A Response to Mr. Tom Harpur - Part One
Copyright 2005 Toronto Star Newspapers, Ltd.The Toronto Star
Today's column will be followed by a welcome summer break, so I'd like to sumup the core message of the last nine months of writing in this space.
As I mature (get older!), I see the need for us, as humans, to boldly takeour own evolution in hand as more and more urgent.
The idea that we must leave this task to God or to mechanistic forces beyondour control is in reality an abrogation of both our own potential and ourresponsibility. Such thinking, in effect, believing that the "mind of theuniverse regards us as children to be dragged willy-nilly along," is a formulafor disaster.
As the recent Live 8 concerts around the world have shown, some progress isbeing made. We are evolving steadily. The question still is how and in whatdirection? It's time to wake up and realize our lives are about much more thanthe pursuit of happiness or simply killing time until sunset manor looms.
This is where religious leaders have an incredible opportunity and aninescapable duty. Their crucial task as one looks at the contemporary scene isto hammer night and day on one fundamental theme. That theme is not about"saving souls" or "pastoring the feeble" or even "social action." Their firstand foremost call from God is to drum the truth into people about who theyreally are.
What time is wasted in Sunday sermons preaching a pedestrian kind of moralitythat is put across far more cogently in the average Rotary or Lions Club everyweek! Think of how many thousands of people go home every Sunday from churchwith only the most meagre pickings to chew on for spiritual fare. It's all wellmeaning and perhaps harmless in itself but hardly the way to nourish a vibrantand vigorous new approach to personal, social and global problems.
Each of us needs to be constantly confronted with the truth that we are thebearers of the divine presence of the living God within our hearts and minds. Weare illumined and sustained by the true light that "gives light to every humanbeing who comes into the world." We are children of the King of Kings and yet goabout half awake.
The early religions of the Greco-Roman world all had sacred mysteries attheir centre.
Those initiated into their ranks came to prize these mysteries beyond allelse because they were believed to lead to life abundant here and life eternalin the age to come. Well, the mystery we have been privileged to share has beendescribed by the apostle Paul in these glowing terms: "And this is the Mystery,the Christ is in you, the basis of your hope of glory."
The Christ within denotes the divine presence spoken of above and it can't bestated too often that examination of every major faith in the world reveals thatthey bear at their centre this same teaching however differently they choose todescribe or name it. The more I study other faiths the more I am impressed withthe universality of the central belief in each - in each of us possessing atouch or spark of divinity within.
Once this is grasped and fully applied to ourselves and our relationshipswith others, everything begins to change. Gone are the old labels, the olddivisions based on creeds or rituals or the vagaries of religious dress.
Gone, too, are the harsh judgments of those who worship differently, lovedifferently or who fail to jump through the hoops of our particular beliefsystems.
The recognition of what it really means to be completely human, i.e. to havegrasped that the secret of our humanity lies in our potential for divinity,reaches beyond all that separates the various blocs and factions around the globe.
The result is not a boring homogeneity or sameness. It is a basic, commonsubstratum - a metaphysical or spiritual core upon which genuine planetaryunity, justice and harmony can build - beneath the colour and richness of thefull, kaleidoscopic, human tapestry of beliefs, customs and mores.
This foundation is essential for any lasting world peace. Justice flows fromthe recognition that every single person on the face of the Earth is made in God's image and carries the worth and dignity that attend every child of the Creator.
The moral imperative "in a nuclear world" of total non-violence then remainsno longer a pious ideal but the logical and necessary outcome of consciouslyclaiming and being what we already are.
Note: For provocative summer reading, I suggest Jesus the Egyptian, by the prolific author, Professor Richard Gabriel (iUniverse Press), Can We Trust theNew Testament? by Professor G.A.Wells (Open Court Chicago), and The LaughingJesus, by Timothy Freke (Harmony Books).Tom Harpur is a theologian whose focus is on cosmic spirituality. His website is at www.tomharpur.com.
