Within 24 hours Grace was sitting in the CEO’s office at Self Incorporated’s crystal like headquarters.

In front of her stood an anxious Will, accompanied by a young stranger who looked vaguely familiar.

‘Will, you can relax – I’m here to take a big load off your shoulders.’

Will wasn’t sure what that meant, tending to the belief that he was about to take his place among the great mass of unemployed that walked the streets of broken humanity.

‘Come here’, Grace whispered firmly, beckoning the shell-shocked executive closer with an outstretched arm.

What happened next was not what Will had expected.

Getting up from her classy CEO chair Grace flung her arms around Will as she began to cry.

‘Thank you Will for trying to keep ‘Self’ afloat in the absence of Ruach.’

A stunned Will automatically fell to his knees, sobbing deeply as he collapsed further into a crumpled heap on the luxury pile carpet. A long angst filled wail eerily pierced the surreal atmosphere as Will felt the burdens of the past months fall away, replaced by a lightness flooding back into his dark empty being.

Glancing upwards Will could just make out the form of the stranger leaning over him as he became aware of his salty tears trickling their way onto his parched tongue. Somehow he sensed a familiar energy flowing from this man, now embracing him in his brokenness. Where had he felt this strange connection before?

‘Will, I want to introduce you to someone; meet Rukah, Ruach’s younger brother. He’ll be taking over his position as from today.’

Yes, now it all fell into place; the strange knowing and even stranger flow of energy. Will had first felt it, the day ‘Self’ had been launched; an introductory handshake from Ruach being the channel for the empowering Life surge. During their time together in management it had never left him.

As Will tentatively rose to his feet a new management team was birthed that would restore the fortunes of ‘Life Incorporated’. Will’s gifts would come back into play alongside the new boy Rukah and the wise oversight of Grace Sophia.

‘And now gentlemen, let’s go see my workers. Will, you lead the way.’

As the three executives walked onto the shop floor, the employees of  ’Self Inc.’ couldn’t believe their eyes. They’d never expected to see their founder Grace once more walking among them. Their hearts were pulled this way and that by the turbulence of conflicting emotions; the fear of losing their jobs and the sheer relief at seeing the missing entrepreneur back in their midst. The stranger and a freshly confident Will, only added a sense of puzzlement to the psychic cocktail.

Grace looked around the hushed gathering with a knowing gaze before striding purposefully towards the recent participants of the shop floor confusion. Her dancing eyes sparkled as she unexpectedly reached out her hand to each and every one of them, ignoring the reflexive stuttering, that attempted to issue from their dry mouths. Words, however, seemed meaningless in the reactivated chemistry that once more flowed between ‘Self Inc.’s’ founder and her creative and skillful workforce.

As if by magic a harmonious cry rang out, echoing its way around the shiny factory walls.

‘Welcome back mam. We’re sorry we let you down. You know we’re proud to work for you.’

And so the once great company was reborn; a restored enterprise in creativity and unity.

Of course changes were made. Grace granted the workforce an even greater role than before, each employee enjoying the freedom to walk into her office and share his/her creative ideas for ‘Self Inc.’ Rukah and Will unsurprisingly hit it off together as Grace’s charisma flowed through the pair to permeate the whole company.

Competitors were amazed; ‘Self Incorporated’ were well and truly back in business; back where they belonged.

For those of us who’ve entered onto the spiritual path following an encounter with ‘Other’ a few pertinent questions regarding the role of will may need answered. These are:

How does the Divine Will interface with human will?

and secondly

What psycho-spiritual role does our will play within the complexity of our internal wiring?

In this chapter I want to explore some possible answers to these two questions through the medium of parable.

Here goes.

Once upon a time there lived a dynamic entrepreneur named  Grace Sophia; a charismatic inventor who had come up with some of the most mind-boggling creations ever seen in her world.

People said that they couldn’t remember a time when Grace wasn’t doing her thing; she appeared ageless having been at the top of her game for as long as the businesses world existed.

Grace’s pride and joy was her flagship company ‘Self Incorporated’ which when launched into the world of Cosmic marketing, had quickly risen to the coveted number one position in its field. The opposition was flabbergasted!

