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’).”

COMPASSION – SOURCE OF SCIENCE

According to Meister Eckhart

the 13th century Rhineland mystic

Compassion is the Original Source of the universe/

the Earth/and our own individual life –

God made us because God wanted 

to share God’s Love

Love is the Source of Godhood – 

God made us because God loved us

even before we were born –

“God chose us in Christ 

before the foundation of the world”

(Ephesians 1:4)

Compassion is salvific because it unites us 

with our Origin

coming home to Compassion 

is coming home to our True Self

when we are confronted with a new paradigm

it shakes up our world

so we resist it out of fear

but the universe/science/religion 

come from the same Source –

from God’s Love –

if there was no Love there would be no universe

and if there was no universe

there would be no science 

and no religion

through rooting them in the Divine Source

we could reconcile science and religion

develop a “theology of science” 

and live lives of radical amazement

also if everyone engaged in “narrative theology”

that is, narrated their own faith story to others

and if the poor were allowed 

to tell their faith stories

it would create solidarity among all people

release new power to fight injustice –

the Vulture of Injustice would fly off –

and we could all live in amazement and peace.

Three Thoughts for February 6, 2019

  1. Religion is for those afraid of going to hell. Spirituality is for those who have been there.

2. Henri Nouwen saw dogma as peripheral to his task of spiritual renewal of all Christians. He appeals to both conservatives and progressives because he focuses on everyone’s deep spiritual longing: to live a life centred on God.

3. The new cosmic story, where humans are at the centre and cutting edge of cosmic evolution, calls us to wake up from the despair and meaninglessness of the postmodern era.