Category: religion

TWO GOLDEN PATHS

There are no historical/archaeological facts

about either Jesus’ burial or resurrection –

the only data we have is the stories/witness

of his small band of followers who went

from disillusionment/despair

to radical self-sacrifice/martyrdom

based on their reported experience

of resurrection

 

similarly, faith nowadays has undergone a resurrection –

since the 1960s we have gone

from externalized religion

to internalized experience –

in 1962 only 22% of believers reported a mystical experience –

in 2022 68% reported they were “spiritual and religious”

and turned to mysticism –

since the old-time institutional religion

barely/rarely moved them

to tears of sorrow or joy

 

and it is not the participation

of the old-time “Christian Right” (an oxymoron)

in politics which is a problem

for the “UnChristian Left,” –

but rather that progressive believers

cannot stand the style/language/goals

of so-called “Christians”

that violate civil discourse –

and violence is the central problem

in our pluralistic civilization

 

the violations/violence of the right

causes suffering for those “Left-Over Hippies”

who seek peace and love –

but then suffering and prayer

are two golden paths to God

and God prepares us for suffering –

“better is the little of the righteous

than the abundance of the wicked” (Psalm 37:16)

and God calls us to suffering

for justice – “blessed are those persecuted

for the sake of righteousness” (Matthew 5:10)

and God sustains us and renews us in suffering

“for those whom the Lord disciplines

God loves” (Hebrews 12:6) and resurrects.

RELIGION/SCIENCE/POST-TRUTH

A major mistake for atheism and science advocates

is the massive fallacy of freezing all religion

at the pre-rational/mythic level

and believing modern science and culture

are purely rational

which war and science-used-for-war disproves

to some scientists evolution is a meaningless process

controlled by blind chance

whereas to some Christians evolution can give new depth

and richness to our view of God –

God works thru chaos and does not impose design

but gives nature the chance

to participate in its own creation

the universe intended life from the beginning –

if the Big Bang had happened a trillionth of a second

slower or faster the universe would have imploded

or flung apart into nothingness

whereas North American and European theologians

address the non-believer –

how can you speak of God in a scientific age? –

Latin and African liberation theologians

address the non-person –

how can you speak of God to the poor/marginalized?

over the course of centuries the Church

has worked out a body of principles based on the Gospel

regarding communal justice and equality –

and Vatican Council II in the 1960s

wanted to reinforce/enlarge these principles

particularly regarding communal economic development

as our culture turns in the “post-truth” era

towards the authority of experience

rather than the authority of religion or reason

it is good to remember that religion and reason

are part of human experience

and to be spiritual and religious

is to stitch human experience and wisdom together

so experience renews reason

with awe.

 

CADUCEUS

God created humans in God’s image: male and female

God is both masculine and feminine energy

but once the male and female separated into separate forms

the fall began from perfection into duality

which was further exasperated by the discovery of good and evil

and the subsequent banishment from Paradise

where God walked with humans in the Garden

 

the disconnection of humans from the Cosmos

continued with Martin Luther the Protestant reformer

whose doctrine of “sola scriptura” – “only scripture”

as the revelation of God – banished Nature as the first Bible

and resulted in extreme anthropocentrism –

humans as the center of everything

thus divorcing salvation from anything to do with Nature

 

modern society has further exasperated things

by teaching individualism: your body belongs only to you

not also to God and others

so you can do whatever you want with your body –

“George W. Bush get off my bush” –

but according to Buddhist emptiness/no-self/interbeing theory

your body belongs to your parents/ancestors/every living being –

your body is not only your own – you belong to the human race

and belonging to a group is essential to our inner growth and maturity –

it breaks us out of individualism/self-centeredness

 

but this requires true humility: journeying into the darkness

of oneself/others/divinity

and always a strain remains between the “Via Positiva” –

the Cosmos as glorious – and the “Via Negativa” – life as hard/suffering

always conflict remains between love and sacrifice

 

the Caduceus – the Staff of Hermes

in Greek/Roman/Egyptian mythology –

the staff born by heralds/messengers/gods

with two serpents twined around it and topped by wings

symbolizes healing by the medical/pharmaceutical professions –

the rod represents the spinal cord

where the serpents cross represents the seven chakras

the serpents represent the solar and lunar/

masculine and feminine energies

that come together in each chakra

and heal all our divisions.

 

WAKE UP!

