Category: Uncategorized

EROS RISING

Creation and Incarnation must go together

if we are going to have an Infinite God

who can communicate in a Finite Way

so God took on a human body

with all its bodily desires

including sexual desires –

all this is part of the humanness of Jesus

so sex is not just “continuation of the species”

it is the “energy of love” by which the whole universe

is becoming more personalized/spiritualized/conscious

sexuality and its erotic creativity

long seen as a source of sin

emerges now as a key dimension

of authentic spirituality.

THE COSMIC MASS & OTHER GREAT EXPERIENCES

    Some powerful spiritual experiences happened to me in 2023.

  At Queen of the Apostles Retreat Center in Mississauga in March, Ronald Rolheiser gave a series of talks based on his book Wrestling with God: Finding Hope and Meaning in Our Daily Struggles to Be Human.

    Rolheiser said that our basic problem is not so much sin as the complex way God made us – psychologically, emotionally, socially, and sexually – that can tempt us to sin. He gave many examples of this and then some “counsels for the long haul:” we need to constantly purify our concept of God; honour our complexity and sexuality: both eros and chastity; befriend our “shadow” – the things we try to hide from others and ourselves; grieve our wounds; and forgive ourselves and others often.

    In Chicago, in August, at the Parliament of the World’s Religions (which promotes interreligious understanding) there were about 7000 participants from every spiritual tradition: Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, Taoist, and Confucian. The Sikhs fed lunch to everyone who came to them every day – often thousands of people. This is part of Sikh tradition called “langar” – feeding the hungry. There were workshops on every imaginable topic, keynotes by Antonio Guterres, Secretary General of the U.N., Nancy Pelosi, former Speaker of the House of Representatives, and Rev. Jesse Jackson.

    The biggest highlight for me was the Cosmic Mass led by Matthew Fox. The Mass was structured according to traditional Catholic and Anglican ritual but also according to the four “vias” of Meister Eckhart, a Catholic theologian and mystic from the 13th century.

    The “Via Positiva” involved about a thousand people holding hands and dancing in a circle while cosmic images from the Hubble Space Telescope played on a large screen in the darkened hall. The “Via Negativa” had us get down on our hands and knees with our foreheads to the ground (after we were given time to reflect on sorrowful things in our lives) and wailing out our grief – I’ll never forget that cacophony. The ”Via Creativa” involved spiritual leaders from every major world religion gathering around a huge altar and reciting prayers of peace from their tradition. The “Via Transformativa” saw the religious leaders encourage everyone to go forth and spread love, justice, and interreligious cooperation to the world.

    Another spiritual experience came from the “Mystic Summit” (mysticssummit.com), an online course consisting of thirty-five interviews with mystics from every tradition.

    There were readings of mystic poetry from Mirabai Starr; interpretations of Rumi, the great Sufi mystic; a discussion of Revelations of Divine Love by Julian of Norwich; the Kabbalah, a profound treatise of Jewish mysticism; Brian Swimme talking about science, religion and cosmology; expositions on grace, paradox, and non-dualism; a discussion about guardian angels in various traditions; the life of Padre Pio, a Catholic mystic who suffered from stigmata, the five bodily wounds of Christ; Joseph of Cupertino, another Catholic saint who was known for his ability to levitate; interviews with shamans; the life of Bede Griffiths, a Catholic priest and Benedictine monk, who lived as a Hindu and founded a Christian ashram in South India; A Course In Miracles, a modern interpretation of the sayings of Jesus, was mentioned by several mystics; and finally a discourse on Paramahansa Yogananda’s great work Autobiography of a Yogi.

    In short, the Summit was a spiritual cornucopia rounding out a year of fresh insights, and I found that Richard Rohr’s biblically based idea of the Universal Christ provided a sense of unity in the midst of all the religious diversity of these retreats, parliaments, rituals and summits.

 

   

 

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.

 

TRANSFORMATION OR EXTINCTION?

The most essential practice of peace is non-attachment

to your own views – clinging too tightly to our own beliefs/

ideology causes violence/war on the one hand

but on the other hand you have to believe in something

or your life is meaningless – you have to hold your beliefs

tightly/loosely – to be committed/open

 

and in our culture the number one blasphemy

is to question anyone’s views on autonomy – their right

to do their own thing without consideration of others –

their separation from others and God –

and the faith of the modern mind is based on this:

science can and should be allowed to do anything

no matter how horrendous – we have created

nuclear weapons – therefore we are morally obligated to use them

 

but one of the best things – if your faith brings you into conflict

with science/history/culture/philosophy

is that this conflict can stimulate new and deeper theology

 

the quantum theologian has already learned

that extinction (crucifixion) and transformation (resurrection)

are central coordinates of cosmic and planetary evolution –

in Romans 8:22 the Apostle Paul wrote

“the whole creation has been groaning together

in the pains of childbirth until now” –

birth/transformation and extinction are the two great possibilities

facing us right now and should be our primary focus

 

our primary focus is too often misplaced:

we focus only on: “Am I full or hungry? Am I sick or healthy?

Am I rich or poor?” Good questions but

if we leave God out of the equation

we will not be fully full/healthy/rich:

“You say ‘I am rich, and have become wealthy,

and have need of nothing’ but you do not know

that in God’s eyes ‘you are wretched/miserable/

poor/blind/naked’” (Revelation 3:17)

 

our true food/health/wealth is to do the will of God

who made us – only when we get this

will we be headed towards a world

that is interspiritually unified by both

the corporal and spiritual works of mercy.

 

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.

 

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

 

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.”