Searching for God # 39

 Two books have recently been added to the shelves of ‘spiritual’ books,  both entitled respectively, Spiritual Boon, and Spiritual Boon Workbook, both by Rainn Wilson.

Mr. Wilson, appearing on Morning Joe on MSNBC this morning, noted that he has also engaged a ‘spiritual boom network or group,’ and by way of illustration, if a member notices a flower growing up through concrete or asphalt, s/he takes a picture and shares it with the group. Looking for, being open to, being surprised by, anticipating and searching for moments of beauty, altruism, kindness.

From a synopsis, on Amazon, we read:

He (Mr. Wilson) feels that culturally, we’ve discounted spirituality—faith and the sacred—and we need a profound healing and unifying understanding of the world that the great spiritual traditional provide…..Filled with genuine insight-not to mention enlightening Kung Fu and Star Trek references--Soul Boom delves into ancient wisdom to see our practical, transformative answers to life’s biggest questions.

The relationship to and between spirituality and religion, like the relationship to and between psychology and religion, shows much in common for all ‘perspectives’….and yet, there might also be some differences. And at the heart of the matter lies the ‘inner life’ and how it both perceived, conceived, engaged and attended.

A beginning of some clarification might be borrowed from Karen Armstrong’s. the Case for God:

Referring to the Upanishads, and the first universal principles of religion as they ‘saw’ them, Armstrong writes:

The truths of religion are accessible only when you are prepared to ger rid of the selfishness, greed, and self-preoccupation that perhaps inevitably, are ingrained in our thoughts and behavior but are also the source of so much of our pain. The Greeks would call this process kenosis,‘emptying’ Once you gave up the nervous craving to promote yourself, denigrate others, draw attention to your unique and special qualities, and ensure that you were first in the pecking order, you experienced an immense peace. The first Upanishads were written at a time when the Aryan communities were in the early stages of urbanization; logos (Greek word for reason) had enabled them to master their environment. But the sages reminded them that there were some things—old age, sickness, death—that they could not control. Something---such as their essential self-that lay beyond their intellectual grasp. When, as a result of carefully crafted spiritual exercises, people learned not only to accept but to embrace this unknowing, they found that they experienced a sense of release.(Op. cit. p 20)

A personal human emptying, and then a story about Moses ‘going to see’ God on Mount Sinai, an experience which later writers ‘would declare this to be impossible. When Moses begged to see Yahweh’s glory (kavod), Yahweh told him that no mere mortal could look upon the holiness of God and live. In a scene that would become emblematic, when Moses climbed Mount Sinai to meet with God, a think cloud and a blanket of impenetrable smoke hung over the summit. There was thunder and lightning and what sounded like deafening trumpet blasts. Moses may have stood in the pace where God was, but he had no lucid vision of the divine. The biblical writers made clear that the kavod (Hebrew word meaning honor, glory, respect and importance) of Yahweh was not God himself; it was, as it were, a mere afterglow of God’s presence on earth, essentially and crucially separate from the divine reality itself which would always be beyond human ken. (Op. cit p. 40)

A theme of emptying, on the one hand, and unknowing on the other seem to be evolving as integral to the various human attempts to ‘relate’ to (understand, approach, apprehend, perceive, apperceive, and honour, and pay loyalty and homage) to God…The interior self, one of the more puzzling of ‘psychic rivers’ and the ‘glory of God,’ another and even more unfathomable notions, throughout time and across continents and philosophies, and religions, nevertheless, perhaps like opposite poles in two magnets, (even that fails!) are universally drawn into a kind of vortex of perceptions, attitudes, beliefs, ethics, morals, and aspirations and potential sanctions.

And one of the compounding dynamics in the pursuit of God, as a theological pursuit, is that humans have deployed what is known as anthropomorphism to God, the attributing of human characteristics or behaviour to God. Multiple narratives around the theme of worshipping, bribing, fighting for, ignoring and defying God, fill volumes, both of what is known as ‘holy writ’ as well as secular writings. And it is not either a large or difficult step, intellectually or imaginatively, psychically or relationally, from an ‘anthropomorphic God’ to a kind of default position that seeks to talk, and to think and to pray and to worship this human-like image, as if ‘it’ were a highly significant, highly impactful, and highly reverent personage, especially as Christians have tried to merge an historic Jesus with a Resurrected Christ as integral to and essential to the Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

From hermeneutics.stackexchange.com, in  piece entitled, ‘What does Paul mean by ‘we have the mind of Christ?’ Quoting 1 Corinthians 2: 12-13:

For what person knows the things of a person except the spirit of the person who is in him? So, also, no on e knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. But we received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is from God, that we might know the things that were freely given to us by God. And we speak of these things, not with words taught by human wisdom, but with those taught by the Spirit, comparing spiritual things with spiritual things.