Today's column will be followed by a welcome summer break, so I'd like to sumup the core message of the last nine months of writing in this space.
As I mature (get older!), I see the need for us, as humans, to boldly takeour own evolution in hand as more and more urgent.
The idea that we must leave this task to God or to mechanistic forces beyondour control is in reality an abrogation of both our own potential and ourresponsibility. Such thinking, in effect, believing that the "mind of theuniverse regards us as children to be dragged willy-nilly along," is a formulafor disaster.
As the recent Live 8 concerts around the world have shown, some progress isbeing made. We are evolving steadily. The question still is how and in whatdirection? It's time to wake up and realize our lives are about much more thanthe pursuit of happiness or simply killing time until sunset manor looms.
This is where religious leaders have an incredible opportunity and aninescapable duty. Their crucial task as one looks at the contemporary scene isto hammer night and day on one fundamental theme. That theme is not about"saving souls" or "pastoring the feeble" or even "social action." Their firstand foremost call from God is to drum the truth into people about who theyreally are.
What time is wasted in Sunday sermons preaching a pedestrian kind of moralitythat is put across far more cogently in the average Rotary or Lions Club everyweek! Think of how many thousands of people go home every Sunday from churchwith only the most meagre pickings to chew on for spiritual fare. It's all wellmeaning and perhaps harmless in itself but hardly the way to nourish a vibrantand vigorous new approach to personal, social and global problems.
Each of us needs to be constantly confronted with the truth that we are thebearers of the divine presence of the living God within our hearts and minds. Weare illumined and sustained by the true light that "gives light to every humanbeing who comes into the world." We are children of the King of Kings and yet goabout half awake.
The early religions of the Greco-Roman world all had sacred mysteries attheir centre.
Those initiated into their ranks came to prize these mysteries beyond allelse because they were believed to lead to life abundant here and life eternalin the age to come. Well, the mystery we have been privileged to share has beendescribed by the apostle Paul in these glowing terms: "And this is the Mystery,the Christ is in you, the basis of your hope of glory."
The Christ within denotes the divine presence spoken of above and it can't bestated too often that examination of every major faith in the world reveals thatthey bear at their centre this same teaching however differently they choose todescribe or name it. The more I study other faiths the more I am impressed withthe universality of the central belief in each - in each of us possessing atouch or spark of divinity within.
Once this is grasped and fully applied to ourselves and our relationshipswith others, everything begins to change. Gone are the old labels, the olddivisions based on creeds or rituals or the vagaries of religious dress.
Gone, too, are the harsh judgments of those who worship differently, lovedifferently or who fail to jump through the hoops of our particular beliefsystems.
The recognition of what it really means to be completely human, i.e. to havegrasped that the secret of our humanity lies in our potential for divinity,reaches beyond all that separates the various blocs and factions around the globe.
The result is not a boring homogeneity or sameness. It is a basic, commonsubstratum - a metaphysical or spiritual core upon which genuine planetaryunity, justice and harmony can build - beneath the colour and richness of thefull, kaleidoscopic, human tapestry of beliefs, customs and mores.
This foundation is essential for any lasting world peace. Justice flows fromthe recognition that every single person on the face of the Earth is made in God's image and carries the worth and dignity that attend every child of the Creator.
The moral imperative "in a nuclear world" of total non-violence then remainsno longer a pious ideal but the logical and necessary outcome of consciouslyclaiming and being what we already are.
Note: For provocative summer reading, I suggest Jesus the Egyptian, by the prolific author, Professor Richard Gabriel (iUniverse Press), Can We Trust theNew Testament? by Professor G.A.Wells (Open Court Chicago), and The LaughingJesus, by Timothy Freke (Harmony Books).Tom Harpur is a theologian whose focus is on cosmic spirituality. His website is at www.tomharpur.com.
posted by Brian at 12:03 PM
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