spirituality – Page 5 – Intelligent Christian Spirituality

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.

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.