And then this commentary:

The correct understanding of this passage is lost on people in the last few hundred years because, in order to support the dogma of ‘The Blessed Trinity,’ the English translators coined a new word, that had never existed in Hebrew, Greek, Latin, German, and certainly not in English. That word is ‘spirit.’

Prior to that word being coined, the word ‘spirit’ would have read ‘breath’.

For the ancients, the invisible, personal breath was like an intelligent organ. The breath is how God and Jesus search the things of a man, and, if a man has God’s breath, he knows what God is thinking.

From Britannica.com, we read:

Holy Spirit, in Christian belief, the third person of the Trinity. Numerous outpourings oof the Holy Spirit are mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles, in which healing, prophecy, the expelling of demons (exorcism) and speaking in tongues (glossolalia) are particularly associated with the activity of the Spirit. In art, the Holy Spirit is commonly represented as a dove. Christian writers have seen in various references to the Spirit of Yahweh in the Hebrew Scriptures an anticipation of the doctrine of the Holy Spirit. The Hebrew  word ‘ruah’ (usually translated spirit) is often found in texts referring to the free and unhindered activity of God, either in creating or in revitalizing creation, especially in connection with the prophetic word or messianic expectation…..The definition that the Holy Spirit was a distinct divine person equal in substance to the Father and the Son and not subordinate to them came at the Council of Constantinople in CE 381, following challenges to its divinity.

Words that name concepts, especially abstract notions, have a kind of elasticity, that has permitted deployment in various times, tribes and troubles. The question of ‘supernatural’ as integral to all discussion of God with any potential connection and relation to the ‘natural’ lies at the heart of any and all attempts to ‘seek’ God.

In an age drowning in ‘self-help,’ ‘personal-improvement,’ and ‘spiritual and physical well-being,’ there is some inescapable, yet perhaps preventable, blurring of the lines between the self-help guru’s and the prophets, scientists and miracle-advocates of that region and the purpose, role, understanding and application of a faith or religious understanding and commitment. And while any and all attempts to discern between psychology (especially as it is practices and perceived clinically) and religion, (in these spaces, specifically Christian) risk blurring the lines, the reward is worth the risk.

‘Being a better person’ is a phrase fraught with mis-interpretation. Does it mean free from depression? free from conflict? free from lying and misrepresenting? free from fraud? free from a bad reputation? Being kind and generous? Being sensitive and a good listener? Being a student of sacred writings and ecclesial history? Ethics and morality lie at the core of all (or seemingly all) discernments and judgements of what it means to be a ‘better person’. And, above all, it also means ‘better than what? better than whom? by what standard? Comparisons, while appropriate in academic and intellectual discernments, invariably imply and include competitions, and those competitions also imply and include tensions over various perceptions, attitudes, values and beliefs.

Can one’s ‘spirit’ or ‘breath’ or ‘passion’ or ‘conviction’ or ‘identity’ be separated from one’s morals and ethics? Unlikely! And does pursuing a ‘boon in spirituality’ enhance the likelihood of others finding ‘inner peace, harmony, purpose and meaning’? Perhaps.

However, the goal of liberation from suffering and pain, or at least attempting to ‘cope’ and to ‘perceive its purpose’ lie at the heart of many personal disciplines, both within the religious and the secular domains. Stress-relief, physical well-being and enhanced concentration are often bandied about as ‘spiritual exercises’ in self-improvement and enhancement. And there are a plethora of disciplines designed to help individuals enter, engage with, and commit to regular meditation, (for example) prayer, physical movement (yoga), fasting, and various seasons of critical self-examination.

Similarly, turning points, issuing from serious trauma, loss, death of a loved one, divorce, firing, fires and floods, have an inescapable impact in turning one’s mind and heart and body to questions of meaning and purpose and profound relationships previously unasked or previously considered ephemeral and inconsequential.

Menus, templates, processes and plans lie at the heart of many of the contemporary ‘improvement’ approaches. And, for many, these guides are external, extrinsic to each person, and thereby are able to be offered, suggested, recommended and even ‘sold’ to those in need.

Religion, especially of the kind that values the ‘good samaritan’ parable as one of, if not its highest exemplar, too, enters one’s experience ‘from the outside’ in an avowed aim and purpose to ‘penetrate’ the inner beliefs, attitudes, perceptions, and values of the individual.

