Edgework

It has been eight months now that I have been documenting my growing understandings about what it means to be truly spiritual. I have learned a lot during this time, yet I have come to the conclusion that I will never plumb the full depths of what spirituality is in both theory and practice. However, I feel it is time to wrap up what I have learned since last November and focus my energies more directly on putting my new understandings into practice.

So what have I learned so far?

1. It has become necessary for me to adapt to a new language that has dropped some of the standard buzz words I learned in the fundamentalist-evangelical world I grew up in. This continues to take time, practice and patience.
2. I have found it helpful to think of spiritual development as normally taking place in two stages, which Richard Rohr calls the two halves of life. While the first half of life depends a lot on black and white thinking in order to establish identity and security, if I want to mature spiritually I need to move into the second half of life in which I will be more open to mystery, uncertainty and paradox. This transition can be described as a move from “order” through “disorder” to “reorder” and usually happens in the wake of experiencing some kind of failure, brokenness, pain or perplexing circumstances – all of which have been part of my journey. Because most persons prefer to stay in the first half of life, I must get used to being misunderstood.
3. In the second half of life I must come to terms with the fact that the Bible is both human and divine. “The Bible belongs in the ancient worlds that produced it. It was not an abstract, otherworldly book dropped out of heaven.” This requires me to read it with discernment and not expect that every chapter and verse speaks directly into my life. I must read the Bible through a “Christotelic” lens; that is, expecting the text to point beyond itself to the living Christ. I must discern the “spirit” of the text, expect imbedded “trajectories,” and understand that biblical interpretation is more of an “Art” than a “Science.” I must come to value stories, myths and parables as means of communicating truth even though they may not be historically “true.” The Bible is not the God I worship, but the document that points me in the direction of direct encounter with the living God.
4. “Original Blessing” is a healthier and more biblical foundation for spiritual growth than “Original Sin.” Jesus is more than a “debt officer” taking care of a deep human flaw. He is a “Great Physician” come to heal that which has gone wrong. Original blessing acknowledges that the deepest level of my human nature is designed to hear God’s voice and walk in his way. Original blessing is my “center of gravity.”
5. Knowing that God indwells all of creation helps me to understand that I have never been separated from God, except in my mind; separated by the delusion that God would not be interested in taking up residence in my life unless I first met some very specific conditions. As Rohr says, “This realization is an earthquake in the brain, a hurricane in the heart, a Copernican revolution in the mind and a monumental shift in consciousness.”
6. I will do well to remain open to unaccustomed spiritual disciplines like fasting, walking a labyrinth, contemplative practices and silence.
7. Spiritually is largely about learning to live in the now. The more I become aware of God’s presence in the moment, in the NOW, the less need I will have to relive moments of the past or wait around for what might happen in the future.
8. In the long run, spirituality thrives best by accenting positive dynamics, but on occasion I must deconstruct harmful theological doctrines in order to boost my spiritual development. For me, this has meant jettisoning the notion of hell as conscious, eternal torment for the greater percentage of humans that ever lived. It has also meant finding emotional and psychological healing for the damage that the teaching of hell did to me during my adolescence.
9. In order to grow spiritually I must be authentic. That means I need to be who I really am even if that means being different from what status quo, religious institutions demand. Growing only in “secret” eventually results in a homesickness; that is, a desire to just be who I am and let the chips fall where they may. To grow spiritually I need the freedom to be real even in the face of being sanctioned.
10. Fear is not a good catalyst for growing spiritually. It is very disorienting to be compelled to cling to a loving Creator while simultaneously being terrified of what that Creator wants to do to me if I don’t cling correctly. Love, not fear, is the best foundation for spiritual growth.
11. Rapture theology is fear-based and a poor foundation for spiritual maturation. With an overwhelming focus on escaping this sin-cursed earth, rapture enthusiasts are not inclined to integrate all of God’s good creation into a holistic, healthy vision of where God wants to take it. Such a perspective leaves little room for humility, mystery and going deeper spiritually.
12. In order to grow spiritually, I must be focused on living out the True Self which God has implanted within me. If I do this, I will have uncapped the artesian well of spirituality that is flowing within me and a sense of deep spirituality will alight gently on my shoulders and sneak quietly into the crevices of my soul.

So, as I seek to implement these new understandings in my life, I will take a break from writing about spirituality. For the next while I will be writing stand-alone essays on various topics.