Tag: joy

Wisdom versus False Religion

Spirituality is about growth without limits/

/waking up/blessing others/gratitude

we would not think to do good

if God had not already moved us to it –

good spirituality always gets you in touch

with what God is already doing within you

the only true joy in life is to escape

from the prison of the False Self

and by love enter into union

with God who dwells within you

love cannot remain blind –

it has to become conscious

to see reality as it is/people as they are

and go beyond disillusionment to commitment

to love all there is

despite all the flaws

particularly in human beings

if we want growth in friendship/marriage/religious life

Richard Rohr equates internal resurrection

with finding our True Self

which may cause one to not fit in 

with any particular religious system

since a lot of religion is obsessed

with the False Self

since the opposite of faith is not doubt

but certainty/thinking you have all the answers

and you/not they are right about everything

the ego/small/False Self

loves to be right/safe/not uncertain

Seneca, a statesman/dramatist/Stoic philosopher 

of ancient Rome wrote extensively about

the relationship of courage to religion:

“Undisturbed by fears

and unspoiled by pleasures

we fear neither death 

nor the gods.”

the beginning of wisdom

is to love/not fear God.

GOD’S SWEETNESS CONQUERS FEAR

Allah told the angels to bow before humans

which they did, except for Iblis (Satan) who waxed proud

and led Adam and Eve out of the Garden to where

everyone is everyone’s enemy.

 

Still, there is some friendship and joy

but apocalyptic dread predominates more than joy right now –

anxiety and some delight

are the two basic ways/feelings/

life-experiences of contemporary humans.

 

But there is nothing to be fearful/worried/anxious about –

DNA and RNA show we are all connected –

we have all evolved from common sources

and if you go back far enough

you get to the One Common Source.

 

And there is nothing to fear because

in a static world, God is independent from Creation

but in an evolving world, the world is not God

and God is not the world

but God is in the depths of all things

and leading them to growth/fulfillment.

 

Every aspect of life is an invitation

to radical amazement

which goes beyond knowledge

and is a Doorway to the Divine.

 

Enlightened people/saints/mystics

like Saint Bernard or John of the Cross

describe the experience of God

as restful/peaceful/sweet/delightful/even erotic

and Muslims like Rumi/Hafiz/Kabir

and Hindus like Rabindranath Tagore

describe life with God as

fun/fantastic/ecstatic

and Jews like Jesus

proclaim “My yolk is easy

and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:30).

 

Jesus is the Light of the World (John 8:12)

who tells us we are the Light of the World (Matthew 5:14)

and there is nothing to fear (Matthew 10:31).

SHADOW: INTEGRATION/ CELEBRATION/LIBERATION

Dualisms deny the wholism of life

and encourage us to project

our personal and social shadows

onto some external scapegoat

who we imagine as the source of all our problems

instead of facing and integrating our shadow –

if all is One, you must own your shadow.

 

Our self-image is our false self –

it contains none of our shadow –

the stuff we deny and repress about ourselves –

the self-image is a projection of our ideal/not real self.

 

It is because of men’s projection/disconnection

with their shadow/body/emotions/God

that we have rape/gun violence/war.

 

Unredeemed men love domination/patriarchy

and “dominator hierarchies” which cause oppression

whereas “growth hierarchies” end oppression

and, contrary to feminist thought

it is a disaster when all hierarchies are condemned –

nothing gets done.

 

In Christianity, a true prophet does not just critique

the present order, s/he also offers an alternative vision

of a different order of peace/justice/love.

 

In a different order, the shadow is integrated

tenderness of the awakened heart

is always accessible,

and as in Buddhism,

Christians celebrate caring/appreciation/gratitude

in poetry/dance/sculpture/music/all art.

 

In joy and sorrow

losing our small ego

results in seeing the pain and beauty of the world

and a never-ending creative outflow

of ecstasy and grief is liberated.

 

 

 

 

COSMOLOGY AND GOD’S LOVE

Theology was queen of the sciences for 500 years

science usurped that role for 300 years

now cosmology is the queen:

the study of large-scale properties of the universe as a whole –

its origin/structure/content/laws/development/evolution

including space/time/causality/freedom –

the Big Bang Theory is an example

that all moral/political/social/economic/personal decisions

even our highest mystical concepts of God

must bow to cosmology.

 

David Bohm’s Implicate Order is another example

based on the idea that the whole, not the parts, is primary.

Classical physics focused on the parts, the new physics sees

that all the parts connect to each other

in one indivisible whole system, that is,

All is One –

Cosmology is the new scientific mysticism.

 

But, as Richard Rohr says:

“We are one yet not one.”

We are one with God

and yet we are not God –

the two great encounters: with True God and True Self

are experienced simultaneously

and grow in parallel with each other.

And “Even if we sin, we are God’s.

But we will not sin, knowing we belong to God”

– Wisdom 15:2.

 

Meister Eckhart focused on joy/

relegated penitential practices to the background/

maintained that the more you let God’s love conquer you

the freer you are.

 

“The test of authentic religious experience

is a life well-lived – religion begins

in the affections/emotions and results in

love of God and neighbour.” – Jonathan Edwards