One of the most fascinating and energizing aspects of life
is the realization that each of the world’s great spiritual traditions can be
fitted together with all of the others to form a vast, multi-faceted mosaic or
rainbow of spiritual “colors.” Each of
us dedicated to this project of integration does it differently, a beautiful
fact in itself. Here, I want to list
briefly my own influences, revealing how – in my own spiritual journey – they each
contribute to the whole. I admit that my
particular mosaic has a Christian flavor, one that emphasizes the primacy of love,
a personal relationship with the Divine, and the quiet, warm, golden, radiance
of a Christ who melts all things into One. Other spiritual practitioners, I fully
understand, will form a mosaic permeated by a uniquely DIFFERENT spiritual
flavor. Listed chronologically - sequentially, that is, according to the relative
order of their appearance in my own life - here goes my attempt! :
Evangelical Christianity: A warm sense of community, where hugs
are a normal part of life. A detailed
knowledge of the Bible. A personal
relationship with the reality of Christ.
An understanding that the experience of “salvation” (being “made whole”)
often occurs through peak experiences, during specific moments of time. A realization that our daily behaviors and attitudes perpetually contain both untransformed and transformed aspects. The fact that we have untransformed aspects is a goad to help us realize we need God and others. Accordingly, our perfections make up for their imperfections, and their perfections make up for our imperfections. Together, we are all more complete.
Charismatic Christianity: Insight occurs in a “quickening”
of the heart, in a flash of insight, in an inner knowing that can be felt.
Quakers: An egalitarian realization of the “priesthood of
all believers”; that is, that every person is a priest or minister,
contributing his or her own unique flavor of spirituality to the whole. The value of silence in communal worship, and
an attitude of simplicity. An enhanced trust in the “Inner Light.” A realization that God is ALREADY present in
those we encounter throughout the day, and a belief that we should “ANSWER to
that of God in everyone, even if they are not a Christian or explicitly
spiritual. A tendency toward pacifism.
Catholic Mysticism: The most detailed exposition in the
Christian Tradition of stages and aspects of the journey toward experiential
union with God. A well-developed method
of contemplative prayer. A rich monastic tradition that teaches the rest of us
to practice our own form of silence, solitude, simplicity, self-discipline and
self-giving. A view of the Trinity that
understands the cosmos as the process by which the Ultimate Reality knows
itself in the mirror of the world, and that a mutual bliss (the Holy Spirit) results
from the union of these Two. An experience in the Eucharist of the divinity of
matter. A realization – primarily from the Franciscans and the Desert Fathers
and Mothers – that the natural world is every bit as much a scripture as the
Bible. A beautiful sense of the core goodness of the true self, grounded in
God. An emphasis on the true self as an inner
abyss or canyon, at whose core dwells the intimate presence and loving gaze of
God. The realization that God’s presence transcends words, concepts and
doctrines. An understanding that the image
of the nighttime sky can lead us into an interior night, where we are embraced
by the divine Mystery even when we can’t understand WHAT it is that is embracing
us. An attitude of contemplative listening, rather than one of proselytizing.
Eastern Orthodox Spirituality: A rich tradition of mystical
prayer centered in the warmth of the heart.
A sense of light and of the transfiguration of all of reality when it
becomes transparent to the light and warmth of God that indwells each and every
thing. An enhanced realization that ALL
of creation is good and holy. An
understanding that the Body of Christ encompasses the entire creation,
including the natural world. A realization of the importance of the feminine
aspect of the divine – a “Sophianic” spirituality.
The tradition of the Radical Reformation, especially the
Contemplative Spirituals of 16th century Germany, and the mystical tradition
of Anabaptists like Hans Denck: A realization that the true scripture is
written in the heart, and that the external scriptures of the Bible must
conform to the scriptures written in the heart – not the other way around! A direct experience of “The Invisible Church”
that is realized in the principle: “Where two or three are gathered, there I
[Christ] am in their midst.” An
experience of “church” as spread out chronologically throughout the day, rather
than gathered in any one visible, communal meeting place. A desire to be more pacifistic. A valuing of “the simple life,” especially as
it is lived by Amish, Mennonites and Hutterites. An understanding that manual labor contains a
deep spirituality.
Christianity in general: An awareness that all things are
grounded in the quiet, radiant, golden LOVE of Christ. An understanding that the Divine is personal
and wants to have a relationship with us.
A unique realization that divine union involves dwelling in a place
BETWEEN transcendence and immanence, between beyondness and this-worldliness, between
Earth and Sky. Unity is found not in a
merging with the Beyond, but in dwelling BETWEEN the Beyond and the Earth in
order to bring them together. The cosmos
is like having two divine mirrors (transcendence and immanence) facing each
other, where – because of the kenosis or self-emptying of each of the poles - mirror-images
of the Two appear, but no originals can ever be found! This is, at root, a supremely Trinitarian view
of mysticism.
Buddhism, especially of the Tibetan variety: A realization
of the sky-like spaciousness of spiritual awareness. An understanding that all phenomena are like
echoes appearing out of nowhere, or like sunlight diamonds glistening on the
great lake of being. An emphasis on the
vastness that comes from the mountain landscapes of Tibet
and Nepal.
