A new approach to spirituality is required today. One that has two equally important strands to it, strands that reflect the world as it is and the world as it is becoming by which I mean the eternal verities of God and the evolutionary changes of Man. Both are needed if we are to move forward as individuals and as humanity.
It is no longer enough to follow authority, either old or new, conservative or progressive. We must find the truth within ourselves so that we start to become it and do not remain outside it. We are not expected to be passive subjects of the divine any more but should actively cooperate with it. It is not enough to obey, we must know and for this imagination and intuition need to be developed. These are the creative power and the inner knowledge of the soul. A spiritual person who lacks these has no contact with the soul and is therefore a spiritual person in name only, an appreciator of art perhaps but not an artist. It is spiritual artists we are called upon to become now. This is in line with the unfoldment of human consciousness which gradually transforms an individual from the state of passive ignorance to that of a god, a developed son or daughter of God, able to work with or even beside the Father.
However, the development of imagination, the creative principle, on its own is not sufficient. That may take us beyond the limitations of the material world but it will not take us to the spiritual, or not the true spiritual anyway. A simulacrum of spirituality might well be encountered and mistaken for the real thing, and this is a common modern error found particularly among this who confuse the magical with the mystical. But imagination is like spiritual fuel and it needs something to light it to make it burst into flame.
That something is, of course, Christ. Without him any spirituality we might have will remain, at best, natural which is to say we may attain something like enlightenment but we will not attain salvation. I define the difference between these two in the following way.
The Buddhist goal of Nirvana exists even if it is only rarely attained. Much more rarely than might be thought by the literature and teachers devoted to it. On the other hand, states of consciousness that are similar to it are frequently encountered by spiritual aspirants. These can be called samadhi, satori and so on but all amount to more or less the same thing, a condition of mind in which the self is seemingly transcended and consciousness made one with the whole universe. Now, this is a true psychological state. It is not an illusion but a real part of God's creation. Nonetheless, it is within the creation not beyond it. It remains part of man's psychological make-up and is not a spiritual state in the true supernatural sense notwithstanding the fact that it might feel like that in comparison to normal consciousness restricted to the physical plane. But it is not salvation which is the only thing that can take us beyond the merely human and the creation and which is only found through Christ.
Spirituality without Christ cannot take you to heaven which is the only place truly outside the earthly creation. But, at the same time, we should now be moving into a new understanding that requires us not just to follow Christ as external saviour but to allow him to transform us from within. We need to contact Christ inwardly and this we do through faith, imagination, intuition and love. But note that all these qualities, especially the last, have been subjected to misinterpretation, distortion and reduced to humanistic terms. They must be God-centred or they are not spiritually focused.
Two things then are required for this new spirituality and they can be called intuition and tradition. One relates to individual spiritual awareness, the other to revelation. One is God in his immanent form and the other is him as his transcendent being. We must respond to both. The former needs to be checked and balanced by the latter if it is not to veer off into (possible) illusion and narcissism. The latter needs to be supplemented by an inner realisation that turns bare bones into a living thing and makes the universal personal.
God is the same today, yesterday and forever but he is always making all things new. Truth never changes but our capacity to know it and live it grows and deepens. The new does not deny the old and if it is not built on the old it is a false new. But it does transform the old. We have reached a point at which we can take a great spiritual leap forward but if we move in the wrong direction we will be lost. As always, it's up to us.
22 comments:
Hi William: Do you think the Buddhist nirvana and Christian revelation experiences could be similar, but just seen through different lens? The Christian mystics do seem to align with the description of Buddhist awakening/enlightenment experiences but often seen in terms of Christ than emptiness.
I used to think that, ted, but I don't now. That is to say I am sure many Christian mystics experienced something similar to Nirvana in which the earthly ego is transcended and complete oneness with the universe is known but I don't think this is the real Christian goal. I see Nirvana a kind of opting out of creation but Christ went further than this and sanctified creation in his person. By aligning ourselves with him we can do the same. This is the life more abundant in which spirit and matter are both honoured rather than just spirit alone as in Nirvana.
The Buddhist goal of Nirvana exists even if it is only rarely attained.
It is good to see this point being made, William.
Buddha lived 2,500 years ago and when we speak of the Buddha - we all still mean Gautama. Which suggests there has been no-one since who has attained that rank. With the exception of Jesus Christ of course. Who cannot be compared.
And yet there are many Buddhists who genuinely think that this might be their last incarnation. Which means they anticipate attaining Buddhahood in this lifetime. Quite a claim to make!
Yes Moonsphere, I've always been puzzled/amused by the number of Buddhists and advaita teachers who think they have attained or are about to attain enlightenment. It just shows that they don't properly understand the true depths of what they are teaching. One swallow doesn't make a summer and nor does one experience of unity consciousness (or even several) indicate enlightenment.
Great post. It made think of a work that I read many years ago by the "gnostic Christian" Stephen Hoeller. The prologue of his book , "Jung and the Lost Gospels" , is largely in alignment with you say, except he claims that this "new" spirituality would actually be an "old" spirituality that was lost long ago. I tried to create a link to it, but I failed miserably.
William, and to others in this community, if you have the time or the inclination, I would love to hear reactions to "How The West Was Lost" by this Jungian Christian.
Cheers
I don't know those books or that person, Chris, but I would be a bit dubious about the association with Jung or the Gnostics (Jung basically was a Gnostic) because they prioritised knowledge over love. I can see why you might make the connection because Gnosticism is all about personal transformation but I see it as tipping too much onto the individual side so lacking the checks and balances I mention in the post. But i suppose everything depends on how one reacts to any particular teaching, with pride or humility.
