The Challenge of The New Age

In the last ten years we have had a clear reduction of regular church members in Europe but a vast interest in church congresses, which shows that there is an interest in the subjects and values that the Church promotes but that the forms of everyday piety haven’t adapted to the needs of modern people. Despite a lot of interest at church congresses, the subject of spirituality rather than piety is given only marginal attention, despite the signs of the age.

It is no longer those people who profess or exhibit a strict, traditional sense of virtue and morality that are saintly. Rather, instead of the “high-minded”, it is the unassuming Sage displaying wisdom that is sought by younger people – like Brother Roger Schutz, the Swiss Protestant Pastor and founder of the vibrant ecumenical community in Taizé, France, who was murdered recently by a religious fanatic. He was a typical example of someone who overcame the borders of the Church, being a protestant who found acceptance in the Catholic Church because of his spirituality.

The practise of holding a position conventionally has become second-rate. Many ask if such behaviour is not also second-hand piety, failing to reconnect to the original spiritual source of inspiration, but rather retaining tradition by ritual alone. I had long accepted this kind of piety as the best we have, but I know now that the original spiritual source of inspiration is available to us. Young people are right to question the custodians of the traditions, and not cease to knock, ask and seek.

People feel that the good land where the seed can bring forth a harvest is within them, waiting to break out, but they have been told to mistrust the voice inside of them. Of course we need the Traditions, but we also need the Sacred Spirit of inspiration. The hope of salvation is the answer to growing despondency in the wake of globalisation, the love of God is the answer to widespread hatred between the cultures, and faith in the truth of reconciliation is the answer to the fear of futility that befalls us when we try to give our lives direction.

The Church needs to make clear that the Holy Spirit leads us to reconciliation, love and salvation, whatever tradition we belong to. Spirituality needs to become a movement that finds the common denominator which allows us to learn from each other and recognise our fellow humankind as our associates in overcoming the challenges that face us. All exclusivist theories only lead to destruction.

Any thoughts?

Shalom

Hi Bob

The only common denominator I believe possible to actualize what you propose is something so repulsive that only a minority would be capable of it so life will continue as it is.

This repulsive common denominator is the dreaded experience of humility. Our lack of humility will always be blamed on the ignorance and stupidity of the other guy and that these scourges of mankind make humility impossible.

The idea of experiencing our nothingness in relation to God, higher life, or man’s conscious potential is of course out of the question. The question of the day is social interaction and it is impossible to separate it from self esteem and our somethingness so life will continue as is.

If you can come up with another genuine spiritual common denominator I am unaware of, I’d love to hear it.

I do agree that there is a healthy small minority that are genuinely searching. They’ve experienced the effects of both the hypocrisy of secular religion and the inadequacy of escapism and la la land. Their unique situation resulting from healthy disappointment with their encounters makes them a very exclusive group and open to humility.

Hi Nick,

I don’t see humility as such being repulsive to people as you suggest, it is something that attracts people to movements like in Taizé. The fact is that humility or an unassuming nature is hard to maintain in a society that is so arrogant and presumptuous. Christians fail because the Church is not there to assist them with such a life, because the theologians are themselves caught up in the meritocracies that our cultures have become.

The monastic cultures of the middle ages suffered the radicalism of that period, but mixed monastic communities, living to realise a humble idea though open to the world as a retreat, much like Taizé, could work – if they can accept humility. However, such communities must avoid elitism and exclusivist ideas at all costs, but reach out to bring spiritual seekers together.

There is a great deal of discrimination in our world, whether based on race or religion, and of course those in power are able to use the underlying insecurity of others to achieve their goals. The “otherness” of sections of society is often used to discriminate them. However, it is the own insecurity that leads to it. The “esteem” of mankind should come from his being called to be a conscious being, able to rise to accomplish what the animal world cannot. However, the latent promise and potential that Humankind carries in them can also be misused.

