Tag: men

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.

 

 

 

 

EASTERN AND WESTERN WAYS TO GOD

Buddhists should not leave the Sangha, the community

just like Christians should not leave the Church

for it is hard to practice the faith without others.

The Sangha has arhats similar to Christian saints –

both arhats and saints can help us live fully.

 

But Sangha and Church leaders can serve or dominate you –

dominator hierarchies such as caste systems

exploit people and prevent individual/collective growth.

Growth/developmental/actualization hierarchies

lead humans from ego/ to ethnic/ to world/ to cosmos-centrism.

 

Many people, particularly men, are stuck in their lives:

afraid of introspection/pleasure/repressed emotion

disconnected from their bodies

asleep in patriarchal theocracies

but starting to wake up to their vulnerability/sensitivity.

 

Fear of being human

and information overload, a total head trip

is making Western Civilization neurotic –

the Asian belief in the richness of silence/

wordless wisdom/human wonder

is necessary and appealing

but fast disappearing.

 

However, bad discontent and good discontent exist in the West –

discontent with never having enough possessions/

always wanting more

and discontent with all the injustices in the world

that call one to take action.

 

In the East there are three main ways to God:

the way of the head – the way of intellect/knowledge/truth

the way of the heart – the way of emotion/devotion/beauty

the way of the gut – the way of will/action/goodness.

 

To Jurgen Moltmann, a European theologian

Christ’s death and resurrection, according to Colossians

reconciles and unites all three ways/all Creation/all creatures

so that the Cosmic Christ flows through all

and Creation, as Eastern Orthodox theologians say

is deified/filled with/fulfilled through

the Divine.