A deep awareness of “basic goodness,” not as a private possession (“MY goodness”),
but as a vast reality in which all things participate. A realization that all things are part of the
vast “Net of Indra” or web of life. An
understanding into the nature of “inter-being” – that all things are empty of
self because the true self is a web of interrelated beings. An understanding into the non-personal aspect
of the Ultimate, one that helps us move beyond the personal ego that gives us
so much trouble in this life. Oh, and I
can’t forget those WONDERFUL meditation gongs and bells! From Zen, I’ve learned a non-conceptual
attitude that allows me to experience the mysterious “suchness” or indefinable
uniqueness of each and every creature, which becomes especially evident as it
flows or shapeshifts into union with every other creature.
Native American Spirituality: an unparalleled awareness of
the sacredness of Nature, grounded in the feminine presence of Mother
Earth. An understanding that Nature is
peopled with spiritual presences (“helpers”) who will speak to us and guide us if
we really listen. A deep sense of
humility in the presence of the wider sacredness of life. A pace of life (and manner of speaking) that
is slow, relaxed and grounded – like that
of the seasons. A sense that spiritual
wisdom should not be connected to money.
A warrior spirit of self-discipline, involved in practices like the
sweat lodge, the vision quest and the sundance.
A valuing of beauty as a major aspect of the spiritual life. A
sense that all of life involves the ability of every creature to shapeshift
into other creatures.
Hindu Spirituality: A realization into the God and Goddess
aspects of the spiritual journey as equally necessary. A tantric understanding
that puts precedence on the sacred feminine.
A realization that “all paths lead to the top of the mountain.” An understanding that our lives are part of a
cosmic, divine “play.” A realization
that all things are actually “God in hiding.”
Taoist Spirituality: The realization that all things are
part of a sacred flow. A deep humility,
based in the spiritual qualities of water: “The ocean is greatest because it is
BENEATH all things.” A supreme
gentleness. An understanding of the
mutual inherence of opposites (of yin and yang) in one another, and a mystical
logic that involves opposites BECOMING one another.
Sufi Spirituality: A realization into the fact that longing
for union with God is always mutual. The
heat of love for the Divine “spins” the human and divine realms into One. While Christian mysticism emphasizes quiet,
radiant love, Sufism focuses on the passionate, “hot” aspect of love and union. An understanding that the world is a mirror
in which the Divine knows Itself.
Jewish Mysticism: A supreme realization that God needs
humanity in a partnership relationship to actualize the Divine Presence on
earth. This actualization CANNOT occur
without us. We are called to find the “spark”
of divine life that is hidden in all things, and to “raise the sparks,” uniting
them all into One. A feisty, “chutzpah”
attitude that likes to “fight” with a playful, often-seemingly-absent, God.
North American Nature Writers: Especially John Muir, Henry
David Thoreau, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Gary Snyder, Terry Tempest Williams, Joy
Harjo, Ellen Meloy, etc. Nature is the
primary place of revelation, and it is also the basis of the most meaningful
metaphors found in all of the world’s great religions. Literary works focused
on Nature are a major way of opening to the mystery of life.
Jungian and Archetypal Psychology: Imagination, metaphor and
myth are the primary mediators of the Divine.
Every person contains both masculine and feminine elements.
Enneagram Spirituality: Every personality type (9 of them)
contributes a different slant on life.
Our gift is also our flaw, and our flaw is also our gift. While each of us comes primarily from just one of these perspective, we
actually have access to all nine, since all types are grounded in a single
divine Reality.
Integral Spirituality and Process Philosophy: Ken Wilber,
Alfred North Whitehead, John Cobb and others.
Spirituality evolves and includes many different phases and stages. Nothing is static, and all things integrate
into an evolving whole. Even THE DIVINE
evolves!
Science: a fostering of a sense of awe and wonder in the
face of the magnitude of geological time, the great number of different
environments that have occurred in any one place, the fact that all things are
related genetically through the great process of evolution, and the dwarfing of
the individual ego in comparison to the magnitude of the cosmos.
LGBT Spirituality, learned especially through one of my
daughters: Each of us contains masculine and feminine elements, and these combine
together – and shapeshift into one another – in an endless number of ways. In fact, there are over 7 billion ways of
being a sexual being. This view has the potential to bring about a Zen sort of awareness into the suchness or indefinable uniqueness of each and every thing. While Queer Theory
emphasizes the ways in which each individual transcends the categories of
masculine and feminine, I enjoy focusing as well on the realization that
although these categories DO remain – in the great polarity or electricity of
life – they are combined – within a plethora of individuals – in an ENDLESS
number of ways.
Atheism, from a Theistic Perspective: God is so self-emptied in bliss, so lost in his loving gaze upon the world, that he seems absent from experience. The reason why we often don't experience God is because God is looking out at the world through our eyes!
Oh, and finally – from Western, Aristotelian logic, I’ve
learned that opposite qualities are initially distinct and separate from each
other. And from a mystical, “crazy-wisdom”
logic – present within all of the mystical traditions, both East and West – I’ve
learned that these opposites then shapeshift – magically and mysteriously! –
INTO one another. Here, I value Western
logic as the necessary precursor to experiencing the awe and wonder that arise
when opposites suddenly and inexplicably shapeshift into one another!
Well, I’ve almost certainly missed some of the pieces contained
within my own particular version of the great mosaic or rainbow of reality, but
the foregoing is at least a start . . .
Photos: (Top) A mosaic of different-hued aspen
trees, with The Dyke section of the Ruby
Range jutting up just behind above the
Kebler Pass Road, CO; (Middle) A rainbow appears near Copper Mountain, CO.
(Bottom) Aspen trees and The Dyke section of the Ruby Range from the Kebler Pass Road, CO. All three photos were taken on the weekend of September 26 - 28, 2014
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