Category: theology

PERSON/COMMUNITY/LOVE

Ken Wilber’s all-inclusive vision/”integral philosophy”

takes in the I/WE/IT we live/move/have our being in each day

when we are alone (I space)

when we interact with others (WE space)

when we interact with corporations/banks/governments/

organized religions (IT space) – we go from

personal/to interpersonal/to impersonal

and the IT space treats us like another  IT not a PERSON

 

Jesus was: not a cog in the wheel of organized religion/

a layman not a priest/in the streets more than in the temple

yet priests have created elaborate religious temple ceremonies/rituals

to worship a man who never once asked to be worshiped

only followed – organized religion has made Jesus

safe/institutionalized/an IT – an object of worship

 

organized/institutional/impersonal religion

does not equal or create COMMUNITY

because in the past 150 years Christianity has become

largely institutionalized/like a big business

and not only laity but also clergy

are dissatisfied with institutionalized religion

 

“Western orthodoxy has for far too long

had a too detached/lofty/oppressive view of God

imposed on it by a “docetic” – “not really human”

view of Jesus – which has made Jesus the God-man

impotent in peoples’ personal lives” – N.T. Wright

 

all this has come about due to an underlying philosophy

of “individualism” spawned by Protestant theology/

reinforced by the so-called “Enlightenment”/

doubly reinforced by IT-space capitalism –

Protestantism often addressed the Word of God

to the salvation of solitary individuals

rather than the social gospel

of the transformation of society

 

but there is hope since evolution thrives

on communalism not individualism – survival

of the most cooperative not the most competitive

and God is the dynamic of love

that gathers all beings together

into greater consciousness/unity/LOVE.

 

UNIVERSAL COMMUNION

With relativity and quantum mechanics

scientists began to see the oneness of all things/

got rid of former Newtonian dualisms/

such as separation of observer and what is observed/

came to see the whole

as energy penetrated by consciousness

just as all mystics do –

science started to catch up with mysticism!

 

“God creates light/dark/well-being/woe –

there is only one God

not a god who creates light and well-being

and another god who creates darkness and death

as in dualistic Manichaeism”

– Deutero-Isaiah

 

the Center of the World which unites all things

may be the Tree of Life

or the World Navel

or a Cosmic Human

like Buddha or the Son of God –

wherever the Energies of Eternity

break into the Everydayness of Time

 

we need some kind of mythology/deep truth to live –

Carl Jung’s personal mythology of meaning

expressed also in Western mystics

was that God made us

to become more and more conscious

so that God could become more and more conscious

and more fully penetrate the whole Cosmos

 

Jung’s view was that the future of Christianity

lay in the realization of the Cosmic Christ within each person –

this involves not making a person into a “God”

but rather helping them to consciously discover

the True Self/Christ-Self within each one of us

 

 thus the bread and wine are not just symbols –

they contain God/Ultimate Reality/the Ground of All

just as we do –

the Church calls us to mindfulness in the Eucharist –

that God is in the Eucharist

just as God is in us.

FAITH DEEPER THAN “BORN AGAIN”

In his song “Lovers in a Dangerous Time”

Canadian folk legend Bruce Cockburn sings

we live in a dangerous time because

democracy is rapidly crumbling across the planet

and because climate change leaves no time  

to stop it/figure it out/get our bearings

 

however, mystics East and West agree

there is more to life than “getting somewhere”

in politics/business/war/religion –

beyond ambition there is penetration of being/

truth/meaning/purpose

 

and the solution to all problems

is not simply to be “born again” –

religious maturity is deeper than any psychological state

or infantile religious experience

because maturity can deal with

darkness/failure/uncertainty and still be joyful

whereas infantile religion always needs more and more light

and only light, no darkness or shadow

 

self-confrontation of our shadow is painful

but necessary for spiritual growth –

taking a log out of an eye is a painful operation

but then we can see clearly –

contemplation can be painful too –

showing us our deepest convictions

are wrong or shallow, replacing our comfortable truths

with unsettling ones that empty out our ego

 

faith and love are deeper/higher than science

or even mystical experience – knowledge and experience

no matter how deep or great are worthless

unless they deepen our faith and love

 

hope deepens us too –

without the hope of eternal life

the riddles of life/death/grief/guilt remain unresolved –

according to Catholic theologians Karl Rahner and Ron Rolheiser

“there is no finished symphony in this life” –

and so there is a tendency to fall into despair

unless the Life Divine is real.

 

 

 

 

THE UNIVERSE IS YOUR SPIRITUAL DIRECTOR

Like Paul Tillich, Raimundo Panikkar saw God

as integrally connected to concrete reality –

no cosmos without God/no God without cosmos –

God’s utterances and actions depend on there being

a universe – what could God say or do with nothingness?

