Obama Redraws Map Of Religious Voters

All Things Considered, October 24, 2008 · Religious language trips off Barack Obama's tongue as if he were a native of the Bible Belt.

From the moment he emerged on the national scene, he has spoken to believers in a language few Democrats have mastered: the language of the Bible and of a personal relationship with God.

Sometimes he shares his adult conversion story, describing how he knelt beneath the cross at his Chicago church: "I felt I heard God's spirit beckoning me," he says. "I submitted myself to his will, and dedicated myself to discovering his truth and carrying out his works."

Sometimes he speaks of sin and personal responsibility: "When a gangbanger shoots indiscriminately into a crowd because he feels someone has disrespected him," he told a group of religious progressives in 2006, "We've got a moral problem. There's a hole in that young man's heart."

And sometimes he borrows code words, not from hymns, but from Christian rock star Michael W. Smith, such as when he proclaimed at the 2004 Democratic National Convention, "We worship an awesome God in the blue states!"

It is this ease with religion that has helped Obama win over voters of various religious stripes — including Catholics who traditionally have voted Republican....

Both/And

Consider the following proposition as a key to understanding the Catholic-Christian approach to theology:

The proper Catholic-Christian answer to any theological question is always
"both/and," rather than "either/or."

At first glance, this might seem ridiculous or contradictory. Isn't God absolute? Isn't there just one truth, as opposed to error? Indeed, this proposal does not imply that a statement and its direct negation are both true ("A is B" and "A is not B"). It would obviously be false to claim, for example, that "God is Love" and "God is not Love," or "Jesus is divine" and "Jesus is not divine."

However, just as every coin has both a "heads" and a "tails" side, just as every battery has both a "positive" and a "negative" terminal, and just as the earth has both a North Pole and a South Pole, so also there are always (at least) two "sides" or "poles" to the Catholic-Christian answer to any theological question. These opposite poles often seem far apart and difficult to hold together. It is rarely easy to understand and balance both sides of an issue, just as we can't easily see both sides of a coin at the same time (without a mirror, at least!). Yet the "opposite" sides are seldom really "contradictions," even if there may be some strong "tensions" between them.

For example, Christians believe that Jesus is both God and human. To a non-Christian, this might seem ridiculous. Even for a Christian, it is hard to understand or explain. How can anything or anyone be both divine and human? Or how can God be both transcendent and immanent? Or how can the Bible be both the Word of God and human literature? Can both creation and evolution be true somehow? Can both science and religion be reconciled? The Catholic answer to all these questions is YES, both the one side and its opposite not only can, but must be held together in tension, even if they seem to be contradictory, in order to understand the whole truth, the whole of the complex reality.

-- Felix Just, S.J., Ph.D.

Rhode Island: Priest inhibited as a result of her conversion to Islam

[Episcopal News Service] Bishop Geralyn Wolf of the Diocese of Rhode Island has inhibited the Rev. Ann Holmes Redding for publicly professing her adherence to the Muslim faith.

The notice states that the diocesan “Standing Committee has determined that Dr. Redding abandoned the Communion of the Episcopal Church by formal admission into a religious body not in communion with the Episcopal Church. The bishop has affirmed that determination.”

The inhibition prevents Redding from “exercising the gifts and spiritual authority conferred on her by ordination and from public ministry” and is in force until March 31, 2009. In accordance with Episcopal canons, unless Redding “reclaims” her Christian faith, said Wolf in an interview, the inhibition will automatically lead to a deposition, ending Redding’s priesthood.

“In the process of deposition, we shouldn’t dismiss each other easily,” the bishop said.

According to the “notice of inhibition,” dated September 30 and signed by Wolf, “Dr. Redding has acknowledged taking her Shahadah to become a Muslim.”

Mary Theotokos, Daughter of Durga

Gegrüsst seist du, Maria, voll der Gnade;
der Herr ist mit dir;
du bist gebenedeit unter den Frauen
und gebenedeit ist die Frucht deines Leibes, Jesus.

Heilige Maria Mutter Gottes,
bitte für uns Sünder,
jetzt und in der Stunde unseres Todes.
Amen.

