Awakening to Universal Spirituality – Christianity Evolving

This assemblage of writings aims to be a thought starter for beginning the journey ‘Awakening to Universal Spirituality.’ Coming from Christian roots means to have a respect for the past tradition and yet to know that to be relevant to our world today, much of it needs reinterpreting in the light of the 21^st century. The maxim is ‘Transcend and Include.’ It is offered for your pondering.

“Future Christianity is generating itself from the lives of those who have fled to the margins.” – Sister Wendy Beckett

“Our highest truths are but half truths; think not to settle down in any truth.
Make use of it as a tent in which to pass a summer’s night,
But build no house of it, or it will be your tomb.
When you first have an inkling of its insufficiency
And begin to descry a dim counter-truth looming up beyond,
Then weep not, but give thanks:
it is the Lord’s voice whispering, ‘Take up thy bed and walk’.”
Earl Balfour

A Way of Wisdom for Today

Many are exploring a more universal approach to spirituality than the traditional religions, but are often drawing on established religions for inspiration. But that can have the drawback of using off-putting religious language. A Way of Wisdom seeks to re-language the traditional teachings into terminology more suited to the 21^st century, drawing on scientific and psychological language rather than traditional religions. The underlying wisdom hopefully remains the same. We have produced below a distillation of some of the universal teachings that come from main religious traditions, stripped as far as possible of traditional religious terminology.

Much of the following is central to what it means to be a fully developed human being. It is, in many respects, humanistic teaching, but goes further than humanism. It recognises that there is a universal spiritual dimension to life. Once a person has opened to this possibility, they are embarking on a spiritual path, regardless of what language is used to describe it.

[Each statement has a biblical reference in brackets, mostly from the gospels.]

Statements of Wisdom

1. We are more than our body, mind and emotions. We are part of a world of spirit. It is our greatest resource.

[Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Psalm 51:10]

2. This Spirit is the One Life, One Source, One Cause sustaining this universe.

[“The LORD is God in heaven above and on the earth below. There is no other. (Deut. 4:39) See also I Kings 8:60, Isa 45:5, 14, 18, 22, 46:9, Joel 2:27
Jesus used the term ‘Father’, which, in his native Aramaic, is ‘Abwoon’, whose roots are genderless and indicate Oneness and Unity.
‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’ (Acts 17:28)]

3. Because we are all expressions of that One Life, there is a unity linking us all.

[“I am the vine and you are the branches”  John 17. 21-23; Jn 15.5
“That they may be one as we are one– I in them and you in me–so that they may be brought to complete unity.” John 17:22-23
For who knows a person’s thoughts except their own spirit within them? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. 1 Corinthians 2:11]

4. Each atom and every being is sourced and sustained by love, as the essence of the One Life is love.

[God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. 1 John 4:16]

5. Love is central to all relationships.

[“Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.” Jn 13:34]

6. We need first to love ourselves in order to enter the fullness of who we can be, and then we can love others more fully.

[“Love your neighbour as yourself”  Mt 5:43, 19:19, 22:39, Mk 12:31,33, Lk 10:27]

7. Acting with kindness, compassion and goodwill is the golden rule, enshrined in every faith tradition, and will bless us as well as others.

[“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. (1 Corinthians 13:4-7)
“Do unto others as you would have them do unto you” Mat 7:12]

8. Love, joy and peace are available within each of us.

[“The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, self control.” Gal 5.22 ]

9. Goodness flows from the Spirit within us, if we let it. Our relationship with the One Life is intimate and life changing.

[“The Kingdom of heaven is within you” Lk 17:21
“Christ in you, the hope of glory” Col 1:27]

10. If we do mess up, we can be forgiven and move on.

[Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?” Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times” Mt 18:21-2
“Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven.]

11. Our potential for being and doing is far greater than we realise.

[“Greater things than I do shall you do also” Jn 14:12]

12. We are invited to change how we think and understand that this is a path of freedom that we are welcome to join.

[“From that time Jesus began to proclaim, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.”Mat 4.17  (Repent = metanoia = enter the large mind)
“So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.” John 8.36]

13. Because all is energy, as each of us raises the frequency of our awareness, we unconsciously affect the greater whole.

