A Practical Spiritual Glossary

           These definitions are meaningful to me, but might change as I think more about them. If there are any definitions with which you disagree, then write out your own definitions using ideas that speak to your understanding and faith.  Understanding and accepting ourselves is probably one of the most important activities of life.  It is also the most effective way to influence others.

            I would like to influence others, but not for the purpose of persuading others to believe as I do. I would like to influence others into being totally open and honest about what they believe in their heart of hearts. I feel it is important that we be able to do that as individuals and as religious communities.  Then, as we speak sincerely to each other from love and listen with love, we will discover pathways to acceptance and understanding even in our diversity.

===================================================

Deism – A rational belief in the existence of a metaphysical reality, specifically of a creative nature that does not directly intervene in human or cosmic events. The term is used chiefly of an intellectual movement of the 17th and 18th centuries that accepted the existence of a creator on the basis of reason but rejected belief in a supernatural being or deity who interacts with humankind. A number of the founding fathers of our country (e.g. Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, Ethan Allen, Thomas Paine, etc.) were deists. In other words, theistic Christian orthodoxy was not the spiritual foundation underlying the ideas and documents that created our nation.

Devil – A personification of hell

Eternity – An idea derived from the fact that there is no discernible end to now.

Faith¹ – The concept of life you hold as true when faced with decisions you must make. You always have complete faith. The real question is, in what do you actually have faith? Your faith is what you actually believe that provides the motives for your actions and is not determined by your membership in any particular organization or even by what you say you believe. Sometimes we adopt statements of belief because we enjoy the social interactions with a particular group of people. But, that is not the same as joining with others because they share your view of reality based on sincere spiritual consideration of their life experiences. There is a commonality of conclusions in the latter, which is more deeply and permanently binding than is the casual congeniality of the former.

Faith² – You have faith when you have sufficient confidence in your own knowledge and skills that you can successfully solve problems that are unlike problems you have faced before.  For example an experienced architect might be asked to design a structure unlike anything he/she has done before. Still, because of his/her training and experience in fundamental design principles, this professional will know how to successfully accomplish the task.  Likewise, spiritual principles you learn, try out in life, and discover to be fundamentally true, become the foundation of your spiritual faith. If you are religious, then how you articulate this faith and frame it in terms of a world-view describes the religion and denomination with which you will likely associate.

Future – Without human memory and imagination, there would be no concepts of events yet to occur. However, we do have memory and imagination, so we can and do speculate about what might happen next.

God – God is a personification of the highest levels of knowledge and the best instincts and attributes of humanity. Beyond that, God is whatever the ultimate and complete truth of the universe and existence is. All I can understand is that God is Truth, universal, and eternal. The prime cause and support for all that is and all that can be. Since humanity is one result of this prime cause, everyone and everything is a manifestation of God, not a material existence outside of God. Humanity never lost a state of perfection. On the contrary we have always been evolving toward higher and better expressions of our ultimate spiritual potential. Since we have rational self-awareness we can create, but all that we create has always been possible as an expression of God’s potential.  Thus, even our creativity is of God and cannot be separate from God. A God-centered life creates love, wisdom, harmony, and what we call “good” in life. However, a self-centered life that rejects the need for love, wisdom or compassion, creates disharmony and what we describe as “evil” or “sin” in life. Other than these basic truths, it is beyond human capacities to understand, much less definitively describe God.  Actually, there is no need to do that, because there is no human achievement that exists outside the reality of God. 

Heaven – Experiencing life with unconditional love and compassion towards oneself and others; complete harmony of mind, body, thought, and action that occurs when spiritual oneness with God is achieved. It is being wholly in the arms of God (total reality) and entirely at peace no matter the circumstances. It is living just as Jesus taught and demonstrated.

Heavenly Father/Mother – The personification of God as a loving human father or mother. It is neither right nor wrong, good nor bad, to do this, it is simply something we can do and may feel comfortable doing. When I meditate, I feel a closeness of consciousness, which I accept as my experience with God. I treat this awareness, this presence, as a loving spiritual parent, because that is a meaningful human relationship  with which I am familiar. Some find comfort feeling a feminine presence, as with their own mother, or perhaps thinking of Jesus' mother, Mary, who is venerated by many. Our personal spirituality evolves from the meaningful experiences we have had.

