We often run into and get to know people who, by their own genuine sense of themselves and our experience of them, can with fair authenticity say, “I’m not religious, but I am spiritual.”
What readily shows up as we begin to reflect on religion and spirituality is the reality of, at least from the experience of life and our interactions with others, there being a distinctive difference – unique differentiating characteristics – between “being religious” and “being spiritual”… not necessarily being mutually exclusive, one to the other, but a perceivable difference nonetheless. It is this distinctiveness, the uniqueness of each, their complementary nature, and the potential for oneness or shared unity that is the reflective source point for this writing.
Before we start down this path, it is important and quite useful to get ourselves organized and oriented for the journey. As is our custom, we will endeavor to write reflectively and from the perspective of potential. Writing reflectively, we are seeking essence and working to see the whole and the right and good relatedness and working of its systemic elements – a more real and hopefully truthful image. Coming from the perspective of potential, we are remembering the open-endedness of truth – its nature and capacity to be forever deepened, developed and evolved.
This journey of reflection on religion and spirituality takes us along the path of faith and the living philosophy of potential. As we walk this path, we will work to filter out – keep from entering into the writing – any angst that may show up from frustrations that have emerged from life experiences of these two subjects – faith and philosophy… trees we have bumped into, if you like. In many ways this journey has the feel of excursions into the high country of Wyoming, for there is certainly a need to get to the high country – to go above the tree line. We are sure there will be a few large boulder fields to negotiate, no doubt an icy stream or two to cross, and some wanderings and retracing of path… but buoyed by the faith of past experiences, good fortune, and right receptivity, we have every reason to expect the journey to be worthwhile, and so…
Let us begin with a few thoughts on faith and the living philosophy of potential. Faith relates to the “hearing of truths.” It anchors itself to the directly revealed – the direct revelation of truths through the spoken word. The living philosophy of potential works at the “seeing of truths.” It works at bringing meaning and purpose to our lives through the seeing of the intuitively knowable, experientially perceivable truths of our living existence – the truths of the works. In contrast to traditional philosophies, the living philosophy of potential anchors itself in the truths of our living nature and of there being intent and intended ways of working behind the whole of creation. With faith – the hearing of truths – often comes the word obedience, a characteristic of following faith. With living philosophy – the seeing of truths – the companion word is discipline, a necessary characteristic for a practice-able living philosophy.
The notion of holy, or “being holy,” readily comes to mind as we consider the notion of “being religious.” Religious practice however, in and of itself, is not the source of holiness. Religious practices can be and are intended to be instruments, true aids in our being holy. Holiness itself is dependent upon and is a manifestation of the relationship we have with our Creator. If we extend the relationship or being aspect of holiness to include will and willfulness, we can see holiness is also dependent upon the relatedness we have with our Creator, some of which is captured in the expression “not my will, but “Thy Will””… the relatedness that is further amplified and deepened by acknowledgement and embracement of the truth that we are not the source, but rather intended to be instruments. This process of surrendering to our instrumentality not only brings authenticity to our “holiness,” but unfolds and reveals an additional reality, that being that we are also not the source of love, truth, or good, but rather vessels into and through which such can flow. The notions of the truth regarding our not being the source and the truth of our instrumentality are shared by faith and the living philosophy of potential. Thus they represent points or aspects of oneness and unity. An image of complementary peaks – not unlike the Grand Teton – is beginning to emerge.
Shifting our focus to living philosophy – the spirit side, the side of “I’m spiritual” – and reflecting on others and ourselves when we feel spirited, we notice some things… things like the clarity of life purpose, an understanding of life’s working, and an openness to experiencing life – to being present to it and present within it… things that seem to accompany the experience of and the manifestation of spirit. There is a writing that further amplifies our images and understanding of the working of spirit. Even its title, “Life-Giving Joy of Spirit,”*(“Gifts of the Spirit,” Path of Potential, Grand Junction, CO, 2004, p.90.) adds to our depiction. We have extracted a few lines for our reflection:
“Spirit brings life to our life, for Spirit is the Life Force – the Source of all life.
