true self – Intelligent Christian Spirituality

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.

WAKE UP!

Prayer is the place where much spiritual growth

and struggle can occur

caused by the true self and false self and sinful self

in conflict

your false self is not your sinful self

the intentionally self-centred self

that God does not like and you should not like –

the false self is good and necessary as far as it goes –

it is the outer things you think you are –

your name/gender/job/nationality

but it often poses as the true self/soul which it is not

thus it becomes false

the essence of spirituality is being aware/seeing/

becoming conscious – that is why Jesus and Buddha

constantly say “Be awake/wake up” –

“Therefore keep awake/be on the alert

for you do not know when your Lord is coming” (Matt 24:42) –

be awake particularly to your sinful self

the subtle self that likes the best spot in the synagogue

to be treated with respect and called “Rabbi”

or “Father”

the cure for the false self is what Brother Lawrence calls

“The Practice of the Presence of God” –

the holy habit

of getting used to God’s constant company

and constantly talking/constantly listening

to God in every circumstance –

even while making love

indeed, particularly while making love

that’s why sex feels so heavenly –

God is making love to you

thru your partner – wake up to that!

contemplative prayer can occur anytime/anywhere –

it is “a communion in which the Holy Trinity

conforms humans/the image of God/the Imago Dei

to God’s likeness” (Catechism of the Catholic Church 2713)

– thru grace we participate in Divinity! Wake up to that!

all souls thus owe God everything

and can repay God nothing.

THE BROAD AND NARROW GATES

In our scientific age “More than knowledge

that comes from research, we need wisdom

that comes from prayer” – William Johnston, SJ

“To know your origins is to know your True Self”

– Lao Tzu

“hell” is “perpetual alienation from the True Self” –

it is constantly living in the False Self

so that your whole life is false

the True Self is hidden in God

so that most of us don’t discover our origins

until we die –

“Broad is the gate that leads to destruction

and many enter through it;

narrow is the gate that leads to eternal life”

– Jesus in Matthew 7:13-14

to enter by the narrow gate/find eternal life

we must understand Teresa of Avila’s

first four mansions in her Interior Castle

which can be summarized by reference to the will:

First Mansion: will marked by self-indulgence

Second Mansion: will marked by spiritual growth

but not steadfastness

Third Mansion: will marked by beginning of resolution

Fourth Mansion: will marked by steadfast union

with the Divine Will in prayer

every day every one out of ignorance and fear

mentally or physically strikes out at “the enemy”

and so the pain in the world goes on –

before the broad gate of aggression we could rather ask

“Do I want war or peace in my inner and outer worlds?”

fear always fears

that what it loves will be taken away

regret always regrets

that what it loved was taken away

but nothing God loves

can be taken away from God –

so that if you are in God

there is nothing to fear or regret.

INTEGRATING POLAR OPPOSITES

In some mythology and theology

all contradictions/opposites/polarities

emanate from Providence: good and evil/life and death/

pleasure and pain/prosperity and destitution –

God is everywhere and in everything –

God is with us/for us in all things – even dark things.

“Meister Eckhart, more than any other thinker

knew how to integrate opposites:

biblical theology and spirituality

prophecy and mysticism

faith and reason

art and life” – Matthew Fox

Asking questions in search of integration

can help us with polarities –

asking questions was the basic method of Thomas Aquinas

in his monumental Summa Theologica

in which he integrated all medieval theology –

in his search for Truth/God, he kept asking questions

and turning over in prayer the profound mysteries of

philosophy/scripture/church teaching/the universe.

Thomas Merton also used questions to find Truth/God –

he questioned how can we integrate polarities like

Church as Beloved Community versus

Church as Institution of Individuals under Church Law?

If you use questions and search hard enough you will find

your True Self/your ground floor spirituality/an absolute

reference point that is at one and the same time

utterly within you

and utterly beyond you.

If you are aware of your True Self’s original blessing

you can handle your original sin/

if you are aware of your True Self’s ultimate security in God

you can handle earthly insecurities/

if you are aware of your True Self’s original dignity

you can handle insults easily/

if you are aware of God as your heavenly Father/Mother

your earthly father/mother

cannot hurt you too much.

VISIONS

In the vision of Bonaventure and Aquinas

humans are central to the Creation –

It would make no sense for God to create

a universe to reflect God’s glory

if there was no creature conscious enough

to appreciate God’s glory/reflect God’s glory/

lead all Creation back to God.

When we believe humans are just

an accidental collection of atoms

it results in despair/collective irresponsibility

which results in dangerous passivity/apathy

in the face of the political/ecological crisis

which is currently in our face.

Besides, there is only one human problem –

to discover who we are/our purpose

in the economy/reign/rule/life of God –

if I find God I find my true self –

the face of who I was before I was born –

and I find my true purpose –

and if I find my true self and my true purpose

I find God.

To find your true self, start your meditation/

prayer practice where you are –

do not wait until you have it all together –

nobody ever has it all together.

If you are the most violent/depressed/

egotistical/self-hating person in the world –

those are all good places to start.

And as you come to see that God loves you

in your shadow/wounded parts

you can accept those shadow/wounds in yourself

and so bring your whole self to God and be healed.

In the vision of Teilhard, Christianity is a new “phyllum”

with the Church at the cutting edge of evolution

leading evolution forward through “amorization” –

“union in love” – guiding evolution as it moves toward

its fulfillment in the human/Cosmic God

Jesus the Christ.

