(Notes from a seminar with Diarmuid O'Murchu, January 19, 2007. These are some of the ideas I heard; I think they also match what our Irish friend said!)



Introduction: 'There is a new question in the Spiritual Life; it is the spirituality of the Spiritual Life itself. Life here, and the way we relate to it, rather than life to come and how we guarantee it for ourselves, has become the spiritual conundrum of our age.' (Joan Chittister, 'Heart of Flesh', 1998, p.1).


'If we can't understand creation correctly, we can't understand God correctly' (a little-used but important quote from Thomas Aquinas).


As ? O'Donahue writes: 'Belonging bountifully to the clay from which we are formed.'


Imagine two circles:


1. The Circle is titled 'Religion of Revealed Truth'. There's a triangle in the circle - at the apex God, at the bottom Church.. Me.. Prayer Life. It's the traditional model we were all brought up with.


2.The second circle has an outer rim (1) the cosmic horizon; inside that (2) Grounded in the earth; then another circle inside that - (3) Other life forms; inside and overlapping with these three: (4) three smaller circles - 'the interweaving/interdependence of all life forms. Then an inner circle (5) which overlaps with each of the three life forms circles - People in the web of belonging.


Contemporary Definitions of Spirituality:


* Spirituality is concerned with the spiritual life which is today understood as the vital, ongoing interaction between the human spirit and the Spirit of God, with both poles receiving equal attention and the focus being on the fact, the modality, the process, the effects, the finality of the interaction itself. (Andra M. Schneiders). Note: Read Denis Edwards on the Holy Spirit.


* Spirituality is the aspect of human existence that explores the subtle forces of energy in and around us and reveals to us profound interconnectedness. (Charlene Spretnak). Note: scientists can't define 'energy' without going into metaphysics - or what we're calling spirituality.


* Spirituality is the relational component of lived experience. (Katharine Zappone). Note: this is not specifically religious. Note: 'Spiritual accompaniment' is a better term than 'Spiritual Direction'.


HOMECOMING: the spiritual metaphor of the future


* Coming home to our cosmic and planetary identity
* Coming home to our species-spiritual story of some 6m years (possibly 7m)

* Coming home from separation to the web of relationality
* Coming home to ourselves as people of soul
* Coming home in the rediscovery of creative ritual
* Coming home to the wisdom of the feminine


Notes:


* You do have an aura - surrounding your whole body to about 1 ½ feet (when a leg is amputated, the leg's aura remains in the Kirlian photo).


* Re 7m years: see the article on our website titled Father of us all?


* Re 'soul' - see the work of James Hillman and Thomas More (Care for the Soul): note their emphasis on the extraordinary sacredness of the most ordinary things.


Back to the two circles/models: the first emphasises autonomy, self-reliance, atavistic living, separateness, rationality, individuality. The second - relational, open, interdependent, connectedness, intuition, organism. 'I am at all times the sum of my relationships and that's what gives me identity. 'Who are you?' John the Baptist asked Jesus, who answered by pointing away from himself.


'We depend on each other for the health of our immune system - look up psychoneurophysiology.'


'Sunlight is the greatest single Eucharistic gift in the universe'.


Our aim is to move away from the alienation/estrangement of personal/ impersonal dualism, towards the transpersonal.


Finally. 'unconditional love always wins out'.


Some References:


Elizabeth Dreyer & Mark Burrows eds., (2005), Minding the Spirit: the Study of Spirituality
Robert Forman (2004), Grassroots Spirituality
Diarmuid O'Murchu (2003), Evolutionary Faith, and Catching up with Jesus
Jeremy Carrette & Robert King (2004), Selling Spirituality.



Rowland Croucher
January 20, 2007