[“And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” Jn 12:32]

14. A vital collective endeavour is to trust that a new era is possible and to work with others to bring this into being.

[“Behold I make all things new.  Rev 21:5”]

15. An intelligent universe will respond in some way to our thoughts and requests.

[“Ask and you shall receive” Mt 7:8, 21:22, Mk 11:24, Lk 11:10, Jn 16:24]

16. Take time to listen to your own inner awareness and intuition.

[“My sheep know my voice” Jn 10:27]

17. Every day brings us new possibilities and opportunities and we can bring forth good things from the heart.

[“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!” 2 Cor 5.17]

18. The beauty of life and its interconnectedness within all nature can point us towards Spirit.

[“Look at the birds of the air…” Mt. 6:26.  “Consider the lilies, how they grow” Lk 12:27
“Ever since the creation of the world his eternal power and divine nature, invisible though they are, have been understood and seen through the things he has made,” Rom 1.20 ]

19. Let us remember that when we eat or drink we are consuming the One Life in another form, and be grateful.

[“This is my body, eat this in remembrance of me” Mt 26:26, Mk 14:22, Lk 22:19]

20. The Earth has abundance; we need to work towards sharing this equally, and to trust in this provision.

[The story of the loaves and the fishes, Mt 14:13–21; Mk 6:31–44; Lk 9:12–17; Jn 6:1–14]

21. There are many dimensions of life beyond this one.

[In my Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. Jn 14:2]

Extract from Richard Rohr’s
daily email meditations

Richard Rohr is a Franciscan Roman Catholic priest and a prolific author. He has written many books on new ways of understanding Christianity and his team send out daily meditations based on his writings. Website: https://cac.org/

The Wisdom Tradition
Sunday, January 28, 2018

My friend and Center for Action and Contemplation faculty member Cynthia Bourgeault writes about the power and depth of Jesus’ teaching:

[Jesus was] a wisdom teacher, a person who clearly emerges out of and works within an ancient tradition called “wisdom,” sometimes known as sophia perennis, which is in fact at the headwaters of all the great religious traditions of the world today. It’s concerned with the transformation of the whole human being. Transformation from what to what? Well, for a starter, from our animal instincts and egocentricity into love and compassion; from a judgmental and dualistic worldview into a nondual acceptingness. This was the message that Jesus, apparently out of nowhere, came preaching and teaching, a message that was radical in its own time and remains equally radical today.

I’m mindful here of one of my favorite quotes, attributed to the British writer G.K. Chesterton, who reportedly said, “Christianity isn’t a failure; it just hasn’t been tried yet.” [1] In this great cultural monolith that we call Christianity, which has guided the course of western history for more than two thousand years, have we really yet unlocked the power to deeply understand and follow this Jesus along the radical path he is calling us to? . . . .

From [my] wider immersion [in the worldwide wisdom tradition] I’ve been reaffirmed in my sense that Jesus came first and foremost as a teacher of the path of inner transformation. That doesn’t take away the Jesus you may be more familiar with—the Son of God, the second person of the Trinity—but it does add a renewed emphasis on paying attention to what he actually taught and seeing how we can begin to walk it authentically from the inside. It also suggests that he did not really come out of nowhere, but rather that he belongs to a stream of living wisdom that has been flowing through the human condition for at least five thousand years.

 [1] G. K. Chesterton, What’s Wrong with the World (1910). See The Collected Works of G. K. Chesterton, vol. IV (Ignatius Press: 1987), 61.

Cynthia Bourgeault, The Wisdom Jesus: Transforming Heart and Mind—a New Perspective on Christ and His Message (Shambhala: 2008), 4-5.

Extract from ‘Blue Sky God’ by Don MacGregor

All things evolve in this world. It is a principle of life. Cultures and societies evolve as well, and the expressions of all religions change as societies change. There are many questions in today’s society that are not addressed within traditional Christianity, and many issues that need to be looked at again in the light of discoveries and realisations within the last 150 years. In the Western world, huge numbers of people have walked away from the traditional, doctrinal, overarching story offered by the institutional Christian church – and that is very sad as it actually has so much to offer if only it can escape from its straightjacket of doctrine and liturgy. A straightjacket holds a person rigidly, so that they cannot move, cannot harm themselves and can do no damage to others. That is exactly the rationale behind the institutional churches in their use of language, hymns and doctrine to define, limit and keep in order the belief of the people.