Prayer is the place where much spiritual growth

and struggle can occur

caused by the true self and false self and sinful self

in conflict

 

your false self is not your sinful self

the intentionally self-centred self

that God does not like and you should not like –

the false self is good and necessary as far as it goes –

it is the outer things you think you are –

your name/gender/job/nationality

but it often poses as the true self/soul which it is not

thus it becomes false

 

the essence of spirituality is being aware/seeing/

becoming conscious – that is why Jesus and Buddha

constantly say “Be awake/wake up” –

“Therefore keep awake/be on the alert

for you do not know when your Lord is coming” (Matt 24:42) –

be awake particularly to your sinful self

the subtle self that likes the best spot in the synagogue

to be treated with respect and called “Rabbi”

or “Father”

 

the cure for the false self is what Brother Lawrence calls

“The Practice of the Presence of God” –

the holy habit

of getting used to God’s constant company

and constantly talking/constantly listening

to God in every circumstance –

even while making love

indeed, particularly while making love

that’s why sex feels so heavenly –

God is making love to you

thru your partner – wake up to that!

 

contemplative prayer can occur anytime/anywhere –

it is “a communion in which the Holy Trinity

conforms humans/the image of God/the Imago Dei

to God’s likeness” (Catechism of the Catholic Church 2713)

– thru grace we participate in Divinity! Wake up to that!

 

all souls thus owe God everything

and can repay God nothing.

 

THE MAGIC ELIXIR

Tremendous change has happened since the Middle Ages:

Renaissance/Reformation/Enlightenment/Evolution/World Wars –

which makes theologians ask 

“What is modernity?/theology?/Christianity?”

but whatever it is, theology is secondary to liberating praxis –

solidarity with the poor must be the center of Christianity –

theology is subordinate to justice –

Jesus, like Buddha, came to liberate 

not speculate

another major development is Technology

which increases our ability to meet every human need

but hypnotizes the Masses into believing 

life is only about meeting economic needs –

we have gained the world 

but lost our souls

long before this, right back in biblical times

Christianity was corrupted by unconscious worldliness –

scholars agree on three “Pauls” in the Christian scriptures: 

the radical/conservative/reactionary Pauls –

Paul probably did not write Colossians and Ephesians –

fake authorship was common throughout the ancient world

and Paul goes from a theology of liberation in Romans/Corinthians

to a theological conservative in Colossians/Ephesians

who in these later books believes Christians can own slaves

for their own economic gain

but the Quran says “The riches and progeny of unbelievers

will profit them nothing when it comes to Allah –

they will inhabit the Fire –

believers put their trust in God”

so being Christian (or Muslim) never ceases to be challenging 

we always get pierced by the horns 

of scientific materialism or world-escaping piety

however modern theologians such as Ileo Delia 

avoid the conservatizing/privatizing/sickening of the Masses

and allow us to drink a magic elixir

made by swirling together central ideas from some august believers:

Merton/Teilhard/Panikkar/and Griffiths

that give us a robust/healthy modern faith.

INTEGRATED SPIRITUALITY

The word “God” is always a metaphor

the word “God” is not God

nor does it tell the whole story

some traditions are cautious about even using the word “God”

whereas Hindus talk about the “million names of God”

 

if all is God, is nothing a Supreme God, is our ego our god?

when our false self becomes our god

we do everything to worship this idol

we do not thereby create anything evil

but we pervert our relationship with everything

we use everything to increase our attachment

to our illusory self

 

within us, what is not accepted is projected

on to others – perception is noticing negative things

in others without getting upset

projection gets us upset

because the negative thing we see in others

is something we don’t accept in ourselves –

some shadow-piece

 

Brother Lawrence accepted all his shadows

and believed the General Practice of the Presence of God

is far more important than following spiritual rules

or engaging in specific devotions

 

Christ and Buddha’s appearance on Earth

were meant for the wellness and happiness of all

and so we can keep Jesus and Buddha going

by enjoying life/practicing mindfulness/being in the NOW/

enjoying songs of birds/gardens/blue sky/breathing

 

if your spirituality is integrated

it involves both contemplation and action

and you can address the most pressing issues of modernity:

– the existence of consciousness (which baffles scientific materialism)

– application of spirituality to everyday life

– spiritual development

– eastern vs western approaches to life/culture/spirituality

– the role of meditation and contemplation in our hyper busy culture

– how religion relates to modern culture

– how postmodern culture relates to religion

and you can be a fish in/not out of the water of our culture.