Jesus Christ, Son of Shiva

"For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; and the government will rest on His shoulders; and His name will be called Great Rishi, Mighty Indra, Eternal Guru, Kshatriya of Shankara." [Paraphrase of Isaiah 9:6]

The Nature of God

God is Nature.

The presence of God is the presence of Nature.

Nature is God.

The study of Nature is the study of God.

God and Nature: two sides of the same Reality.

God -- the Great, Starry-Bright Nothing --

continually

gives birth to

Nature -- the Awesome, Solar-Lucid Something.

To see Nature is to see the Buddha.

To love Nature is to love the Christ.

To see through Nature is to see as the Buddha.

To love beyond Nature is to love as the Christ.

To see God as the Heart of Nature is to be the Buddha.

To love God as the Heart of Nature is to be the Christ.

External Conformity and Spiritual Emancipation

The Two Levels of Christian Life:

1. External Conformity: "[The] stage of external conformity to religious injunctions or traditions is known as the pursuit of Shariat or Karma-Kanda. It covers actions like the offering of daily prayers, visiting of holy places, performance of duties prescribed by scriptures and observance of well established rules of the ethical codes generally accepted by the moral consciousness of the times. The stage of external conformity is useful in its own way as a spiritual discipline; but it is by no means free from evil effects, for it not only tends to make a man dry, rigid and mechanical, but it often nourishes some kind of subtle egotism....

Even at the stage of Shariat or Karma-Kanda allegiance to religions is not infrequently a source of inspiration for many selfless and noble acts for, while these dogmas or creeds are blindly accepted, they are often held with a fervour and enthusiasm which supply a dynamic element to the ideology which has been accepted by the person for the moment. Dogmas and creeds, as compared with barren views and doctrines, have the distinct advantage of being embraced not only by the intellect but also by the heart. They cover and affect a wider part of personality than purely theoretical opinions.

Dogmas and creeds generally, however, are as much a source of evil as of good, because in them the guiding vision is clouded owing to degeneration or suspension of critical thinking. If allegiance to creeds and dogmas has sometimes done good to the individual or to the community to which he belongs, it has more often done harm. Though the mind and heart are involved in allegiance to dogmas and creeds, both function in such case under the serious handicap of suspension of thought. Hence dogmas and creeds do not contribute to unmixed good."

2. Spiritual Emancipation: "The soul often spends several lives in gathering the lessons of external conformity; but there always comes a time when it tires of external conformity and becomes more interested in the realities of the inner life. When the worldly man takes to this higher kind of search he might be said to have become an aspirant. Like the insect which passes on through metamorphosis to the next stage of existence, the soul transcends the phase of external conformity (i.e., Shariat or Karma-Kanda) and enters upon the path of spiritual emancipation (i.e., Tarikat or Moksha-Marga). In this higher phase the soul is no longer satisfied by external conformity with certain rules, but wants to acquire those qualifications which would make its inner life spiritually beautiful....

The rise from Shariat or Karma-Kanda to Tarikat or Moksha-Marga is not to be interpreted therefore as being merely a departure from external conformity. It is not a change from conventionality to idiosyncrasy, from the usual to the unusual, but it is a change from a life of thoughtless acceptance of established traditions, to a mode of being which is based upon thoughtful appreciation of the difference between the important and the unimportant. It is a change from a state of implicit ignorance to a state of critical thoughtfulness. At the stage of mere external conformity the spiritual ignorance of man is often so complete that he does not even realise that he is ignorant. But when the person is being awakened and enters the Path he begins by realising the need for true light. In the initial stages the effort to attain this light takes the form of intellectual discrimination between the lasting and the transitory, the true and the false, the real and the unreal, the important and the unimportant....