Recently, a book was reviewed here in Germany about the mass-murderers of the last century (Jewish and Armenian Holocaust, Communist persecution and “ethnic cleansing” in former Jugoslavia etc.) showing that 90% of these people had no apparent psychiatric or psychological disorder that could be made responsible for what they did. Rather, it was the synergy of numerous influences, but especially the preparedness to surrender responsibility to a “higher instance” or collective resolutions. The attractiveness of being a cog in a machine seemed to grow when the task became morally questionable. In that way, there is always a way out of personal responsibility by appealing to the collective accountability.

Therefore, if society offers this back-door, people will use it. What we need to create is a sanctuary where people can gain strength to stand as a bulwark against the escaping through the back-door. That is originally the calling of the Jews and the Shoa proved it, by becoming the epitome of injustice against a minority – even if the question of the moral superiority or religious humbleness in opposition to blatant racism isn’t a central issue here.

I’m quite happy to accept that humility or humbleness is a common denominator between the various spiritual traditions, but so is the reconnection to the Causal Spirit in speechless communion. The rediscovery of our elementary balance and rhythm and the ability to develop a determined flow of activity comes from the peace that rises from such communion.

You may have something there. I have gone through numerous abysms of human experience and was lucky to survive, but this experience has made me humble towards other human beings. It is no commendation to have to say that, but a bitter truth. In so being, it is more the disappointment in my own failure than in the failure of others that provides me with my motivation. On the other hand, do we all have to land in the gutter like I literally did, to gain spiritual insight?

Shalom

Hi Bob,

The answer is yes - for most of us. I’ve never met anyone who was virtuous without test. It would be nice if we could find virtue and true humility without wading around in the ego-driven goo, but I’ve not seen it in any person I’ve ever met. Of course, I haven’t met everybody.

It seems that each of us must find their own hell and descend into its depths not knowing the outcome. If we are fortunate, we survive. Most don’t. We see and deal with the non-survivors daily. Dante wasn’t wrong. The only way out of hell is in. For those who survive there is the strength of knowing their weaknesses, their human frailties, and from that genuine humility and the capacity to love. Easy words to say, no? To survive the experience leaves us with an understanding that finds no expression in words, but is recognizable to those who have made their own journey and returned.

Jesus of Nazareth asked us to love our enemies as ourselves, but only those who survive their personal experience in hell are capable. Can religion help an individual in this experience? It could, but the structure of religion almost guarantees the failure. Religion is the pointing finger, not the direction.

JT

Hi Bob

This is feeding the Great Beast. The fact that these reccuring times of mass psychosis continue and the horrors of it have been condemned in many ways to no avail should suggest the inadequacy of appealing to intellect.

It exists in several forms including esoteric schools but it requires a person to need this sanctuary even if only to a minimal degree. Such sanctuary doesn’t exist for the sake of self justification but for the pursuit of freedom through the impartial experience of reality. The following aphorism is such an attitude but only a small minority are capable of it:

This is real humility and not to be confused with cowardice. It is accepting oneself as unable 'to be." When a person begins to practice piano it starts with recognition of the inability “to be” a pianist. When one experiences their inner condition in relation to their potential, they admit they are unable “to be” themselves. This humility is not cowardice but its voluntary experience of hitting bottom “gutter” requires real courage.

The rediscovery of human balance and rhythm can only begin at this level. If it doesn’t it just becomes a property of corrupt egotism. Then people will announce that they just had a conversation with Mr. God and he said that the way to universal peace and love is through the elimination of the troublemakers. Mr. God also remarked at how pleased he was with this person’s astute observations and has designated him as the one with the authority to identify these troublemakers. Then it begins again.

This is why I assert the value of the true “spiritual individual” It is through them and in spite of all the abuse directed at them by the Great Beast, a certain minority is able to smell the coffee and begin to awaken. It is this minority on which so much will depend when the Great Beast decides it is time for war.

Hi JT,

Yes, it is sad isn’t it? But then again, it explains the numerous accounts of Jesus placing a child in the middle of attention and calling for repentance. Contrition seems to be a necessity for spiritual awareness, but it is important that contrition is not confused with shame. When we discover our lack of response and our self-centeredness during the day, contrition moves us out of ourselves and towards God. Shame, on the other hand, would simply move us deeper into ourselves. This is a mistake that numerous Christians make.

