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.

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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.

Rational Christianity Requires No Apologetics

     I am a Christian because I discovered my own spirituality through the study and application of the lessons found within the teachings of Christianity.  My grandfather was a Methodist minister who served rural churches in Missouri. My mother had a master’s degree in religious education and both she and my father were active church members, teachers, and musicians. I have two brothers and our entire family attended church together until one after the other we boys left home after high school to start our own lives. Even then, we all continued, in our own ways, to attend church and expand our understanding of the spiritual reality of life.

     We had many spiritual moments together as a family, which I cherished then and still do in memory. Most every night we ate supper together and our family conversations covered everything. Any distinction between what was secular versus religious just never occurred to me during family activities inside or outside of home. 

     At an early age I realized that religious teachings always apply to some aspect of our daily lives. When interpreted and understood spiritually, they would result in a wisdom that would support us in living a good and productive life.  This would not only lead to a better life for us as individuals, but it would also lead to the better and more positive interactions with others. I see Christian teachings as really powerful metaphysical lessons.

     Yet, I never recall believing that God dictated the Bible or that the stories in the Bible were literal history, that Mary was actually a virgin, or that Jesus walked on water, changed water to wine, or arose from the dead. None of that was ever important to me, in any literal sense. Heaven and hell are states of mind and the results of the decisions we make, not physical locations. In fact, such literalist claims always appeared to me to demean the true spiritual message of Jesus’ life and teachings.

     Christian apologetics are meant to “rationally” defend “orthodox” fundamentalist Christian dogma. Two assumptions underlying this dogma are that if you do not believe these ideas as literally true, God (Jesus) will condemn you to hell for all eternity. However, if you do believe these concepts as literally true, you will spend eternity in heaven with God, Jesus, and all your family and friends who have preceded you there. There is nothing holy nor spiritual about this kind of thinking. It is fear-based nonsense.

     Of course, each of us is free to believe nonsense if we so choose. I choose not to. Plus, I believe there are many Christians in churches everywhere who agree with my perspective, but who are provided neither the opportunity nor the vocabulary to express what they really feel in their hearts.

     Strict fundamentalist orthodoxy parallels nicely the thinking, stories, and legends underlying the pagan, polytheistic religions of ancient Greece and Rome, but it clashes completely with Jesus’ prophetic message of accepting God's rule of love and justice. You don’t find hell-fire and damnation in Jesus’ parables. You do find in Jesus’ parables, love and practical examples of how to express that love in our daily lives. That is what God and truth and faith are really all about.

     Where did all this strange “orthodoxy” come from? It came from Paul and the members of various pre-Christian congregations who influenced the New Testament Gospel writers to write what they did. It developed further via Christian theologians and Roman law centuries after Jesus’ life. It surely did not come from Jesus. Most individuals in the first century were poor, uneducated, illiterate, pagan, and superstitious, so it was a real struggle for them to grasp Jesus’ surprising teachings of unconditional love.

     Even speculating that the actual Gospel writers were from  among Jesus’ group of poor, uneducated disciples, is absurd. The real Gospel writers are unknown, but, they were certainly literate religious specialists who wrote synagogue liturgy in Greek for their particular Jewish communities. The scriptural topics, particularly in the Synoptic Gospels, line up perfectly with the topics for the annual cycle of Jewish worship liturgy. 

     These writers drew on characters and events from Hebrew scripture to create liturgical stories about Jesus for the purpose of defining him as the long awaited Jewish Messiah.  These liturgical segments were read at the end of the appropriate weekly synagogue worship services. Eyewitness histories, they are not.

     The Gospel writers’ purpose was to insert Jesus and his teachings into the worship traditions of Judaism. Their efforts were, apparently, effective until the mid 80's CE, when the more conservative Jews succeeded in ejecting followers of  “The Way” from synagogue membership. The community for which the author of the Gospel of John wrote, probably experienced this purge. This explains his excessive criticism and condemnation of "the Jews."

     When you read the full contexts of the Old Testament passages which are used by the Gospel writers as references to Jesus as the expected Jewish Messiah, you become aware that none of these passages could have had anything to do with Jesus or Mary, or anything that was to happen in the 1st century CE. 

     Just because sincere people have been taught their whole lives that these passages are prophecies about Jesus, that doesn't make them true. Those prophecies passages are literally not about Jesus. Most ministers and priests are fully aware of these textual facts, but they fail to share this knowledge with their congregations. If they are not honest about the Bible, then what, exactly, are their motives? To me, these are highly dishonest sins of omission.

     Scholarly honesty does nothing to diminish the value of Christianity. On the contrary, it allows Christian teachings to become real, alive, and expansive in spiritual significance. Literal interpretations turn the Bible into a list of conflicting events and perspectives. Metaphysical interpretations allow us opportunities to develop personal faith based on insights into our own life experiences. It’s the personal God experience that counts, not traditional dogma or the votes on doctrine made by religious councils.

     Developing spiritual awareness and faith from Christian teachings does not require that Christianity be the only religion around, nor does it require the expression of personal hysteria. Practical Christianity is sacred primarily because it works. Orthodox Christianity is considered sacred primarily because that is the way it is promoted. It is the default perspective used by most Christian and secular media outlets. A rational Christian perspective deserves equally wide public dissemination as an alternative to irrational orthodoxy.

           To be fair, I must also say that what people believe in their hearts that drives their actions towards others is far more important than the dogma they claim to believe. I have met many fundamentalists whose desire to love God and their neighbors appears to moderate their staunch defense of orthodoxy.  I have few practical disagreements with these fine people and I support them in their spiritual journeys. However, I continue to invite them to stay closer to their hearts than to their religious doctrine.

