social justice – Intelligent Christian Spirituality

The Teaching of Oneness: Addressing Global Issues Together

The central teaching of Jesus was oneness. This idea’s time has surely come. All humans are becoming increasingly tied together in a fragile web with each other and nature. In this time of climate change, worldwide trading, television, and the Internet, we are learning that what affects other humans and the natural world affects all of us.

Yet lingering ideas of separateness continue to kill us. To the extent we think we are separate from nature, we continue to decimate rainforests, overfish oceans, and pollute everything, believing it won’t impact us. To the extent we think we are separate from other people “out there,” we will continue to wage war on them, believing we can do so with impunity.

In Spanish, the devil is “el diablo” and we speak of an evil plot as “diabolical.” The “di” at the beginning of these words means “two.” Evil then divides what is one into two, dividing or separating oneness.

In the mythological Garden of Eden, the devil, disguised as a serpent, tempted Adam and Eve to eat from the forbidden Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, so they started the endless process of dividing everything up into good and bad. Before that, they were innocent, everything existed in harmony, and they “walked with God in the garden” (Genesis 3:8). No friction existed between them and God, man and woman, or humans and nature. All was one.

Right after eating the fruit which God forbade, they hid (separated themselves) from God, came into conflict with each other (Adam blamed Eve) and were alienated from nature (driven out of a natural paradise).

Jesus came to teach oneness and put everything back together. He prayed for his disciples and all people “that they may be one, as you God are in me, and I am in you, that they may also be one in us” (John 17: 21-23). He saw himself as one with the lowliest person on Earth: “As you do to the least of these my brothers and sisters, you do it to me” (Matthew 25:40).

Jesus was against how society was divided up according to status and privilege. So, he welcomed those of no account in his day: children, women, prostitutes, the sick and the handicapped. His directive to “love your enemies” was all about reconciliation, community, and oneness. Jesus felt so close to God that he said, “God and I are one” (John 10:30).

If we felt our oneness with nature, we would treat it as part of us. If we felt we were one with other people, we would treat everyone better, particularly our spouses. As it says in Genesis, when a man and woman marry, “the two become one flesh” (Genesis 2:24). If we really believed in this oneness, we would realize that whatever we do to our spouses, we do to ourselves. We would “do unto others as we would have them do unto us” (Luke 6:31). In other words, we would obey the Golden Rule.

If we believed God saw us as united with him, we would trust that God would never punish us because it would be God’s self-punishment. We would have no fear of hell, which is basically separation from God. We would constantly sense God’s presence. We would affirm with St. Paul that “God is in, over, and through us” (Ephesians 4:6) and “I live, yet not I, but God lives within me” (Galatians 2:20). We would treat everyone, regardless of age, gender, nationality, or religion, with the utmost respect, like the temple of the divine they are.

The church and all of humanity need to focus on this core teaching of Jesus — oneness. We will only survive if we understand that we are all in this together with God, other people, and nature. This sense of oneness is the key to addressing what ails us.

Bruce Tallman is a London spiritual director and educator of adults in religion. http://www.brucetallman.com

Exploring Divine Love Amidst Human Pain

Why does God, who is supposedly all-knowing, all-powerful, and all-loving, allow disasters? Why does God not prevent all accidents, illness, famine, and war? Why does God allow suffering in general?

In 2005, some Christians maintained that, because New Orleans had a reputation for being “sin city,” God sent Hurricane Katrina to punish them. Pat Robertson, a US televangelist, claimed that God had punished Haiti with hurricanes and earthquakes for “making a pact with the devil.” A few centuries ago, John Wesley believed that the great Lisbon earthquake in the 1700s was God’s wrath against sin.

Such explanations must be categorically rejected. In the biblical story of the woman caught in adultery, when asked if she should be stoned to death as the Law of Moses demanded, Jesus replied, “Let the one who has never sinned cast the first stone.” All her accusers walked away because they knew they had sinned too. If God struck New Orleans, Haiti, or Lisbon for their sins, God would have to do the same to all of us.

God did not want or cause an earthquake in Haiti, one of the poorest countries on our planet. A more widespread explanation for Haiti’s poverty and woes is that foreign countries rejected Haiti when its slaves revolted and gained independence, it has had a string of brutal and corrupt governments, and Haiti is geographically located in a hurricane zone and on a fault line.