With multi-directional creativity bursting from her fingertips Grace quickly handed over the oversight of her pride and joy enterprise to her newly appointed talented CEO Ruach. He appeared to be a chip off the old block in the eyes of many of Grace’s competitors; an exciting and spirited pioneer with a love for the product and the workforce.

Employed by ‘Self’ as its day-to-day, hands-on manager was Will, an altogether different kettle of fish from both Grace and her delegated protegé Ruach. Decisive and with great organizational skill Will complemented the flamboyant visionary gifts of his new appointed CEO. Corporate commentators interested in the fortunes of Self Inc., wisely observed that the boardroom pairing seemed like a match made in heaven.

Self’s workforce was the hidden jewel of the company; a well motivated group of skilled artisans who thoroughly enjoyed working for the Sophia brand, rolling her exemplary products off the production line.

At first all went well for this most innovative of companies, mainly as a result of the high levels of industrial harmony that permeated all aspects of its complex operations.

Sadly however it was not to last.

One Monday morning Will received a call from Ruach’s wife informing him that her husband had been taken ill overnight and rushed to the intensive care unit of the local hospital. A severe heart attack had been diagnosed. Ruach’s doctors had recommended that he take a break from ‘Self’ for the forseeable future. Grace had already authorised Will’s promotion as acting CEO of her flagship company.

News of Ruach’s departure, hit the workforce badly. Within a few weeks, questioning and dissension began to break out within the Self shop floor. A disconcerting rivalry began to spread, virus like, among the previously harmonious team.

Will himself, having previously been a decisive manager when yoked with the inspirational Ruach, began to have trouble making simple decisions. On most days Will, now uncharacteristically insecure in his new CEO position, called in the most vocal members of the shop floor for their advice. Unfortunately such consultations became the battlefield for warring hotheads, with Will being dragged to and fro across the fractious terrain in the struggle of the workers’ soul. Will was now a shadow of his former self ; a puppet pulled by the all too obvious strings of his workers’ fragmented desire; an executive being slowly executed by the rumblings of those in his care.

Unsurprisingly it wasn’t long before such a topsy-turvy situation brought the once proud company to its knees, as output fell and Self began to tumble-down the market share rankings.

Unfortunately, the once decisive Will had surrendered his position as Grace’s representative to the strong personalities among the now out of control rivalrous employees.

Word of Self Incorporated’s rapid demise quickly got back to Grace.

She shed a tear before purposely picking up her cell phone.

It was time to exercise her Will.

To be continued …………

We discovered that much of what occurs in relationships, benignly termed ‘friendships’ is no more than a mutual exchange of emotional goods, an attachment or agreement, if you like, between soul traders. As soon as one party acquires all his/her psychological needs or finds a more productive source elsewhere the so called friendship comes to an end.

An unexpected breakdown in the cosy world of friendships is, paradoxically, the time when true, authentic friendships have the opportunity to appear. As the drug-like attachment is painfully broken the individual concerned is open, perhaps for the first time, to the ‘Other’, a Source seemingly outside the world of man, a transcendent immanence that lies within.

Once such an awakening occurs, others with similar experiences may begin to gravitate towards the newly enlightened soul with the purpose of sharing his/her life. Thus a friendship is formed, not one dependant on the mutual stroking of fragmented egos, but one based upon a common life flow from the Other.

Needless to say, such relationships avoid the subliminal manipulation and power play games of the majority of human interactions. Instead, both parties are content to eat of the Father’s table and channel the Divine acceptance outwards towards the other.

So what then is a Gaelic Anam Cara; a Soul Friend?

Is it more than the authentic friend discussed above?

I believe so!

In my personal experience a Soul Friend is, if you like, a Special Forces operative in the Friendship Army; indeed, a specialist Paratrooper to boot.

Let me explain.

Our Soul Friends generally drop into our lives from out of nowhere, just at the right time, seemingly acting out a pre-scripted heavenly drama.

Unlike our more conventional friends, an Anam Cara appears to have had an almost identical experience to ourselves in their search for Self and Divine Love.

This close identity is manifested in the totally unconditional acceptance that flows between the two individuals concerned.

Such a friendship doesn’t require high maintenance – it’s appears as if the hard work has already been carried out in a higher plane of existence.

