science – Page 2 – Intelligent Christian Spirituality

HUMAN PURPOSE LOST AND FOUND

The new cosmology resonates with Christian faith –

God cannot be reduced to the creation event –

something must have come before Creation –

God is not reducible to the universe –

even though people pray to the universe

or ask the universe to do things for them

“the universe” is a code name for “God”

but people are afraid to admit God into their life

because it is not cool these days to be religious –

God is not the universe nor separate from it

but God’s Presence is in and flows thru ongoing creation

modern atheism did not arise with science

but atheism got a kickstart with Copernicus’ heliocentrism –

humans kicked out of the center of the universe

to the periphery of a vast impersonal cosmos

humans irrelevant to the cosmic story –

humans no longer the perfection of the universe

but an accidental side show

gave birth to existentialism – we have no god-ordained purpose –

we create our own purpose by what we do

Gandhi retrieved and the West lost a religious view of reality –

a view of the importance of being and truth

the West reduced the human purpose to practical efficiency –

concerned with means not ends –

no longer aware of the intrinsic God-given value

of being human – we only focus on what humans

can do for other humans – particularly the rich

our only purpose: producing and consuming things

only religion kept a notion of our intrinsic value –

the Church’s mission to discover honest-to-goodness truth

through open dialogue between humans

requires reverence and respect for lawful diversity

“The Church’s purpose is to keep unity in essentials

freedom in non-essentials, and charity in all things”

– Pope John XXIII

but the Church cannot brag about any of this –

it is the work of the Holy Spirit

to call forth many religious – hermits/monks/nuns

who have consecrated their lives to prayer –

praising God and interceding for God’s People –

this has gone on since the Desert Mothers/Fathers

and is the living source of the spiritual life of the Church.

COMPASSION – SOURCE OF SCIENCE

According to Meister Eckhart

the 13^th 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.

DEMYTHOLOGIZING: KILLING GOD SOFTLY

“Matter is just a minor pollutant in a universe

made of light” – Ilya Prigogine

“For the rest of my life, I want to reflect

on what light is” – Albert Einstein

but artists/philosophers/scientists say

their best ideas emerged spontaneously

out of their unconscious

out of archetypes

residing deeply in the collective unconscious

in the dark –

it is the dark which paradoxically gives light

the drug-user/druggie/droog

swims in the same water

as the mystic –

the water of universal archetypes –

of mythology –

arch-types are the same all over the world

in their essential form

though interpreted differently

in different cultures

biblical scholars kowtowing to our scientific age

tried to demythologize the Holy Bible

and get to the facts

but anthropologists hrecognize

beginning and ending stories in all cultures

that is, myths

and myths are far more important to a culture

and convey far deeper truths

than mere facts –

facts are superficial –

deeper universal truth can only be found

thru myths

demythologizing kills God and religion

because myths are more important –

meaning is more important

to peoples’ hearts –

than science

and facts.

BUDDHA’S DILEMMA

Science has discovered that chaos is everywhere

and has a necessary role in universal life –

chaos creates creativity –

and the consequent struggle to survive

results in unexpected benefits

when you ask “Why is my life not working?”

and discover your shadow beneath the “persona” –

the mask you and everyone wears – the “smiley face”

you can discover your True Self beneath the mask

the pharisaic equation: holiness = perfection

results in denial of the shadow

so the shadow functions autonomously

and, having a mind of its own

comes out sideways and causes scandals

when those attempting to be righteous

least expect it – they find themselves

with their pants down

in the glaring light of publicity

which exposes their shame

for all to see

Descartes was a philosopher

who never faced his shadow –

he lived totally in his head –

nothing is more alien to shadow-work

than Descartes’ famous dictum –

the foundation of western philosophy –

“cogito ergo sum” – “I think therefore I am” –

the statement of an alienated being

so divorced from his True Self

that he must seek proof of his own existence

in the fact that he thinks

Buddha long ago went a step further –

feeling the idea of “atman” (self) –

the foundation of Vedic beliefs –

was responsible for the corruption of Vedic priests

and the underlying caste system

which caused untold suffering of millions –

so Buddha taught “anatman” (no self) –

there is no separate/individual/independent self –

and so Buddhists started worshipping “emptiness”

until Buddha found that was worse than worshipping atman.