This seems to be in keeping with what you wrote in “The Necessity of Being a Sinner”. You are right of course, our natural condition is to “miss the mark” which, according to the Bible is regrettable but correctable or rectifiable. But, like you say, it is a condition in which we all are but which needs addressing.

I think the real test comes when we meet people who haven’t survived. This is what the uniqueness of Jesus is about and where a new direction for those who have been forgiven is shown. Jesus meets with the written off, he comforts them, he embraces them, and he forgives them and tells them that God hasn’t written them off. So it seems that there is a twofold approach to sin – first of all we all need to be reminded we miss the mark, but we also need the witness of Gods love for the sinner, which is where the call to discipleship becomes daunting.

Normal piety can’t cope with this. The Pharisees, who were examples of good piety, were beleaguered by the thought of the task. Modern day Christians are too, because they haven’t understood that the uniqueness of Christ isn’t a divine nature, but a divine attribute: the ability to forgive. The only person unable to be forgiven is the one who cuts himself off from the source of forgiveness, making himself unreachable. Anyone else is forgivable, because his missing the mark (not the effects, the pain and the grief) is nothing more than any of our sins.

I agree, perhaps that is why the tradition says that he “descended into hell”. But the question whether “Religion” can help is perhaps too pointed at a belief in and reverence for a supernatural power or powers regarded as creator and governor of the universe. Can this “belief” help?

I believe that normal piety can’t help, but spirituality that enables people to find their own confidence can. This begins by helping people understand how they can find a beginning, how they can make room for change and how to listen. Pierre Stutz is well known in the German and French speaking countries and wrote this:

"The Power of Emptiness
Michael, who had lived and worked with us for a few months, gave me a cassette tape as he left. He wrote on a card, “An audio-tape for you … on it, since you are holding it in your hands for the first time, you will find one solitary song and it will never be complete, as long as we know each other … therefore, I wouldn’t want you to record on the empty section …”

I wasn’t only touched by this gesture but also deeply impressed by the originality of the young man in his expression of the wisdom of emptiness. We need the power of emptiness so that our relationship with ourselves, with other people, with the world around us and of course with God can remain lively. Martin Buber spoke of “an empty space between” (Zwischenraum) that we need for real encounters.

That is why emptiness for Mystics is a vital theme, in order to experience and celebrate the profundity of life. We need empty spaces so that our lives are not dictated by others, but instead a disposition full of hope and resistance towards life in all of its fascination and contrariness. We need room to be silent, so that we gain distance to the occurrences, and to close our eyes in order to see clearer.

Since I discovered Mysticism as a “life-support”, I have empty vessels standing in my room and in meeting rooms. They remind me that the fullness of life, the fullness of God, can only live in me if I make room. They help me endure the unanswerable questions and the hardships of mankind that cry to the heavens, aware that only in an empty space can something new emerge."

Shalom

I got more of a Question than a Thought for you Bob

Entire History of Mankind, was written in Bible, from It’s beginning to the end. Everything that have Happend and that is going to Happend is there.
It clearly states all the stages of organized religion, from it start to the
end. Don’t you feel wasting your time believing in anything other than
what was written in Bible, and prooven as a Truth. ?

Prophecies by Daniel, Ezekiel, and Joel, talking about these last days, in which God will live forever, here on Earth with “Chosen” people, who will
be as One with God, just like Adam was.

Religion is a Faith, a Belief, elements that can not exist in Eternity.

     Shalom  :wink:

Hi PieceFullthyme,

I don’t see what you claim to be clear, can you clarify?

I think the problem is that many people who believe in what you are proposing fail to recognise that they are not consequent in their interpretations. You could do the same with Grimm’s Fairy Tales and it would be just as wrong. I can understand how satisfying it could be to have a timetable for the end of the world, but that isn’t what the Bible presents us – despite the imaginations of Film Studios.

