Religious Consciousness

Friends,

The great prophets and mystics of humankind have always found themselves in tension with the religious authorities, to the degree they were even persecuted or killed. There is a reason for this.

Let us look at our own time in American culture. Measurement of the attitudes of those who are considered the most churched or religious in the U.S. reveals that such persons are most likely to be in favor of violent military solutions and war to international conflict. Such persons are most likely to be in favor of the death penalty, opposed to tolerance of those who are different, and opposed to compassionate programs of government assistance for those lacking basic needs of shelter, food, or medical care. It's a curious phenomenon when you consider the teachings of the majority religion of our society.

Yet it does make sense in a way when you consider that religious consciousness may be a state of arrested spiritual development. If we look around our world, religious consciousness seems to be a major factor in ethnic and national conflicts of the most violent and brutal kinds. The rise of fundamentalism seems to have exacerbated violence and tensions around the world.

The transpersonal psychologist, Ken Wilber, along with other students of human consciousness have devised models of the development of spiritual consciousness. Mr. Wilber speaks of a progression of developmental states beginning with the most basic instinctual aspects, arising from the primitive reptilian part of the brain, dealing with basic survival, threat and safety. the second level is derived from the mammalian brain and has to do with the primitive emotions of bonding and relatedness with the parent and immediate family members. The third level is that from which religious consciousness is most derived, the level of mythic membership in groups, where we find an identity in our group affiliation. At this level of consciousness then the task of religious group consciousness is to identify who is in the circle of affiliation and who is out, who is pure and who is impure. The impure and the stranger are identified as out of the group and not to be accepted or invited for fear of contamination. Religious consciousness then is very much concerned with affiliation and xenophobia. There is no room for unitive awareness or universalism.

The fourth level in this developmental map is the rational/egoic level. Here the individual capacity for intellectual discernment has primacy. The secularist may be often found in this group. Secularists often have more compassionate concern for the larger community. But this level can be unsatisfying because the intellect alone cannot provide transcendence and meaning to the individual.

For this reason the fifth or intuitive stage of growth may began to assist the secularist to move towards trusting internal non-intellectual means for connecting with the natural world and with other human beings to discover and experience the intimacy that we we all need and seek. Such persons may report they feel "connected" and "whole" in walks in the woods, or experiences in the natural world. Or artistic expression can also feed this level of experience.

The sixth level is that of unitive consciousness. This is the level of mystic universalism. At this level the individual has formally or informally found a spiritual praxis that allows one to intentionally and consciously find communion in the ground or source of all being in a way that connects with the entire universe animate and inanimate. This is the realm of the mystics who transcend even the tradition in which they have practiced. As growth in this state progresses persons begin to experience the lack of any subject or object in life: all is Subject. There is only the "Isness That Is." Being Itself is the Ultimate Reality manifested in each being, in each cell, each atom, and each galaxy in the universe.

Humankind has been approaching a crisis of development of consciousness. Our mythic membership consciousness, especially the religious form of it, when combined with the technology of modern weaponry and the mobilization of mass communications creates a world of unparalleled violence towards other humans and towards the systems of life which sustain our own life.

I am convinced that unitive consciousness is growing and the Way of the Heart, the Way of the mystics will heal the soul of humankind of its wound of separateness.

Blessings always,
Bill Ryan
cmpnwtr@earthlink.net

Ox Herding

Friends,

In my last post I promised to speak more about the ten Ox Herding pictographs in the Soto Zen tradition and their relevance to the process of contemplative spiritual development. There are a number of differing commentaries done on these pictures. I will give you mine. The pictographs are labeled as such: The Search for the Ox, Discovering the Footprints,Perceiving the Ox, Catching the Ox, Taming the Ox, Riding the Ox Home, The Ox Transcended, Both Ox and Self Transcended, Reaching the Source, and In the World. What the pictures describe in graphics is a process of waking up to our unconditioned true nature and to the conditioned nature of ego and instinct which comprises our vehicle in this life. The seeker is the awakened heart, an aspect of our true nature. It seeks to bring "home" our humanity and its consciousness or soul (Ox) to the Heart Center within us.

Most of us at some point "wake up" in life and discover that there is much more than simply following our conditioned response to the culture, to our upbringing, and to the accoutrements of our social and physical endowment in life. This is the beginning, this is the point of conversion. If we make a commitment to taking the journey of our true nature then we began to take note of what is going on. We begin to train our awareness to see, to take witness of the self and its consciousness, and where it has led us. This "witness" position creates a new freedom to stand back and observe the arising of the self created self. We also begin to abide in a deeper place within ourselves, where there is pure presence and pure and open offering to life.

The ox of self is no longer able to lead us around by the nose, rather we lead it gently home to true nature and harmony with the Heart. The rider plays the music of going home and the ox follows. Mind/soul, the consciousness of ego and instinct, needs to be servant of the Heart in order to be truly happy. The conflict and angst of separateness melts over time and we begin to experience "being home" wherever we are and whatever we are doing in life. This unifying healing progresses until the distinction of mind and heart, soul and spirit, break down and there is just true nature, just the circle of our being. This is a position described as "ox and self transcended." But there is further to go in life. The little circle of true nature itself is transcended and all becomes Subject. We fall willingly, or rather jump into the ocean of the universal circle of the Divine Being. The boundaries of personal being are gone and there is only the sea of Universal Being of our true belonging that continually pours itself out into beings and draws them back unto Itself. This is the "I AM," the Beloved of our hearts, the Isness That IS. Subject and object disappear. In this state All is Subject in the world, all is theophany of the One Life, all is expression of the "I AM."

Some have characterized this state as the end of the journey. Yet isn't it true, that in the Christian life the highest goal is selfless service? In the Buddhist journey, the highest goal of the Mahayana tradition is the Bodhisattva vow, to be of compassionate service to all beings. And even in the recovery tradition of spirituality the goal, the 12 step of spiritual development is to bring compassionate service to others who suffer from addiction. Hence the purpose of the spiritual development is to bring forth compassionate enlightened service, the birthing of loving kindness (metta' in Buddhism, agape in Christianity). And the follower of the Way is transformed into Christ, into Buddha to manifest the compassion of the Beloved in all things. This is the return to the world, the Uncreated Light of the transfigured Christ on Mt. Tabor, the enlightenment of the Bodhi tree, the pure Glory of the Burning Bush of the I AM Presence is offered and lived in the world. This is the Wisdom Way.
Blessings to all,
Bill Ryan
cmpnwtr@earthlink.net