Friday, April 30, 2010
Thursday, April 29, 2010
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
My over-arching meta narrative
Reading CS Lewis's Mere Christianity, several things come up.
First, what a magnificent mind. His triumvirate of logic, analogy, and communication ability compel and engage on many levels. And I suspect, as I finish, will seat the message in the heart.
The thing is, I strongly suspect - even before the read is complete- that the message will not exist *solo* in my heart.
That is, that the Christian message of separation from God and Christ as the only redemptive bridge to cross and fill forever the gap that separates me from Him - it is not The whole truth.
If that were the case, it would ultimately exclude all other claims to union with God as at best incomplete and at worst leading their believers to certain and everlasting damnation. I don't buy it.
And that is not a dogmatic cry for the absolute rightness of plurality. First off, that is a self-defeating argument - because I would be making an absolute claim in support of not being absolutist. Second of all, it is like a sibling to the feeling of right-and-wrong that Lewis so eloquently makes. Just as I have a feeling of transcendent right or wrong, so also do I have a feeling that Christianity's absolutist claims are only provincially correct. In Wilber speak, from the developmental stage that those believers are at, the absolutist claim is valid. Moving up a level, to transcend but include that level, the claim is seen as only part of the whole story
My meta narrative, which continues to evolve, would go like this:
Discernment will be varied depending on the developmental level of the person doing the investigation.
And at *my* level, I believe that contemplation and esoteric practices lead to the deep place where opposites, paradox, logical inconsistencies and rhetorical grappling dissolve into That from which they arose.
Namaste.
First, what a magnificent mind. His triumvirate of logic, analogy, and communication ability compel and engage on many levels. And I suspect, as I finish, will seat the message in the heart.
The thing is, I strongly suspect - even before the read is complete- that the message will not exist *solo* in my heart.
That is, that the Christian message of separation from God and Christ as the only redemptive bridge to cross and fill forever the gap that separates me from Him - it is not The whole truth.
If that were the case, it would ultimately exclude all other claims to union with God as at best incomplete and at worst leading their believers to certain and everlasting damnation. I don't buy it.
And that is not a dogmatic cry for the absolute rightness of plurality. First off, that is a self-defeating argument - because I would be making an absolute claim in support of not being absolutist. Second of all, it is like a sibling to the feeling of right-and-wrong that Lewis so eloquently makes. Just as I have a feeling of transcendent right or wrong, so also do I have a feeling that Christianity's absolutist claims are only provincially correct. In Wilber speak, from the developmental stage that those believers are at, the absolutist claim is valid. Moving up a level, to transcend but include that level, the claim is seen as only part of the whole story
My meta narrative, which continues to evolve, would go like this:
- Take a major wisdom tradtion. (Monotheistic, Atheistic, Pantheistic)
- Spend some time with any of them, Google them and sup heavily on the true-believers *and* the detractors perspectives, arguments, and rhetoric.
- Compelling arguments can be made on many levels as to why each of those is the One True Way.
- Compelling counter-arguments can be made on many levels as to why each one of those could never be the One True Way
Discernment will be varied depending on the developmental level of the person doing the investigation.
And at *my* level, I believe that contemplation and esoteric practices lead to the deep place where opposites, paradox, logical inconsistencies and rhetorical grappling dissolve into That from which they arose.
Namaste.
Monday, April 26, 2010
Sunday, April 25, 2010
Saturday, April 24, 2010
Friday, April 23, 2010
Continuums
Grace is presenting itself these days as continuums; Oneness in dual-drag.
Good and evil aren't two monoliths on mountains facing each other;
They are bricks of the monoliths -
Melting up from the mountain
Flowing down to the valley between
A giant U
Now connected, forging stars and famines
Now collapsing,
In on It-self
Joy and sadness are not lilac and the throat-clench of forced surrender
But black and gossamer silk
Sliding through the very layers that birthed it
Bright madness and dark lucidity
The always-fresh forgotten
Paradox
Losing syllables, form and finally content
Into the curve before line
The space before point
This.
Good and evil aren't two monoliths on mountains facing each other;
They are bricks of the monoliths -
Melting up from the mountain
Flowing down to the valley between
A giant U
Now connected, forging stars and famines
Now collapsing,
In on It-self
Joy and sadness are not lilac and the throat-clench of forced surrender
But black and gossamer silk
Sliding through the very layers that birthed it
Bright madness and dark lucidity
The always-fresh forgotten
Paradox
Losing syllables, form and finally content
Into the curve before line
The space before point
This.
Thursday, April 22, 2010
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Monday, April 19, 2010
Sunday, April 18, 2010
Saturday, April 17, 2010
Thursday, April 15, 2010
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Monday, April 12, 2010
Note to self: always treat people carrying hair in a handbag with respect and deference
Sunday, April 11, 2010
Saturday, April 10, 2010
Friday, April 9, 2010
Thursday, April 8, 2010
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
Sunday, April 4, 2010
Saturday, April 3, 2010
Friday, April 2, 2010
Thursday, April 1, 2010
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