Back again
It used to be that in polite society, talk of religion and politics was avoided, however, the renewal of White Christian Nationalism demands discission.
Transcendent spirituality presumes a potent reality that encompasses our apparent material reality. Atheists deny there is such a thing, believing everything is described within the four dimensions of Newtonian space/time, and agnostics aren’t sure.
However, quantum mechanics proposes that the material world is resonant energy, unified non-locally by higher dimensional patterns. This view is validated by the success of quantum dependent technologies such as lasers, computers, and cell-phones. Furthermore, quantum mechanics puts consciousness, also non-local, central to reality: our perspective shapes our experience.
Over 80 percent of the planet has a conceptual belief, and/or a personal experience, that inspires consideration of a spiritual reality, with more than 100 names for the transcendent. Absolute Spirit, Allah, Alpha and Omega, Atman, Brahma, Buddha, Christ Consciousness, Divine Mother, Dreamtime, Eternal Now, Gaia, God, Goddess, Great Spirit, Higher Power, I Am, Jehovah, Jesus, Kali, Krishna, Nondual Awareness, Pele, Perennial Philosophy, Shakti, Shiva, Source, Tao, Ultimate Truth, Universal Oneness, Universal Soul, Vishnu, Yahweh, and World Soul, to name just a few.
Within every spiritual community there is a spectrum running from mystics to fundamentalists. Mystics tend to value experience over concepts, understanding that words are only approximations, human artifacts, subject to cultural limitations. Mystics are willing to learn from anyone’s spiritual experience, and are more tolerant of cultural differences. Fundamentalists are more focused on words and concepts, and can become rigid, and dogmatic, insisting their “truth” is the only truth. Fanatical extremists have killed those who disagree with them, including mystics of their own tradition.
Consider the group of blind men encountering an elephant. Each has a real experience with a single part of the elephant. Unwilling to expand beyond their personal experiences, they dogmatically fight about the true nature of the beast.
What we know as the Christian Bible was edited exclusively by men, centuries after Christ lived, to become the sacred text for the new state religion of the Roman Empire. For centuries, the Church has grown in political and financial power. Despite the spiritual value of the Bible, the message has been distorted over time.
For example, Christ’s primary directive was to Love God (Mathew 22:37-40), yet today a “good” Christian is often described as “God fearing.” Confusing fear and love is the destructive logic of traumatized people. A man in Ukiah had a sign saying: “Obey Jesus, or burn in hell for eternity!” The recent Superbowl ad, “Jesus gets us”, begs the bigger question: “Who gets Jesus?”
As the internalized fear becomes externalized as hate, the fanatical self-righteous presume religious sanction for misogyny, domination, oppression, and even murder. “Christians” have not only murdered people of other faiths and cultures, but have persistently warred against other Christians. The Catholic/Protestant conflict is the most extensive, but oppression and domination arose between Protestant sects as well. Most of the Pilgrims immigrated to the new world because of religious persecution in Europe. Rigid Church dogma distorted western science for centuries, specifically excluding the central role of consciousness from research, under threat of death. All of this is far from the core of Christ’s teachings, totally “missing the mark”, the original meaning of sin.
Which brings us to the present time. The basic reality espoused by all spiritual traditions is the unity of the world, hence the universality of the Golden Rule. Living this truth is our ongoing work. As society makes progress toward this goal, groups such as White Christian Nationalists, today’s fanatical fundamentalists, who have benefited from the exclusive gain of previous fear-based domination systems, are feeling put upon. They demand a return to a time when nobody was allowed to object to a few rich white men ruling everything. Living in fear, not love, they are willing to tear everything apart to get their way.
I believe the answer is to live the life of love that most people aspire to. We can practice being kind to everyone, living the love in our heart. We can cultivate access to inspiration and insight, our individual connection to larger wisdom. This radical social activism is completely within our power. The tide is turning. While the old order of domination believes it’s still in control, the fundamental bankruptcy is becoming more obvious every day.
Crispin B. Hollinshead lives in Ukiah. This and previous articles can be found at cbhollinshead.blogspot.com.
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