When a person gives up uncritically accepted dogmas and creeds in favour of views and doctrines to which he has devoted thought, there is a certain amount of advance insofar as his mind has now begun to think and critically examine its beliefs. Very often, however, the newly held beliefs are seen to lack the fervour and enthusiasm which characterised allegiance to dogmas and creeds. If these newly held beliefs lack motive power, they belong only to the superficial aspect of life and they hang loosely upon the person like an overcoat. The mind has been emancipated from the domination of uncultured emotion, but this is often achieved by sacrificing the co-operation of the heart. If the results of critical thought are to be spiritually fruitful, they must again invade and recapture the heart so as to enlist its co-operative functioning.

In other words, the ideas which have been accepted after critical examination must again be released into active life if they are to yield their full benefit. In the process of practical life they often undergo a healthy transformation and become more soundly interwoven with the very fabric of life.

The transition from external conformity (i.e., Shariat or Karma-Kanda) to the life of inner realities (i.e., Tarikat or Moksha-Marga) involves two steps: (i) freeing the mind from the inertia of uncritical acceptance based upon blind imitation and stirring it to critical thinking, and (ii) bringing the results of critical and discriminative thinking into practical life. In order to be spiritually fruitful, thinking must be not only critical but creative. Critical and creative thinking leads to spiritual preparation by cultivating those qualities which contribute towards the perfection and balancing of the mind and the heart and the release of unfettered divine life."

The Nature of Mind

Mind is Nature.

The cultivation of mind is the cultivation of nature.

Nature is Mind.

The love of nature is the love of mind.

Mind and Nature: two sides of the same reality.

Psychology is Cosmology.

Buddha: The purification of mind is the purification of nature.

Christ: The creation of nature is the creation of the mind.

Buddha: To unbound mind is to unbound nature.

Christ: To save nature is to save the mind.

Buddha: To act with wisdom and compassion is to act intelligently with the mind and gently with nature.

Christ: To love God and others is to love the mind and nature.

Mind is Nature. Nature is Mind.

Psychology is Cosmology.

Desi Bible to Have Verses from Vedas, Upanishads

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Pictures of a turbaned Joseph and sari-clad Mary with baby Jesus in an "Indianised" version of the Bible is set to create waves across the country. In a unique experiment, the Catholic Church is coming out with a version of the Bible with verses from ancient Indian texts like the Upanishads and Vedas to explain the life and teachings of Jesus Christ.

This is an unprecedented attempt to encourage a contextual reading and understanding of the Bible, says the church spokesman, Paul Thelakat.

"The Biblical text remains the same but verses from Vedas and Upanishads have been used to interpret Christian teachings," says Thelakat. As far as Catholics are concerned, they have to live and interpret their Christian faith and scriptures within the given culture, he adds.

Thiruvananthapuram Archbishop Sosa Pakiam, in his preface to the Bible, says a unique feature of the new Bible is that it has many references to the spiritual message and Biblical values found in the scriptures of other great Indian religions.

Come and See

No religion is perfect. All religions make mistakes. (True, in the great-scheme-of-things, all is perfect and there are no mistakes; but I'm talking about a more pedestrian sort of imperfection and mistakenness.) For many people, there is no one religion that they totally agree with 100% in all matters of doctrine and practice.

Some members of a religion would say that, if you don't agree 100% in all matters of doctrine and practice, then you shouldn't be a member of the religion in question. Balderdash! Poppycock! They're flimflamming, bamboozling, hoodwinking with such statements. From an Abrahamic perspective, God may not have created this world imperfect, but He certainly has allowed it to continue in such a state of being, and to search for perfection in religion (which is certainly composed of imperfect beings and ideas) is about as smart as to search for perfection in a human being.

The purpose of religion is spiritual transmission, not perfection in either doctrine or practice. Start from the baseline that all religions are imperfect and mistaken, to one degree or another. For some, such a realization might lead them to dispense with religion altogether. For others, it might lead them to remain in the religion to which they currently belong. For some others, it opens up a different sort of possibility: the question becomes, which religion exhibits spiritually potency, doctrinal differences and institutional failings notwithstanding?

There are two ways to approach the spiritual life. One way is the way of submission: one simply accepts whatever a particular religious tradition teaches as being true and good. The way of submission is a venerable path, but it's not the only choice. Unfortunately, the way of submission has dominated much of Christian history.

