Spirituality, religions and fundamentalisms

"Spirituality is awareness of the water in the ocean, and religions are the currents in the ocean that fish can choose to swim in to go faster and further than they otherwise could. Fundamentalisms are aquariums that keep fish confined." – Roger Wolsey

I think it is an apt description of the nature of spirituality, religions and fundamentalism. It reminds me of a similar parable by Anthony de Mello about a fish wanting to find the ocean, and going about asking where the ocean is, until one day it realises it is already in the ocean. That is to me spirituality - an awareness of the water in the ocean. 

Religions to me, on the other hand, are subjective mental constructs and spiritual practices meant to help people become aware of the water in the ocean - to realise God or Divine is already in us, with us, around us and as us, in the here and now. 

Finally, fundamentalism is creating walls of an aquarium, as the quote says, and limiting the divine to a particular time and space and to a particular creed for an elect group of fishes that like to feel exclusive to experience that oh-so-elusive divine that comes once in a while and disappears when they think they miss it.

 

Live Video Stream recording with Carlton Pearson - Streaming Consciousness (Recorded on 4 October 2012)

I like what Carlton Pearson said about self-actualisation as the way to know God, since we are Co-creators and we have the power to create our own world. The water of the Aquarius sign represents Spirit, according to Pearson, and indeed we are becoming more spiritual (or rather, more in touch and in tune with our spirituality) as a whole, as our consciousness continues to expand (as part of our ongoing evolution).

What does it mean to be "spiritual but not religious"?

I have listened to Rob Bell's video on "Rediscovering Wonder" again, and somewhere in the middle of the video, he mentioned about people calling themselves spiritual but not religious. To him, spirituality is about having a childlike wonder, and being free to question, discover and explore (the mysteries of life) with a sense of awe and wonder, and being open to different ways of looking at things, whereas religion is about being dogmatic and fundamentalist. This view sits well with me.

On another note, it is perhaps no surprise that many people in the christian circles, such as evangelical preachers in general, choose to equate spirituality with Jesus because Jesus has been a central figure in christianity for so long (about 2,000 years or so) that people in mainstream christianity have all along assumed (including myself in the past) that he was a historical character - after all, the idea of Jesus coming to save, love, heal and comfort us and to set us free from religion is a comforting and compelling thought itself. It may explain why the recent video "Why I hate religion but love Jesus" is so popular among those in the christian circles.

To me, after coming to see the bible as a collection of myths and legends, I now see spirituality in a broader perspective - for example, native Amercian spirituality to me is considered spirituality, which revolves around the concept of our oneness with the Great Spirit and with Mother Earth and all living things. Music is spirituality too. I think anything that enables us to keep in touch with our soul can be considered spirituality.

In my recent blog "To be spiritual is to be amazed", I concluded:

"For me, I would say any belief that does not cause harm to oneself or others and instead produces the fruit of love, peace and unity is of the truth because the truth always sets us free."

 I have also read the article "Spiritual, But Not Religious", and I can relate especially to this observation.

"Forsaking formal religious organizations, these people have instead embraced an individualized spirituality that includes picking and choosing from a wide range of alternative religious philosophies. They typically view spirituality as a journey intimately linked with the pursuit of personal growth or development."

I agree spirituality is meant to be individualised, since everyone has a subjective view or opinion about God/Divine, which is influenced by a person's upbringing, culture, experiences and so on. Each person's experiences in life are unique, and it has been suggested by some inspirational sources that we all have our own unique spiritual DNA, so to speak.

I also believe we are already spiritual beings on a human journey, so there is no need for people to become more spiritual (in the sense of becoming more holy or moral or perfect, which itself is a form of legalism). The fact that we are moved by music, art, beauty and love is testimony that each of us is spiritual, and yet at the same time, we also need to connect with our humanity, in terms of our emotions.

I suppose the general idea I have at this point of my journey is that spirituality has to do with experiencing a sense of inner bliss that is unchanging, whereas humanity has to do with our emotions and thoughts (such as those of fears, worries, anger, disappointment, hurts as well as happiness, peace, elation, excitement, passion) that are fluctuating and everchanging - I would say both are equally necessary and normal and natural parts of our human existence. We all need to embrace both the spiritual and human sides of ourselves.

Daily Meditation: Signposts on the Way to God

 How do we know about God's love, God's generosity, God's kindness, God's forgiveness?  Through our parents, our friends, our teachers, our pastors, our spouses, our children ... they all reveal God to us.  But as we come to know them, we realise that each of them can reveal only a little bit of God.  God's love is greater than theirs; God's goodness is greater than theirs;  God's beauty is greater than theirs.

At first we may be disappointed in these people in our lives.  For a while we thought that they would be able to give us all the love, goodness, and beauty we needed.  But gradually we discover that they were all signposts on the way to God.
- Henri Nouwen

I think this is a gracious view of the various people in our lives, including pastors. I have come to see that while I can be grateful for pastors who have contributed in my life, in terms of preaching the gospel of grace and unveiling God as our loving Father, I am also learning to see them as humans who are subject to fallibility.

As I am growing and learning new things beyond mainstream christianity, I have grown out of my former church pastor's teachings. When I look back at the institutional church system from the outside, I begin to see that it has pros and cons. The upside is that it favours those who are part of the system, as the members get to enjoy the privilege of fellowship. The downside is that it draws a clear distinction between those who are "in" and those who are "out" of the system.

For example, those who do not subscribe to a particular church system's teachings are seen as "apostates" or "heretics". This is especially so if the church institution leaders are insecure and feel threatened by what is seen as a challenge to their "authority".