Subliminal rivalry cannot destroy such special friendships, both parties possessing a great immunity to the destructive inter-personal force.

Like Special Forces the Soul Friend has a finely honed set of skills ready to bring into the friendship mix.

These are:

Vision – a clear view of the Big Picture, the ability to see why the friendship exists and where they are both heading in the Divine Journey.

Wisdom – a seemingly effortless flow of Spirit knowledge for encouraging their friend on the Way; the practical outworking of Divine Love in the individual’s day to day life.

Compassion – the ability to feel the other’s pain in shadow valleys and the will to help in any way possible.

Trust – the unusual ability to allow Divine Love to carry them on the River of Life; a quality that ignites the same reaction in their friend.

Is an Anam Cara a spiritual director or master to their disciple friend?

I believe not.

There is no master/disciple dichotomy in the relationship with a Soul Friend. In other words Soul Friends come in pairs, Special Forces friends for each other, thus avoiding the dangers of control in the mutual relationship flow.

The unique thing about our Anam Cara is that time and/or geographical relocation doesn’t diminish the nature of the friendship – it appears that the spirit resonance or vibration that knits such souls is permanent, ready to be reactivated when required. A bit like the psychic connection between identical twins the respective Soul Friends appear to share a spiritual DNA. Hence the fear of losing an Anam Cara is groundless; they just don’t go away, unlike many of our passing friendships.

Divine Love realises that the path to Self Knowledge and Divine Communion can be a lonely one. Indeed, each of us must ultimately make that journey alone but thankfully there is help along the way.

Open your heart and look up for he/she may just be about to parachute into your world.

An angel by any other name.

I would like to dedicate this post to my personal Anam Cara, Stephen Hill, a true Soul Brother, living in beautiful New Zealand, a world away from my Lincolnshire home. May Divine Presence cover and saturate him and his wee family.

When you and I see three Wild Geese flying overhead, we admire them as wonders of the Natural world. The Celts would have seen their sudden appearance much differently, interpreting them as a Divine confirmation of the Spirit’s Presence and guidance on the Way.

In such a mystical tradition the notion of an Anam Cara or Soul Friend was birthed; one to accompany us on our deeply personal Journey of Discovery.

A friend, yes, but not just a friend.

A fellow traveler on the River of Spirit, a companion that feeds the Soul, encouraging us Homeward to Source and the Celtic Land of Eternal Youth.

In this first post in the series I want to concentrate on the general concept of friendship.

The ‘Soul Friend’ or ‘specialized friendship’ I will tackle in my second post.

Thankfully we all have, or have had, friends during our earthly sojourn.

Most friendships blossom, flourish and die as life’s circumstances carry us far apart.

If we examine our past friendships more closely, we might shockingly discover that they were merely mutual appreciation trade offs whereby each of us received something from the other that we strongly craved. Once we or our friend received the desired psychological goodies or found a more dependable or indeed gullible supplier, the friendship faded away or exploded into all out war.

I suspect that much of what we label as friendship is, in fact, a codependency operating within a mutual desire matrix; one that often ends up in tears and the corpse of a broken relationship.

What is the nature of genuine friendship then?

I believe it to be an open relationship between two individuals who’ve realised that the answer to their emotional and psychological needs lie, not with each other, but within a common Source.

Yeshua appears to have travelled with His band of  ’disciples’ or ‘learners’ for  2 to 3 years. A long time for a group of mature men to have lived within a Master/Disciple matrix.

Were Peter, James and John friends with Yeshua during this period?

Apparently not, according to Yeshua Himself.

In John’s account of their life together it was only in the latter days of  their togetherness that Yeshua unilaterally declared them friends.

Why?

Yeshua suggests that they were now His ‘friends’ because they’d learnt to keep His two commandments:

Loving the Divinity with all their emotional and psychological sense of Being

and

Loving their neighbors as their own Selves

In other words, through contact with Yeshua, the disciples had finally realised that they were freely accepted by Divine Love.

From this revolutionary revelation a returning Love flowed back towards the Divine Source,  the individual’s ‘I’ Self, and hence outwards in the direction of the other. A realignment of the creative Love Triangle.

