Category: psychology

LOVE KNOWS NO HIERARCHY

In Japan, the traditional sects:

Pure Land/Nichiren/Zen Buddhism dwindle

and new ones faithful to Buddhist teachings

try to humanize Japanese culture

alienated by technology and debilitating wealth

 

in Japan, like many countries and religions

hierarchy dominates and is a dirty word for many

but both oppressive/dominator/political

and growth/actualization/psychological hierarchies

exist – and the latter serve us

by showing us the road to human development

 

in ancient Greece, even love had (age-related) hierarchies:

philia – the bond of family and friends when you are young

eros – the bond of lovers when you are adult

storge – the bond of empathy when you are broken by life

agape – the bond of God-love when you finally surrender

 

the supreme love – the love of God

was preceded for Augustine by the “love of wisdom” –

“philo-sophia” or “philosophy” which he discovered

thru the Roman philosopher Cicero’s book Hortentius –

love of wisdom turned Augustine away from his sinful life

and toward God

 

philia is love expressed in family and community –

brotherly/sisterly/communal love –

eros is love longing to be one with the other

storge is love feeling what the other feels

agape is love repaying evil with good

agape loves those broken/rejected/marginalized

 

but according to Carl Jung agape begins with self-knowledge –

a religious undertaking because it involves

getting to know your shadow – all the rejected/lost parts of your soul –

embracing your shadow is the main path to healing

and to the unconditional love of God – how can you believe

God unconditionally loves you

if you don’t unconditionally love yourself?

 

Spinoza, a philosopher, agrees with Erich Fromm, a psychologist:

proper love of the soul/self-love/self-affirmation/courage

and proper love of others and God are all interdependent

and so all loves are part of each other – all loves are one.

THE BROAD AND NARROW GATES

 In our scientific age “More than knowledge

that comes from research, we need wisdom

that comes from prayer” – William Johnston, SJ

 

“To know your origins is to know your True Self”

– Lao Tzu

 

“hell” is “perpetual alienation from the True Self” –

it is constantly living in the False Self

so that your whole life is false

 

the True Self is hidden in God

so that most of us don’t discover our origins

until we die –

“Broad is the gate that leads to destruction

and many enter through it;

narrow is the gate that leads to eternal life”

– Jesus in Matthew 7:13-14

 

to enter by the narrow gate/find eternal life

we must understand Teresa of Avila’s

first four mansions in her Interior Castle

which can be summarized by reference to the will:

First Mansion: will marked by self-indulgence

Second Mansion: will marked by spiritual growth

but not steadfastness

Third Mansion: will marked by beginning of resolution

Fourth Mansion: will marked by steadfast union

with the Divine Will in prayer

 

every day every one out of ignorance and fear

mentally or physically strikes out at “the enemy”

and so the pain in the world goes on –

before the broad gate of aggression we could rather ask

“Do I want war or peace in my inner and outer worlds?”

 

fear always fears

that what it loves will be taken away

regret always regrets

that what it loved was taken away

but nothing God loves

can be taken away from God –

so that if you are in God

there is nothing to fear or regret.

 

PERILS OF DUALISM

Brother Wayne Teasdale thought the unitive experience

found in all major religions

could form the common ground

for interreligious dialogue

 

on the other hand, dualistic thinking begets sin

since it divides up the oneness of life –

to sin is to separate yourself

from Earth/your true self/others/God

 

dualistic thinkers use knowledge –

even religious knowledge –

for ego-enhancement/shaming others

for their ignorance/controlling others

 

thank God healing is now holistic/unitive –

heal the whole family system

not just the individual who may be a “GOAT” –

not the “Greatest Of All Time”

but a “scapegoat” –

an outlet for the family’s sickness/dysfunctionality/rage

to flow to and through

 

all rage and even what we call the “wrath of God”

stems from falsely disconnecting natural and supernatural –

we only connect the two in so-called “acts of God” –

earthquakes/floods/avalanches/tsunamis –

this disconnection means the only “supernatural”

action is saying prayers

and social/Earth justice/transformation

are conveniently avoided as “secular”

 

dualistic thinking splits matter from spirit/

nature from grace/psychology from religion

when in fact they interweave

 

for example – every religious event

takes place in the “psyche”

which in Latin means “soul” –

there is an intrinsic religious factor

in every psychic development

but we have separated the soul from religion

and then we wonder why

religious institutions are in trouble!

