Tag: God

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!

 

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.

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.

 

 

ALONE WITH THE ALONE

Buddhist teaching states that even if you are fully enlightened

difficulty and pain are still inevitable – you will experience

aging/illness/death/

sorrow at losing what you love –

youth/health/life

 

you are also going to experience loneliness, a universal feeling –

and when we are not enlightened we naively believe

a sexual relationship will take away our loneliness

but unless there is heart and soul communication

sex just makes us more lonely

 

loneliness is different than solitude –

solitude can correct the tendency of codependents

to look outside themselves for their identity –

solitude provides us with an opportunity

to discover/know/embrace intimacy

with our true self

 

but we have to be careful – to not get sucked in

by our false self – our ego – an illusion because it exists

outside of God’s will/love/reality/life itself

 

still, if we are careful, we will find within

a secret/incommunicable/mystery/sanctuary

which the intrusions of self-assertion and violence

cannot penetrate – but on the other hand

if we are not careful, the ways of the world

can lure us out of our sanctuary

and slay us

 

but souls abandoned to God are protected

from their own ego because they take delight

in nothing but God – normal pursuits/activities

hold no delight – they want to be in solitude

alone with the Alone – the Only One

the Lonely One

who wants only to love and be loved

 

“God has created us for great things:

to love and be loved”

– Mother Teresa

 

 

NOBLE HEART AND SOUL

Religious questions used to be “What do you believe?”

“What happens in the afterlife?”

Now they are “How is belief possible in our secular age?”

“Who do you believe?” that is “Who is your authority

on questions of religion?” – less and less it is

popes/priests/catechisms

and more and more it is

Google/friends/social media

 

but in medieval times, Bonaventure’s theological method

was based on spiritual searching – a quest for truth –

not ideological confirmation of my biases

but something far greater – something

that binds us together despite our differences

 

if Bonaventure were alive today

he would include eastern religions

in his quest for truth because

contrary to most peoples’ presuppositions/biases

the First Buddhist Precept is a celebration of life

a reverence for living life to the full

cultivating compassion and vowing

to never kill anything

 

whereas some secular people kill their own soul

although they have not died physically

they have died the “second death” mentioned in Revelation –

their soul has been lost and destroyed –

they have cast themselves into hell –

a hell of their own making

 

but in Buddhism the “noble heart,” the “bodhichitta”

is always present in us no matter how

selfish/depressed/fearful we are –

like an unblemished jewel the bodhichitta

can always be rediscovered

and heal us

 

similarly, according to Henri Nouwen

the soul can always be refound

in solitude –

the great furnace of transformation –

where constantly happens

a great struggle with the devil

and a great encounter with God.