Why I Remain A Christian

I am finally responding to a comment about why I remain a Christian and affirm the Apostle’s Creed given the things I write concerning the unity of religion, etc. The is a difficult response to formulate because it forces one to address the seemingly incompatible subjects of exoterism and esoterism.

The former has to do with traditional religion and dogma and the latter with universal spiritual truth that in essence cracks the shell of traditional religious dogma. In other words, exoterism is the form of religion while esoterism is its essence. Probably the foremost writer who has written on this subject is Frithjof Schuon in a number of books, starting with The Transcendent Unity of Religion.

The subject presents us with the paradox of different realities, both of which are true yet seemingly they are mutually exclusive. The Apostle’s Creed expresses a true reality. In terms of metaphysics, it is a relative reality because there are other true religious realities. However, the Apostle’s Creed is also universally true in the sense that it provides access to universal truth as it is expressed devotionally in a practice such as liturgy or the Rosary. If the Apostle’s Creed is not expressed–or practiced–devotionally, it becomes nothing more than a dogmatic formulation. Devotion in all religions is one of the means towards mystical experience.

Mystical experience does not have to be anything extraordinary, although it is extraordinary as it is the real experience of that Presence–the I Am–that is somehow beyond both thought and feeling. The reasons for the variety of mystical works throughout history is that the limits of language are quickly exceeded when attempts are made to express the mystical experience. But there have been wonderful attempts, which make up the treasury of mystical literature.

There has always been tension between exoteric and esoteric religion, and not a few times has this tension resulted in heresy trials and executions by burning at the stake, crucifixion, or dismemberment. The exoterist tends not to perceive the reality that the mystic–or esoterist–perceives. What he does perceive is a threat to his religion as he understands it.

The reason why exoteric religion must continue, however, is because–as the Bhagavad-Gita points out–few people are able to perceive God in his Universal aspect. Most esoterists understand this and remain faithful to their own religion after experiencing a foretaste of the Universal Truth. This is to the benefit of others. To the Christian esoterist, however, when Jesus says, “I am the only Way,” he is understood as referring to the Christ rather than the man, and the man Jesus carries out the will of the Father.

God bless.

Zen and Christianity

The relationship between Zen and Christianity is complementary. Since they begin as polar opposites in the theological sense, their mystic convergence is more difficult to uncover, but quite striking once apprehended.

Christianity is a religion of the revelation, as testified to in Scripture, of God to man through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Its doctrine is centered in objective truth and historical occurrence whereby, through the “hearing of the Gospel,” one arrives at conviction, belief, surrender, and salvation.

Salvation is not the end of Christian life, but its beginning. For the Christian mystic, the journey continues towards the “mystical marriage,” the union of the soul with Christ through the progressive annihilation of the ego and its surrender to the lordship of Christ.

Zen is not a religion of revelation and, as such, is not anchored to its scriptures or even its doctrine. Zen is based on a direct experience or intuition (prajna); that is, seeing into one’s original nature, none other than the ground of being, reality itself.

One’s original nature is beyond all conceptual thought and prior to all names and categories. “The Tao that can be named is not the true Tao.” Since Zen is not tied to scripture and doctrine, one can be fully Christian and also a practitioner of Zen.

The convergence between Zen and Christianity begins to emerge as the Christian approaches union with Christ through contemplative prayer and meditation. The Christian begins to apprehend that one’s original nature is in fact the Christ nature that resides in him or her and is communicated through the Holy Spirit. Our Christ nature within us then leads us towards the Heavenly Father–the Godhead: the ground of all being. Thus, having begun at opposite directions, we arrive at a point of convergence between the experience of Zen and Christian mysticism.

We can also compare St. Paul’s experience of having the mind of Christ (1 Corinthians 2:15) to the Zen experience of the Buddha mind that exists in prajna, the mystical insight of Zen. The experience of prajna can also be spoken of as giving one the eye of the Buddha or the Zen eye. As D. T. Suzuki noted, the Zen concept of prajna can also be expressed in the words of Meister Eckhart: “The eye wherein I see God is the same eye wherein God sees me.”

God bless.

On Three Spiritual Practices

As I mentioned in the previous post, the Sufi concept of passing-away (fana) can be instructive to the Christian seeking to surrender his or her will to the will of Christ. Such a surrender is to go beyond external doctrine and into the heart of the Savior.

The prerequisite to this transformation is the annihilation of the ego. In Christianity, this is symbolized by our Baptism, as we have died unto our sinful selves and are reborn into the life of Christ. The annihilation of the ego as the entryway to the Divine Life is a universal concept in religion.

Unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. (John 12:24-25, NIV)

There is a saying in Islam: “Die before you die.”

This state of surrender is most difficult to attain in a culture based on materialism. We cannot surrender to God’s will while we have our own agenda. Among the Islamic mystics, even the desire for Paradise or the fear of Hell are seen as egoism.

True surrender is an act of God’s grace, although it can be facilitated by a spiritual practice. A spiritual practice is NOT an act based on “works” in order to gain merit; it is in itself an act of submission to the will of God.

There are many spiritual practices, which would take an entire book to cover. The three I will mention in this post are the Jesus Prayer, the dhikr, and the Rosary.

The great Russian classic about the Jesus Prayer is The Way of the Pilgrim. The Jesus Prayer can be practiced with the aid of Jesus Beads, which consist of 100 beads, usually wooden, plus a cross. The 100 beads can be used to count one series of repetitions of the prayer. Several forms of the prayer can be used. The full form of the prayer is:

Lord Jesus Christ, son of the Living God,

Have mercy on me, a sinner.

A common (silent) form of the prayer is to recite, “Lord Jesus Christ,” on the in-breath and, “Have mercy on me,” on the out-breath. The goal of this prayer is to facilitate the surrender of the individual will into the will of Christ.

This is similar to the Sufi practice of dhikr. The most common way to practice the dhikr is the recollection or remembrance of God by the recitation of the shahada: “la ilaha illa’ llah” (There is no God but God”). The negative statement, “la ilaha,” is recited on the out-breath, while the affirmative statement, “illa’ llah,” is recited on the in-breath.

There are several Catholic websites which give detailed instructions on how to practice the Rosary. As Wayne Teasdale has noted, the effectiveness of the Rosary as a spiritual practice has been proven.

The Rosary beads are used to keep track of the prayers and meditations. One of the characteristics that makes the Rosary effective is that the repetition of prayers engenders tranquility of mind while simultaneously meditating on the “Mysteries,” which are primarily centered on Jesus Christ. It takes some doing at first to learn the Rosary, but once learned it can be practiced almost anywhere.

For those who might object to the “Mariology” implied in the Rosary, rather than discard this effective practice, one can employ a few substitutions. In place of the “Hail Mary,” one could use the following:

My heart is glad, my soul rejoices.

You will show me the path of life;

The fullness of joy in your presence;

At your right hand happiness forever.

Similarly, in place of the extra-biblical Mysteries of the Assumption and Coronation of Mary, one could substitute the raising of Lazarus and the conversion of Saul. Lastly, one can finish the Rosary with an “Our Father” (The Lord’s Prayer) instead of the “Hail, Holy Queen.” And there you have a fully Protestant-ized version of the Rosary.

The simple rule about spiritual practices is to use what attracts you and,

Pray as you can, not as you can’t.

Open your heart to Him and He will open the door.

God bless.

The Sufi Way and the Christian

Although Sufism has flourished as the mysticism of Islam, according to Sufi master Hazrat Inayat Khan, “Sufism has never had a first exponent or a historical origin. It existed from the beginning, because man has always possessed the light which is his second nature.” (“The Sufi Message of Hazrat Inayat Khan”)

Some religionists have laid the claim that Sufism is the sole property of Islam, but from an interspiritual standpoint, this could be no more true than saying that the truth is the sole property of one religion. As a Christian, I have experienced a great kinship with Sufism, and its teachings have invigorated my faith in Christ, despite the fact that Islam is not an incarnational religion.

As to the preexistence of Sufism, about the location of Persia, and the mutual influence of religion, according to Khan,

Persia, lying between Greece, Egypt, Arabia, and India, came under the influence of Plato and Socrates, of Hinduism and Buddhism, and especially of their poetry and philosophy. Everything in the world is influenced by other things, so it cannot be said that Sufism was born in Persia and that it did not exist before; it is an undeniable fact that Sufis existed in the time of Muhammad and even previously, and that Muhammad liked to converse with them and advise them. Thus Sufism in the course of time absorbed the influence of many religions, and in turn also influenced many other religions. (Khan)

As with Christianity, the path of Sufism begins with repentance (tawbat). The original sin in Islam is said to be self-existence, or the belief that there is a self that exists independently of God. The product of this self is selfish desire, which is the cause of every sin. Repentance is an act of God’s grace upon humankind. The Sufi turns to God because God has gone to him and called him out (i.e. of himself).

There are several ways to describe the Sufi Way, and among these descriptions are several sophisticated theological concepts that I cannot hope to cover in a posting such as this. But an early account enumerates seven stages of the path: (1) repentance, (2) abstinence, (3) renunciation, (4) poverty, (5) patience, (6) trust in God, and (7) satisfaction.