God does not want or cause suffering in general either. We know that God allows human freedom, which is the cause of most human suffering. God also allows a certain freedom in the natural world. Most of the time, nature serves us well, but natural laws will proceed even if humans are in the way. God did not cause the earthquake in Haiti, the shifting of tectonic plates did.

Getting back to our question of why God allows suffering, we also have to ask: to what extent should God eliminate suffering? Should God eliminate all pain? Pain, which is part of nature, serves us well in most cases. For example, if you put your hand on a hot stove, the pain tells you to withdraw it. If God eliminated our ability to feel pain, we would quickly destroy ourselves. Pain is also a great motivator. Most medical and social breakthroughs have come from seeking to alleviate or prevent pain.

Most of us have experienced a broken heart from being spurned by someone we loved. To eliminate all pain, God would have to make us into robots who could not do unloving things like rejecting people. However, we would also be unable to love since love requires free choice.

Pain also serves us well spiritually. The ecstasy of gaining love and the pain of losing it make us more humble, wise, and compassionate. Suffering should not be glorified; no one should purposefully seek it. However, we can use it as a great teacher.

Just as we suffer if our children suffer, God must suffer with us. In fact, that is what the cross, the central icon of Christianity, is all about. It declares that God knows what it is like to suffer as a human being. God suffers with us. The cross is the universal symbol that God is not in bliss, off somewhere else, while we suffer on earth. God is right in the middle of our pain. God is always on the side of the crucified, no matter what their nationality, race, or religion.

Sometimes, though, the suffering is so senseless that there is no adequate explanation. As Rabbi Harold Kushner said long ago, sometimes all you can do is drop your theological explanations and be with people, hold them in your arms, and cry with them in their grief. That’s what God does. God does not leave us alone in our sorrow.

The international response to Haiti was due to God moving people’s hearts and consciences to reach out and help take this crucified nation off its cross. The response has been like the beginnings of a resurrection: God overcoming horrific pain and death. Perhaps, Haiti will eventually be fully resurrected as a much safer and stronger nation than before. Let us all pray that this is what happens.

Bruce Tallman is a spiritual director and religious educator of adults. www.brucetallman.com

Boost Your Spiritual Growth with These Easy Practices

If you adopt any of the following suggestions, it will have a big impact on your spiritual growth.

Get to know a homeless person and try to find out how they became homeless.

Read the scriptures of another religion.

Start the day with prayer, meditation, scripture reading, or any spiritual reading. It will set the tone for the day.

At the end of the day, keep a spiritual diary and record where you met God that day or what God taught you. Record your prayers and review them later to see if they were answered.

Use natural breaks in the day, like meals, coffee breaks, or when you shower, drive, exercise or wait in line to think of others in prayer.

Extend your present daily spiritual practice from 15 to 30 minutes or 30 minutes to an hour.

Adopt a child or family in a developing nation through World Vision or a local charity like Save-A-Family-Plan and develop a relationship by writing back when they write you.

Volunteer to visit people in jail, read to the blind, be a friend to the mentally ill, or help prepare meals and clean up at a local church soup kitchen.

Hire the person on the traffic island with the sign that says they will work for food or money.

Attend the place of worship of your own faith regularly if you do not do so.

Prepare yourself before going to your place of worship by praying or reviewing the readings beforehand.

Visit the place of worship of another denomination. For example, if you are Presbyterian attend a Mennonite service.

Visit the place of worship of another religion. Christians could attend a local mosque. Muslims could attend a synagogue.

Get to know someone of a different religion and find out what they believe.

Check out www.beliefnet.com, a vast website where you can learn about any spiritual or religious tradition and dialogue with those in it.

Join an online prayer community like that at www.sacredspace.ie. You can put your prayer requests out there and pray for the requests of others.

Get to know the writings of a major spiritual thinker like Thich Nhat Hahn or Henri Nouwen.

Do a “retreat at home.” Take a whole morning, afternoon, or evening once a week or once a month to pray or meditate more deeply.

Attend a local retreat center like the Michaelite Fathers just outside London, or Five Oaks in Paris, Ontario.