The Bible gives us a prediction of what will happen, sometimes as a result of behaviour or policies of the people living, sometimes as a vision of what the world could be if mankind could repent, and sometimes of what will happen if they don’t. The Bible is visionary, not like the weather-forecast or a formula. What it predicts mustn’t always happen, if people repent and follow the Way the opposite may happen.

But then again, perhaps you are one of the elite who knows what the rest of us do not. Or you may have some weed that gives you a high that we can’t imagine. I wish you sweet dreams and a peaceful time…

Shalom

Hi Nick,

I think you are overrating the experience. Many of us aren’t even voluntarily repentant. Humility has a lot to do with feeling humiliated by some kind of realisation of what I am, and from there it is hard to forget – although we do try of course. To then live our lives in the wake of this insight, consequential and yet balanced is one of the harder tasks. It is good if you have people around who can help you with it.

Those who converse with “Mr. God” and get away with it are hardly themselves to blame. They are carried into acceptance by a wave of hypocrisy by people who think they can be used. It is the social acceptance of speculation served as belief that is disturbing. It is the desire to have simple answers that links fundamentalism to political extremists, and explains why “Mr. God” has so many people that he has to have disposed of. One just asks why he doesn’t do it himself.

Well, I’m not so much for coffee and I am not disturbed by metaphors as much as by real people. But we seem to be a part of a steadily unfolding tragedy, unable to change anything – which would explain the indifference of Sages.

Shalom

Hi Bob

Actually I’ve felt this both in my search. When I first came into contact with esoteric ideas I was very much the egotistical hard drinking musician and quite honestly I’d probably be dead now if it wasn’t for getting my inner ass kicked. I always had a sense that there were hidden realities behind abstract ideas but I didn’t understand it nor did any around me that professed to.

The shock was very intense and all of a sudden it was clear that what I had thought made no sense everything was happening exactly as it must. I Literally was in awe. I felt humble but not at all humiliated since there was no corrupt ego involved in my experience. I saw that I understood nothing in relation to what was out there but felt no condemnation or persecution.

I had experienced humiliation before but never humility and it was completely different since for a while, I was not burdened with my corrupt ego.

This is why Simone Weil’s explanation of prestige is so important for me. I believe it is more than simple answers but a need for prestige that from lack of understanding, can easily be acquired artificially through being manipulated.

But that is not to say that no one is doing anything. Of course the majority caught up in it may be trapped but those in Plato’s cave that have gone out, seen the light, experienced reality, and returned, maybe their effects buffer a situation that would be a complete disaster without their subtle influence on our collective being.

From the Buddhist perspective, does the Bodhisattva do any real good? A Bodhisattva is basically one having come out of Plato’s cave and returns. I wonder what life would be like without the subtle influences of these people from whatever conscious path they arise.

Hi Bob,

This is perhaps why the Dao De Ching resonated with me. Full of external knowing, an invitation to ‘empty out’ and begin looking inwardly made perfect sense to me. Oddly, I never thought of this as mysticism, but simply an understanding that cleared away the chaff and left my reality free of illusion. (well, mostly free of illusion) I guess if mysticism was any part of that, it was in seeing the line of demarcation between that which I can know and not know. The ‘ineffable’ thing that everyone fights with. The creeping insiduous nature of duality creates that constant battle within ourselves, and yes, that quiet space to pause and perform our ‘reality check’ may be the most important part of our experiencing.

JT

You fail to recognise that, I don’t want people to believe anything. I want people to be who they are. In my" religion " God have control over your life, in your, you believe your life have control over God.
Because you believe in Prayer.
Christian Religion is Man made doctrine, not God’s.
And just like man, it have birth, life and death.
Death of all religions (christian included) is Rev 20:6 , Daniel 2:34,35,
Joel 2:28-32 , is what Christians believe to be second coming of God, or for Jews, first.
For those who know, Jesus was God,( then ), there is only one “church” of
living God, and it was promised by God in Matthew 16:17,18,19

I guess, you’re one of those, who believe (that Jesus was God, then)

Hi Nick,

When I hear the word “esoteric” I fall into the assumption that you are talking about an enlightened inner circle, which is why I told you elsewhere that it seemed an elitist idea, but I suppose the word is a bit like “occult” which is used in medicine to describe inner (hidden or not readily apparent) bleeding for example. Perhaps you are talking about the inner truth, or about something that isn’t widely known. In that way there is a lot that could be deemed “esoteric”.

