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PARADOX AND PAROUSIA

Paradox allows us to understand realities too complex

to be explained from a single point of view –

it allows us to speak the whole truth by juxtaposing

two seemingly contradictory statements –

Jesus is both fully human and fully God

 

it is paradoxical that through deeply living/looking into

our own religion we become free/able

to deeply look into/listen to other traditions

and see the beauty in both

 

our worldview is not just a system of thought

but a way of imagining the world –

how it is and how it ought to be –

and it is prescriptive – it informs/is informed by

our actions in the world

 

“Nothing is just a part or a whole –

everything is both whole in itself

and a part of something bigger –

a ‘holon’ – an integral system” – Ken Wilber

 you are whole in yourself yet part of society

your religion is whole in itself yet

part of the world which is whole in itself yet

part of the solar system/galaxy/universe

 

although science is just beginning

to understand integral systems

the idea that everything is interconnected

has been around in mysticism

in every major world religion for millenia –

science is finally catching up/catching on

to religion – science and religion are becoming one

 

the New Testament writers did not run wild

with their interpretations of Jesus –

rather there was a gradual deepening of insights

into his Message and who He was

 

the “Parousia” – the coming “kindom” of God

is already here

just not fully developed yet –

we are in a time of decision and choice –

do we get the Message of Paradox

or not?

PERILS OF DUALISM

Brother Wayne Teasdale thought the unitive experience

found in all major religions

could form the common ground

for interreligious dialogue

 

on the other hand, dualistic thinking begets sin

since it divides up the oneness of life –

to sin is to separate yourself

from Earth/your true self/others/God

 

dualistic thinkers use knowledge –

even religious knowledge –

for ego-enhancement/shaming others

for their ignorance/controlling others

 

thank God healing is now holistic/unitive –

heal the whole family system

not just the individual who may be a “GOAT” –

not the “Greatest Of All Time”

but a “scapegoat” –

an outlet for the family’s sickness/dysfunctionality/rage

to flow to and through

 

all rage and even what we call the “wrath of God”

stems from falsely disconnecting natural and supernatural –

we only connect the two in so-called “acts of God” –

earthquakes/floods/avalanches/tsunamis –

this disconnection means the only “supernatural”

action is saying prayers

and social/Earth justice/transformation

are conveniently avoided as “secular”

 

dualistic thinking splits matter from spirit/

nature from grace/psychology from religion

when in fact they interweave

 

for example – every religious event

takes place in the “psyche”

which in Latin means “soul” –

there is an intrinsic religious factor

in every psychic development

but we have separated the soul from religion

and then we wonder why

religious institutions are in trouble!

 

BEING/EMPTYING VS SUFFERING

The Cross and Resurrection are the Christian solution

to the problem of evil – this is far more satisfying

than Carl Jung’s solution of making evil part of God

Zen Buddhists love the “kenosis” passage (Philippians 2:7)

where Christ empties himself – even to death –

death on a cross –

because Zen is all about emptying oneself 

of all attachments/passions/thoughts

and learning to just sit for hours or days

to “waste time with God”

as Christian monks call it –

like old friends who don’t need to speak

they just enjoy BEING together –

this is all God asks of us: “Please BE with me” –

“To just BE alive is sacred, to just BE is holy”

– Abraham Heschel

besides emptying, part and parcel of Zen  

is awareness of suffering

caused by peoples’ unmindful speech/inability to listen

Buddhists therefore vow 

to cultivate loving speech/deep listening 

that alleviates suffering

the intellectual nature of the human person 

is perfected by wisdom 

for the intellectual drive 

is not confined to observable data alone – 

wisdom gently leads all our drives 

beyond the visible world to what is invisible –

what is honestly true/honestly good

without this humble inner quest

without interior spiritual integration

even something as spiritual as a pilgrimage

can turn into a divisive/destructive/alienating journey

just as forsaking of self/emptying of ego 

unites you to God

so giving up external things

brings you peace.

EMPIRES OF IDEAS

In Carol Gilligan’s model of moral development

the order is: selfishness/care/universal care/integrated care –

the integration of masculine and feminine energies in the soul

 

dualism – separating things – causes us to project

our personal and social shadows onto goats –

scapegoats –

instead of integrating our shadow –

if all things are one, which they are –

you have to own your own shadow – you cannot escape it

 

the fact that nondualism is central to 3 major world religions –

Hinduism/Buddhism/Christianity –

and that Christianity taught it for 16 centuries –

“I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you”

(John 14:20) – proves that nondualism

is absolutely important

 

dualisms like spirit vs body/human vs animal/sacred vs secular

falsify the holism of life/nature/God – God works thru

both-and polarities

not either-or dualisms –

God is in the body/nature/secular

just as much as in the spirit/the human/the sacred

 

but atheists separate God and man – they cut God

out of the picture completely – as Wayne Dyer liked to say

EGO means Edging God Out –

the famous atheist Bertrand Russell

was even more cynical than John Calvin who professed

humanity’s “total depravity” –

Russell believed the soul’s foundation had to be built

on ironically soul-killing and unyielding despair

since every human accomplishment will be wiped out

because the universe will eventually disappear

 

but take courage  – for empires of ideas like dualism

just like empires of power and wealth

come and go –

“In the world you will have trouble, but take courage

I have conquered the world – these things I have spoken to you

so that in me you may have peace” – Jesus in John 16:33.

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.

 

LOVE AND SOCIAL RENEWAL

Maslow’s growth hierarchy of needs operates like this:

physiological needs must be met before we can pursue

safety/belonging/self-esteem/self-actualization/

self-transcendence needs – the need to move beyond self

into ever-expanding circles of care/consciousness –

this is the transpersonal/spiritual level

 

but the Enlightenment emphasis on separation

of religion and state made Christianity captive

to the financial values of the middle class

which then used religion to justify those values –

so we got stuck

at the physiological/financial safety need level

 

the middle class version of Christian joy

then became the synthetic “happy-making”

of going on a vacation cruise

whereas true Christian joy

takes you from the limitations

of what you had no choice to be born into

to the freedom of creatively loving

those who are strangers to you

 

for the soul this is all or nothing –

either we see God’s image in all people

or we don’t see at all –

love of enemies makes no logical sense

but absolute soul sense –

we can no longer exclude anyone

 

sometimes the “enemy” is the one you are married to

but conjugal love could become highly regarded

and bring about psychological/social/cultural renewal

if Christian couples focused not on money

but on committed/harmonious love –

divine love would shine thru everything –

 

“Seek joy in God/peace within yourself/love in relationships –

seek to rest in the good, the true, and the beautiful –

this resting is then God within you

loving God all around you – this is authentic social renewal.”

– Richard Rohr

 

 

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.