Get to know the Enneagram, a powerful tool for spiritual growth and awareness at http://www.enneagraminstitute.com.

Learn new ways of praying, like Centering Prayer, Ignatian Prayer, Taize Prayer, or learn new ways of reading scripture, such as Lectio Divina.

All these things will help you on your spiritual journey.

Bruce Tallman is a London spiritual director and educator of adults in religion.

http://www.brucetallman.com

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.

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.

GRATITUDE, A COUNTERCULTURAL RESPONSE TO THE WORLD’S DESPAIR

The best thing you can do for yourself, others, and the planet is: be grateful.

Gratitude is a countercultural response to the scarcity mentality we are brainwashed into in subtle ways every day.

While I realize that capitalism, business, and advertising underlie our whole culture, they seem to thrive on keeping us unhappy with whatever we presently have so we are in a constant state of dissatisfaction.

Mary Jo Leddy, a Catholic theologian, social activist, and Order of Canada recipient, noted in her 2002 book Radical Gratitude that the hidden message that drives our culture is “you do not have enough, you do not do enough, you are not enough.”

Gratitude gives you the strength to combat this message because it shows you how abundant your life already is. By teaching you to appreciate what you already have, gratitude prevents the feeling you must frantically get, do, and be more.

It could be argued that this constant desire for more is causing the over-consumption of the world’s resources such as land, forests and fuel that underlies climate change. And many wars have started because some political leader thought he needed more. A case in point is Vladimir Putin, who although he is the president of Russia, the largest country in the world, decided that was not enough, he needed Ukraine.

I have found that keeping a daily gratitude journal can be revolutionary. Writing down things I am grateful for from each day has gradually positively shifted my awareness.

I used to be like Charles Schulz, creator of the Peanuts cartoon, who once quipped “I have learned to dread one day at a time.” Now, before I get out of bed, I anticipate the blessings of the day because I know I will be recording them that evening before bed.

There are so many things one can be grateful for: births, birthdays, graduations, work, promotions, having a spouse or partner, children, groups you belong to, friends, health, education, travel, a place to stay, movies, sports, the list is endless.

There are lots of both common and unusual things we could be thankful for: butterflies in our garden, hummingbirds at our feeder, podcasts that shed new light, fixing a computer glitch, learning a smartphone trick, our pets, books, receiving a drawing from a grandchild or funny card in the mail, documentaries about whales or fungi, a walk in the woods, learning a new way of exercising, and on and on.

As an abundance mentality, gratitude tends to loosen up peoples’ purse strings: when they realize their life is already overflowing with things to be thankful for, they more easily give to those who are in dire straits caused by war or poverty.

Scripture is full of verses calling us to gratitude: “In everything give thanks, for this is God’s will for you” (I Thessalonians 5:18). “O Lord my God, I will give thanks to you forever” (Psalm 30:12). God has created a world of abundance not scarcity, but as Jesus said, it is “for those who have eyes to see” – seeing abundance or scarcity are choices we can make, for better or worse.

At this time of year, despite all the emphasis on consumption of physical gifts, churches try to help people be grateful for the greatest gift of all, given to us out of God’s infinite abundance: “For God so loved the world that God gave God’s only son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).

The greatest thing to be grateful for is God’s overflowing love, manifested in a physical way we can understand, God in the form of a human being, Jesus the Christ.

With political chaos. climate problems, and wars, the world seems dark and depressing right now, but let’s open our eyes this Christmas season and choose to see how abundant our lives already are, be grateful, and open our hearts to God and others.

Bruce Tallman is a London religious educator of adults and spiritual director. http://www.brucetallman.com

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:

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

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

THE NON-VIOLENCE OF GOD

God gave matter existence/plants life/animals sensation/

humans all these degrees of being plus self-consciousness

“Humans are the source/center/purpose of all

social and economic life” – Gaudium Et Spes (a Vatican II document) –

therefore it is not surprising the social justice teaching of popes

for the past 125 years have focused on human dignity

communion/community/commission – this trinity sums up

an integrated human life that Henri Nouwen based on Luke 6

where Jesus prays all night (communion with God)

then chooses his apostles (community)

then sends them out to preach the Good News (commission)

modern secular irreligion/political pseudo-religion/

and the mysticism of totalitarianism

deprive humans of their own freedom

which is necessary for authentic religion –

thus they make humans morally sick in their depths/

change their love into hatred/

change humanity into a mechanized beast

bent on self-destruction

but Jesus grounded human non-violence

in God’s non-violence – but then the Apostle Paul

grounded human non-violence in God’s violence:

