Tag: feminism

COMMON THREADS IN WORLD RELIGIONS

The world’s great religions, diverse as they are

share a common existential thread:

self-reflection and self-transcendence

to St. Paul baptism means you transcend/die 

to the Roman Empire’s violence 

maintaining its patriarchy/hierarchy/slavery

hierarchical and biblical authority

the mainstays of Catholicism and Protestantism

have been problematic for feminist theologians

because there are many ‘terror texts’

hard to believe as ‘inspired by God’

because they maintain subjugation/exclusion/

violence against women –

by seeing biblical texts as interactive with the reader

feminist theologians reclaimed the Bible for women 

by biblical criticism prioritizing the life-giving/

political/ethical/nonviolent texts

but the vision of the hierarchical Fathers 

of the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965)

was to help the Church be evermore true

to its divinely-inspired mission:

to effectively serve all people 

both men and women

with generosity/empathy/love

and in Buddhism the Three Jewels:

the Buddhist Trinity of Buddha/Dharma/Sangha

(Teacher/Teaching/Community)

are all meant to sow seeds 

of love/peace/understanding 

throughout the world

and in Taoism the sage Lao Tzu teaches us all

how to accomplish much 

without effort

by allowing the Tao, the Hidden Force

motivating the universe

to act in and through us

spreading wisdom and joy everywhere

Spirit hides in all these traditions.

THE ZEN OF SEXUALITY

One of the major obstacles to Enlightenment

is resentment about who/what/where you are

therefore it is crucial to be a friend to yourself

 

the delusions underlying both

the life-wish (kama/pleasure/desire)

and the death wish (mara/hostility/destruction)

can be dispelled by psychological analysis

 

thru the passion for union/Oneness an isolated individual

emerges more personalized than before –

because the way God created sexuality is that

healthy sex is integral

to a personalizing universe –

but evil tries to pervert this –

good is always foundational (and sex is very good)

but evil is always secondary/always a perversion

of what was originally good

into adultery/pornography/trafficking

 

accountability is a universal theme in feminist theology –

feminist theologians want us accountable

to communities of the oppressed

particularly half the human race – women whose bodies

are used as objects of self-gratification by men –

feminist theology promotes anti-imperial/post-colonial/

anti-conquest of women’s bodies

and action on this not just speculation

 

when asked where the One comes from

the Zen master Joshu said

“I made a beautiful robe out of hemp”

this seemingly nonsensical Zen answer

was a warning to westerners

to stop trying to understand Zen

as “neo-platonic monism”/“pantheism”/whatever –

although Zen masters believe all things are One

Zen is unclassifiable because the Zen master’s concern

is action in the world not speculation

 

Zen believes we can only be sexually fulfilled thru dual-action:

  1. courage – we do not deny our wheat/goodness
  2. humility – we do not deny our weeds/evil

otherwise, we will be A. dis-couraged B. blind.

 

PEACE THRU INTEGRATION

Science is going thru a major paradigm shift

from seeing nature as mechanical and inanimate/dead

to seeing it as organic and alive

 

The physical sciences noted

the dissolution of energy in entropy

but ignored increasing complexity/consciousness

which is building energy up and up – it is this increase

that gives the whole cosmos its purpose and direction

 

Believers claim the resurrection of Christ integrates

the whole cosmos and all people into God

which is God’s purpose/direction/flow for everything:

union and transformation in God

 

It is good to include all religions and thus integrate everything

in a new way not the old way –

Buddhism can be part of cosmic integration

since it will not block the flow of God’s plan –

doing no harm to ourselves or others

is basic Buddhist teaching on nonaggression

which includes not killing/stealing/lying and the Christian commandments

of not doing harm in our heart/thoughts/speech/actions

 

However, Rosemary Radford Ruether, a great feminist theologian

pointed out that in traditional Judeo-Christianity there exists

a sacralised assumption of a divinely ordered patriarchy/hierarchy

from God to angels to men to women to animals –

this Great Chain of Being invented by men –

was the primary metaphysics for all cultures East and West

before science – and it placed women somewhere

between men and animals

 

No matter how we integrate everything – whether thru science

or religion or science and religion working together –

what people want most of all is to live in peace

 

Peace is all around us – in the world/nature/ourselves

when we live in the present moment – when mindfulness

whether Buddhist or Christian – is in us

the Holy Spirit and peace are in us –

this is not a matter of faith but of practice

and others will sense it and be transformed –

world peace begins in everyone’s heart.

FAITH FROM THE GROUND UP

The ascetics looked to the martyrs

for inspiration and models:

asceticism – renouncing all worldly attachments –

was thought of as slow martyrdom –

slow movement towards non-being.