One of the Sufi concepts that I have found most valuable and fascinating as a Christian is called fana, or the “passing away” of the individual self and absorption in God. It has also been described as “going out” from the individual will and abiding wholly in the will of God.

This is a mystical state equal to the realization of the Hindu or the satori of the Zennist. Through the practice of dhikr–the “recollection” of God through the repetition of one of the Divine Names, a verse from the Koran, or more commonly the shahada (“There is no God but God”)–there becomes a sense that the individual existence of the self dissolves, as if it were “annihilated.”

That which remains is the mystical apprehension of the Islamic concept of the Unity of God–God alone is. There is not even a “self” being aware of God; it is God being conscious of himself.

This experience has been compared metaphorically to the moon seeing itself reflected in the light of the sun and exclaiming, “I am the sun!” It is only in the light of the sun that the moon is aware of itself, and the soul only has its true existence in the light of God.

As a Christian, I find this to be a beautiful way of understanding my life in Jesus Christ. The fact is that I only have a life in the sense that it is reflected in the light of Christ. It is not even I myself that lives, but Jesus Christ who lives his life, in the eternity of the present moment, through my body. (i.e. Galations 2:20) This is also what Christian mystics have called the “mystical marriage,” or the union of the soul with Christ.

God bless.

About Interspiritual and Ecumenical Religion

One of the main premises of this blog is that religions must show the nations how to live in peace by their own peaceful coexistence with each other. Every religion needs to re-examine itself in this light. Also, as part of a global community, members and especially leaders of every religion need to become conversant in multiple religions. As a Christian, learning about world religions has contributed a great deal to my relationship with Jesus Christ.

For those who are traveling along the path of interspirituality, I believe it is important to remain grounded in one religion. Although, in this interspiritual age, it is not uncommon for some people to observe a “second religion” in addition to the one that they are grounded to. Examples of this are Ruben Habito, a Catholic Christian who is also a Zen master, and Bede Griffiths, the Catholic priest and monk who also lived the life of a Hindu sanyassin in India. Unless a person feels especially called to a second religion, I believe it is best to have one religion to be grounded in.

My calling is to be a follower of Jesus Christ, but in the same sense that Gandhi intended, I am also a Sufi, a Jew, a Hindu, a Buddhist, and a Muslim. This is to say that I recognize one common humanity which has one God, by whatever name he or she may be called.

Even in confirming that I am a Christian, it could be asked what kind of Christian am I, as there is a wide variety of Christian traditions. Again, my answer would have to be that I am both a Catholic and a Protestant; and within Protestantism, I am an Episcopalian, Evangelical, Baptist, Charismatic, and etc. The best term to use, perhaps, is ecumenical. The term interspiritual was coined by Bede Griffiths to apply to the crossing of religious boundaries. The term ecumenical is commonly applied to the crossing of denominational boundaries within one religion.

I used to believe that I had to make a distinct choice to the exclusion of all the other choices. This is the main reason why I ended up studying so many different creeds and traditions. After many years, I finally discovered Bede Griffiths, the great interspiritual pioneer after Gandhi, and Brian McLaren, the Christian elder and pioneer in the emerging church movement. One of my intentions for this blog is to offer ideas and information that took me so many years to discover, in the hopes of saving a lot of time for younger people.

God bless.

Jesus, Christ of the Cosmos

The appearance of Jesus marks the intersection of eternity with time and history. The man Jesus, through his life, death, and resurrection, reveals to humankind the character of God. “Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father.” (John 14:9)

Although Jesus lived in a specific time in history and in the culture of Israel, he is not only the Jewish messiah, nor is he only the Christian savior, he is the Redeemer of all humankind, of every nation and every creed. And he is not only the Redeemer of humankind, but also of all life and the entire universe.

In Ephesians 4:10 St. Paul tells us that, through his ascension, Jesus Christ is the Christ of the Cosmos:

He who descended is the very One who ascended higher than all the heavens in order to fill the whole universe. (NIV)

We see that God’s plan is that everyone and everything in the cosmos is to be reconciled in Christ:

It pleased God to make absolute fullness reside in him and, by means of him to reconcile everything in his person, both on earth and in the heavens, making peace through the blood of his cross. (Colossians 1:19-20, Liturgy of the Hours)

Through the Christ of the Cosmos, the ultimate destiny of humankind, and for the universe as a whole, is peace and unity; for God has:

A plan to be carried out in Christ, in the fullness of time, to bring all things into unity in him. (Ephesians 1:10, Liturgy of the Hours)

Through his life, teachings, and sacrificial death, Jesus shows us how to live our lives, as Christians, Hindus, Muslims, Buddhists, or whatever our creed. In his resurrection and ascension, Jesus Christ has become the Christ of the Cosmos and thus crosses over all religious and cultural boundaries. This is why, as a Hindu, Mahatma Gandhi could put into practice the teachings of Jesus so effectively and become himself an embodiment of the teachings of Jesus Christ.