SPIRITUAL AUTHORITY

Art/morals/religion could not stand up to the steam engine

of science

only God could –

but God and spirituality had been repressed

and so the differentiation of art/morals/religion/ (1600-1800)

was followed by their dissociation (1800-1900)

and western intellectuals knew this would be a cultural catastrophe

but could not fix it

now, secular media sees only two types of religious people:

fundamentalist nutcases

who believe in myth

and New Age nutcases

who believe in magic

but both are “pre-rational”

and any “trans-rational” people

who have seen the limits of reason

and include reason while transcending it

are lumped in with the nutcases

the challenge of institutional religion

is to lead everyone to the supreme wisdom

of being one in God

this is the task of everyone in the church/synagogue/mosque

not just the priest/rabbi/imam

in any case, spiritual authority now resides

less in religious organizations/ordained clergy/traditional creeds

than in direct experience and friendship with God –

the source of all religious organizations in the first place

answers and authority come now from the Voice of God/

from voices of others (if we form a spiritual community)/

from our own voice

the current appeal of Meister Eckhart –

the truly mystical element in his writing –

is that he helps people cut thru

the distractions of life

so they can find

their essential grounding in God.

TRANSFORMATION OR EXTINCTION?

The most essential practice of peace is non-attachment

to your own views – clinging too tightly to our own beliefs/

ideology causes violence/war on the one hand

but on the other hand you have to believe in something

or your life is meaningless – you have to hold your beliefs

tightly/loosely – to be committed/open

and in our culture the number one blasphemy

is to question anyone’s views on autonomy – their right

to do their own thing without consideration of others –

their separation from others and God –

and the faith of the modern mind is based on this:

science can and should be allowed to do anything

no matter how horrendous – we have created

nuclear weapons – therefore we are morally obligated to use them

but one of the best things – if your faith brings you into conflict

with science/history/culture/philosophy

is that this conflict can stimulate new and deeper theology

the quantum theologian has already learned

that extinction (crucifixion) and transformation (resurrection)

are central coordinates of cosmic and planetary evolution –

in Romans 8:22 the Apostle Paul wrote

“the whole creation has been groaning together

in the pains of childbirth until now” –

birth/transformation and extinction are the two great possibilities

facing us right now and should be our primary focus

our primary focus is too often misplaced:

we focus only on: “Am I full or hungry? Am I sick or healthy?

Am I rich or poor?” Good questions but

if we leave God out of the equation

we will not be fully full/healthy/rich:

“You say ‘I am rich, and have become wealthy,

and have need of nothing’ but you do not know

that in God’s eyes ‘you are wretched/miserable/

poor/blind/naked’” (Revelation 3:17)

our true food/health/wealth is to do the will of God

who made us – only when we get this

will we be headed towards a world

that is interspiritually unified by both

the corporal and spiritual works of mercy.

THE EVOLUTION OF BELIEF

In 139 C.E. (Common Era), Ptolemy, a Greek astronomer,

developed a system of circles within circles

which became the primary astronomical model

for 1500 years!

for 15 centuries everyone believed

this was how the universe operated

but the accretion of more and more untested beliefs

along with increasingly sophisticated science/history/psychology

caused some Christians, desperately trying to keep up

to assert increasingly unbelievable things

like the existence of hell – a place of eternal torture –

what could anyone do in their brief lifespan to warrant that? –

this belief was the projection of our worst fear onto God

made God into an Absolute Demon/Monster

and created scepticism/atheism

hell exists, but it is a God-forsaking mental state not a place

7 centuries before Teilhard de Chardin

St. Angela of Foligno saw the whole evolving creation as

a divine milieu – a universe pregnant with God – a heaven

in Fall/Redemption traditional spirituality

the quest is for perfection

and the goal is to keep the soul clean

but in Quantum Theology/Spirituality no perfection exists –

imperfection is integral to all nature –

and holiness is cosmic hospitality – welcoming all things –

and the goal is to keep the soul green/

evergreen/ever-growing

7 centuries before, and surprisingly like, Quantum Theology

Meister Eckhart’s writings on the soul

answered the fundamental philosophical/theological questions:

“who are we?/why do we exist?”

which supply the basic purpose/direction of our lives

no one but Meister Eckhart

according to Matthew Fox

so thoroughly integrated

biblical theology/spirituality/

prophecy/mysticism/

faith/reason/

art/life.

THE RISE AND FALL OF THE NEW ATHEISM

Justin Brierley, host of the “Unbelievable?” podcast, which hosts Christians and atheists in dialogue, likes to thank atheists for reviving Christian thinking.

