Part I
From the perspective of the living philosophy of potential – the philosophy of living intent – Christianity was organized around returning – returning to the Source of Creation, being saved in the sense of the individual soul being saved. As the mind turned more and more toward structuring, the truth of Christ being pure process became increasingly occluded and hence, less and less known and understood.
The purpose of the Holy Spirit, providing wisdom, the wisdom of the now perspective of the gospels, also became more and more occluded… became seen as being kept within the structure of church. The indwelling of the Spirit among the people of the church seen structurally (e. g., living inside the person versus coming to the person when called upon)… and as a place to turn for answers to problems versus ongoing source of wisdom in pursuit of intended unfolding. Recall a spirit manifested is available forever and to all. The Spirit of Wisdom never engages in argument; always moves to the whole. The Spirit of Wisdom is essential to the people of earth, not only as the source of insight as we face the reality of life and living, but also essential to earth itself. For this time of potential is a time for embracing our yearning to become… the yearning to become fully and truly human, the yearning imbedded (along with the longing to return) within each human being at the time life entered, the yearning to participate in the process of advancing our humanness, humanness being the human process akin to pollination being the honey bee process, processes that not only reveal our essential work and role within life, but also in relation to the ongoing creation work of the Source, the unfolding of all life processes of earth.
Revitalization of Christianity is contingent upon, calls for, embracing the truth of intent in regard to the human person, the intent being imbedded at the time life enters each person, experienced within each and all as a longing to return and a yearning to become… return to the Source, become fully and truly human.
Theology that dwells only upon returning hazards becoming myth. Philosophy, in the absence of acknowledging the one Source of all, hazards the loss of our beingness, the loss of our humanness. This is where we are finding ourselves today. This generation is finding less and less relevance to their lives in the gospels, drifting away from organized religion, and in the process, drifting away from the one Source… increasingly taking self as source. No surprise there, for this is a new time, a time of community being the smallest whole in the process of becoming fully and truly human… a time for a shift in our humanness, a shift that calls for/that is the process of advancing our humanness, the advancing of which calls for our seeing ALL from a life of the whole (not merely human) perspective… seeing the word, the gospels, from a life of the whole perspective, and seeing the works, the life systems, structures and processes from a life of the whole perspective, the perspective of the Source, the perspective of the intent of the Source and the intended ongoing way of working of all of life on earth, including the intent that we, the people of earth advance our humanness… take up our essential role in sustaining and advancing the creation itself, take up the work for which we were placed on this earth in the first place, taking up our role in salvation, the salvation of earth itself… not from the perspective of saving earth for man, but from the perspective of fulfilling our intended role in the ongoing upward unfolding of life itself… just as the honey bee has the essential role in pollination. We do not, and perhaps will never, understand the why of this… for who can ever know the mind of the Source? But we do know this is true. For today we see all around us the world of our making being incongruent with and hence diminishing the life processes of earth… and behind that, a steady loss of our humanness.
Now is the time… the urgent time for taking up our work and role in advancing our humanness. May we not be led into the temptation of thinking, “My soul is pure, I am saved, death will rescue me”… for of one thing we can be certain, when our lives come to an end, we will be asked, what did you do with the potential you were given… your part in advancing humanness… your given work, your intended part in advancing the ongoingness of life on the earth?
Part II
Christian religion has been organized around returning – each individual soul returning to the source. Hence, human-centered… leading to the notion that earth was created for man.
Pope John Paul II realized that returning is only half of the story; there is the aim, as he stated, of “becoming ever more human,” that which is only possible with the embracement of one Common Source.
It was his hope that a philosophy of life – that which holds the possibility of the people of earth creating ever more human cultures – would be brought into being by philosophers, philosophers willing/bold enough to challenge their philosophies with the truth of the gospel.
And it was his hope that this new philosophy would be whole enough to make possible the revitalizing of Christian faith – a revitalizing that elevated its relevance in the face of the planetary issues facing earth and the people of earth today, issues such as hunger, ecology, co-habitation of peoples. For the truth is that the gospels are always read from a particular perspective, from the philosophical choice (or habit) of the reader. And the pattern in most recent years has been one of reading from the perspective of returning. This has led to organizing and structuring religion based on returning, being loved and being saved… and neglecting focus on the side of loving – loving God and loving one another… loving God through harmonizing our work with the whole of the intended ongoing creation of all of life, including human life, on this earth… and loving one another in the sense of working for all children, all children in the world now and into the future. Hence, again calling upon us to come from a life of the whole perspective. For the future life of all children surely calls for our harmonizing with life and the life processes. Loving God and loving one another – processes which certainly call for our access to love, the love of the Source – awaken us to the truth of role and work on this earth at this time… to the essentiality of taking up our called role and work in advancing our humanness NOW, at this time. As Pope John Paul II made clear, organizing around returning without the presence of the essence of becoming hazards our faith becoming a myth… and organizing our lives from philosophies absent the essence of returning to the Source hazards the loss of our being, of our humanness… a true hazard, not only to humanity, but to all life itself. To humanity in the sense that our reason for being created members of life goes unfulfilled; and to all of life as advancing humanness is a Thy Will, not a my will process… humanness being the unique work for which we were sent to earth in the first place. Advancing humanness is our work and role in Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as in heaven.
A Further Reflection…
All of which calls upon us at this time to begin from a “life of the whole” perspective, whether reflecting on the gospels or reflecting on life processes of earth… with a full embracement of the truth that we, humankind, have imbedded within, two impulses: a longing to return to the Source and a yearning to become fully and truly human. Returning to the Source includes returning the gift of love of the Source, loving God by harmonizing with the ongoing intended unfolding of life on this earth… love being the means through which we are able to “see” intent and the intended ways of life. Yearning to become fully and truly human calls upon us to surrender to our being instruments of love – love of the Source – instruments taking up our work and roles in ways (loving one anther) manifesting the love of the Source on this earth.
Sandra Maslow Smith
Philosop
