In Why God Won’t Go Away, Andrew Newberg et al state that “every religion relies on a form of interconnectedness. There is either a union of mankind with the rest of the world or a union of the individual with a greater individual. ” Andrew Newberg, Eugene G. D'Aquili, Vince Rause (2002) Why God Won't Go Away : Brain Science and the Biology of Belief.
In short,• Christianity posits a union of the individual with a greater individual (egoic duality)
• The concept of a union of mankind with the rest of the universe is found in Hinduism and Buddhism (wegoic non-duality)
As you might infer from my earlier remarks about the “egoic” perspective, I have a problem with the former view. My problem is that it implies that God (presumably the greater individual) is out there somewhere; furthermore, that each individual’s relationship is with God alone – that my relationship with you – whether we are linked by love or hate – is irrelevant. (When I was writing this, I initially used the word immaterial, but that’s the whole point of this discourse, relationships are not material objects, so I had to change the word to irrelevant).
In contrast, the latter conception, which Cynthia Bourgeault refers to as a “wegoic” perspective, is consistent with the tenets of Contemplative Christianity, as well as Buddhism and Hinduism -- this non-dual union of mankind with the rest of the universe, is more appealing to me, because it suggests that you and I are, willy-nilly, part of a web of relationships, individual figures on a shared ground. The ground is the contextual “glue’ that holds us together.
This figure-ground relationship forms a pattern, the significance of which each of us perceives and interprets in his or her own way. This emergent pattern for each individual is unique, but sufficiently similar to the perceptions of others to allow us to find kindred souls and gather ourselves into communities, called many things, Truth, Being, the Tao, the Void, and yes, indeed, even God.
What this pattern is called does not matter – square, triangle, Tao, or God. Recognition that there is a pattern is sufficient, what you label it is irrelevant. If it makes you happy and you feel the need, give it a name. This process of pattern recognition is called Gestalt formation.
Research on the brain has recently determined that the brain functions in precisely the same way when visualizing an object as it does when viewing the actual object – i.e. to the brain there is no difference between the image it creates and the object “out there”
The implication that “God" is a gestalt is not meant to trivialize our experience of God, but to suggest that one does not literally have to see God as a “thing out there” to be a believer. Our interconnectedness with and through “God” guides the way in which we choose to interact with each other. And the good news is that God doesn’t go away no matter how well or how poorly we interact with each other.
The concept of interconnectedness as "the heart and soul of our everyday living" transcends labels, political boundaries, and religious dogma.
The representation of interconnectedness found in the doctrine of the Jewel Net of Indra is one which I find particularly appealing.
The doctrine of The Jewel Net of Indra is an ancient view of the universe from Hua-Yen Buddhism. It teaches that the cosmos is like an infinite net of glittering jewels, all-different and each located at the connecting points in the net. In each one, we can see the images of all the others reflected. Each image contains an image of all the other jewels; and also the image of the images of the images, and so ad infinitum. The myriad reflections within each glistening jewel are the essence of the jewel itself, without which it does not exist. Every jewel is a Centre of the universe. Organizing in this image is not a machine. It is more like a hologram. Each part is the whole. Indra's Net is a web of relationships that sparkle, nourish, and amplify. It is an ancient image of oneness and diversity. And it is amazingly consonant with the new story of the universe emerging today at the frontiers of science. (Appreciative Inquiry Consulting: An Invitation to Connect With People Around the World for Creating a Positive Revolution In Change, http://www.aiconsulting.org/charter.htm)
Whatever. No-things matter! The ties that bind us together cannot be seen. they are not of this world, but they cab be made manifest simply by the way each of us chooses to act out our part in the web of relationships, named or nameless, in which we are grounded and made a part of a larger whole.
Think about your web of relationships while you listen to Ellen Stapenhorst's The Gift, Taking Our Lives in Our Hands, or Part of My Heart
Please note: Because the the limitations of Blogger to host audio files, it is necessary to use a third-party host. To avoid copyright infringement issues, please do not download these songs to your computer. You may listen to them by choosing the "Play" option. (First, turn off any music players in use). If you wish to download a song for your own use, please use iTunes or the music source of your choice. Thank you.
No comments:
Post a Comment