     The basic problem with current Christian orthodoxy is that it is irrelevant. There is so much more to the Bible than being in awe of supernatural events that we need to get over that kind of thinking and get serious. We are not worthless pawns experiencing rewards and punishments doled out by a capricious, supernatural God. We have responsibilities to use our God inspired spiritual talents to run a better, kinder world. The work and the payoff are here and now. Anything less from a religious community is irresponsible and a cop-out.

The True Meaning Of Easter

     I grew up completely understanding that if Jesus' body actually did regain life after being dead for three days following his crucifixion, that was a miracle of profound significance. I had no trouble understanding that. What I did have trouble understanding was how my life, my beliefs, and actions should be different because of Jesus' demonstrated physical resurrection.

     Clearly, I was to be in awe. After all, once any of us die, as far as the best science available to us today indicates, we remain dead. Therefore, Jesus being physically resurrected proved he could defy human physiology and physics. The only modern day example of this kind of power that I could think of was that Jesus was some kind of Superman.

     Even though a child, myself, I still realized a Superman comparison was childish. Easter had to represent something more important and more real than that. What was there about Jesus' life that even after he was crucified all his followers believed he came back to life? How could that be? This was a burning question in my heart for many years.

     Then I started experiencing the world as an adult. I heard a young President Kennedy ask what I could do for my country and I was energized and committed. I heard Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. describe his dream of human peace and racial harmony and I was electrified and wanted to help make it happen. Even though both of these icons of love, peace, and personal responsibility were assassinated, neither of them has died in my heart or mind. Their messages touched eternal truths that will live in history forever.

     By all scriptural accounts, Jesus lived a life of perfect love, personified. This was expressed by writers of scripture by describing him as the "Son of God" or even "God on earth." He made those who believed they had sinned, see themselves differently. He treated others as perfect in God's eyes and they saw it, too. Such clarity of thought, mind, and soul changes and heals people's lives, their actions and even their personalities. The eternal truth and validity of these lessons is not changed one iota by the human death of the teacher. Spiritual understanding radically diminishes the importance of human events and material circumstances.

     After recovering from the personal shock of loss, Jesus' followers realized he still lived in their hearts, minds, and actions. They had experienced unconditional love and just like their spiritual wayshower, there was no human suffering that could change their commitment to express that same love and to share it with others.

     I cannot say this is what actually happened. I can only say this is what makes sense to me. I, myself, am personally committed to Jesus' teachings because I have grown to know him through my readings of the Bible and experiencing the results of his teachings in my life. Living from love is always the best option. The true meaning of Easter is personal and arises from within the sanctity of your own heart and mind.

     So, for me, even though crucified, Jesus lives!

   

There Is A Single Destination

         Our personal lives, personalities, backgrounds, and aspirations are all different, but when it comes to spiritual awareness, there appears to be a single, final destination.  That destination is, loving others, without conditions, in every moment. I believe this because of the interactions I have had with many individuals throughout my life.

       During my professional career I had opportunities to attend AA meetings with friends and acquaintances.  All of the speakers I ever heard related their experiences of first getting lost in an exhilarating and aimless life of alcohol, drugs, sex, and power, then losing all that they thought was important. Finally, they realized that all that they were doing was killing themselves. Universally, their stories of recovery involved rediscovering the truth of who they really could be, by appreciating, caring for, and loving themselves and others.

       I have met individuals who are devout Catholics, Jehovah's Witnesses, evangelical Protestant Christians, Latter Day Saints, Unitarian Universalists, Druids and, yes, even devout atheists. I may frequently disagree with their perspectives of theology, but when I talk with them about how we can help others who are in need, we tend to agree time and again. As a result, I have become less interested in opinions about theology and more interested in how individuals and religious organizations promote acquiring a loving attitude.

      Jesus’ mission wasn’t to convert anyone to Judaism, or Christianity, especially since there were no Christians in existence during his lifetime. He didn’t have any organizational or membership goals, and he didn't establish a new religion. His mission was to change individuals, inside. He encouraged all to seek God and wisdom from within, to find love in our hearts and express it outwardly, and in that way take care of everything else. 

        If you carefully look at the practical results of the teachings of all major religions, you will find love there too. Sometimes it is almost hidden underneath dogma or doctrines designed to make God’s love conditional to the tenets they teach (which it is not), but love is there.

          For me, it is not that God loves us, as if we are in one state of existence and God is somewhere else. God cannot be external to our being. God is the principle, force, and power underlying and guiding our existence. How this can be is the real mystery of life, but its reality is experienced whenever we act with loving care toward others. 

       Something happens when we drop our evolutionary shield of fear and self-centeredness and view others with compassion, empathy, and love. In these moments we cross the bridge from material dimensions to spiritual reality. God is always there. In His presence, what we tend to view as problems of material human circumstances become irrelevant and awareness of new possibilities, humility, harmony, and hope emerge.

        God’s eminence becomes evident as we love and care for one another. God is the love that inspires and fulfills us. That is why the Great Commandment is so important. If we experience God as love and make that first and foremost, we are placing love in our lives above all else and that leads us to automatically fulfilling the remaining commandments. 

         Reading Jesus’ parables we realize that is what they collectively teach. We may have all sinned, in whatever way we define that for ourselves, but all our highest spiritual destinations are the same, learning to love continually, without restrictions. The Kingdom of God is not somewhere else in time or location; it is always in our midst, ready to be accepted and expressed through us. As Matthew wrote , "Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect." (Matthew 5:48)     Let love live.