It is this ‘inner-outer’ (intrinsic-extrinsic) dynamic that is one of the more problematic, both in self-help approaches as well as in many of the ecclesial and institutional methods and approaches of faith and religion. Transforming an outer-delivered, and externally ‘experienced’ set of beliefs, convictions, maxims and both ethics and moral standards, into an internal, inherent, authentic and personal ‘identity’ may well lie at the heart of both self-help and religion initiatives.

It is the difference in the question of ‘worship,’ and ‘awe’ and ‘belief’ and ‘hope’ not only in the quality of those experiences, but also in the promise of their delivery by which they appear different to this scribe.

The intellect, cognition, and behaviour (as exemplified in CBT, Cognitive Behavioural Therapy) are all shaped by a recognition, appreciation and application of thought models that, following authentic repetition and more repetition, eventually have the possibility of becoming internalized (Neural Linguistic Progamming holds this theory). And finding beauty in the dandelion peeking out from the asphalt, or the bird-song’s lyrical melody in the back yard, can and possibly will, if we are paying attention, lift our ‘spirit and mood’ out of whatever darkness we are in.

And, to be sure, we need to open our minds, hearts and bodies to notice, to pause to let the image register and to share those images as a proven path to a better and more intimate relationship with our environment, and thereby also with ourselves and with others. And, do those experiences comprise the seeds of a spiritual boom?….perhaps!

And will a surge of such shared experiences have the potential to enhance a similar surge in spiritual awakening? Perhaps.

And is there a difference in the quality, depth, purpose and meaning of such moments of joy and intimacy with nature, with the promise that accompanies one’s belief in and attachment to images of Calvary, Resurrection and the promise of eternal hope, as envisioned by Jurgen Moltmann…

From reflections.yale.edu, in a piece entitled, Theologies of Hope, by Miroslav Volf, we read:

In his justly famous book, Theology of Hope (1964), Jurgen Moltmann, one of the greatest theologians of the second part of the 20^th century, make another important distinction between hope and optimism. The source of the distinction relates to the specific way some ancient biblical writers understand hope. Optimism, if it is justified, is based on extrapolations we make about the future based on what we can reasonably discern to be tendencies in the present. Meteorologists observe weather patterns around the globe and release their forecasts for the next day; the day will be reasonably warm,  but in the early afternoon winds will pick up and bring some relief; now you have a reason to be optimistic that the afternoon will be pleasant…..The present contains the seeds of the future, and if it is well with these seeds, the future that will grow will be good as well. That’s reasonable optimism.

Hope, argued Moltmann, is different. Hope is not based on accurate extrapolation about the future from the character of the present. The future good that is the object of hope is a new thing, novum, that comes in part form outside the situation. Correspondingly, hope is, in Emily Dickinson’s felicitous phrase, like a bird that flies in from outside and ‘perches in the soul.’ Optimism in dire situations reveals an inability to understand what is going on or an unwillingness to accept it and in therefore an indication of foolishness or weakness. In contrast, hope during dire situations, hope notwithstanding the circumstances, is a sign of courage and strength….Hope helps us identify signs of hope as signs of hope rather than as just anomalies in an otherwise irreparable situation, as indicators of a new dawn rather than the last flickers of  a dying light. Hope also helps us to press on with determination and courage. When every course of action by which we could each the desired future seems destined to failure, when we cannot reasonably draw a line that would connect the terror of the present with future joy, hope remains indomitable and indestructible. When we hope, we always hope against reasonable expectations. That’s why Emily Dickinson’s bird of hope ‘never stops’ singing—in the sore storm, in the chilliest land,  on the strangest sea…..Writing as a 92-year-old, he (Moltmann) begins his…paragraph of (this essay) on patience autobiographically:

In my youth, I learned to know ‘the God of hope’ and loved the beginnings of a new life with new ideas. But in my old age I am learning to know ‘the God of patience’ an stay in my place in life….(Moltmann continues)

Without endurance, hope turns superficial and evaporates when it first meets resistances. In hope we start something new, but only endurance helps us persevere. Only tenacious endurance makes hope sustainable. We learn endurance only with the help of hope. On the other hand, when hope gets lost, endurance turns into passivity. Hope turns endurance into active passivity. In hope we affirm the pain that comes with endurance, and learn to tolerate it.

The hope to which Moltmann is not exclusive to or absent from the ‘spiritual boom’ eagerly anticipated by Wilson. It is, however, significantly different and promises a different kind of approach, expectation and state of both mind and heart.