EVER-ADAPTING CHRISTIANITY

In the triad of world/flesh/devil

it is almost always the sins of the “flesh”

that are attacked by churches –

birth control/adultery/abortion/pornography

and seldom do sermons preach about the sins of the “world” –

the lust for wealth and prestige that the ego loves.

But the difference between the True Self

and the False Self is the difference between

“True Centering” (on God) and “Ego Centering” (on Self).

In fact, the True Self can include the False Self

because the way we become whole as humans

is by embracing every aspect of our existence –

our weakness/failures/mistakes

by humility/not taking ourselves too seriously –

we grow by wholeness not by absolute moral purity

which we never reach anyway.

Still, we consign to the unconscious

all fantasy, all psychic associations connected with

words/numbers/stones/plants/animals –

but for primitives all these things had numinous power.

Friedrich Nietzsche dismissed all primitives

and fancied himself to be a Rational Existentialist –

one who has the courage to stare into the abyss of non-being

and discover complete loneliness, complete aloneness

if God is dead.

There have been many Rational Christian responses

that have deconstructed the “death of God” movement

and people like Marcus Borg and Bishop John Shelby Spong

have also helped us deconstruct Bibical Fundamentalism

and there are many Postmodern Christian thinkers

like Brian McLaren with his book A Generous Orthodoxy

and others have developed The Postmodern Bible

and The Cambridge Companion to Postmodern Theology.

As usual, Christianity has adapted to/learned from/gone beyond

whatever the world/the devil/the ego throws at us –

we always include and then transcend

all attempts to deconstruct the Truth.

THE TEMPLE VS THE MARKET

Humans are integrally part of evolution

because they arise from it

but in reflecting on it they stand apart from it.

Teilhard would agree with Julian Huxley that

“We are nothing if not evolution becoming aware of itself.”

This is true, but the secular mythology of constant progress

is that the axial person moves

from the myth and magic of primitive humanity

to the rationalism of the great past civilizations

to the post-conventional stage of Jungian ‘individuation.’

However, Johann Baptist Metz, a German theologian

noted that the common theme in western culture is

not individuation but individualism

either by materialistic success for oneself

or by non-materialistic self-fulfillment/self-actualization –

the message is always that self-interest

is more important than the good of society.

If the world is a temple, everything is sacred

and has inherent value, which includes you and me.

If the world is a market, everything has market value only –

and spirituality is foolish and a dead end.

The ego, like the market

always has an opportunistic agenda

driven by ideology/fear/or anger

which feeds the False Self

whereas the True Self/the Soul has no agenda

except to help you see reality as it is.

The solution to the polarization of western culture

caused by individualism is contemplation.

True meditation is to be mindful –

to concentrate and look deeply

into the nature and roots of your inner life

and so to find your True Self/Soul

the Love which loves

God/Truth/and the Common Good.

THE PURPOSE OF ALL THINGS

The only purpose of God in creating the universe

was that it be a communion of souls in love.

Christ is the center/goal/perfection/paradigm of communion

so the meaning of Christ extends to

all people/all civilizations/all planets/all universes.

The only purpose of all spiritual practice

is to help you become an awakened human being –

a loving/contemplative sage full of God here and now –

which is the true nature of who you already are anyway –

so the end of the journey is its beginning.

Discovering your True Self can be a great relief –

you no longer have to protect/project/promote

an ideal self-image – your False Self.

Your True Self was always there and always will be

so you can relax and be yourself – flaws and all.

Awareness that life is flawed is the beginning of wisdom

and the beginning of anxiety is when a flawed being

becomes aware of its future non-being.

Today, the “Way of the Cross” involves

becoming aware of our flaws/limitations/sins

abandoning perfectionism/pursuing wholeness/

dying to our ego and finding our True Self

which may be exquisitely painful

but it focuses on growth not transient happiness.

Today we are blessed with tools like the Enneagram

which helps us understand

the depths of our darkness

and paradoxically allows us to grasp

the heights of our True Self

the divine image and likeness of God within

which longs to go without

and join others in forming

a communion of souls in love.

TRANSFORMATION VERSUS VIOLENCE

According to Bernard Lonergan

the new foundation for knowledge is subjectivity.

Only subjectively transformed people

can see things objectively

without all their biases

muddying the water.

Inner work – knowing/healing/harmonizing

our inner life – is the essence of spirituality

and influences all our perceptions/

desires/thoughts/actions.

The False Self is ensnared in craziness –

the lies and constant striving of the world –

‘samsara’ in Hinduism. The True Self knows

it is always here: “I am a child of God” –

nothing left to strive for.

But if you refuse the call of the Divine

the Hound of Heaven pursues you until you either

cling to your False Self in hell

or you let go and let your small self

your ego, annihilate in God.

To get ego out of the way

only one thing is necessary:

stop judging which endlessly divides everything

into your likes and dislikes.

Then you discover fundamental richness –

the holiness of ‘being-itself’ – that is always here

and belongs to everyone like sunshine –

the sun shines on both saint and sinner

but saints see holiness and sinners judge.

Religious fanatics are super-judges:

to overcome doubt they surrender their freedom

to some absolute ideology or religion

then become anxious when confronted

with people who believe differently

and violently attack them as ‘infidels’ –

‘unfaithful ones’ – oblivious to the fact

that their violence makes them unfaithful

to the God of Compassion

they profess to believe in.

SELF-KNOWLEDGE

Life’s central task

is consciously knowing

what we already unconsciously know

who we already are:

our True Self.

We already have

everything we need

our only need

is self-discovery

not self-improvement.

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