But much of that doctrine and liturgy has come from a world view that has been superseded. We now know far more about the universe and its workings than we did when the New Testament was put together, or when the doctrine of the church was worked out. Scientists have seen how the universe is still evolving, and has been for nearly 14 billion years, at the current estimate. Our understanding of the faith surely has to evolve as well, or we risk becoming another version of the Flat Earth Society, who state “Why do we say the Earth is flat, when the vast majority says otherwise? Because we know the truth.” The Church sometimes defends itself like the Flat Earth Society, to the ridicule of those outside it.

Science and Christianity

Christianity has been shaken up and moved on many times by the revelations of scientific enquiry and discovery. The spherical nature of the earth was one of the first problems for Christian theology. The idea that there might be other human beings on a landmass, the antipodes, on the other side of the sphere upset the Pope. It was ‘obvious’ that there could not have been any form of transport from Europe to those regions, and therefore any people in the supposed ‘antipodes’ did not descend from Adam, and such belief denied the ‘truth’ of the story of creation. This revelation caused some consternation and threats of excommunication within the church at the time – Bishop Vergilius of Salzburg (c. 700-784) was threatened in such a way by Pope Zachary at one stage. Vergilius was accused of teaching a doctrine of the ‘rotundity of the earth’, which was ‘contrary to the Scriptures’. But soon exploration of the earth overcame that and a new understanding of the continents moved theology on, with little difficulty in adapting to the new world view.

Another major challenge came with the scientific insights of Nicolas Copernicus. In 1530 CE, he completed his treatise De Revolutionibus, which claimed that the sun was the centre of the universe, and that the earth revolved around the sun. Fortunately for him, it was published shortly before his death in 1543, or his demise might have been altogether of a more painful form. The Roman Catholic Church placed it on their list of proscribed books, and he would probably have been tried for heresy and burnt had he still been alive. Giordano Bruno, an Italian Dominican friar, was not so fortunate. He was burnt at the stake in 1600 CE for similar beliefs, after a trial lasting seven years. Soon, Galileo Galilei made his claim that the recent scientific invention, the telescope, proved that Copernicus’s theory was correct. He was tried by the Inquisition, forced to recant his belief and put under house arrest for years until his death in 1642. The Church does not have a very good track record of coping with new scientific insights.

Later came the insights of Darwin and his theory of evolution, and there is a struggle that still continues for much Christian theology and liturgy to catch up with that, let alone the discoveries and theories of relativity, quantum mechanics, and fields of energy. As our understanding of creation grows and evolves, so our understanding of theology and the nature of God has to change. Christianity has to evolve to be credible for every new generation as the world view evolves.

[Don MacGregor, ‘Blue Sky God – the Evolution of Science and Christianity’ pp7-9]

Emerging Views of Christianity

IN his book ‘A New Framework for Christian Belief’ (published by CANA, 2001), Adrian B. Smith (sadly now deceased) tabulated his thoughts of the emerging view of Christianity, which we reproduce here with some slight updating and modification. It shows the emerging view under seven headings:

• A. The Bible and Revelation
• B. God
• C. Jesus the Christ
• D. Human beings
• E. The Church
• F. Implications for living