The second way is the way of "come and see", scientific-tantra, noetic experimentation, or spiritual empiricism: one tests the doctrines and practices within one's own body-mind, adopting what proves true and good, and putting to the side what does not. The way of scientific-tantra has not dominated Christian history and practice, but it does exist.

Exactly How

Exactly how Buddhism and Christianity are compatible will be increasingly revealed over the coming centuries. No need to attempt, right now, a "forced" syncretism. The organic process is the best process. Still, one can understand the Christian term "God" in Buddhist ways. "God" would, then, not refer to one particular Buddhist idea; "God" would possess a range of potential meanings, depending upon the context. Possible Buddhist terms for "God":

1. The Buddha
2. The Dharma
3. The Sangha
4. Nirvana
5. Tathagata-Garbha
6. Buddha-Nature
7. Nirmanakaya
8. Sambhogakaya
9. Dharmakaya
10. Dzogchen

Zwei Bedeutungen (Two Meanings)

"Christ" has two meanings. The first meaning refers to one who is "anointed with oil". "Oil" here refers to the "amrita" or "soma" that is produced by the brain during the processes of spiritual transformation. Thus, one who has spiritually transformed, is a "Christ". The second meaning of "Christ" points to the action of spiritual activity itself, also called "sadhana" or "yoga". When symbolizing yoga, "Christ" may be spelled "christ".

"He who is endowed with wisdom, frees himself in this very life, both from worrying about his 'bad' deeds and glorying in his 'good' deeds. Therefore, one should devote oneself to christ. Indeed, christ is skill in action."
-- Inspired by Bhagavad Gita II:50

Four Turnings of the Wheel of Christian Dharma

The Four Turnings of the Wheel of Christian Dharma:

1. Matter/energy as the foundation of reality. Christian materialism/naturalism, represented by Thomas Altizer's Christian atheism and (possibly) Bishop Shelby Spong. (Corresponds to Jivanta.)

2. Matter/energy in a dualistic relationship to the Transcendent. Christian dualist Transcendentalism, represented by the Arians and Jehovah's Witnesses. (Corresponds to the Beloved.)

3. The Transcendent embodied within, and expressed as, a matter/energy individual. Christian Trinitarianism, represented by Orthodoxy, Catholicism, and Protestantism. (Corresponds to the Buddha.)

4. Where neither matter/energy alone, nor matter/energy:Transcendent dualism, nor Transcendent-within-matter/energy-embodiment apply: Christian Non-Dualism. (Corresponds to the Heart.)

Each turning gives distinctive interpretations of Christian doctrine. For instance, let's take the doctrine of "original sin". Christian materialism would see original sin as symbolic of the evolutionarily adaptive traits (e.g., excessive violence) that are no longer desirable within contemporary human communities. Christian dualists and Christian Trinitarians would see original sin in a similar way, as the original couple's disobedience of God's laws. Christian Non-Dualism would see original sin as the moment-to-moment conscious or unconscious movement into lust, anger, and fear. Christian Non-Dualism would then interpret the Christian Trinitarian doctrine of the Immaculate Conception of Mary as indicative of the necessity to be re-born into love, energy, and wisdom, before the Virgin Birth of the "Christ" (or Christ-within-oneself) can take place.

The Discipline of the Laity

The laity are free to disagree publicly with particular Christian doctrines. That is the freedom of the laity. The "free" lay-person, however, is also called to take the next step: to enter into the discipline of the laity. To disagree, or reject, a particular doctrine is simply the first step. The next step is to transform, to re-interpret, a particular doctrine, without merely rejecting a doctrine, so that that doctrine achieves wider and greater levels of description.

Christian doctrine, as understood in terms of its public formulations, is heavily exoteric. To be exoteric does not mean to be false. To be exoteric means to function on primarily physical, emotional, intellectual, and religious levels. The exoteric meaning of doctrine has a purpose for existing, since humans are physical, emotional, intellectual, and religious beings. One may find the exoteric meaning limiting, and non-expressive of reality, but that finding does not negate the exoteric purpose. In one's encounter with exotericism, one has at least two options: merely reject the exoteric teaching as false; or enter into a transformative, bathic, and holistic understanding of the exoteric, in terms of the esoteric.