Secondly, megachurch pastors tend to be regarded as celebrities, who are usually too busy or important to address queries and needs of the church members. They would usually delegate the tasks to their appointed leaders and deacons. While having a busy schedule is understandable, we can't help remembering Jesus for being different from most megachurch pastors. Jesus made time for everyone, regardless of their social status, whether be they Roman centurions or fishermen or widows or Samaritans.  Jesus sees and treats everyone as equal.

Thirdly, I have ceased to be reliant on church pastors to feed me with daily manna. Maybe the fivefold ministry of apostles, evangelists, teachers, preachers and pastors are only applicable in the old covenant system of law during Paul's time in the first century AD. Once the new heavens and new earth began in AD70, as the new covenant of grace took effect, we no longer need a preacher to teach us about God. After all, the new covenant said "None shall teach his neighbour 'Know the Lord', for all shall know Me, from the least to the greatest."

Therefore, everyone knows God intuitively. Everyone can listen to the still, small voice of God for himself or herself. We may learn from others when they share their insights about God and their encounters with God, but we can only truly experience God for ourselves.

I have come to see the danger of depending solely on a preacher to share about God because we can become confined to or restricted by the preacher's own theological box. Besides, by doing so, we would be subjecting ourselves to the mood swings and emotional experiences and religious sensibilities of the preacher. What if the preacher gets up one Sunday morning and decides that God is displeased with him about something, and he starts to preach a message that focuses on sin management? This will invariably affect the minds and emotions of the listeners.

Fourthly, megachurch pastors are probably more susceptible to becoming a victim of their own success, so to speak, if we were to measure success by their popularity, compared to pastors of smaller ministries and denominations. Some of them may have started well when they preach grace at the expense of themselves being criticised by more legalistic preachers. But the moment they become well-known, they may become addicted to fame and recognition.

What happens when people around the world experience spiritual awakening and start questioning traditional doctrines on the literal hell, rapture, literal second coming of Christ and penal substitutionary theory of the cross? Are the same pastors willing to bear the costs of exploring these questions and display intellectual honesty to admit they might be mistaken in their interpretation of the Bible if they were to consider certain principles, such as time references, audience relevance and symbolism used in the Bible? The costs of being intellectually honest may include being ostracised by the mainstream church circles, losing support of their peers, losing church membership, being labelled as heretics, and experiencing their own spiritual crisis, not to mention the risk of losing their regular income in the process, along with their comfortable lifestyles.

"There are few things more dangerous than inbred religious certainty.”
― Bart D. Ehrman 

At the same time, I do not want to come across as being judgmental, because as the saying goes, when I judge someone, it reflects more about me than about the other person. Besides, if I were to be in their shoes, would I be certain I would not have made similar decisions and faced similar dilemmas? I have been "unconscious" myself in the past as I was also involved in mainstream christianity for several years, and I used to think such church doctrines and programmes were "normal".

Then again, I would not be true to myself if I were to close my eyes to what is happening in the world today. Maybe there is a fine balance between making an observation and making a judgment. By being aware of what is happening, and by questioning the status quo, I may be helping both myself and others to come to terms with the whys behind the whats. In this case, I am questioning why the church institutional systems, particularly mega church institutions, are continuing to function the way they do (as corporate entities) and the preachers seem unwilling to question doctrines that are based on the illusion of separation (such as literal hell and literal second coming of Christ and sin and penal substitution). Perhaps this is a question only the preachers can answer for themselves honestly.

As for me, I am still growing and evolving. I have come to a place where I think everyone needs to have the freedom to explore spirituality on their own and come to their own conclusion. Each of us is a mystic, and we are our own preachers. We are our own pastors. We don't need to rely on someone else to pastor us or save us. We are our own saviours. We don't need any external saviours.

We are saved by grace through faith, yes, and yet grace is not separate from us. We are saved daily by our own repentance (change of mind to believe the gospel). We are saved by our own thoughts and beliefs about who we really are - Christ in us the hope of glory.

The implanted Word that is able to save our souls is not an entity separate from ourselves. We are the implanted Word. We are the good news. We are the mirror image of our Beloved, in whom we live and move and have our being. As we behold our true divine Self, we are being transformed into His same image from glory to glory.

Peace and blessings.

Related post:
Our Purpose - Joshua Guild

If spirituality be your food of love, pray on

Indian nasi briyani, anyone? :)

Many of us who used to be in the grace-universalist-preterist-progressive Christianity circles have embarked on our own spiritual journey that goes beyond the confines of mainstream Christianity. For example, a Facebook friend who used to consider herself an evangelical Christian fundamentalist has embraced a kind of Hindu mysticism, though according to her, her current belief system is not affiliated to any particular branch of Christianity or ISKCON (International Society for Krishna Consciousness).

It is good to see people embarking on different spiritual journeys to discover God for ourselves in our own ways. I've come to see the various religions or belief systems as merely a stepping stone - a finger pointing to the moon - and then, we are off on our own in search for the truth within our heart.

I think a revelation of grace and an understanding of our oneness of God is essential so that in the process of exploring other belief systems, we continue to guard our heart against anything that might be legalistic or propagate a sense of separation from God. Life is a more colourful and exciting adventure when we revel in our freedom to discover our true Self in various paths - after all, we know God/Unconditional Love transcends boundaries, and no one belief system has a monopoly on God/Love.

Love is perhaps so vast and multifaceted, that it takes a multitude of belief systems and philosophies to express its infinite varieties of colours and music. Our search and experience in life and spirituality will be personal and meaningful, and our communion with others will be interesting as we learn from one another's insights and experiences. It's like eating from a huge buffet, and yet having our own customised diet best suited for our needs at the same time.

I borrowed the above analogy of food and spirituality/religion from Thich Nhat Hanh's book "Living Buddha, Living Christ" where he wrote "To me, religious life is life. I do not see any reason to spend one's whole life tasting just one kind of fruit. We human beings can be nourished by the best values of many traditions."