EMERGING VIEWS OF CHRISTIANITY

	A Traditional Understanding	An Emerging Understanding
	A. The Bible and Revelation
1.	God has given us a full and final Revelation of Himself, to be guarded against corruption.	Humanity is still evolving so our understanding of God is always in the process of developing and growing.
2.	The Bible is the sole source of God’s Revelation, the once for all statement of divine truth.	The Universe and our inner experience constitute the primary sources of revelation. Each age needs to re-interpret afresh the Biblical message if its underlying Truth is to be our inspiration. Other inspired writings reveal truths as well.
3.	There are truths which we could not have known except for God’s Revelation.	‘Revelation’ is born out of human experience and can only be understood and expressed within the bounds of human experience.
4	Revelation reaches its climax in Jesus.	‘Revelation’ is ongoing and expressed in different cultures; it is not exclusively held by any one religion.
5	The actions and words of Jesus are accurately recorded in the Gospels.	Jesus is the person of whom the Gospels speak: the words are a product of memory, reflection, revision and community experience.
	Traditional Understanding	Emerging Understanding
	B. GOD
6	God is the Ultimate Deity who exists in his kingdom of heaven	The Cosmic Consciousness or One Life we call God holds and sustains everything in being, and is in and through all
7	The Holy Trinity is defined as “Three Persons (Father, Son and Holy Spirit) in one God”.	God is Divine Will combined with Creative Being which births Loving Consciousness.
8	The Holy Spirit distributes God’s grace to Christians through the Church. “We believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Creator of Heaven and Earth”.	The Spirit or Energy of God inspires all people of goodwill in different ways and through different events throughout history. We experience the Ground of Being as the creative, loving and wise Reality that underlies our ultimate concerns. This we name God.
9	Creation was an act of God done once and for all at the beginning of time.	Creation is the continuing action of God working through all things and holding all things in existence.
10	God is the all-powerful, all-knowing Lord of all creation; the loving Father who sent his Son to reveal the mysteries of Divine Grace. Our understanding of God is in the context of looking back to the Fall- Redemption story.	God is the Divine Presence in, and Creative Energy of this world whom we discover through our relationships with people, things, events and concepts. Our understanding of God is in the context of the unfolding creation story.
	Traditional Understanding	Emerging Understanding
	C. JESUS THE CHRIST
11	The accounts of Jesus’ birth, in particular that “he came down from heaven by the power of the Holy Spirit and became incarnate of the Virgin Mary,” are literally true.	Jesus was conceived naturally and born as a human baby to a young woman (the proper translation of ‘virgin’ in the Hebrew scriptures). The accounts of his birth were constructed later to explain his divine nature in mythological terms, an accepted tradition at the time.
12	Jesus equals God, a Divine Being who took on human nature. The Bible and tradition tell us that Jesus Christ was the only-begotten Son of God.	Jesus, in his humanity, does not equal God, but is a human being who is transparent to the Divine. God was as fully present and active in Jesus as is possible in human form. We know some of the attributes of God because we see the sort of person Jesus was.
13	Jesus was fully divine and fully human.	Jesus was as fully divine as any fully human being can be.
14	God ‘sent’ his Son ‘down’ to Earth and Jesus ascended ‘up’ into Heaven.	We do not think of the Incarnation or the Ascension as physically down or up. We understand them as metaphors.
15	Jesus is God-made-man who came down from Heaven to save us by his death on the cross.	Jesus is perceived as the God-filled human being who lived among us to show and empower us to live by higher values – which he called ‘The Kingdom of God’ . This perception was a radical step forward in humanity’s understanding of its call to At-one-ment with the divine nature.
16	The emphasis is on the divinity of Jesus.	The emphasis is on the humanity of Jesus and his fully awakened God-consciousness.
17	Jesus is worthy of unconditional worship as God.	God is ‘given worth’, and we see the divine presence in Jesus, in others and in Creation
18	Jesus was omniscient and omnipotent from his conception.	Jesus, as all of us, was limited by his humanity. His understanding of himself, of his mission, of God, and of other people developed in his lifetime.
19	Everything Jesus did and said is done and said by God. He had supernatural powers because he was God.	Jesus acted and spoke as a human being. All his powers issued from human potential being fully realised; because he was fully aware of his unity with God.
20	From Jesus’ words: ” I am the way, the truth and the life” (John 14:6) we understand that Jesus alone is the key to our salvation: he is the only way to God.	The Way of transformation revealed by Jesus is also found in other faiths but for Christians its manifestation in Jesus is the most accessible, powerful and inspiring.