 

THE FREEDOM OF RELIGION

God can only be in all things if we allow God to be with us

in mercy as well as power

in littleness as well as greatness

in emptiness as well as fullness –

when we are full of ego God empties us

and when we are empty God fills us with Spirit

 

our love of God depends on the emptiness/trials/tribulations

of the world because we cannot get to pure love

until we experience emptiness/setbacks/limitations to our ego

 

if you go into the world with the conscious intention

to not shut anything or anyone out of your heart

you will be constantly challenged by learning

ugly things about yourself that you always repressed –

prejudices that want to keep your heart shut down

 

according to psychologists there are ten lines

of internal development that can go thru stages of growth:

moral/spiritual/psychological/esthetic/physical lines

cognitive/financial/social/sexual/emotional lines

 

and of course psychologists overlook religious lines –

since religion is always ironically a blind spot for psychologists

even though religion pervades every culture throughout history

and religiosity is an inescapable part of our human constitution

and rights of religious freedom are founded on the dignity

of being human which can be established

thru reason and the Word of God/the Bible

 

freedom of religion and freedom of religious development

should therefore be written into every nation’s constitution

as a civil right of all citizens so that no one is forced

to be an atheist as in Marxism/communism

and no one is forced to be religious

as in ancient times when Christianity became

the state religion of the Holy Roman Empire

 

even if Christianity, unlike other “myths” –

“lies that turn out to be the Truth” – even if you don’t like it

that Christianity proposes something greater than immortality –

eternal life with God – since immortality without God and a living body

with senses – and therefore without a life – would be eternal boredom

still, despite what you like/dislike, the freedom of religion must be respected.

 

GOD’S SWEETNESS CONQUERS FEAR

Allah told the angels to bow before humans

which they did, except for Iblis (Satan) who waxed proud

and led Adam and Eve out of the Garden to where

everyone is everyone’s enemy.

 

Still, there is some friendship and joy

but apocalyptic dread predominates more than joy right now –

anxiety and some delight

are the two basic ways/feelings/

life-experiences of contemporary humans.

 

But there is nothing to be fearful/worried/anxious about –

DNA and RNA show we are all connected –

we have all evolved from common sources

and if you go back far enough

you get to the One Common Source.

 

And there is nothing to fear because

in a static world, God is independent from Creation

but in an evolving world, the world is not God

and God is not the world

but God is in the depths of all things

and leading them to growth/fulfillment.

 

Every aspect of life is an invitation

to radical amazement

which goes beyond knowledge

and is a Doorway to the Divine.

 

Enlightened people/saints/mystics

like Saint Bernard or John of the Cross

describe the experience of God

as restful/peaceful/sweet/delightful/even erotic

and Muslims like Rumi/Hafiz/Kabir

and Hindus like Rabindranath Tagore

describe life with God as

fun/fantastic/ecstatic

and Jews like Jesus

proclaim “My yolk is easy

and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:30).

 

Jesus is the Light of the World (John 8:12)

who tells us we are the Light of the World (Matthew 5:14)

and there is nothing to fear (Matthew 10:31).

THE SHADOW AND THE INNER RIVER

Jesus said “Blessed are the peacemakers”

however, to work for and sustain peace

you have to be at peace in your own heart

not angry and hateful of the “wrongdoers” –

if you fight evil with your own evil

you will simply replace one evil with another.

 

You cannot deal effectively with the

hurt/anger/shadow/jealousy/deceit in others

until you have dealt with these things in yourself –

then there is no judgement/condescension toward others.

 

A fruitful way of discovering your shadow

is to identify with one scripture figure:

Mary or Martha/the prodigal son or his older brother –

the one you don’t identify with is your shadow

and can teach you inner transformation.

 

According to Paul Tillich in The Courage to Be

there are three forms of inner transformation:

the courage to be vs not be

(to choose life not death)

the courage of faith vs meaninglessness

(to trust that it all somehow makes sense)

the courage to accept God’s acceptance of you

vs condemnation (to trust that God

is merciful/forgiving/your unconditional lover).

 

Teresa of Avila’s entire mystical theology

is about finding God’s Inner Flow/River of God within you

and stop wasting your time digging for water on your own –

let the Spirit do the work of transformation

and stop striving for perfection.

 

Silence and solitude are the heart of prayer –

they allow us to: go within and listen to God

let God shine light into our shadow

stop being driven by our noisome world

which incessantly clamors for our attention.

 

Without silence and solitude

the Spirit has no room to make its home in us

and is forced to vacate the premises

of our soul.

 

GOD/FREEDOM/ADDICTION/PAIN

Without God you have no foundational significance

no unshakeable experience

and you get into needing constant self-validation/

self-proving: everyone becomes your competitor

and you are lost in fragmentary/fleeting experiences

that signify nothing.

 

Values highly prized by society: freedom/prosperity

come from God, but without God they become warped

into licence (no morals)/money-addiction –

the values were originally exceedingly good

but need to be rooted in their Divine Source.

 

The disempowerment/apathy/enslavement

caused by patriarchal institutions may be responsible

for all the addictions in our society

that give us the temporary illusion

of escaping our captivity.