I totally understand why you would be dubious. I would be too.
Nevertheless, I think this short prologue by Hoeller is worth the read.
You said several things that very much align with (respectfully) a "gnostic" flavor....
"It is no longer enough to follow authority..."
".... consciousness which gradually transforms an individual from the state of passive ignorance to that of a god....."
And then there's this, " ...a new understanding that requires us not just to follow Christ as an external saviour, but to allow him to transform us from within."
All, rather "gnostic", or perhaps "esoteric" or "romantic" a la B. Charlton.
A theme that I take from your writings is that the outer form of religion and its inner spirit exist in a mutually dependent relationship. The "Gnostic" tends to devalue the outer form. The fundamentalist devalues the inner spirit. What's interesting to me is how these two poles accuse each other of perverting the message of the Gospel.
When I say it's not enough to follow authority I'm not rejecting authority only saying the outer must be internalised.
Truth is an elusive beast which cannot be grasped intellectually. It has different aspects to it which must be held together in a single vision but which the mind tends to separate so you can have one person saying it's light and the other saying no it's heat! Hence the heresies and divisions resulting from a mental approach.
I completely agree with you. That's why I tend to believe that the Catholic and Orthodox Church, based in apostolic succession, have the most legitimate claim to Christian authority.
Yes there is a curious lack of reason, of proportion that sometimes arises within the Eastern path.
Without Christ, the spiritual balance must inevitably be lost.
William, how do you know that samadhi and satori are "not a spiritual state in the true supernatural sense"?
If that's true, is there any literature (outside the gospels) in which a human being (not counting Jesus) discusses experiencing "a spiritual state in the true supernatural sense"? If so, where can I find one?
I'm confused that you say these experiences are not spiritual or supernatural, yet you distinguish them from "normal consciousness restricted to the physical plane". If they're not on the physical plane, aren't they supernatural by definition?
If you're really right that the world's vast literature describing these experiences represent something "not a spiritual state in the true supernatural sense", then you take away at least 95% of my reason for believing there is anything "spiritual" or "supernatural" at all. If you can convince me that's true, I will have to seriously consider returning to my previous atheism.
Hello Jonathan
What I meant by that phrase is something like this. By normal criteria samadhi certainly is a spiritual state but I believe that, though exceptional, it is still within the human psychological field and something that people can attain on their own without input from God. This, by the way, would be standard Christian belief too. It is within the bounds of creation and the created soul whereas the Christian heaven is something only attained by going beyond creation and renewing the soul through Christ.
Spiritual experiences of the order of satori etc can be had by atheists and even unrepentant souls. They are not normally known by such people but they are not completely unknown either. They can even be given or so it is claimed by drugs. All this indicates that they are part of human psychological experience.
The point is that we are called to something totally new which is heaven. Human beings have had spiritual experience throughout their history and what we call pre-history too. So there is confusion in that spiritual can have two meanings, beyond the material as in samadhi etc and also new life in Christ. I was using it in the second sense in the phrase you cite. Hence the confusion.
But now I come to think of it, supernatural would probably be the wrong word since samadhi is supernatural. But what I was trying to say was that it is still a human experience. I believe even the Buddha would have agreed with that since his system did not acknowledge God only gods who were lesser beings still trapped in samsara. I would say, as all Christians would, that the life more abundant promised by Christ goes beyond Nirvana and human spirituality to a new divine state of being only known through Christ.
So please continue to believe in the spiritual and the supernatural! All I was trying (rather clumsily) to say here was that there is something more than Nirvana. Words sometimes get in the way . Nirvana is spiritual but it is not divine. How's that? The Buddha taught a human spirituality but Christ brought the possibility of something more. That's the point I wanted to make.
By the way, regarding literature. Heaven by definition is not experienced in this world only intimations of it. So we can't expect to find much in the way of descriptions though there are plenty of mystical writings that do describe genuine higher states of being.
Thank you for your reply.
What I suspect is that the spiritual experiences one can experience as a human now are indeed supernatural and probably can give us a taste of the divine when God wills it, but of course there is a vast range of divine experience that we cannot experience here in this life, but only afterwards (if we seek it).
Yes, that's it, exactly!
This post and all comments made have helped me immensely. Thank you!
Glad you found it and them useful, Kirstie.
Thank you for sharing these thoughts. I was wondering what your angle is on the New Earth vs Heaven. Revelation implies more of a preparation to qualify us to participate in the New Earth, with Christ, and not ever specifically Heaven. Your thoughts on this distinction?
Sorry jana, I don't really have any thoughts on that distinction. Except perhaps to say (now i think of it) that we should look at the parallel with the Ascension in which matter is transmuted and taken up into spirit. So the New Earth would actually be Heaven with the two worlds made one as Christ made spirit and matter one in his person at his ascension. That was on an individual level. This would be on the universal level.
Yes, now I do think of it (thanks for raising the question!) this seems the most probable scenario. A reuniting of what was split asunder once the lower realm has been purified and can be conjoined again to the higher.
I see you posted your reply to me at 23:11, William. Maybe a small coincedence? I don't know if you've ever heard of the 1111 phenomenon but I had my personal experience of it during my travelling years and it led me to consider the Urantia Book and then a whole lot more.
No, never heard of it.
I thought you might say that ha! But the one thing I do take from the whole experience is that we are each entitled and divinely ordained to choose our own path but we need to at least have some help in keeping our foot on that first rung otherwise we could never get higher. And for that, I am very grateful for experiencing the 1111 phenomenon, as it happened for me.
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