Hell – Experiencing the results of individuals choosing to live from the perspective of total selfishness; self-centered domination of others by force or fear. Their only purpose in life is the material and mental domination of others and the exclusive exaltation of themselves and their cultural tribe.

History – Without human memory, there would be no concepts of the past and no reason to recall or record world events. However, there is human memory, so there is the idea of history. Because history is based on artifacts and human memory, historical accounts will always be, to varying degrees, accurate, incomplete, and imaginary.

Idol – Any person or object treated as if he, she, or it were a god that requires pious and penitent worship for fear of punishment or retribution. Many Christian fundamentalists treat Jesus, Mary, the Apostles, the cross, and the Bible as idols. Even a theistic perspective of God is a form of idol worship.

Jesus Christ – A human example of living in heaven and a title given to Jesus of Nazareth by the Christian communities that developed after Jesus' crucifixion. Since Jesus was completely human, then the extent of his spiritual nature defines our potential. Therefore, I view Jesus Christ as an example of living spiritually in the consciousness of God (ultimate Truth) while experiencing a human life. This is what John 14:6, “…I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”, means to me. Jesus was inviting everyone to follow his example and live the Christ consciousness within ourselves to the full breadth of our human experiences.  The beliefs about and descriptions of Jesus' spiritual relationship to God clearly evolved from the time the Gospel of Mark was written until the writing of the Gospel of John. The spiritual reality of God always leads to unending opportunities to learn and grow.

Jesus of Nazareth – A first century itinerant Jewish apocalyptic teacher-healer-prophet whose message was to Jews urging them "to repent", or more accurately according to the original Greek text, "to rethink" their spiritual priorities as God was preparing to assert the power of His Kingdom on earth. Jesus taught that the Kingdom of God would cause a reversal of the power structure of the traditional political/religious/economic domination systems, under which Jews had suffered for centuries. The role of Jewish prophets was not primarily to predict future events. Rather, they were ordinary citizens who were not members of the aristocratic political/religious establishment, but still spoke with such wisdom and authority concerning current and possible future events that the official religious/political leaders tended to paid heed. During their lifetimes, men who became known as prophets were frequently criticized, imprisoned, or even executed, as Jesus was, for what they said and taught, because they were openly anti-establishment. From the Roman perspective, wandering Jewish apocalyptic healers/teachers like Jesus (and there were many) were guilty of sedition, because the actual "King of the Jews" during the first century was the Roman Emperor. The Roman penalty for sedition was crucifixion.

Now – The current moment of existence and the active part of eternity.

Religion – Human institutions created for the purpose of defining God and the meaning of life based on particular assumptions, and providing what are asserted to be God’s laws for mankind. Religious institutions tend to be defined by specific sets of doctrine (dogma). It is assumed that if you join a church or other religious organization you accept their doctrine as true and live your life in ways that are compatible with the teachings of that organization. If your ideas change, as time goes on, that religious institution would likely not change its doctrine, but you would be expected to “correct” your thinking, or, if that is not possible, to leave the assembly and find a religious organization more compatible with your new perspectives. Too many people do not do this when they are actually ready to learn more. Spiritual growth means considering new perspectives held by other churches or religions, or simply as a result of your own thinking and prayerful consideration.  Your faith and spirituality represent your personal journey of inner discovery which should not be stunted nor diverted by the dictates of any particular religious institution. No external rule or teaching should replace the truth you feel in your own heart unless and until you are inspired from within to change.

Science – The body of knowledge verified by the scientific method and available for practical life applications or to be used as the starting point for the further extension, or correction, of human knowledge.