21	Jesus brought us ‘Salvation’; variously described as Ransom, a price paid, Justification, Satisfaction, Reparation.	Jesus showed us the possibility of At-one-ment: a step forward in humanity’s evolution towards our becoming one with the Divine.
22	Redemption is an act of rescue by an external, Divine agent.	Redemption is the transformation process by which the divine energy within us moves us from human-centredness to Divine-centredness.
23	The ‘Resurrection’ is the belief that God raised Jesus to bodily life on the third day after he died on the cross.	The ‘Resurrection’ is the way in which the Gospel writers affirm that the spirit of Jesus is still among us, thus demonstrating the power of divine love over material limitations.
24	Jesus is the same as the Christ	Jesus is human, the Christ is the divine anointing of a human being who has attained Christ-consciousness
	Traditional Understanding	Emerging Understanding
	D. HUMAN BEINGS
25	Humanity became enslaved to Satan by Adam and Eve’s sin (the event known as ‘The FaIl’) but has been set free by the blood of Christ.	The world is part of an essentially good creation and God chooses to share his creative activity with us to make it even better. The Genesis story is an expression of humanity’s ‘rise’ to consciousness of the Self; it describes a step in human evolution.
26	Sin is an offence against God.	Sin is a failure to grow in wholeness, within ourselves, with others and in relation to the whole of creation. It is to be unaware and separate from the Divine within us.
27	We obey the Commandments in order to receive our reward in the next life.	We try to be people of love and goodwill because we believe this leads to our own and all Creation’s fulfilment.
28	The human being is at the pinnacle of Creation, for whom all else was created.	The human being is the most evolved species to appear on this planet. Evolution is continuing.
29	Human beings were granted dominion over the Earth to use the natural world for human benefit.	We human beings are not above the natural world but embedded within it. As evolved creatures with intelligence we have a duty to care for it. We are a part of the biosphere.
	Traditional Understanding	Emerging Understanding
	E. THE CHURCH
30	The Church is an organisation superior to civil society because matters spiritual are superior to matters temporal.	The Church is called to be the expression on Earth – the sign or witness – of what it means to live by the values of what Jesus called ‘the Kingdom of God’ .
31	The Church is hierarchical in structure. Members relate according to their authority roles.	The Church is a community. The fundamental relationship of all Christians is as sisters and brothers in a common humanity.
32	Christianity alone holds the true Revelation and key to Salvation. All other religions are false or inadequate.	Christianity is the religion in which the statement ‘God is love’ is most clearly understood. Other religions have different perspectives on the One Truth. Each is a path for their followers to ultimate union with God.
33	Christians alone can bring about the Kingdom of God.	The Realm of God is promoted by all who act with loving understanding and goodwill unselfishly for others, whether Christian or not.
34	When we die our souls enter Heaven or Hell: eternal reward or eternal punishment.	We cannot fully know what happens when we shed our earthly bodies but trust that we continue on a journey towards the fullest union with God. This may involve other incarnations of the soul
	Traditional Understanding	Emerging Understanding
	F. IMPLICATIONS FOR LIVING
36	Each individual is an eternal soul (distinct from the physical body) relating to God. Earthly life is short- lived and of secondary significance. Personal salvation through faith and worship is of primary importance and gives support for righteous living.	Each individual is an eternal soul relating to God and comprises body, emotions,mind and spirit in dynamic interaction. It is by loving service in the world for the wellbeing of others and for the whole of creation that we grow towards wholeness and union with God.
37	Belief in Jesus as personal saviour is the essence of being a Christian	Following the transformational Way of love shown by Jesus is the essence of being a Christian
38	To live a Christian life it is sufficient to follow the Way of Jesus in personal daily life.	Christians are mandated to follow the Way of Christ not only in the conduct of their own personal lives but in their area of service for the furtherance of justice, freedom and peace for all.
39	Matters of the spirit are more sacred, of greater significance and value than matters of the flesh and the material, and must be given greater reverence, respect and care.	Spirit and matter are equally sacred. Therefore we must revere, respect and care not only for the spirit but also for the temple of the spirit – the human body, the body corporate, the Planet and its biosphere and the whole of material creation.

Questions for Pondering

1. Do you see Christianity as a belief or a path to follow?
2. Is Jesus human or divine? In what way is he divine?
3. Is the Christ identical with Jesus, or something larger?
4. How does Church liturgy and hymnody sit with you?
5. What areas of doctrine and theology do you think need to change to bring Christianity into the 21st century?