I think the humiliation that I and others have felt is something subjective, since what humiliated me seemed quite normal to others, but it aided the development of humbleness. I was awe-struck too a number of times, for example when the storyline carried the message and wasn’t interrupted by interpretation, when words became human-beings in the service of love, when the absolute simplicity of the message hit me.

Of course, but we mean the same thing here.

Agreed, but the indifference of the Sage isn’t reactionary, like ours generally is, but is content to follow Tao. I think that our greatest problem collectively lies in being lost up the creek without a paddle because out of a lack of indifference we have driven ourselves into the state the world is now. We are using up the worlds resources in record time, creating poverty and all for the dream of a better world. There is definitely something wrong there.

Basically we can’t resist, we can’t say “No” to developments, we can’t put spiritual health and well-being first, and we can’t see that the more we do, the less we achieve.

Shalom

Hi JT,

now don’t make me say I told you so …

Exactly! Things can have various names and some things just are. Unfortunately we rely too much upon words and names, fads and objects and lack the freedom of emptiness or no-thingness. We are all caught up in a net of obsessions and mania, pretending that we are bigger when we own things or know things, failing to see the material dwarf who is a spiritual giant.

Yes, the struggle at Peniel (Gen 32:30) can wrench the socket but you are blessed with Jacob and have seen the appearance of the Ineffable, realising that it is full of favour towards you. You also realise that you have to be careful, because the adversary is in your own limbs.

Shalom

Hi Bob

What is so wrong with an enlightened inner circle? If you bring 100 of the greatest mathematicians to a convention, it would be an elite group.

Esoteric means inner. In esoteric Christianity it relates to relativity of being and re-birth. No one is excluded. It isn’t wanted. People that work towards and experientially suffer the reality of their own being for the sake of understanding and human potential and have acquired something are an elite group. So it is more than not widely known but also not wanted. It is an elite group by default.

We make the mistake of thinking that we don’t know enough facts. If we had more facts and more education, it would be different. But this is not the case. The problem isn’t facts or knowledge, it is our “being”. We already know enough, we just don’t understand it. Our being doesn’t allow it. Our being attracts our life both individually and collectively. Especially in the West, we don’t appreciate the importance of “being” and concentrate on knowledge. And if one of the main features of our being is "sleep"in the esoteric sense, what is the value of knowledge to a sleeping man?

This is why I dislike all these platitudes and such. They don’t allow us to experience the reality of our situation and it is only through such experiences that our being is effected in a positive sense towards awakening. Then knowledge can provide real meaning.

So, in other words person that is killing people in any circumstance, other than selfdefense is actualy perfectly Normal person ??

Some Jew told me, that Jews do not take death as punishment .
If that book was written by German, than that theory have lot logic to it.

           much respect !

Here’s Rock solid clarification, straight from Spirit of #1 Player of them all,
Living God, that used to be called Jesus from Nazareth.
Your Topic dear Bob was " The Challenge of The New Age " and this is
what I’ve told you, and you managed to ignore, which is perfectly OK with Me.
This is NIV
Luke 21:5,6 Jesus Foretells the Future )

" Signs of the End of the Age "

5 " Some of His Disciples were remarking about how the Temple was adorned with beautiful stones and with gifts dedicated to God. But Jesus
said.
6 " As for what you see here, the Time will come when not one stone will
be left on another, every one of them will be thrown down. "

This is what is going to happend with churches, in meaning of Authority,
as Logical transition from Life to Eternal Existance.
And that moment is very near.
You dear Bob, are Super Inteligent Person, in wrong state of Mind, you got Hint of Difference between Truth and Faith, Hopefuly, you are one of
“Chosen Ones” and very soon, you’ll be able to Feel that.
Until then, just try to do your best, or keep pretending.
It’s all Good

Hi

Yes, but there are many factors that seem perfectly normal and take away the hope that to do the things these people did, you have to be somehow deranged. That means that these things are possible today in other societies than the German, Japanese, Turkish etc. when these factors come together.