 

the quantum theologian’s basic affirmation

is a very old yet radically new principle:

“Love is an interdependent life-force

ranging from subatomic interactions to divine grandeur –

it is the origin and goal of our search for meaning”

 

“The serenity of Jesus came not from knowing mysteries

but from observing the cosmos –

if God cares about the sparrow – feeds it/nests it –

and the lilies – clothes them in grandeur –

surely God cares about you – God’s finest creation”

– John Dominic Crossan

 

infused contemplation – contemplation whose Source is God –

births a new consciousness

of visions/voices/mystical experiences

but there is also danger because of deceit by demons –

Saint Teresa of Avila

knew she needed a prudent guide in mystical theology

which she found in

Saint John of the Cross

 

Thomas Merton became weary of fame as a writer

and knew why the Rule of Saint Benedict says

“True monks work with their hands as the Apostles did –

the fields/sun/rain/mud

are our spiritual directors”

 

all good theologians/saints/mystics know

that the Uni-verse – the One Verse

constantly changes and evolves

and to keep up we must constantly evolve our selves –

if we do not accept the insecurity

that is the price of change

we become rigid/stagnant/lifeless water

like a life-sucking demon

rather than an ever-flowing/life-giving Stream of Love

like God.

 

LIGHT IN A DARK AGE

Thanks to the 18th century philosopher David Hume

we have made believing into a technocratic thing

having to do with true or false opinions:

“I believe (or do not believe) in climate change” –

belief now has nothing to do with trust/relationship/heart

“Believing is a modern concept and the great heresy

of the church today” – Wilfred Cantwell Smith

 

blasphemy is usually thought of as taking God’s name in vain

but it could include priests blessing nuclear weapons/

imams indoctrinating youth into political martyrdom/

religious leaders like Joel Osteen living in palaces/

being multi-millionaires/with private jets –

just like Jesus

 

we can only grasp the meaning of Christ today

and what is heresy and blasphemy

thru the lens of the evolution of human consciousness

to a new level thru technology/television/the Internet

facilitating world-wide consciousness

 

for example, Afro-American theology finds solidarity

with liberation theology/liberation movements

in Asia/Africa/Latin America

 

God is always connected to humans/the world/the cosmos

and in medieval times anthropology/theology/cosmology

were all one

 

however, since Copernicus and Galileo’s heliocentrism

the cosmology has changed and traditional ideas

of humans and God have been marginalized

to the point where we now live on an infinitely small dustmote

called “Earth” spinning in a vast godless cosmos

 

but there is light at the end of the Dark Age –

marks of a coming Interspiritual/New Axial Age:

  • friendships between many in various religious traditions
  • promotion of world-centric consciousness thru climate change
  • a vision of humans as one life form connected to all others
  • widespread receptivity to meditation/contemplative practices

 

The Cosmic Christ is not done with us yet.

 

 

ALONE WITH THE ALONE

Buddhist teaching states that even if you are fully enlightened

difficulty and pain are still inevitable – you will experience

aging/illness/death/

sorrow at losing what you love –

youth/health/life

 

you are also going to experience loneliness, a universal feeling –

and when we are not enlightened we naively believe

a sexual relationship will take away our loneliness

but unless there is heart and soul communication

sex just makes us more lonely

 

loneliness is different than solitude –

solitude can correct the tendency of codependents

to look outside themselves for their identity –

solitude provides us with an opportunity

to discover/know/embrace intimacy

with our true self

 

but we have to be careful – to not get sucked in

by our false self – our ego – an illusion because it exists

outside of God’s will/love/reality/life itself

 

still, if we are careful, we will find within

a secret/incommunicable/mystery/sanctuary

which the intrusions of self-assertion and violence

cannot penetrate – but on the other hand

if we are not careful, the ways of the world

can lure us out of our sanctuary

and slay us

 

but souls abandoned to God are protected

from their own ego because they take delight

in nothing but God – normal pursuits/activities

hold no delight – they want to be in solitude

alone with the Alone – the Only One

the Lonely One

who wants only to love and be loved

 

“God has created us for great things:

to love and be loved”

– Mother Teresa

 

 

NOBLE HEART AND SOUL

Religious questions used to be “What do you believe?”

“What happens in the afterlife?”

Now they are “How is belief possible in our secular age?”

“Who do you believe?” that is “Who is your authority

on questions of religion?” – less and less it is

popes/priests/catechisms

and more and more it is

Google/friends/social media

 

but in medieval times, Bonaventure’s theological method

was based on spiritual searching – a quest for truth –

not ideological confirmation of my biases

but something far greater – something

that binds us together despite our differences

 

if Bonaventure were alive today

he would include eastern religions

in his quest for truth because

contrary to most peoples’ presuppositions/biases

the First Buddhist Precept is a celebration of life

a reverence for living life to the full

cultivating compassion and vowing

to never kill anything

 

whereas some secular people kill their own soul

although they have not died physically

they have died the “second death” mentioned in Revelation –

their soul has been lost and destroyed –

they have cast themselves into hell –

a hell of their own making

 

but in Buddhism the “noble heart,” the “bodhichitta”

is always present in us no matter how

selfish/depressed/fearful we are –

like an unblemished jewel the bodhichitta

can always be rediscovered

and heal us

 

similarly, according to Henri Nouwen

the soul can always be refound

in solitude –

the great furnace of transformation –

where constantly happens

a great struggle with the devil

and a great encounter with God.

