Friday, September 25, 2009

(5) Continuum

What I have been able to do is as follows: I've come to approach
the Plenum of this Universe, the Ground, the Center if you will,
as Mystery that wishes itself to be unraveled or unfolded. This
will always be our primary job as cosmic Consciousness Points.
I also see that this process has only begun, considering we are
only beginning to reach towards more sophistication in our
consciousness.

Remember, we started with animism, religious tribalism, to
pantheons of gods, to various levels of monotheism. It's all
about consciousness development and our evolving
conceptions of what this Mystery might be. Hence over the
millennia we have not only these different concepts, but also
different labels regarding the Mystery.

Though many today are attracted to Eastern philosophy, I
(for one) am definitely a child of the West. Consequently I've
tended to look back at the West's religious and philosophical
evolution, rising out of the Middle East in many forms, moving
to the Mediterranean World, on into the European continent,
and than via empire into its colonies.

I've studied this evolution, from Mesopotamian gods to the
Olympian Pantheon to the Mysteries of the Hellenistic World
to Judaism to Christianity to the unfolding of what I deem
"Scientific Spirituality." In turn, I've worked hard to *integrate*
this evolution of religio-spiritual thought into what I consider
a CONTINUUM.

Now only personal for me, but I latched onto the Greek philo-
sophical concept of the "Logos" as a way to carry through this
awareness of the Ground--from its earliest conception unto
today's contemporary science theories.

I like the idea of the Logos, because originally it was a way of
explaining the Mystery, the Ground, *universally.* Now I have
little trouble thinking about all this in universal terms, and oft I
do so. Still, one must look at the overwhelming majority of any
given population. For the most part, they are not at a universal
level conceptually and still remain compartmentalized within
creedal contexts. Still, human beings (I believe) intuit this Ground
of Being; but they must somehow bring it into their own horizon
in order to grasp it. That's why we need images and analogies
that more than often are found in religious creeds.

Yet, it would seem that we are now beginning to advance toward
a different time, a different place perhaps in our conceptualization
of the Mystery. Maybe this has to do with the advent of advanced
transportation and communication. Today the world rubs up-and-
against itself. East and West, North and South are all implicating
one another in varied relationships. These relationships also
include creedal and philosophical perceptions as well. It's like
many colors streaking across a canvas, beginning to blend into
one another. This process has only begun and we don't have any
idea what the final outcome will be, if ever!

But what seems to be happening is that this universalization of the
Mystery is taking hold more and more. And it is coming head-on
with older creedal concepts. Consequently there's a certain
discomfort, oft misunderstanding.

The trick (I believe) is to stand above the process for a little while,
and looked upon dispassionately one can see that the whole
blasted thing is a CONTINUUM of evolving conceptualizations
about the Mystery, about Ultimate Reality. If viewed this way, all
our spiritual efforts, all our religious creeds have been all a part of
the *process* of this ever unfolding Continuum.

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