Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Spirituality That Transforms

One of my main critiques of religion has centered on the idea of transformation. My opinion has been that if a religion does not aid in transformation it is impotent. If religion is authentic it should provide results. I’ve been doing research on Integral Theory, which I blogged briefly about in an earlier post. I recently came across this article by Ken Wilber entitled “A Spirituality That Transforms”, that explains a lot of what I have experienced, in and out of organized religion, and why authentic transformation is so rare.

First, Wilber lays out the case that there are two basic functions of religion:

  1. Translation – A way of creating meaning for the self that is viewed as horizontal. These are usually new ways to think or feel about reality, a new idea, belief, language or paradigm.
  2. Transformation – Radical transformation at the deepest seat of consciousness. Viewed as vertical. The very process of translation itself is challenged, and the self is inquired into, ultimately ending in the “death of the self”.
Wilber says that translation is the most prevalent function of religion. It is a way of trying to understand and translate the uncertainty, suffering and apparent futility of life, while transformation is the product of the "death of self".

If I was my old “Institutionalized Church Self”, I would pick apart the definitions and toss this stuff casually on the trash heap. But, it just explains too much of my experience. I’ve experienced transformation. And I guess I continue to experience it. I beat my head against the wall trying to help others experience it in an organized setting. I’ve been pissed off, outraged, angry, hurt, disillusioned, sad etc. because I just couldn’t understand why the typical church (leaders and members) wanted nothing to do with transformation. So, I left organized religion and continued transforming (and I'm no longer pissed off, outraged, angry, hurt, disillusioned, sad etc) .

Generally, institutional church leadership doesn’t want to deal with transformation. It is often times an ugly, uncertain, messy process when one dies to one’s self. It may entail deep soul searching similar to psychoanalysis to peal away the layers of the onion that is the ego, not to mention being open to eastern spiritual disciplines. Additionally, in my experience, I’ve found transformation to be realized by individuals and not usually by large groups (unless those who are experiencing transformation decide to meet together). Could it be that church leadership is scared of authentic transformation? Not only can it be messy, but transformation by necessity challenges the status quo because it challenges translation itself.

Quite honestly, most of the church leaders I’ve worked with simply didn’t have time to deal with it even if they wanted to, and because the church leaders appear content with translation, so do the masses. Wilber says, transformation “does not render the self content, it renders it undone.”
Wilber lays out the case that very few people undergo any type of radical transformation and that leaves the masses involved in “at best, various types of horizontal, translative, merely legitimate religion: they were involved in magical practices, mythical beliefs, egoic petitionary prayer, magical rituals, and so on.” I’d add that translation is far easier to deal with on a corporate level. It can be preached from the pulpit or taught in Sunday school and requires very little personal interaction. Further, it is fairly easy to control because it is primarily informational. Unfortunately, by itself, it does nothing more than shore up the ego.

Wilber’s solution to this problem? It’s integral. Surprised? Offer authentic and radical transformation with “an approach that honors and incorporates many lesser transformative and translative practices--covering the physical, emotional, mental, cultural, and communal aspects of the human being--in preparation for, and as an expression of, the ultimate transformation into the always already present state.” Religion, in its best forms, can provide the social framework for people to experience transformation. Transformation is eros/upward/expansive, the church is agape/horizontal/caring. Instead of churches full of people with ideas in their minds, we would have pews filled with people consciously experiencing God in their ever day life.

“Thus, the authentic spiritual camps have the heart and soul of the great transformative traditions, and yet they will always do two things at once: appreciate and engage the lesser and translative practices (upon which their own successes usually depend), but also issue a thundering shout from the heart that translation alone is not enough.” I think this points to what I’ve done in my institutional church experience, and what I continue to do here. Sometimes with more or less tact, grace and loving-kindness.

There are some more interesting insights in this article. Maybe I will touch on those later. . .

Friday, December 12, 2008

Death Wish

Awhile back I was walking with my daughter in the park behind our house. I live in the 'burbs and having a little oasis so close is nice. Anyway, it was a beautiful morning at a place I visit often when I want to get "centered". We were silent, just observing and I said, " You know, when I die why don't you scatter my ashes here." She thought I was being morbid, as most people do when you discuss death, but I assured her that someday I would die. It's not a big deal. Whatever is born, must die.

What is your death wish? Does it matter to you how your remains are disposed of?

Here is a quote and a song that describes my feelings:

"Everything in nature gives in its death; stars die and whole solar systems begin to evolve from the impregnation of the exploded stellar matter. Trees die, and from their wood human beings build homes and furniture, statues and Stradivariuses. If humans died in a healthy culture, they would not lock out the earth in metal coffins and carve their names on stone monuments, but would instead place the naked body in the earth and plant a tree above the silent heart."

-William Irwin Thompson

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Holy Holons!

So, part of my journey has been exploring other faiths, philosophies and practices. To be honest it is overwhelming! I wish I was Neo with a port in my head so I could download all of the things I find interesting and truthful!

Some of my loose criteria have been:

  • A religion/philosophy/practice should show results.
  • A proper worldview should not have to discount science to believe in religion or vice verse.
  • The things that all religions have in common are likely pointing toward God/ultimate truth.
  • Is it able to make sense of both outer physical realities and inner spiritual experiences?
  • Does it provide a truthful view of reality? Not all religions and philosophies are created equal.
In my ramblings I stumbled across Ken Wilber and his Integral Theory. It took me a while to understand the jargon, but being a determined person when it suits my fancy, I plodded through. I've come to find some very interesting and useful ways to view the cosmos, philosophy, religion and spiritual practices that fulfill most of the above criteria. It is a little "heady" to understand at first, but ultimately comes back personal practice.

There is no way to adequately explain it in this forum and with my limited intellect. Here are some resources for those interested. I'll be picking a few topics that I've found particularly interesting or helpful.

Introduction to Integral Theory and Practice

An Integral Age at the Leading Edge

Spirituality and the 3 Strands of Deep Science

A Spirituality That Transforms

Religious, But Not Spiritual (Father Thomas Keating)

Tuesday, December 09, 2008

The Future of Christianity

No. I am not presumptuous enough to think I know the future of Christianity. But, these are two guys I respect and I do think that Integral Theory could prove useful to contemporary Christianity. Looks interesting...

Already?

I made my election prediction here.

The guy isn't even in office yet! So, this is probably just the start....

Sunday, December 07, 2008

Death, Silence, Beauty

I apologize for my silence here. No, actually I don't.

I've been covering a coworkers vacation and working 3rd Shift. We got a new dog (partially against my better judgment, but hey, I'm a softy). Trish's Grandma moved on from this world, and Trish is in SLC for the funeral. Life is just generally....busy and beautiful.

Some random thoughts and ruminating from my distorted perspective on life and spirituality:

  • Ken Wilber's Integral Theory is perhaps the most complete explanation of how I believe our universe works. I didn't know much about it, but it is a harmonization of science and spirituality that allows each its place. I'll be posting more later.
  • Teens and pre-teens can be completely different people from one day to the next, heck from one minute to the next. What happened to my sweet little kids?
  • Was Jesus a non-dualist?
  • Brand new Christmas lights will still wait until the tree is completely decorated for half of the strand to go out. I suspect they have some sort of intelligence.