Brierley’s new book The Surprising Rebirth of Belief in God: Why the New Atheism Grew Old and Secular Thinkers Are Considering Christianity Again is part of a new wave of tomes such as two by Alister McGrath: The Dawkins Delusion: Atheist Fundamentalism and the Denial of the Divine and Coming to Faith Through Dawkins: Twelve Essays on the Pathway from New Atheism to Christianity in which a dozen secular thinkers found their way to belief in God through reading criticism of Richard Dawkins. Even Deepak Chopra weighs in with a chapter on “Dawkins and his Delusions” in his book The Future of God.

The “four horsemen of the atheist apocalypse,” Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens, Sam Harris, and Daniel Dennett were very popular from about 2000 to 2010 but have fallen out of vogue since then.

The new atheism arose because of a perfect storm of events: American fundamentalist criticism of evolution, resulting in a ban on teaching the scientific theory in some schools; ongoing aggression by religious evangelists who considered atheists either foolish or evil; the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Center by fundamentalist Muslims; and sex scandals perpetrated by priests and covered up by bishops.

The storm resulted in a counter storm of books by atheist scientists such as Harris and Dawkins, notably Dawkins’ The God Delusion, and writers such as Dennett and Hitchens, notably Hitchens’ God is not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything.

However, the atheist counter storm resulted in a counter storm from Protestant philosophers such as William Lane Craig, Alvin Plantinga, Tim Keller, and John Lennox.

The new atheism came to be seen as deeply flawed for two main reasons. First, they cherry-picked their approach to religion, straw-manning their opponents by just focusing on the worst aspects of religion. Their simplistic approach to religious faith failed to take into account all the good religions have done for centuries: providing billions of people with deep meaning in their lives, pastoral care during hard times, and building charities, hospitals, schools, and universities around the world.

Secondly, they failed to apply their critical standards to themselves. They only got as far as Kierkegaard’s ethical stage, and have not examined the shadow side of atheism, for example atheist political regimes in Soviet Russia and Communist China that slaughtered millions of people. They did not own their own sin, which Kierkegaard noted, prompts the next stage after ethics, the religious stage.

Part of their problem was that, as Catholic Bishop Robert Barron pointed out, they were rhetoricians, great at arguing their point but naïve about the depths of theological thinking. Also, they were in love with “scientism,” the belief that science has all the answers, an unprovable hypothesis which is therefore rejected by true scientists.

True scientists recognize the limits of science. Science can only answer “how questions,” for example, how we got here through evolution. It is incapable of answering “why questions,” for example, “what is the purpose of my life?” That is a meaning and value question which is in the realm of religion not science.

As Bishop Barron also noted, when atheists try to formulate their values, they usually latch on to “the brotherhood of man” or other values that come from Christianity. So, they unconsciously criticize Christianity with Christian values. This is fair, since any religion is only as perfect or imperfect as the people who compose it. If they do not live up to their professed values, they deserve to be criticized.

In short, the two big mistakes of the new atheists were to unfairly overdo their criticism of religion, and to not look at the dark side of atheism.

Bruce Tallman is a religious educator of adults, spiritual director, and marriage coach . http://www.brucetallman.com

THE PARADOXICAL GOOD NEWS

The deeper and wider our knowledge of God

the greater our love of God

but Christians tend to limit love to humans

and not see it in other species or in the universe itself

therefore we focus on inner love and outer darkness

another classic duality/division in our thinking

true nondual language is paradoxical

like a Zen koan – “I am different from all others

yet the same as them” – this is true in life

because life itself is paradoxical

and even though Christianity stands or falls on Christology

we couldn’t handle the paradox of Christ:

both human and God – and so we spiritualized Jesus –

we couldn’t handle the humanity of Jesus

like the docetist heretics – so we made Jesus into pure God

rather than the God/human

and we made salvation totally spiritual

so that Christianity had only a limited impact on the world

and we didn’t have to change – so far

but when we divorce theology from cosmology

we get just an idea of God

rather than the living God

and there exists a tremendous gap

between the transcendent/religious dimension

and the material/science dimension of life –

life becomes divided against itself

but contemplation opens our dualistic minds

to the paradoxical Good News

of intelligent Christian spirituality:

our fulfillment/salvation is received not achieved

but we have to work out our salvation

with fear and trembling

“for it is God who works in you

both to will and to work

for God’s good pleasure”

Philippians 2: 12-13.

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?