“Never avenge yourself but leave room for the wrath of God”

(Romans 12) – subversion of texts happens throughout the Bible –

the good principle is stated and then unfortunately subverted –

but it is unusual for Paul to subvert the teachings of Christ –

and since Paul believed God is violent

this unfortunately was used against Paul

to justify human violence and war

unfortunately, we always find ways to be violent

and exclude others – both liberals and conservatives

have their false superiority judgments –

liberals make “suspicion judgments” and therefore dismiss

hierarchies/authority/those at the ladder’s top

and conservatives make “worthiness judgments”

and dismiss those on the cesspool’s bottom

but fortunately the Prince of Peace is merciful/kind to all/

and above all our ignorant and petty judgments.

THE HARDNESS AND EASINESS OF DISCIPLESHIP

Raimundo Panikkar sees the world as in a crisis

of biblical proportions ecologically and humanly –

therefore the Church’s main focus should be on this

not its own inner disputes: sexual morality/ordination of women

these are important but first world problems while 75% of humanity

lives in subhuman conditions of poverty/war/destruction

of the earth and the very air they breathe – smoked out by wildfires/

washed out by floods/starved out by droughts –

the “First World” will only help the “Third World”

if we learn asceticism – giving up endless consumption and greed

The Imitation of Christ, a tenth century manuscript

by Thomas a Kempis is asceticism to the max –

an antidote to our contemporary culture’s fixation on

egoism/materialism/hedonism to the max

On the other hand, the ego is necessary and not evil in itself

it is our functional self – we need it to survive

the problem is our culture tells us

our ego is the only reality and should control everything

for its own pleasure and enjoyment

without counting the cost to others

On the other hand again, there is plenty in the gospels

to encourage asceticism: pray always/sell all you have/

deny yourself/pick up your cross/die to your ego/

die with Christ/the person who finds their life loses it/

the person who gives up their life for Christ’s sake finds it/

the “world” and the “flesh” as seen by Paul and John were demonic

and Jesus wrestled with his own inner demons in the wilderness

After God created humans in a state of holiness/oneness with God

from the start we abused our freedom as sons and daughters of God

set ourselves up against God

tried to find our fulfillment apart from God

Yet the first promise of Jesus in Matthew 11:28-30

despite all the necessary asceticism was

“Come to me, all who are weary and heavy-laden

and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you

and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart

and you shall find rest for your soul

for my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

A NEW AGE OF LOVE/JUSTICE/HEALING

“The fear worldview and the love worldview

do not know each other” – Marianne Williamson

Early in the 20^th century a new Age of Love began

in the consciousness of Pentecostals/liberal Protestants/

progressive Catholics as they grew in awareness

that the Holy Spirit is the Motivator of Justice.

Justice is based on God seeing and loving God’s Self

in all things, and it is this seeing and loving by God

that gives all things their innate value and goodness.

The basic divine energy is to be

in relation to others – “I am because you are” –

and “I am because Creation is” – these ancient African

and Indigenous sayings show the lie of western philosophy

based on Descartes famous dictum “I think therefore I am.”

No, no – “You think because the Creation and others are.”

Because God’s energy is to be in relation to others

there is a deep need for authentic ecclesial/sacramental

experiences that model for us how to be in relation to others.

And being one with other humans would be incomplete

without being one with the universe – humans are

an integral part of the greater community

of all living beings – the true Beloved Community.

Jesus came to show us the Eros of God –

the desire of God for total intimacy – total love-making with Creation –

Jesus never counselled the use of force or fear

just love of life and all its creatures

particularly the most vulnerable: children/the sick/disabled –

Christ came so all creatures might live this life

to the full – not just the afterlife.

Thus, bringing our most vulnerable/wounded parts

to God in prayer is essential to getting them healed –

suppressing our wounds out of shame

or lack of trust in God

keeps them out of our prayer life

and out of God’s healing.