The potential of the Cosmic Christ is all-pervading and fills up the entire universe, including the sun and moon, mountains, oceans, trees, rocks and birds. Jesus is incarnated in the poor, the homeless, the sick and disadvantaged. Jesus Christ is also in every religion that promotes peace and social justice.

Those who follow the teachings of Jesus throughout history–one might call them saints: St. Francis of Assisi, Mahatma Gandhi, Dorothy Day, Deitrich Bonhoeffer, Franklin Graham, and many others–remind us of the potential in the teaching of Jesus and of the Christ of the Cosmos which is given to people of all faiths.

Blessings and Peace.

Interspirituality: Seeing With God’s Eyes

There is a Sufi saying that declares, “When I see with the eyes of God, I see God everywhere.” Christian mystic Meister Eckhart proclaims, “The same eye wherein I see God is the same eye wherein God sees me.” In the religion of Vedanta, God says, “Whoever sees me in all beings hates no one.” Jesus teaches us that seeing with God’s eyes is to see every being, high or low, rich or poor, as a child of a loving Father, wherein we are all brothers and sisters. Like the Buddha, Jesus looks upon all beings with compassion. Compassion is his response to the human condition. When Mohamed first went to Medina, he desired to unite Jews, Christians, and Arabs under a religion of the God of Abraham.

As an interspiritual Christian, it is my mission to recognize truth in whatsoever religion it occurs; and all the while to see with the eyes of Jesus. When I see with the eyes of Jesus, I see Him in every being and in every religion, even those that do not recognize Him in the same manner which I see Him.

This process has taken me more years than I care to say. It is my fervent prayer that younger Christians–and young people of every religion–will take a much shorter time than I did to become interspiritual. For us Christians, this does not mean that we “compromise” on our own faith, as some fundamentalists claim. Nothing could be further from the truth. Studying other religions–looking beneath the surface waters of dogma and deep into the eternal waters of the Spirit–has given me a greater love for Jesus Christ than ever before.

I have discovered that, underneath the differences, every religion–in its highest expression–teaches us to die to self in order to be reborn into the Divine will. The Sufis speak of a drop of rain finding its path to the river and making its way into the ocean. Zen Buddhist master Shunryu Suzuki speaks of an individual drop of water going down a surging waterfall until at last it joins the vastness of the river below.

We Christians can speak of dying into Christ, being resurrected through Him, and ascending with Him into Heaven. While still on this earth and in this very body, we can pray, “May I no longer live so that Christ lives in me and through me.”

The prophet Isaiah spoke of a time when the lion will lie down with the lamb. He prophesied that God’s people will take their intruments of war, forge them into plowshares, and cultivate the earth in peace with all the nations. Every thoughtful person knows that this is what the nations of our globe must learn to do if we are to survive as a race.

As Hans Kung has pointed out in books, speeches to the United Nations, and talks to religious groups around the globe, “There will be no peace between nations until there is peace between religions.” Every religion must refuse to be used as a tool to facilitate war.

All religions must be examples of how nations can coexist peacefully by peacefully coexisting with each other in love and mutual respect. This is, after all, what every religion teaches in its highest expression, and I believe that this vision is to see with the eyes of God.

God bless.

Christianity and Sufism

Sufism is the mysticism of Islam. Mysticism is the direct experience of God. It is possible that Sufism was inspired when Muslims came in contact with the Christian ascetics of the desert. The meaning of the word sufi is related to the wool garments that Sufis wore in imitation of the Christian ascetics.

Many religious thinkers have observed that the common thread of mysticism runs deeper than doctrinal differences, and this is why the mystics of different traditions can learn from each other. While the earliest Sufis learned from the Christian ascetics, today’s Christians can learn a great deal from Islamic devotion to God.

