravel strand by strand

and slowly break” – Bruce Cockburn

families tie society together but individualism unravels them

curing individualism comes from recognizing

we are essentially social beings

we are all subjects before God

we are interdependent

and called to unity/accountability for others/the world/ourselves

the best way to be accountable is thru contemplation

for the essence of contemplation 

is to experience God’s “I AM” which:

illumines your own “i am”

ties us all together as one family of daughters/sons of God

being loved by one Eternal Mother/Father

being mindful of the Holy Spirit/the Present Moment/

healing of all our mental/physical wounds/

awareness of Jesus the Great Healer/the healing of the Trinity.

SCIENCE VERSUS RELIGION AND MEANING?

Forty percent of chemists/physicists/astronomers

have a religious affiliation 

but forty percent of Americans believe 

science and religion are incompatible/in conflict

science is about objective truth about Nature

but Spirit first of all goes out of itself as Nature

so Nature is objective Spirit/

unselfconscious Spirit/slumbering Spirit

Plato’s “visible/sensible God”

and Nature is a dynamic god

not an inert background for Mind

as the ancient Egyptians thought

to Dietrich Bonhoeffer “religion”

is the “garment of Christianity”

its outward form not its essence

and when essence is lost

religious institutions like churches die 

and are reborn as something new

death and rebirth is a pattern

in all major religions:

life/death/resurrection/reincarnation

the Moon is the great symbol of this –

religion is about symbolism 

the source of meaning

and humans by Nature are meaning-seekers:

even so-called “primitive” tribes

believe the Moon 

is the abode of souls 

awaiting reincarnation

and the Moon expands with souls as it waxes

and releases souls as it wanes

the Moon dies/resurrects/

reincarnates as something new

it may not be a scientific fact 

science is all about facts

but the Moon-belief

is objectively and truly meaningful

and soul-satisfying.

SPIRITUALITY BEFORE BIBLE

A Jesuit approached a guru

and asked to be initiated

into the art of praying without ceasing

the guru said “Concentrate on your breathing

and the air you breathe in and out is God

and stay with that awareness”

the Jesuit soon realized

prayer is as easy

as breathing

and that with the guru’s method

praying without ceasing is easy-

all of us are praying without ceasing

as we breathe

as long as we are aware

 

but constant awareness is the great challenge

for all of us, not just Hindus and Jesuits –

and in addition, the challenge for Buddhist practice

is to hold the sadness of Samsara

and the vision of the Eastern Sun

at the same time –

to hold sadness at our broken/illusory world

and the joy of heaven

simultaneously

and in constant awareness

 

but any type of prayer, Eastern or Western,

is powerful –

it was three hundred years of praying

that came before and led to

the Nicene Creed

and to choosing what books went in the Bible

and what did not make the cut –

the Gospels of Peter/Mary/Magdalene/Phillip/Thomas/

Gospel of Truth/Gospel to the Egyptians/Secret Book of James –

prayer came before choosing

the Canon of Scripture –

the officially sanctioned books by the Church –

the Bible and Creeds came after the prayer of the Church

 

the Bible and Creeds are not unimportant

but they are not foundational

spirituality/prayer is.