You have to remember that Germany is nearly the opposite to what it was in the 1930`s and that the book is a sound scientific study. This has nothing to do with national pride or excuses. It is also a warning that the opinion that only the Germans could do something like this, or that you have to be deranged, just isn’t true. Effectively it was efficiency that made the Holocaust possible in that nationalistic European climate of the day - even some Jews were nationalists!

Shalom

Hi PieceFullthyme,

I wouldn’t want to say that Jesus is predicting the future, but that he is pointing to the fact that Spirituality doesn’t need Temples of Stone, which is what King David had been told long before. In that time it was already known that empires and buildings disappear – the first Temple had, other cult sites had, the Egyptian and Babylonian temples had disappeared, so why shouldn’t this one disappear?

Rather, when talking to the Samaritan woman who had mentioned the argument between Jews and Samaritans about the place of worship, Jesus replies, “there cometh an hour, and it now is, when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father also doth seek such to worship him.” (Joh 4:23) It isn’t a question of the place of worship, nor other external issues. Far more we have to learn what seems to be coming from eastern sources more than from Christianity:
Look within,
Be still,
Free from fear and attachment,
know the sweet joy of the way.

We have to fight the continual attempt to externalise or materialise the Spiritual and learn to draw together in spiritual unity. That is the challenge of the new age.

Thanks for the flowers, but it doesn’t have anything to with intelligence. I also don’t see myself as anyone caught up in some kind of Rapture. I think that the call to love my neighbour would forbid that. It is a question of learning to understand spiritually – everything else is speculation.

Shalom

Hi Nick,

I see a difference between “inner” and “elite” that you obviously don’t. I know that “inner” can be something exclusive, but it doesn’t immediately mean superiority like “elite” does. The inner circle is something internal or less apparent. The inner room is a metaphor for spirituality or relating to the mind. I can accompany esotericism, but have difficulty with elitism since I believe that Spirituality is something common to man, even if it has different forms.

My banter with Tentative about him being a Mystic is precisely about this commonality. We are all sentient and just manage to deal with it differently. Either we drown it out in some way, or we use the tradition we have to interpret it, or we develop new ways of interpreting it. Either way it is something inherent that helps us find salvation and essentially health, or we find signs of psychosomatic irregularities and lack of perspectives.

You wake him up! Knowledge is the structure into which spirituality finds a means of communicating. The Spirit has no language made up of words, but uses the language available to transmit what it has understood. You can’t polarise the issue in this way. Of course we need some knowledge, but agreed, it isn’t the amount of knowledge that is important. It is the wisdom of how to use knowledge that we need and of course, to do that, perception.

It reminds me of the joke that Anthony de Mello used to tell:

Once there was a mother who banged on the door of her sons room every morning shouting, “Bernard, wake up! You have to get up and go to school!”
Bernard replied, “I don’t want to go to school, and I’ll tell you three reasons why! Firstly, it’s boring. Secondly, the teachers are continually complaining at me. Thirdly, the children don’t like me!”
His mother replied, “Bernhard, I‘ll give you three reasons why you have to go to school. Firstly, we all have responsibilities. Secondly, you are the Director of the school and people are waiting for you. Thirdly, you’ll loose your job if you go on like this!”

Anthony de Mello said, we all want to remain children and don’t want to grow up – despite what people may tell you. Many adults find some kind of compromise by which they only have to be “responsible” for eight hours a day, the rest of the time they go back to being children. That is why they fail to become spiritually aware or drown it out.

Shalom