 

If you are never fully in the Now where God is

you will never feel full and fulfilled

you will always grasp for more

and become a control freak/addict.

 

The enemy is us and the friend is us –

the more we can befriend ourselves

the more we can admit that we mistakenly think

that the way to get happy

is to blame someone else, even God.

 

Does God chastise us/cause our suffering?

I don’t know but Augustine thought so:

“I exceeded all the boundaries of Your law

and I did not escape your chastisement –

sin has its consequences.

But you were always with me, mercilessly punishing me

in order to lead me to the true delight

that is only found in You –

You fashion pain to be a lesson

You strike to heal.”

 

Is thinking that God punishes us out of love

a warped view of God?

I don’t know, but I think so.

SHADOW: INTEGRATION/ CELEBRATION/LIBERATION

Dualisms deny the wholism of life

and encourage us to project

our personal and social shadows

onto some external scapegoat

who we imagine as the source of all our problems

instead of facing and integrating our shadow –

if all is One, you must own your shadow.

 

Our self-image is our false self –

it contains none of our shadow –

the stuff we deny and repress about ourselves –

the self-image is a projection of our ideal/not real self.

 

It is because of men’s projection/disconnection

with their shadow/body/emotions/God

that we have rape/gun violence/war.

 

Unredeemed men love domination/patriarchy

and “dominator hierarchies” which cause oppression

whereas “growth hierarchies” end oppression

and, contrary to feminist thought

it is a disaster when all hierarchies are condemned –

nothing gets done.

 

In Christianity, a true prophet does not just critique

the present order, s/he also offers an alternative vision

of a different order of peace/justice/love.

 

In a different order, the shadow is integrated

tenderness of the awakened heart

is always accessible,

and as in Buddhism,

Christians celebrate caring/appreciation/gratitude

in poetry/dance/sculpture/music/all art.

 

In joy and sorrow

losing our small ego

results in seeing the pain and beauty of the world

and a never-ending creative outflow

of ecstasy and grief is liberated.

 

 

 

 

EASTERN AND WESTERN WAYS TO GOD

Buddhists should not leave the Sangha, the community

just like Christians should not leave the Church

for it is hard to practice the faith without others.

The Sangha has arhats similar to Christian saints –

both arhats and saints can help us live fully.

 

But Sangha and Church leaders can serve or dominate you –

dominator hierarchies such as caste systems

exploit people and prevent individual/collective growth.

Growth/developmental/actualization hierarchies

lead humans from ego/ to ethnic/ to world/ to cosmos-centrism.

 

Many people, particularly men, are stuck in their lives:

afraid of introspection/pleasure/repressed emotion

disconnected from their bodies

asleep in patriarchal theocracies

but starting to wake up to their vulnerability/sensitivity.

 

Fear of being human

and information overload, a total head trip

is making Western Civilization neurotic –

the Asian belief in the richness of silence/

wordless wisdom/human wonder

is necessary and appealing

but fast disappearing.

 

However, bad discontent and good discontent exist in the West –

discontent with never having enough possessions/

always wanting more

and discontent with all the injustices in the world

that call one to take action.

 

In the East there are three main ways to God:

the way of the head – the way of intellect/knowledge/truth

the way of the heart – the way of emotion/devotion/beauty

the way of the gut – the way of will/action/goodness.

 

To Jurgen Moltmann, a European theologian

Christ’s death and resurrection, according to Colossians

reconciles and unites all three ways/all Creation/all creatures

so that the Cosmic Christ flows through all

and Creation, as Eastern Orthodox theologians say

is deified/filled with/fulfilled through

the Divine.

COMMITMENT/FREEDOM/MERCY

Wholeness and liberation not perfection and control

are the goals of authentic human spiritual development.

 

Individuals/societies that affirm

existentialist autonomy from God

think they are supporting life/hope/

freedom from sin/guilt

but they really move people

toward death and destruction.

 

The supposed freedom of casual sex

is not love, which requires commitment –

true freedom involves committing yourself to lifelong love –

conjugal love in marriage involves the good

of the whole person – it enriches their body/mind

expresses the unique friendship of spouses

and opens them to the healing and grace of God.

Without commitment you remain not in love

but in the prison of your own ego.

 

God draws humans to each other and to God

in hidden/subtle/wonderful ways.

The supposedly good self and bad shadow

are not opposites – just as the self/ego

can have destructive attitudes

so the shadow can have good qualities –

moral instincts and creative impulses.

 

Thomas Merton, the great rescuer of contemplation

and mysticism, constantly wrestled with his shadow

but ultimately found it liberating

to realize his whole life was one

of paradox and self-contradiction

and that, although this caused constant insecurity

it was his greatest security

for it was the sign of God’s mercy

and the only way God could deal with someone

so complicated and confused

as he found himself to be.

 

God loves and liberates the whole person

shadow and all.