THE INTEGRATION OF ALL THINGS

Most Christians think dualistically:

human vs God/nature vs grace/male vs female

spirit vs matter/body vs soul/East vs West

science vs religion –

these are not the same but they are all One

with the crown chakra or 4th stage of moral development

the integrated person becomes a paradoxical union of

masculine/feminine; autonomy/relationship;

rights/responsibilities; agency/communion;

wisdom/compassion;justice/mercy –

just like God

spiritual people need to reclaim not only compassion –

pleasure in righting relationships

but also passion –

pleasure in eros and the sharing of it –

both are God’s work:

“Any idea that spirituality means neglect of the body

is profoundly mistaken” – Albert Nolan

after Vatican II many Catholic thinkers

inspired by the Trappist and Benedictine monks –

Thomas Merton and Bede Griffiths –

started integrating Zen and yoga/

vipassana and transcendental meditation

into Christianity

Merton was Catholic because he believed the Church

gave him the greatest spiritual freedom

for it integrated Law and Spirit –

he would not be Catholic if he believed the Church

was just an institution with rules and laws

that demanded external conformity –

he believed the laws of the Church are necessary

but subordinate to the Holy Spirit and Love

and it is in Christ that true freedom is found

and the Church is Christ’s Body/Bride/living by Christ’s Spirit

for the Church to aid an emerging Interspiritual Age

spiritual/religious discussion cannot be separated

from secular/nonreligious discussion

from academic/historical/developmental discussion

from discussion about the new scientifically based cosmology

which integrates everything.

 

YOUR TRUE CALLING

Rosemary Radford Ruether, the great feminist theologian

was one of the first to see patriarchal/dualistic thinking –

that things are divided not one –

causes not only sexism but also racism and environmental destruction

 

theology itself can be patriarchal/dualistic

if it does not paradoxically give up

what it has always asked other disciplines to give up: supremacy –

like all sciences it must submit to the greater wisdom

of evolutionary cosmology – the blueprint of the universe –

the unrelenting progress from atoms to humans to divinized humans –

astronomy blesses us with a scientific revelation of God’s Plan

 

whereas classical thermodynamics said closed systems dissipate energy

and thus the whole cosmos is winding down –

which breeds nihilism – we are ultimately doomed so why care about anything?

but biologist Ludwig von Bertalanffy, inventor of General Systems Theory

revealed that open systems do not run down

because they get new energy from their environment

 

but systems are not The System that wants to fool us and rule us –

the culture we live in is deceptive and hegemonic –

“We need Christ and the poet/artist/mystic to give us liberated vision –

new ways to see” – Canadian folk legend Bruce Cockburn

 

the journey to find new ways to see

the departure of the hero on the Hero’s Journey – has sub-stages:

The Call

The Refusal of the Call (and the folly/futility of resistance)

Supernatural Aid

Descent into the Night:

God calls Moses to free the Israelites from slavery in Egypt

Moses says “No way, I cannot go, who am I to challenge Pharaoh?”

God says “I will be with you”

Moses leaves for Egypt and the rest is history

 

“The True Calling for all of us is the Present Moment –

that’s why they call it the “Present” – the “Gift from God” –

the bigger miracle is not for one person to walk on water

but for all of us to walk on our blue/green planet

in the Eternal Now”

– Thich Nhat Hanh

 

if you live in the One and the Now

dualistic thinking has no power over your True Calling.

THE POWER OF PENANCE

The major challenge to Immanuel Kant’s view of religion

as morality came from Friedrich Schleiermacher

the greatest theologian of the 19th century

who conceived of religion not as morality or belief

but as an immediate awareness of our absolute dependence

on God – religion is thus pre-moral and even pre-cognitive

and expressed everywhere in different ways

 

we are absolutely dependent on God

but in human relationships co-dependency is a betrayal

of wholeness because co-dependent people

have no personal center

 

whereas the enlightenment we seek already dwells within us as our center

like a mustard seed/treasure buried in a field/pearl of great price

 

when Jesus said “if you call another ‘fool’ you are in danger

of hellfire,” he did not mean “if you get angry, God will condemn you

to hell,” he meant that “unjustified and indulged anger

is hell” – you put yourself in hell and hell in your self

 

to break through into nondual consciousness

we need to overcome the domination of ego and reason

and forgive ourselves and reality

for being exactly what they are: a mixed bag

of goodness and darkness –

we are all simultaneously sinners and saints

 

even proto-saints like Thomas Merton

who never wanted to be a plastic saint

on the dashboard of someone’s car

finally realized after nine long years as a monk

that penance is pleasing to God

and “enables God to take undisturbed possession

of the soul” because in penance

your ego is reduced to nothing

 

unlike the Pharisee who thanked God “I am not

a sinner like that tax-collector” who at the back of the synagogue

beat his chest and cried out “Lord have mercy on me

a sinner” – Jesus said it was the latter not the former

who went home justified in God’s eyes – for penance tells you

“the old sinful self is not dead”

but absolution tells you

“God’s love is greater than the old self.”