 

Anxiety is fear, not of the unknown in general

but a specific type of fear – the fear of non-being.

 

But there is no need to fear non-being –

each new development in evolution

transcends and includes its predecessor

it enfolds as it unfolds

so that evolution is integral from atoms to cells

to organisms/plants/animals/humans.

We are dust and to dust we shall return

but dust eventually becomes conscious living beings.

 

Teilhard de Chardin, the great Christian paleontologist

believed any explanation of the world

whether biological/philosophical/religious

would be condemned by the modern mind

if it did not include an essential place for sexuality.

 

Meanwhile, feminists have revolutionized our thinking

on the body/sexuality to the point that

some see feminism as a threat to Christian faith

but others see it as constantly challenging

sexist/patriarchal attitudes

that undermine faith in Jesus the Liberator.

 

There have even been anti-patriarchal popes –

John XXIII was ironically Patriarch of Venice

before he became pope

and then as pope took public transportation

so he could mingle with ordinary men and women

and Pope Francis similarly likes to dine

with Vatican cafeteria staff –

he is no martyr or ascetic

but loves good coffee and a soccer game –

coffee grounds and soccer grounds keep him grounded

in the Ground of Being

and therefore Francis is non-anxious about non-being.

 

ONE COSMIC FAMILY

In Heidegger’s concept of “Being”

God is no concept

no transcendent Creator-God

but Activity in the World

Self-Giving Presence.

All mystics agree

no magical/mythical Being 

totally transcends the world

but Infinite Consciousness 

lives in the world

in community, in peoples’

joys and sorrows.

Augustine sees

the wicked try to flee 

God

who is everywhere –

God the One

who never abandons the wicked

in their sin and sorrow.

Infinite Consciousness

is Being

“I Am” in Church

Beloved Community

born of Spirit, born of humans

Sacrament of Divine Liberation.

Although the anti-Paul 

in Timothy I and II 

wrote women into silence 

in Church

St. Thecla, second century celibate-ascetic 

Church-Leader

was more popular than the Virgin. 

Black-and-White thinking

separating soul (good) from body (bad)

made men uncomfortable

with women’s bodies and sexuality

but feminist theologians see

Wisdom as Co-Creator 

working in female (and male) bodies

creating right relationships.

Womanist theologians see

God and God’s desires

in daily intimacy, daily communion

with God’s Beloved People

the Everlasting Rock of the spiritual life.

Christians and Buddhists

mindlessly practicing rituals 

find little joy 

because human meaning 

is evolution becoming aware of itself,

Infinite Consciousness 

becoming mindful.

Like Hindu and Taoist mystics

scientists now open their eyes

and see the universe for the first time

as a unified web.

Like a spider’s web 

shimmering in the sun after rain

God catches scientists 

in the web of life.

No longer pure observers

scientists now see everything

not as objects or idols

but as icons

of Infinite Consciousness

Brother Sun, Sister Moon 

and all things 

dancing in 

One Cosmic Family.

ONE COSMIC FAMILY

According to Heidegger’s

approach to Being

God is not a concept

not a transcendent 

Creator-God

but an activity in the world

a Self-Giving Presence.

All mystics agree

there is no magical/mythical Being 

who transcends the world

but there is Infinite Consciousness 

in the world.

According to Augustine

the wicked try to flee from God

but God is everywhere

God never abandons the wicked.

In particular

God, Infinite Consciousness

is meant to Be

“I Am” in the Church

the Beloved Community

born of Spirit, born of people

a Sacrament of Divine Liberation.

Although the anti-Paul 

author of Timothy I and II

wrote that women 

were to be silent, silenced in church

St. Thecla, second century celibate-ascetic

and Church-Leader

was more popular than the Virgin. 

Dualistic, black-and-white thinking

separating soul (good) from body (bad)

always made men uncomfortable

with women’s bodies and sexuality

but feminist theologians now

have reappropriated Wisdom

as Co-Creator at work in human bodies

to create right relationships

and they see God desires

daily intimacy, daily communion

with God’s Beloved People

and daily intimacy with Beloved God

and Beloved Community

is the foundation of spiritual life.

Christians and Buddhists

mindlessly practicing rituals 

find little joy because

humans are meant to be

evolution becoming aware of itself,

Infinite Consciousness 

becoming mindful.

Like Hindu, Buddhist and Taoist mystics

scientists now see the universe

as a unified web.

Like a spider’s web 

shimmering in the sun after rain

God has caught scientists 

in God’s web of life.

No longer pure observers

they now see everything

not as objects or idols

but as icons

of God’s Infinite Consciousness.

They now can see

Brother Sun and Sister Moon 

and all things as 

One Cosmic Family.