Such an understanding of Divine Love opened up the new Friendship between God  and Man; the Master Servant relationship being consigned to the annuls of religious effort. Interestingly, when the role of discipleship is strongly emphasised in a modern religious context do we not catch a glimpse of a preschool level of  God understanding?

I believe so!

Subsequently is not true friendship that connection of spirit that flows between two or more enlightened or ‘born from above’ Souls.

Like a good marriage are they not made in Heaven?

I love interacting with you all and have enjoyed hearing details of your personal Journeys into Divine Love.

Something is definitely stirring in the affairs of man across the Planet – it’s drawing together all those with an open and honest heart. I believe that an informal network of seekers is taking shape world-wide – a network of equals without the need for guru, method or organizational structures – a living organism that pulsates with the vibrant creativity and compassion of Source as revealed by Yeshua and all enlightened teachers.

Over the Christmas holidays I hope to write on two topics that are presently stirring in my own psyche; ‘Soul friends’ and ‘The Will’s role in the spiritual life’. I hope the posts bring some fresh thinking on these two important features of our Journey Home.

May you have a blessed, restful and authentic Christmas period enjoying the healing of your own particular holy day.

Blessings

Dylan

We saw that for some this healing process may require dramatic intervention in the form of:

1) Monist meditation

2) Psychotherapy

Strangely both these approaches have something in common, viz. the non judgemental observer or authentic unifying centre.

Within the Monist tradition this new kid on the block is internal; the One who views the rantings and ravings of the fractured psyche as a neutral and somewhat detached observer.

Within Psychotherapy this important role is initially external with the therapist acting as a loving greeter to the emerging subpersonalities. The goal of successful therapy is to switch this vital job description to the latent ‘I’ within.

I believe that these seemingly different approaches are, perhaps without their mutual acknowledgement, taking the individual on the same journey – the destination being this mysterious introduction to the ‘other’ within.

Who or what is this one whom we meet deep within the caverns of our Being?

I believe it to be spirit-breath that accompanies us through birth into the world of consciousness and matter. In its essence it’s a fruit of the Divine Tree, a spark from the Divine Fire, of the same nature as the All encompassing One, the One in whom we live and move and have our Being.

During the Journey this human spirit has been waiting patiently for our fractured psyche to run its course; for the energetic ego to exhaust itself before bowing down in a desperate surrender.

This Transpersonal Self or ‘I’ dwells on the boundary of two worlds, like the border post between two realms of reality; the gatekeeper to Ultimate Reality, to Divine Love itself. From my own experience I believe it sits at the apex of our Higher Unconscious, the foothills of the Mountain Range that we call Divinity.

Once we’ve encountered our spirit I, we can never be the same again. For this ‘stranger’ within introduces us to the One from whom we came – Holy Breath/Wind/Spirit , like a Royal Prince sweeps through the spirit gateway to flood us with a sense of Homecoming. The connection is complete as we’re embraced in the arms of the Love that desires to rush through and embrace our returning fledgling psyche – Soul.

Divine flow is once more restored; the dynamic intimacy of Source realigns the very fiber of our Being. Our restored psychic Soul family reflects and is cared for by the Unity of  our core ‘I’, who in turn reflects the very nature of the One, referred to by Yeshua as Father. Even our frail bodies, stressed and damaged by our previously warring subpersonalities finally take their place in the Divine Life flow as a new sense of  health and equilbrium replace the reflected disease of soul.

Now that’s what I call ‘Salvation’.

In this post I’d like to have a look at those of us who’ve never experienced an encounter with ‘Other’, at least knowingly, only to travel through life trying to find a satisfying sense of Self.

As youngsters, the sense of ‘I’ or ‘Me’ depends much on the authentication of our Being through the mirroring of unconditional love by our significant others, usually our parents. The developing Self continually desires such approval from those who claim, in their best moments, to ‘love’ us. Perfect parents and a non judgemental environment would, I believe, result in a well-rounded sense of  ’I’ that would in return  flow outwards in unconditional love.

However, no matter how successfully the parental reflection of ‘You’re OK’ occurs, no-one is able to love as the Divine due to their own psychic wounding. Unfortunately facing the resulting trauma of conditional love and its inherent rejection, our developing psyches create defense mechanisms in order to cope with the pain of non-being.

