(1) Being in BEING

Academically--back in 1987--I began studying professionally
the then fairly new field of "Science and Spirituality." And my
efforts finally culminated in my website, the "Stoa del Sol." At
the time I felt myself, along with a few other stalwarts, petty much
a pioneer in this work. But now I have become *antiquated.*
The field of Science and Spirituality has exploded on the scene,
big time, with world-class contributors that include major
philosophers, theologians, and scientists. Bookstores are
rampant with books on this subject.

As it turned out, my small effort was just a tiny squeak down in
the trenches. Still, every little effort counts. So--what are we
trying to do?

It's always tough saying it, but the "God" of tribalism and magic
just isn't cutting it anymore. Simultaneously, most of us are at a
loss as to why this is happening and what can we do. It's true, I
believe, that "God is a mind-projection," as has been said; on
the other hand, "God" is with us regardless our pithy efforts of
comprehension. The God Image is collectively in our minds.
It plays us, no matter how dense we are in term of our imagery
and projections. This situation *is* about evolution--our mental
evolution.

But spiritually we seem to be moving slightly ahead of our old
mental concepts of God. Still trying to hang-on to our mythopoetic
concepts, our self-generating God myths, we are at last left
remiss and confused.

On some levels, we poor humans are resorting to barbarism--
playing out our "God" via wars, killings, hating, finger-pointing,
rigidity. BACKWARDS personified. Others desperately try to
retain the STATUS QUO, insisting on so-called "fundamentals"
that, in turn, point straight back to our old tribal cultures. Trying
to relate tribal mindsets with a modern technological secular
society seems nearly bordering on craziness. Oh well, we
humans are a murky folk at best.

Than there's the issue of our religious institutions. They have
gone afoul, and some even smell of dastardly deeds. Again,
however, we humans mostly are afraid to set foot outside of
our "container systems"--as Jung puts it--thus we shiver and
shake over our ominous institutional breakdowns. I guess not
many of us are ready to "stand on our own two feet," as Thomas
Merton once put.

It has been said that if our religious institutions fell by the wayside,
there would be nothing to fall back upon. Not true. Unless you
can't read--and that is a problem for a goodly number of us--there's
that Great Treasure of Wisdom come down through the ages, in
books. Perhaps we need to come straight on with our magnificent
conveyors of Wisdom--rather than via lesser voices that are prone
to power and authority.

Trying to "fix" something that is failing, near collapse, may be an
effort in futility. Hard to say for sure, but I would think our efforts,
our energy, can be put to better use. We humans--spiritually--
really, really need to move forward. But the old contexts, the old
vehicles, just are not carrying us in the right direction.

So back to Science and Spirituality, will it be the next step towards
refining ourselves? I don't know, but it's certainly a prospect. Now
not everyone is going to be terribly informed in Science, but more
of us are now becoming more aware of the Infinite Universe of which
we are a part. The Universe is a challenge to our minds, to our
imagination, and surely to our spiritual inclinations.

As to whether the Universe is all that there is, that the Universe is
God, well that's a moot point. These days scientists talk of multi-
universes. I, for one, focus more on God's Creation that reflects and
resides with the Architect. A more panentheistic view, I suppose.

But imagine this fantastic Universe, what with its myriad aspects that
just can shake us into astonishment. Whatever must the Architect of
such a Creation be like? When evolutionary babes, we looked out
onto the world in fear and trembling, later in wonder at the "canopy"
of stars, turning the constellations into gods, or worshiping the
thunder and lightening. Our minds have struggled to grow, to
grasp towards an ever greater understanding, moving into more
sophisticated god-concepts such as the Logos and Sophia, such
as Love and Compassion and Reason. And we also indulge in the
habit of "incarnating" our concepts--hence our god-projections.

Moving on, now at the cusp of another spiritual level, looking out at
the Universe via Hubble, assisted by world-class philosophers,
theologians, and scientists, will we make the next jump in our God
Imago? It would seem logical, maybe even hopeful--yet we poor
humans still have the propensity to fall backwards into "Dark Ages."
Historically, that has happened before.

Nonetheless, after all this has been said, after all my long study in
Science and Spirituality, and now working as a Naturalist, I have
barely any new god-images in mind. Indeed, maybe the answer is
NO god-image will be forthcoming. Perhaps we will eventually just
reach the level of simply "being in BEING." Then, we just might have
arrived *Home.*