The esoteric functions on primarily spiritual, transcendental, and divine levels. Humans are not simply physical, emotional, intellectual, and religious. They are also spiritual, transcendental, and divine (cf. theosis). The esoteric, though, is not the dominant aspect of the cultural, social, political, and economic realms of Christendom, since those realms are themselves based on physicality, emotion, the intellect, and religion. To expect Christian doctrine, expressed publicly, to communicate the esoteric functions of Christianity, is to confuse the levels on which public doctrine operates. The esoteric function operates outside, underneath, and beyond public Christianity, while at the same time not rejecting public Christianity. That which is "outer" always needs that which is "inner". The universe always needs the Heart. The esoteric function is the driving engine, the energy-transforming mitochondrion, the nuclear fusion at the Heart of the Sun/Son.

The Freedom of the Laity

In the Christian traditions, the clergy and the laity together constitute the Church. The clergy act as symbols of the unity of Christian doctrine. The laity, though, function in a slightly different manner. Whereas the clergy must publicly adhere to Christian doctrine (because the function of the clergy is to shepherd the laity), the laity themselves are not bound to such public adherence. Whereas the clergy are "professional" Christians (such that, if they do not publicly adhere, their clerical status may be revoked), the laity are "personal" Christians (such that, if they do not publicly adhere, their ability to participate in various Church activities may be revoked, but their status as Christians can never be taken away). Indeed, the "personal" Christian need not publicly adhere to any non-central doctrine or idea that his well-informed conscience rejects. The cost of being such a "personal" Christian may, of course, be too high for many to bear -- a "cross", if you will, too soon on the horizon.

That leads to the very appropriate question of whether it makes sense to enter into a Christian community as a "personal" Christian who rejects certain doctrines of that Christian community. I think this question confuses the issue. The purpose of entering into any community is not to be confirmed into a particular ideology. The purpose of entering into any community is to participate in that community, regardless of the ideological differences one or more people may have. Community is not simply ideas, but physicality, emotional-connections, mental engagement, and spiritual transmission. Last, but not least, community is about forgiveness, acceptance, and understanding -- beginning with oneself, and radiating outwards. To look for community initially as outside of oneself, is to miss the glory of community.

When it comes to Christian communities, the purpose of entering into any one Christian community, is to participate in the life of Christ, however truncated or abridged the clergy have defined one's participation. The life of Christ can be lived in many different ways: Vedic, Buddhic, Judaic, Islamic, Scientific, just to name a few. The life of Christ can also be corrupted in many different ways. No Christian community is free from corruption; and to let corruption (or dukkha) of any kind prevent one from participating in a Christian community, is to allow corruption (or dukkha) the final word, when the final word is Christ (or the Deathless, Amatam).

Ineffabilis Deus Mater

Pius IX, after consulting all the bishops of the world, issued Ineffabilis Deus on December 8, 1854, declaring the immaculate conception a doctrine revealed by God:

"We declare, pronounce, and define that the doctrine which holds that the most Blessed Virgin Mary, in the first instance of her conception, by a singular grace and privilege granted by Almighty God, in view of the merits of Jesus Christ, the Savior of the human race, was preserved free from all stain of original sin, is a doctrine revealed by God and therefore to be believed firmly and constantly by all the faithful." [See here for background; see also Timothy G. McCarthy. The Catholic Tradition: The Church in the Twentieth Century. 2nd Edition. Chicago: Loyola Press, 1998, 373.]

The Immaculate Conception of Mary is a profound doctrine. Within it are hidden the foundations and implications of Christian Avataric Non-Dualism.

Christian dogma has no limit. That is, the literal meanings of the dogmas do not exhaust the dogma's meanings. The literal meanings of the dogmas do not exclude additional implications, implications easily dismissed or rejected when only the literal meaning is considered. The dogmas are experimental hypotheses, working definitions, if you will, whose practicality and reality must be tested in the laboratory of one's own body-mind. In fact, to paraphrase the Buddha Shakyamuni, the final origin and end of Christian dogma cannot be seen. Dogma arises, shines, and subsides within the very Heart. The final origin and end of Christian dogma can only be known from, in, and as the very Heart.

