Interspiritual Revolution and the Occupy Generation

[Balder]

 

The Huffington Post published an article recently by Rory McEntee and Adam Bucko, the authors of the e-book on New Monasticism that I posted to this forum earlier.  I'll post an excerpt from the article here.

 

Interspiritual Revolution: How the Occupy Generation is Re-Envision...

 

"We must all achieve our identity on the basis of a radical authenticity ... [for] it is only in the real world of the person -- neither singular nor plural -- that the crucial factors influencing the course of the universe are at work." -- Raimundo Panikkar, "The Silence of God," Introduction p. xviii

There can be little doubt that traditional religious frameworks are no longer speaking to new generations as they have in the past, especially in the West. In a recent article in the LA Times, Philip Clayton, Dean of Faculty at Claremont School of Theology, writes that the fastest growing religious group in the United States is "spiritual but not religious," containing a shocking 75 percent of Americans between the ages of 18 and 29. Clayton argues that young people are not necessarily rejecting a sense of God, rather they feel that religious organizations are too concerned with money and power, too focused on rules and too involved in the structures of the political status quo.

This is why the Interspiritual Revolution is so important. In a recent book of magnificent scope, "The Coming Interspiritual Age" (Namaste Publishing 2013), Dr. Kurt Johnson, a former Anglican monk and evolutionary biologist, together with David Robert Ord, trace the history of the interspiritual movement from no less than the Big Bang. They explore this unfolding extensively from an integral and evolutionary perspective, bringing together the world's religious traditions, developmental history, and current scientific understandings of anthropology, human cognitive development, brain/mind and scientific consciousness studies. They make a powerful argument for seeing the history of the world's spiritual and religious traditions as one movement, all contributing to the maturation of our species.

Brother Wayne Teasdale, a lay Catholic monk who was ordained as a Christian sannyassi (a monk in the Hindu tradition), coined the term interspirituality in his book "The Mystic Heart: Discovering a Universal Spirituality in the World's Religions" (New World Library, 1999). In it, Brother Wayne said:

The religion of humankind can be said to be spirituality itself, because mystical spirituality is the origin of all the religions. If this is so, and I believe it is, we might say that interspirituality -- the sharing of ultimate experiences across traditions -- is the religion of the third millennium. Interspirituality is the foundation that can prepare the way for a planet-wide enlightened culture...

We believe this understanding of Interspirituality, as a reciprocal sharing of realizations and contemplative gifts, in which each person's insights help to affirm, deepen, and direct the other's journey, is a framework that can be embraced by a new generation of spiritually hungry youth, while also allowing for inter-generational bridges to be built between elders, wisdom traditions and the youth. We call this process spiritual democracy, putting aside our egos and relating to each other in a way in which we can be surprised by the Divine, through which wisdom can come through everyone participating and God emerges as the "between" between friends. Interspirituality leads us to the God that is emerging among us, while naturally allowing us to touch the God within and beyond.

The truth is there is a revolution happening among us. People are waking up to the emptiness of their consumer-driven and materialistic worlds, and are beginning to re-evaluate what matters. The Occupy movement, the Arab Spring, the recent protests in India over the rape and treatment of women -- these are but early manifestations of something deeper emerging in our collective Soul. Young people are no longer interested in living in a world that doesn't feel like their soul's home, and they are willing to question the way things have been done in the past. It is to this questioning, this questing, that we believe Interspirituality has so much to offer, and can speak to the younger generation in a way that nothing else can...

 

Continued here.

[Balder]

I posted this here, in part, because I have been involved in some work recently that is quite close to the interspiritual movement.  In particular, I've been working with several friends on developing an integral spirituality degree program ... and it looks like it is beginning to bear fruit.  I can't give many concrete details yet -- not until we have a few things formalized in writing -- but it looks like we have a university that will give us a platform to offer a full degree program (starting, most likely, in early 2014).

[Edward theurj Berge]

I appreciate the third way from the article:

"In which one's primary path is one's inner guidance, what George Fox, founder of the Quakers, called one's 'inner teacher,' and what Christians have often referred to as the 'guidance of the Holy Spirit.' Its emphasis lies on the relationship aspect of the Ultimate Mystery. This way may not lead to being embedded in a particular wisdom tradition (without eliminating this possibility), but instead to taking on, in a mature and disciplined way, differing teachers, practices and service roles throughout one's lifetime, under the guidance of the Spirit.

"Too often this third way has been described as being selfish, flaky, a spiritual 'Esperanto,' or arising out of an inability to commit. In fact of matter, it is all about commitment. It is about fidelity to one's own path, to the inner impulse that arises within us, and the courage to commit to it with all of one's being, allowing ourselves the freedom of movement that it demands. It shifts us from a reliance on gurus, dogmas and institutions to following one's own inner light."

They warn that in this path one can lose their way so it's necessary to seek community for feedback. And that is persactly what IPS offers. This is my church, as it were, and a damned good one at that. I guess I'm if not a priest then at least an elder in the congregation.

[Edward theurj Berge]

My last post reminds me of attaining to, in GD terms, knowledge and conversation with one's Holy Guardian Angel (HGA). This is supposed to occur during initiation into the 5=6 level, Tiphareth, Neophyte Adeptus Minor. It actually occurred for me in the Portal between the outer and inner Order, so hence my initiation into Tiphareth came from my HGA when I left the GD and went integral.

I was reminded of this in reading the wiki entry on theurgy, from which my screen (and Order) name is derived. It describes as one goal henosis, a word Balder turned into a neologism (heno-ontology) in his upcoming paper.

[Mary W.]

Love this, as of course I would. Thanks, Bro. Bruce and Elder Theurj.  :-)

[Layman Pascal]

Interspirituality is beautiful word.

And I cannot deny the usefulness of sharing transcendental experiences across traditions. That is surely a necessary piece of the construction of planetary religion. However it may be quite far from the main issue...

One might need to say that simplistic causal democracy (although this is only a metaphor for the deepening of intimacy as a spiritual tool) is not so much an advancement but rather among the very things which are holding human beings back.

Secondly that polls of "youth" are a fairly dubious source of information about the actual situation of religiosity in the world. Too concerned with money, rules & power is more like what one can think of to say... just as "too partisan" is what an American can think of to say about the failure of their politicians to be politicians. What I hear in these words is that people are not finding anything which would justify the exploitative aspects. The so-called traditional religious frameworks are, by and large, not doing any religious activity. Therefore people drift away.

The protests and revolutions mentioned are rather minimal, lite & not proving yet to have any significant value for general human betterment. There is a tremendous eagerness to snatch up all signs and assert them as optimistic. How very Christian....

[Balder]

One might need to say that simplistic causal democracy (although this is only a metaphor for the deepening of intimacy as a spiritual tool) is not so much an advancement but rather among the very things which are holding human beings back.

Hola, LP.  Can you tell me what you mean by the phrase, "simplistic causal democracy"?

[Layman Pascal]

Should have been "casual" -- I had a couple beers with dinner. But basically this refers to the general territory of consensus and majority based on equivalence of input from individuals. Everything from the democratic spirit of "asking around" to the clearly dysfunctional procedures upon which majoritarian pseudo-parliamentary democracies are based. The idea of simple, casual democracy is that of clunky, flat compiling of group intelligence in the rough manner of a mob or a "show of hands".

Now a causal democracy... well that might not be so simple! Perhaps the ontological matrix we all appear to inhabit IS a causal democracy. I would need to see the specifications for its decision making protocols!