IF YOU ASK PEOPLE TO DESCRIBE GOD, THEIR ANSWERS will tell you what they truly value most, what for each of them is their “ultimate concern.” For most of us, our god-images and the values they represent will be the ones generally held in the communities to which we belong. For example, the most traditional …
Looking Past “Me-or-You” and “Us-or-Them”
A CORE CHRISTIAN TRADITION ASKS US TO RESOLVE A FUNDAMENTAL TENSION in human life. When you read the biblical texts in which it appears, however, you might not feel the full force of the tension. The core tradition I’m talking about is the so-called second great commandment: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Mk. …
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Our Potential as Anointed Ones
IN A 1948 ESSAY, PIERRE TEILHARD DE CHARDIN PRESENTED his “fundamental vision” of our expanding universe in which “material arrangements” are becoming increasingly complex, consciousness is reaching ever higher levels, and Christian mysticism is the “perfect energy” for driving evolution forward. (See “My Fundamental Vision” in Toward the Future, 1975, especially the discussion of mysticism, …
Views and Values Transforming
IN LAST WEEK’S POST, I SUGGESTED CHRISTIANITY IS TRANSFORMING, now, and moving onto an inclusive and enchanted path of justice and deep, experiential knowing. Although I mentioned a few “old and forgotten” practices that are becoming “new” again (like meditation and contemplation), I soon realized I didn’t say much of anything about the theology of …
The Transformation, Underway (and Underfoot)
SOMETHING TRULY REMARKABLE MAY BE HAPPENING, but it seems to be as quiet as a whisper, as invisible as a breeze. Christianity appears to be in the midst of another cycle of revolutionary change, the fourth one in its history by my count. Some may want to call it another Reformation, but it feels more …
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When Thoughtlessness Is a Good Thing
USUALLY, WHEN SOMEONE SAYS, “YOU’RE SO THOUGHTLESS!” IT MEANS you’ve done something wrong, something about which you should feel shame; but it’s not always so. Recently, I’ve been re-reading Brian Walker’s rendition of the Hua Hu Ching (now spelled Huahujing), a Daoist text attributed to Laozi, which had been preserved only through oral tradition for …
Oh, the Symbols You’ll See, the Stories You’ll Tell
OUR WORLD IS AWASH IN SYMBOLS, VIBRATING WITH MEANING. In order to grasp the meaning, of course, you have to be able to recognize a symbol, when you see one. Everyone knows “fine art” is full of symbols. The meaning in a painting, a drawing, a print, a piece of sculpture unfolds when you engage …
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The Pot and the Kettle
PROJECTIONS ARE RAMPANT IN OUR “SCHIZOID” SOCIAL WORLD THESE DAYS. It’s become a truism, even a cliché, to observe how divided our society has become. Once upon a time, I felt our society was neurotic. Now, it is so split that our collective consciousness seems to be on the verge of a psychotic break. As …
Moonlight in Christ’s Shadow
IF YOU LOOK AT IT PSYCHOLOGICALLY RATHER THAN THEOLOGICALLY, you’ll discover a fundamental problem with the way we see Christ. The traditional images of Christ, the ones with which we are so familiar, are all unambiguously masculine. On the one hand, we see Christ, the glorious son of God, ascended into heaven and sitting at …
The Tragic Irony of Knowing the Truth
THIS WEEK’S POST IS WILL BE A LITTLE DIFFERENT, a little more personal than usual. Here’s why. The online course I’m offering, “Jesus and the Feminine in the Gospel of John,” begins next week (see my note below). Although I’m offering it through my local church, the course is open to the public at large. …
Soul Spirit Wisdom 