Scientific Method – Formal protocol for determining which of all proposed explanations (hypotheses) of a set of specific events best describes why those events or observations occur as they do. The scientific method is bias neutral because it makes no difference what the ideas are that you are comparing. It simply helps you determine which of the ideas is the better explanation of what is observed. Bit by bit scientific communities have used the scientific method to construct our current human base of knowledge. The scientific method can also be used to study the practical outcomes of spiritual and religious ideas as well as the principles of engineering or chemistry, but it requires you not start with conclusions you feel you must find. For example, all of the books of the Torah (the first five books of the Old Testament) were written about three centuries after Moses died. This means that Moses did not write the Torah as is traditionally taught. Needing to prove that Moses was the author of the Torah, for whatever reason, is an example of research bias and such a proof cannot be accomplished using the scientific method. Such dilemmas tend to move religious conservatives to reject the scientific method when considering life events predicted by religious beliefs. They claim that faith based on religious teachings is more real or more important than faith based on rational analyses. However, truth is truth and any attempt to separate spiritual truth from scientific truth is artificial and involves willful deception. If life events do not (or did not) occur according to one's religious beliefs, it is the religious beliefs that are in error, not life or reality.

Sin – Those decisions we make and the actions we take that cause  us to experience hell instead of heaven

Spirituality – That level of consciousness we accept that gives meaning and emotion to our activities of life. We are primarily spiritual beings because we find meaning and feel emotion in everything we do. Whatever we think to be spiritual truth will tend to direct the courses of our lives because activities, events, and ideas that support our spiritual perspectives will simultaneously consume our attention. 

Theism – belief in the existence of a God that possesses a human-like personality, that dwells above our realm of experience, and who created all the content and laws of the universe.  Theists believe that God intervenes in cosmic and human events in supernatural ways for the purpose of maintaining a personal, judgmental watch over his creations. Fundamentalist Christianity is an example of religious thinking based on theism. An "a-theist" is literally someone who does not have a theistic perspective of God. For example, those who accept deism, may believe just as deeply in God, but their foundational thinking is rational and not dependent upon a faith that cannot be objectively confirmed. Therefore, they are correctly considered atheists, based on the literal meaning of the word. 

Science And Religion: Where The Debate Really Is

Let’s keep this simple. Science (the scientific method) is a tool available for anybody to use to help decide which explanations of observable events are the best so we can accept them as true. Religions are human organizations whose members hold an allegiance to statements of belief which they accept as true.

Right off, you can see that a scientist’s role is one of discovery and a gradual uncovering of the unknown, however, religious leaders are bond to certain doctrinal explanations of the unknown. Scientists have faith in explanations of truth that are rational and verifiable. Members of religions can also be scientists and have faith in many rational explanations of truth, but if a rational explanation conflicts with any of their religious beliefs, then their religious doctrine takes precedence, even if it is irrational. In fact, members may be expected to accept on faith some religions dogma (such as virgin birth, bodily resurrection, etc.) because they are irrational.

At this point I would like to suggest there is no real debate between science and religion because they are what they are. I think these first two paragraphs present what is perceived as the tension between science and religion.  I, personally, am even willing to concede to each perspective whatever one would wish to claim. If you see truth as defined by science, I will accept that. If you see truth as defined by your religious beliefs or any mix of science and religion, I will accept that, too.

So where is the debate? I think it resides in our minds. I think the internal debate each of us has begins emerging when we first become aware of questions that don’t appear to have clear, final answers. What is life? What has meaning? What happens when I die? Why do bad things happen? Each of us faces these questions and one way or another has to decide how to answer them.

When we have that debate within ourselves we face a major question. How well can I handle not knowing all the answers at the end of all my questions? If you realize that most of life is beyond your capacity to understand, but still you stand open to learn all you can, then science could become an exciting and fulfilling part of your life, including your religious life. 

       If, however, not having answers to some fundamental questions makes you feel uncomfortable, unsettled, or even fearful, you might decide you need a life perspective that has greater certainty. Religions were designed and created to do that, so religion may provide you more of that confidence than science. Most of us simply strike a tolerable balance between what we see as rational and irrational thinking.

Yes, there is a debate, but it’s not on the outside between science and religion. It is an inner debate between those ideas in your own mind that make you feel confident in the face of the unknown and those other ideas that make you fearful of the unknown. However, neither science nor religion has individual consciousness. You do. So, the decision is yours to make. In the meantime, the activities of science and religion will continue on just being what they are, no more and no less. 

Whatever you decide will be your reality. May it include love, wisdom, knowledge, and happiness.