Some thoughts on the up coming 'Exploring and engaging with new spiritualties day' in Mansfield 10/10/15
I think it would be good if we all learned to wear our labels a bit more inconspicuously – Back in the 1980’s I had some shoes with ‘Turbo’ written on them. They didn’t make me run any faster, and I wouldn’t be seen dead in them now! I come from an Anglican and Pagan background and I recognise that the Anglican tradition has deep Pagan DNA running right through it like a stick of rock from ‘Skegvegas’. It’s all in there, but that's only a small part of who I am and what my life as a whole has been about.
I think we would do well to be more aware of the exclusivist tendencies in all religions and cultures. In my own background I recognise two examples of this: What I call ‘The Christian Taliban’ and the ‘Constantinian Imperial Death Cult’. In both cases unconditional ‘Agape’ love is the antidote to this kind of toxic religion.
According to American Episcopalian Bishop John Shelby Spong, ‘Agape Love calls us out of tribal fear’. He also said: ‘we move beyond ourselves towards the Ground of Being, not a person, but the source of all personhood, in whom we live and move and have our being’ (Acts 17:28). This is the theological position of ‘Panentheism’ or ‘All in God’.
According to another Episcopalian priest Matthew Fox, ‘People of all religions ‘can recognise 4 things’ (I’m not saying that all their adherents do by the way) -
1) The Earth is Sacred.
2) The Earth is in trouble – (signs of ‘Global Weirding’ everywhere.)
3) We humans are greatly responsible for the latter.
4) We can with imagination, work and strength do something positive to try and change that.
As for the so called ‘New Age’ – there is a deep New Age that transcends the ‘market place, but there is also the: ”New Age, New Wage, taking care of your ‘a-Cash-ic’ records, over the counter culture”, that is great for luring consumers in and peaking their interest, but there is a deeper spirituality happening, a genuine new awareness taking place and I see it in my own church too. Maybe it’s something to do with the 2012 shift.. as we say, ‘shift happens’.
I think when we see ourselves moving from Ego-centric to Soul-centric we are on the way, this is for me the ‘one way’ that Jesus talked about, not a slavish adherence to a fearful tribal belief in ‘hell fire and damnation if you don’t believe and do as you’re told’, religion. It’s about what Jung called ‘Individuation’, not ‘following Christ’ but becoming a ‘Christ’, a unique child of the Source and Ground of our being