Spirit is the way to see the truth of our existence. It is the Source of meaning and purpose for our lives and for the whole of life.
Spirit is wisdom in action – the means for fulfilling the will of our Creator.
Spirit brings questioning that builds hope and dissipates despair.
Wherever spirit is manifested, so too is life present.
A spirit manifested awakens and evokes spirit within all it enters.”
One image of being spiritual that emerges is that of standing with one’s face full to the sun, wind blowing through one’s hair… while willfully, joyfully stepping deeply into the stream of life – seeking purpose, fulfilling essential roles, pursuing and carrying out one’s heartfelt work – all the while resisting the seductive comfort of retreat and mechanicalness.
Reflecting further we can see spirit and purpose – purpose and spirit – intimately and inseparably entwined, held together by meaning, meaningfulness and willfulness. We see the perspective and living philosophy of potential seeking to see essence – the will pattern, the pattern of intent, that from which being emerges, that which particularizes the manifestation of the spirit. And so we can see – at least begin to see – that the living philosophy of potential which seeks to bring meaning and purpose to our living existence is brought to life by and nourished by spirit, by the Spirit. At the same time the living philosophy enables the orientation and discipline to open our hearts for Spirit to enter and to be manifested.
Our reflections bring us to another seeking question – the question of raising of our children relative to their spirit and to being spirited or spiritual as we are beginning to understand it. In that regard, these guiding thoughts show up: Protect the spirit aspect of our parenting; be ever watchful of processes that diminish spirit. As we go about the shaping and educating of our children – the teaching of values and behaviors – be watchful for conformance demands not related to essential values. Remember that courage and confidence verses coddling and conformance are critical elements of the character required to walk the spirited path. Guiding our children to meaningful work and seeing the meaning in work, to having a sense of purpose and the ableness to develop purpose, and to envisioning and developing aim – a thrust toward being and becoming – also come to mind. And finally, remember that our children will be, as all of us are, confronted with the question, “Are we to be externally defined or intrinsically expressed?”
Leaving now the high, treeless valley, the immense open space, the place where ponds reside and the streams bubble and gurgle with a clarity of voice, we move upwards, up the steep slopes toward the peaks – the highest of places, the places where the snow hardly ever melts such that the snow that lies underneath that which we see can be quite old, decades or centuries, or perhaps even older. A realization and reflection turns our minds towards that which has come before, the history of human experience, a history that has a clear and distinct demarcation brought about by the “Christ Event,” the oft called “Time of Christ.” Recalling some of the history of the pre-Christ era, we remember the conversational nature of that time: God was speaking to the people. The spoken word of faith was being enunciated. Commands, commandments, and covenants – obedience and disobedience – were present. The people were experiencing the real consequences – both good and bad – of particular behaviors. Thus there were “times of plenty and joy” and “times of scarcity and suffering.” Then by a willful act, a conscious and courageous act of choice, a surrendering YES by a woman called Mary, Jesus who was to become the Christ, entered into the world of human experience. From the perspective of faith, prophecies were fulfilled; redemption and salvation – a reconnection, an opening of the way of return to the Source – were realized. A new message, an inner process of love and peace, was delivered. A new way of being was made visible, knowable and possible. Seen more clearly, perhaps, from the perspective of the living philosophy of potential, a Spirit was manifested. This Christ Impulse, an impulse that enfolded the previous right and good within it, an impulse of love, peace and harmony, was embedded in the life processes of earth, and as such is accessible to each and all of humanity. Now whereas faith might joyfully reflect on this goodness of peace and love and clearly see it as the “New Covenant,” the living philosophy would rejoice in the reality that love was now firmly embedded in the process of life, and therefore ongoingly available to the process of our becoming fully and truly human. Now it is possible to realize our potential, to fulfill our Creator’s intention that we become fully and truly human. Now that which has been made available makes possible, through our surrendering receptivity, the presence of love in our processes, a necessary condition if we are to progress – progress along the path of our humanness… a truthful reality that allows us to say, with the courage and conviction of Mary, if love is not present in the process, it will not be present in the outcome. We will not progress if we seek to bring about change, change for the better, upward change towards increased humanness, unless love is in the process. Through reflecting on experience we can see that when love is not in the process, that which we sought to change shows up again, and again, and again, often in a different form. It is as if the “devil” so-to-speak rises up and bites us twice… at least twice.