 

CHILDLIKE MINDFULNESS

Trungpa Rinpoche, like many Buddhist monks

never got trapped in unnecessary hope

or groundless fear

was never for or against results

not attached to things working out

just lived life freely/with curiosity/

as an experiment/like a child

 

children were always the models Jesus used

to teach his disciples the spiritual life

and the children’s story of Jonah in the belly of a whale

was Christ’s only metaphor for transformation –

you have to go into the dark

before you can see the light

 

if while practicing mindfulness we are not aware

of all the darkness/suffering in the world

it is not mindfulness but escape

and if we could peer into the minds/hearts/souls

of those causing suffering we would realize:

we could be just like them and they know suffering too –

peering always creates compassion/love for our enemies

 

we are somehow connected to all humans

no matter how despicable

and this reveals a fundamental truth about life:

mutuality/interdependence/connection

are woven thru and thru the cloth of creation –

even quarks can only exist in dyads and triads

 

if integrated wholeness/oneness/consciousness

are the heart of cosmic personalization

they naturally lead to selfless/altruistic love

and, contrary to popular belief, Darwin himself

saw the survival benefits of cooperation:

if I help others I get helped

 

the “Hsaio Ching”/“Classic of Filial Love” –

a Confucian approach to the Tao

sees brotherly/sisterly love

as the greatest taproot

into the mysterious

“Will of Heaven.”

 

MYSTICISM CURES RELIGION

Unhealthy and dysfunctional institutions

breed codependency in people –

the need to have others give us a sense

of identity and self-worth

 

as Christians reduced faith to belief –

assent to a list of ideas/doctrines

about God/Jesus/Church –

some extended it to belief

about women/science/politics

and we lost sight more and more

of “love your enemies”

and so became oppressive hypocrites

 

religion is only healthy

when it is about ego-transformation

not group superiority –

“my religion is better than your religion” –

or having correct doctrines

or being morally worthy enough to enter an afterlife

 

most people (80%) think civilization should move

toward a global vision

and in that regard

mysticism is the comprehensive “theory of everything”

people long for – something that makes sense

out of reality for everyone

just as Christianity used to do

 

the basic Christian understanding is that

you find your true self/true identity

by surrendering all your individual autonomy

to Christ

who makes you right with God

thru his Love and Penance

on the Cross for your sins

 

in God and God’s Love –

not in the Church and the Church’s love –

we and everything

become stabilized and eternalized –

if not established in God

we, and all things,

including the Church

perish.

THE ZEN OF SEXUALITY

One of the major obstacles to Enlightenment

is resentment about who/what/where you are

therefore it is crucial to be a friend to yourself

 

the delusions underlying both

the life-wish (kama/pleasure/desire)

and the death wish (mara/hostility/destruction)

can be dispelled by psychological analysis

 

thru the passion for union/Oneness an isolated individual

emerges more personalized than before –

because the way God created sexuality is that

healthy sex is integral

to a personalizing universe –

but evil tries to pervert this –

good is always foundational (and sex is very good)

but evil is always secondary/always a perversion

of what was originally good

into adultery/pornography/trafficking

 

accountability is a universal theme in feminist theology –

feminist theologians want us accountable

to communities of the oppressed

particularly half the human race – women whose bodies

are used as objects of self-gratification by men –

feminist theology promotes anti-imperial/post-colonial/

anti-conquest of women’s bodies

and action on this not just speculation

 

when asked where the One comes from

the Zen master Joshu said

“I made a beautiful robe out of hemp”

this seemingly nonsensical Zen answer

was a warning to westerners

to stop trying to understand Zen

as “neo-platonic monism”/“pantheism”/whatever –

although Zen masters believe all things are One

Zen is unclassifiable because the Zen master’s concern

is action in the world not speculation

 

Zen believes we can only be sexually fulfilled thru dual-action:

  1. courage – we do not deny our wheat/goodness
  2. humility – we do not deny our weeds/evil

otherwise, we will be A. dis-couraged B. blind.

 

THE THIRD WAVE

The second major arc of human development

after the pre-rational and before the trans-rational

is the anti-religious/atheistic stage

which is all about reason and science

and which brings seemingly staggering benefits

to humanity in terms of reducing suffering

 

but we are right on the edge

of the third wave of transformation:

from farming to industry to information –

from the suffering caused by the rational-industrial

to the visionary-informational

 

the visionary Paul Tillich developed and applied

the “Protestant Principle:” vigorous protest

(which is why they call it “Protest-antism”)

against all distortions of the Truth –

particularly rational ones against the Gospel

particularly the “demonic tendency”

to make the Church into an Absolute replacing God

and manipulate God with sacraments

 

since World War II modern society has gone thru

an “expressionist revolution:” replacing external authority

with inner authority – each person expresses

their authentic self/individuality/personal choices

of purpose and meaning

in a fractured commercialist society –

old loyalties to family/nation/religion are gone

and others revolt mindlessly against this loss

of the old values and the old Church

 

our formerly simple world has changed

to one of pluralism – both culturally and religiously –

consequently, the meaning of Christ must be changed

and expanded exponentially

beyond all protest

 

the humble scientific researcher

even though s/he is unaware of it

as he/she tries to penetrate

the secrets of the universe

is being led by the Cosmic Christ of Divine Love –

into the Third Wave after religion and science:

the perfect marriage of science and religion.