The Four Turnings

The history of religions is the history of the four turnings of the Wheel of Truth. Each religion has elements of all four turnings, but each religion usually emphasizes one turning or another.

First Turning of the Wheel, the Revelation of Jivanta: The Encounter with Truth

Second Turning of the Wheel, the Revelation of the Buddha: The Incarnation of Truth

Third Turning of the Wheel, the Revelation of the Beloved: The Liberation into Truth

Fourth Turning of the Wheel, the Revelation of the Heart: The Tantric-Eucharistic Union of Incarnation-Liberation

[Inspired by the Three Turnings of the Wheel of Dharma.]

Fides et Ratio: Some Meditations

The Eucharist is the practice (symbolic and actual) of the Tantric Union of Awareness (Wine) and Matter/Energy (Bread), of Spirit and Matter, of Compassion and Wisdom, of Nirvana and Samsara, of the Everything and the Nothing.

God alone IS. God is the Everything and the Nothing. To say that God created the world ex nihilo, or "out of nothing", is to say that Everything-God created the world out of Nothing-God. The Nothing, being also God, means that the world is also God.

There is only one life: the birth into the world-separate-from-God (or "original sin") and the final liberation-salvation into God-not-different-from-the-world. But this one life has many "going-to-sleeps" (temporary deaths) and "waking-ups" (temporary births). Reincarnation is true, but it's not the final truth. Heaven-and-Hell is true, but it's not the final truth.

A Hindu experiences Infinite Love and calls it "Krishna". A Christian experiences Infinite Love and calls it "Christ". Krishna is Christ, if both are understood correctly. No, let me rephrase that: Krishna is Christ, even if both are understood incorrectly.

The doctrine of papal infallibility states that, under very restricted circumstances and conditions, the Pope, when speaking most authoritatively, cannot define doctrine errantly. Whether this is true or not, is not important. If it is true, there is no way to empirically prove it thusly. In terms of shoring up faith among certain portions of the Christian population, the doctrine may be useful and unobjectionable. The doctrine need only be duly noted, by those who find it superfluous. Indeed, some things are better left alone, until the mystic-eye opens.

Through the mystic-eye, the doctrine of papal infallibility manifests a deeper significance, a significance understood in terms of non-dualism, Advaita Christanta, and intimations of Guru-Bhakti Yoga.

The energetic practice of compassion and wisdom is the foundation. One can then be Methodist, Reform, Ismaili, Vaishnava, or Gelukpa. Communal membership need not matter. Of course, in that case, one must be prepared to enjoy the heretic's reward. Whether such reward is worth it or not, depends upon a host of conditions. But some of us are born a hairesis of one, and could not care less: we don't reject; we transform. Leave politics to the politicians. Leave patriotism to the patriots.

Christ speaks through all scriptures, saints, sages, and siddhas. Translation is the lost art.

Open and Shut Book

The Christian adventure

Has just begun

Its divine evolution

Into greater diversity and

Greater experiential and

Conceptual complexity.

The essential Christian doctrines and dogmas are true

But they are not by any means complete:

Evolution produced the finned fish, but

The fish did not finish evolution.

Compared to what is taught in the churches

What is not-taught is a million-fold.

Man must mature before such

Truths would be revealed.

Now is the time for some things, but not every thing.

"And he took him, and withdrew,
and spoke three sayings to him.
When Thomas came back to his friends
they asked him, 'What did Jesus say to you?'
Thomas said to them,

'If I tell you
one of the sayings
he spoke to me,
you will pick up rocks
and stone me,
and fire
will come
from the rocks
and devour
you.'"

Astronomical Christianity

The Sun: God the Son
The Moon: God the Holy Spirit
Mars: Prayer
Mercury: Scripture
Jupiter: the Eucharist
Venus: Mary, the Mother of the Church
Saturn: God the Father