Separation from the primal union with the mother,
the Garden of Eden, causes a lot of suffering, but is inevitable.
However, it is crucial to remember that there was
and there still is, a Garden.
The suffering of Jews/Blacks/Indigenous
has deepened them and elevated them
above the meaninglessness and triviality of the white man.
This is the secret spiritual heritage
of the United States of America and many other countries.
Between 1999 and 2009, the number of people
who identified as ‘religious only’ fell from 54% to 9%
and those who identified as ‘spiritual and religious’
grew from 6% to 48% – a ringing endorsement
of the value of spirituality.
Spiritual transformation normally results
in transformed relational virtues –
more honesty/compassion/forgiveness –
or it may mean you become a prophet.
Like any true reformer/prophet today
Jesus critiqued Judaism from inside Judaism
by Judaism’s own criteria and holy values.
Today, atheists who attack Christianity do so
based on Christian values, but they do not realize this
because western civilization has marinated in Christian values
for so long these values have become subconscious.
However, false prophets, unlike Jesus,
always attack from the outside – therefore
the Four Horsemen of the Atheist Apocalypse –
Dawkins/Dennett/Harris/Hitchens –
are false prophets – they have no real understanding
of the depths of the religion they attack.
In critiquing Judaism’s over-emphasis on Law/morality
Jesus helped us replace our one-sided emphasis on goodness –
we are good, you are evil –
with a healthier ethic of wholeness –
looking at both our own goodness and brokenness
and seeing both the goodness and brokenness in others.
When Christians do this – take the logjam out of their own eye –
they bring peace to the world.
Intelligent Christian Spirituality 