Fire and Brimstone or Peace and Love?
In this newsletter, we will explore the consequences of our ways of understanding God. Most of us have been taught about the transcendent God, our Father in heaven. In this approach, God created the universe and then stepped back and is all but unapproachable. This God is the god of fire and brimstone – of judgment after death, with terrible consequences looming over us in the afterlife. The God of Jonathan Edwards who famously sermonized about “sinners in the hands of an angry God.” But what of the teaching of Jesus, who commands us to love one another, to bless those who hate us? How do these two ideas about the Divine fit together?
After some thought, I decided the simplest approach would be to present the data about these two very different understandings in a tabular format. On the left, there are religious understandings the flow from the transcendent aspect of the Divine. On the right, we have those understandings that flow from God as an immanent Presence.
The Nature of God
Transcendent God - (Conventional Judgmental Approach)
Immanent God - (Mystical Unitive Approach)
God is above all and beyond human reach.
God is right here, with you, inside of you, and immediately accessible.
Dualistic frame of reference: I am here, and God is over there.
Unitive frame of reference: the Divine lives within my deepest self.
God is rigid, judgmental, demanding, and punishing.
The Divine cannot be described by words, is formless, and without content.
God rewards good people.
The spiritual process is self-rewarding.
Authority & Religious Structures
Transcendent God - (Conventional Judgmental Approach)
Immanent God - (Mystical Unitive Approach)
Your reward comes after death, either in heaven or hell.
Your reward is right now, and you experience it in your own body.
Requires outward conformity in behavior and belief.
One conforms spontaneously as one experiences the deepest Reality.
Control through fear, shame, and guilt.
Human beings are essentially good, so there is no need for religious control.
People are sinful and bad, and God is the only true good.
People are inherently good, but they are separated from God and from the deepest Truth in themselves.
Tends to be exclusive, with strong group identification.
Tends to be inclusive and accepting.
Conformance to religious tenets and external observances are prime virtues.
Surrender, and humility are prime virtues.
The Process of Spiritual Growth
Transcendent God - (Conventional Judgmental Approach)
Immanent God - (Mystical Unitive Approach)
Requires external observances, learning scriptures, theology, and liturgy.
Requires learning about yourself and your separation from the Divine.
Intellectual focus on the right belief.
Affective and kinesthetic focus, derived from deep self-knowledge.
Focus on ethics and correct behavior.
Focus on self-knowledge, which leads to knowledge of the Divine.
God is experienced after death in a judgment.
The Divine is experienced right now as we learn humility and surrender, in a deep kind of acceptance.
Outward looking to see God.
Inward looking to experience the Divine.
Devotion is episodic, with special periods for prayer and liturgy.
Devotion is unceasing and becomes an intimate part of one’s life.
One hears spiritual truth from an outside authority.
One discovers spiritual truth as an inner reality and directly experiences that Truth.
One practices verbal prayer, either aloud or silently.
One practices meditation, cultivates inner stillness, and surrenders to the Divine.
Spiritual development is a result of conformance to theology and religious observances.
Spiritual development occurs as you surrender to the will of God and align yourself with that Will.
The ultimate guide for spiritual development is an external religious authority.
The ultimate guide for spiritual development is your deepest inner Self, which is, in fact, the Divine.
Of note, all of the major world religions appear to have an external, conventional side and a mystical, non-dualistic side. The conventional approach, which is all that most people have experienced, doesn’t, in my view, take you very far. It has to do with outward observances, but the inner changes necessary for a truly spiritual life are rarely talked about. As you have no doubt surmised, I am interested in exploring the unitive approach with you.
If you are exploring these data for the first time, it may seem a bit overwhelming. We have all been schooled in the conventional type of religion which focuses on the transcendent aspect of God. Because no other form of spiritual observance was ever described, we either accepted or rejected this conventional view.
When you are first exposed to the richness of the unitive way, it may surprise you, it may intrigue you, and it may simply seem like too much to deal with. But the fact that you are receiving this newsletter rather strongly suggests that you are ready to go deeper in your spiritual journey. So, for this week I would encourage you to simply sit with the information in these tables and just think about them.
Notice where you feel a repulsion – the feeling that comes when you know intuitively that something is off. Notice also where you feel an attraction – that feeling you get when you find yourself resonating with a statement, that knowingness that comes when you experience something that is true and real. You might realistically say that the mystical way begins with self-exploration and using the power of your inner knowingness to discern Reality. A discernment that is often subtle and hard to detect at the beginning, but one which grows stronger as you learn to use and rely on it.
* * *
Next week, we will explore the four spiritual disciplines necessary for further growth. (Yeah, I know no one likes to hear the word discipline, but these disciplines actually make a lot of sense! You’ll see how next week…)
The following week, we will introduce our first spiritual practice. This practice is foundational, and will serve as the basis for our further growth in the mystical way. So please invite your spiritual friends and fellow-travelers to come join us in this deep inner work.
May our Lord draw you ever closer,
Ken Kaisch, PhD