The meaning of Islam is “submission” to the will of God. Three elements of Islam are faith, submission to the divine will, and virtue (or, the spiritual life). A saying often quoted by Sufis is “Die before you die.” According to R. A. Nicholson,

“fana, the passing-away of the Sufi from this phenomenal existence, involves baqa, the continuance of his real existence. He who dies to self lives in God, and fana, the consummation of  this death, marks the attainment of baqa, or union with the divine life.” (Reynold A. Nicholson, The Mystics of Islam, pg. 149)

We can recall the words of St. Paul, “I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.” (Galations 2:20, NIV)

One of the doctrinal differences Islam has with Christianity is that, while it recognizes the “son of Mary” as a great prophet and gives Jesus the utmost respect, the God of Islam does not have a son, because He “is neither begotten not begets.” (The Holy Koran) This is no small doctrinal difference, but in my view there is grounds for inter-religious dialog, as the Koran, within the confines of Islam, shows absolutely no disrespect whatsoever towards Jesus.

And the two religions find a common thread in the mysticism of both our great faiths. The Islamic poet Jalaluddin Rumi says,

If there be any lover in the world, O Muslims, ’tis I,

If there be any believer, infidel, or Christian hermit, ’tis I.”

How Hinduism Can Benefit A Christian

In order to discover how Hinduism can complement and deepen the Christian experience, Christians first need to break free from the bonds of adversarial and exclusive thinking. In order to do so, we need to be secure enough in our own faith in Jesus Christ. Then we are free to learn from Hinduism’s profound religious philosophy and apply it to our spiritual lives in Christian terms.

The closest counterpart to Hinduism is Catholic spirituality and mysticism. Some of what Hinduism teaches, for example, has been discovered by Christian mystics such as Meister Eckhart. Eckhart’s Godhead is virtually identical to Hinduism’s Brahman. Brahman is the source and ground of all things, yet is beyond even the attributes of a personal God, because it is beyond human description. Ultimate union with Brahman is the goal of the spiritual life for the Hindu.

As Eckhart’s Godhead manifests itself through the Christian Trinity, Brahman becomes manifested in the Hindu trinity of Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva, representing those aspects of God which create, preserve, and dissolve (respectively). These aspects of God can come to earth as divine incarnations, such as Krishna, whose dialog with the warrior and seeker Arjuna is recorded in the pages of the Bhagavad Gita.

The Bhagavad Gita describes three spiritual paths–called yoga–by which we can serve and become closer to God, the ultimate goal being to become united with him. Jnana yoga is the path of knowledge, of understanding the nature of the Atman–the divine spark within us–and its relationship with Brahman. Karma yoga is the path of selfless service and of offering as a sacrifice all the fruits of our work. Bakti yoga is the life of complete devotion to God.

These paths are not exclusive, but allow a person to worship God in the manner that fits his or her aptitudes and temperament. The thoughtful Christian can see how these spiritual paths can be of benefit in our walk with Christ. While we keep in mind that the path of salvation for us Christians is that of faith through Jesus Christ, we can learn from Hinduism ways through which we can better serve him.

God Bless.

Hindu and Christian

As a Christian, I still have a deep interest in the world’s religions. God–the Word–expresses himself in a variety of ancient cultures; and each culture has its own symbols with which to interpret the divine. As for my own faith journey, Jesus Christ is the way to God, but I don’t view other religions as rivals, much less “counterfeit” or “false.”

A “counterfeit” implies that it is trying to pass itself off as an original, but this is not an appropriate description of the major word religions. For example, an ancient religion such as Hinduism is in fact original. Read, for example, the Upanishads.

The word “false” implies that it is somehow designed to draw people away from the true religion, but this word doesn’t fit very well, either. Using Hinduism as an example again, we observe that the great Hindu teachers such as Ramakrishna and Gandhi did not try to convert their Christian devotees to Hinduism, but rather consistently encouraged them to be good Christians. Gandhi sometimes quipped that he was trying to convert Christians to Christianity by making them better followers of Jesus Christ.

I sometimes see an evangelical preacher who gathers quotes from other religions in order to cast a bad light on them and thereby establishing the superiority of Christianity. But this manner of dealing with the world’s religions is like using a blade that cuts on both sides. Besides, it is not fair to compare the lowest expressions of another religion to the highest expressions of our own. It is disengenuous.

I think it is much better to take the high road when preaching the Gospel. Present the message of Jesus Christ in a positive way; it is counterproductive to attack other religions. The message of the Gospel does not need that kind of help; it speaks for itself. Floyd H. Ross, the author of a book called, The Great Religions by Which Men Live, has left us with sage advice,

Attempts at conversion too often become forms of coercion. It is well to try to see the best in the other person’s religion even while by example one is seeking to share his own faith. Pg 188

As Mahatma Gandhi said, “My life is my testimony.” Besides, in terms of interspirituality today, we have examples of people who are Christian and Buddhist, or Christian and Hindu. More on that in future posts.

God Bless.