Category: religion

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.

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.

 

THE ORIGIN AND GOAL OF LOVE

The End of all things – the Omega Point of Love

is the centering principle of the whole universe

integrates it all – draws all things to itself

and is present in the Beginning/Big Bang/Alpha Point of Love –

and the Union of all things with God –

the Omega Point of Love –

is the goal of all evolution

 

Love is an interdependent life force

all the way from quarks to God

Love is the origin and goal of meaning

 

every star/cell/flower/bird/animal/human

longs for wholeness/completeness

so it can rest in peace –

not die, but rest peacefully

 

just as, after the Big Bang, God rested –

God seeks repose

our souls seek repose –

repose is the Law of Pleasure

for all creatures

 

but even in repose God is at work

another religious paradox –

God’s Providence is at work

even if God lets us be miserable

and deprived of all light and love –

since the longing of holy people for God

increases in such situations

and this longing is God’s work too

 

God is being/resting/working/

becoming/evolving/loving

all the way from Alpha to Omega.

 

 

 

EASTER: CHRIST’S CONSCIOUSNESS

For Meister Eckhart the spiritual journey

is not a climb up Jacob’s ladder

nor the ascent of Mount Carmel

but rather an upward spiral

of expanding consciousness

that has no limits

which fits with what Carl Jung thought

the purpose of life is:

to constantly grow in consciousness

 

which in some ways is similar

to Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs:

physiological (food and shelter) needs/

safety needs/the need to belong/

the need for self-esteem/then self-actualization/

and finally self-transcendence

where you forget yourself

in service to others

 

self-transcendence does not mean

you think your self is very little

but that you think of your self

very little

 

everyone’s story, however little, is sacred

and story is our primary means

of accessing the Divine Source

and the ultimate meaning of life

 

this is why Jesus spoke in parables –

stories that overturned everyone’s applecart –

their view of how life worked –

the religious leaders want to kill God?

Are you serious?

 

but they were serious

because they were operating

from the lowest rungs

of the spiral of consciousness –

the need for their own safety –

because the Romans would destroy their Jewish applecart

if this rebel prophet Jesus

converted too many people to his level of consciousness –

Christ’s call to “repent” is “metanoia:” in Greek:

Christ said: “Go to your Higher (‘meta’) Mind (‘noia’).”

EASTER: HUMAN VS DIVINE PERFECTION

Carl Jung believed each of us

originally had a total and powerful sense

of the Self – the total psyche

but then trauma caused the Ego to emerge

which narrowed our consciousness down

to awareness of our small self as a vulnerable individual

but our Ego still needed connection to the Self

to have psychic health

 

in this regard the Ego’s striving for security and perfection

is striving for death

because we kill our own life

by trying to control everyone else’s life

leaving no room for error or disruption

but sooner or later disruption happens

we lose our health or a loved one

and errors happen –

all this is an inevitable part of being human

 

so to counter this, God always calls all humans

to God’s version of perfection –

sharing in the Divine Life beyond all corruption –

Christ won victory over error/disruption/death

by dying and rising for all humans

so that all of us who live with Lady Wisdom

know faith is God’s Answer

to human versions of perfection

and human anxiety about an insecure future

 

by the grace of God, intimate friendship with the Risen Jesus

has always been central

to the spiritual life of authentic Christians –

this friendship allows us to love

our fellow human beings and our True Self

which fulfills God’s Commandments given to us in Judaism

and in modern Jewish thought –

“All real living is meeting other people”

– Martin Buber, Jewish theologian –

contrast this with the atheist

Jean-Paul Sartre:

“Hell is other people”

God’s version of perfection – faith in God –

saves us from every version of hell.

 

BEING AND LOVE

Our consciousness and therefore our subjectivity

cannot be explained

by science –

it just is –

it cannot be explained

by reference to anything more simple

because it is a fundamental/primary datum

 

similarly, True Love

cannot be explained –

it just is –

it requires being in the here and now

with your Beloved

practicing mindfulness

letting go of all distractions

making “quality time”

a habit

 

similarly, the Dharma of Buddhism

requires being here now

but it does not give you security

or a ground to stand on

because it is all about impermanence/groundlessness/

hopelessness – because as long as you hope

for being a better person

in a better place

you never accept who you are

and where you are

right now

you are never in the Here and Now

never in Love

 

the Enneagram is the face of Love –

it cannot be explained –

it just is –

the face of Christ

the face of God

the face of the True Human

since Jesus the Christ

is both the True Human and God

and has all the Enneagram virtues:

righteousness/compassion/excellence/creativity

wisdom/loyalty/discipline/power/peace

to the max.

 

HUMAN PURPOSE LOST AND FOUND

The new cosmology resonates with Christian faith –

God cannot be reduced to the creation event –

something must have come before Creation – 

God is not reducible to the universe –

even though people pray to the universe

or ask the universe to do things for them

“the universe” is a code name for “God”

but people are afraid to admit God into their life

because it is not cool these days to be religious –

God is not the universe nor separate from it

but God’s Presence is in and flows thru ongoing creation

modern atheism did not arise with science

but atheism got a kickstart with Copernicus’ heliocentrism –

humans kicked out of the center of the universe

to the periphery of a vast impersonal cosmos 

humans irrelevant to the cosmic story –

humans no longer the perfection of the universe

but an accidental side show

gave birth to existentialism – we have no god-ordained purpose –

we create our own purpose by what we do

Gandhi retrieved and the West lost a religious view of reality –

a view of the importance of being and truth

the West reduced the human purpose to practical efficiency –

concerned with means not ends –

no longer aware of the intrinsic God-given value 

of being human – we only focus on what humans 

can do for other humans – particularly the rich 

our only purpose: producing and consuming things

only religion kept a notion of our intrinsic value –

the Church’s mission to discover honest-to-goodness truth

through open dialogue between humans

requires reverence and respect for lawful diversity

“The Church’s purpose is to keep unity in essentials

freedom in non-essentials, and charity in all things”

– Pope John XXIII

but the Church cannot brag about any of this –

it is the work of the Holy Spirit

to call forth many religious – hermits/monks/nuns

who have consecrated their lives to prayer –

praising God and interceding for God’s People –

this has gone on since the Desert Mothers/Fathers

and is the living source of the spiritual life of the Church.