Now, that was quite a climb, a worthy climb, but a strenuous one… one that brought to the fore another seeking question; can we be both holy and spiritual? Can faith and the living philosophy of potential work together in loving harmony such that we can be and become holy and spiritual? And then, why would we ask such questions or for that matter, desire for it to occur? Well, it is common for human beings to experience, deep within, both a longing to return – to return home, to the place of our origin, to the Source – and to experience a yearning to become – to discover and fulfill our purpose (our work), to take on meaningful and essential roles, to truly experience life, to become that which was intended, and to contribute to our (humanity’s) becoming more fully and truly human. There surely seems to be inbuilt within us these complementary wishes – wishes, the fulfillment of which would bring about a degree and sense of wholeness not otherwise possible. Perhaps the realization – the potential realization – of wholeness, with its characteristic absence of divisive fractionation, is sufficient to sustain our seeking and pursuit of a way to bring this about.
Let us start with some of which we know, including that which is experientially verifiable. At essence, faith and the living philosophy – the organized thought bases behind the processes of being holy and being spiritual – have much in common. There is much harmony between faith and the perspective of potential. One holds a singular Common God, the other a singular Common Source of creation. The notion of commands, commandments and covenants enunciated by God is harmonious with the revelation through intuitive wisdom of the intention and intended ways of working of the Creator’s works. Love and peace among humanity harmonizes with love in the process and living in harmony with the life processes of earth and the whole of life. What is beginning to emerge now is the envisionment of a single peak – a peak with two distinctive sides, partnering one with the other. Faith provides a means by which holiness can be achieved. Some of us, hopefully most of us, either directly or indirectly have experienced people who were holy… and we have known people who were spiritual. We also know the living philosophy of potential enables us to access and manifest spirit – to see, tune into, and harmonize with essence and virtue, the virtue of the land for example. And so, while both have within them what we are asking for, they also share the hazard of occlusion; they both are subject to being occluded. We know that we can create structures and activities within and upon the landscape that effectively occlude its essence, its virtue, its intended way of working – occlude it to a depth that makes it very difficult for us to tune into and experience its working. At the same time, we know we can, without much effort, see the same two processes, external occlusion and inner blocking, as common to the realm of faith. For what is true for the land, the processes by which the essence of the land becomes occluded, is equally true for the essence of faith. These occlusions are often seen at work and experienced among our fellow humans, as well as our fellow creatures of life.
Now we ask, what is the nature of the view that we can see from this high perch? Is it a view that is filled with hope, or one that is overwhelmingly dismal – one that we see as impossibly achievable? The answer to that questioning is NO to dismal, NO to impossible, YES to being filled with hope, a resounding YES that would echo through the mountains and valleys, a growing, a strengthening, spirited hopefulness. From this view we have come to understand that what is being called for is within us. We understand that what is needed and necessary is available and accessible. Thus from this view we can see everything is in its place, ready to come together to bring about the next upward shift in our humanness – an upward unfolding of our potential, a realization of intentionality. First and foremost, love is in life’s process, and we clearly understand the necessity for our having love in our processes as we work to bring about change. Intuition is alive and well. Wholeness – the right and good working of systemic elements – can be seen. Wisdom can enter and is entering. Occlusions, though widespread and plentiful, have not yet reached the level of being impenetrable. And even though for some these occlusions have become in some ways sources of identity and power, essence is still present and accessible. Spirit, courage and confidence are being manifested. Pursuit of life purpose is becoming more common. Questioning, the seeking questioning of reflection, is happening. We can only begin to imagine what wondrous unfolding will occur as we gain in our ableness to say YES to our instrumentality.
Next: Shifting Towards Roles and Away from Positions