These mechanisms take the form of  ’sub-personalities’, fragmented splinters of the developing psyche that split off from the growing Oneness of I, following the trauma of rejection and apparent non being. Such sub-personalities are extremely powerful, with a level of ingenuity that attempts to dull the pain of our authenticator’s guilty verdict. Over the course of our childhood’s formative years, these little highly significant sub-personalities coalesce as familial clusters  of psychic gangs that defend our now highly sensitive Self against a repetition of our initial or primal wounding.

And so we head off into adolescence and adulthood on the back foot, under the collective authority of the recently fractured psyche/soul ~ the ego. Fight or flight becomes the order of the day as the world is re-interpreted as an unsafe and dangerous territory for the individual to dwell. Ego sets out on its restless search for a secure resting place, piling up as much money, sex or power as it can on the tortuous journey called life.

Sadly many of us run frantically through our fear filled years until death itself grants us a terrifying, if effective reprieve from the tyranny of the ever entrenched ego.

Others of us, disarmed by a series of transpersonal crises, finally collapse along with our exhausted egos, wondering for perhaps the first time who or what we essentially are. Such is the result of much self-induced suffering, the momentarily stunning of the ego, a time for deep reflection on the frantic human treadmill.

At times like this, many of us change the direction and pace of our walk towards meaning. A fleeting glimpse of a healed and integrated psyche is tantalizingly held before us as we begin the quest for a new Holy Grail, the Divine gift of Self.

Such a search usually results in a change of  circumstances viz new job, new relationships, new attitudes to money, leisure time etc. For some the adjustments are moderate, for others dramatic.

I see those in the dramatic category heading into one of two paths:

1) Monist philosophy

2) Psychotherapy.

Many coming from a non religious background are attracted to the Oneness message of much modern spirituality. The growth of the Mind, Body, Spirit genre over the last 20 years or so is nothing less than breathtaking. Western interpretations of Eastern Monist philosophy such as Buddhism have provided a strong sense of Self for those seeking a rediscovery of their essential essence.

The journey within as practiced through meditation or mindfulness detaches the individual from the vestiges of their fragmented ego, finding A Self that is in touch with all things, indeed is All Things. What is this observer Self that such monists value? Where did it come from and what is its nature?

Others follow the demanding route developed by the fathers of 20th century psychotherapy and its post modern offshoots. Having personal experience of Roberto Assagioli’s  ’Psychosynthesis’ therapy I shall briefly outline its designated journey towards a new awareness of Self.

Here the subconscious cellar in which our subpersonalities lurk is examined via the aid of the talking therapies and their visual derivatives. Finding our so called ‘hidden demons’ and exposing them to the authenticative acceptance of the therapist slowly begins the reintegration of our fragmented psyche.

Thus begins a journey of redundancy for the defenders of the wounded Self. If the unconditional love that the undeveloped soul has craved for since birth is now available then the paralysing security of the sub-personality is no longer required. Instead the psychic gang clusters are embraced one by one thus deactivating their power to cause havoc in the darkness of our repressed memories and emotions.

The naming of our individual subpersonalities and tracing the circumstances of their birth rob them of their compulsive power, rendering them like the exorcised Gaderine demoniac, ready to reintegrate into the internal psychic family. Gathering around the table of the Soul, each reformed subpersonality is now welcomed and embraced for its gifts and contribution to the psychic Whole.

Who acts as host to this long sought after reconciliation?

It is I believe the newly recognized ‘I’, the very same detached observer of Oneness of the Monist tradition.

This recently discovered Transpersonal or Higher Self eventually takes over the authenticative role of the therapist, who has hot-wired the whole process of inner healing.

What is the nature and origin of this ‘I’ that plays such an essential role in the rediscovery and reintegration of the fractured psyche?

For that answer we shall have to wait for my next post.

Is there a road map that can help us make sense of where we’re personally and presently heading?

Here is my offering to the human  Sat Nav dilemma.

The simpler the road map the easier it is for us to get our bearings on the seeming complexities of our journey through time.

I believe that life may be viewed as a continuum along which we travel. Paradoxically at each end of the spectrum lie our destinations.

At one end of the Journey lies the Divine, the Source of our being, the womb from which we originally emerged.

At the other end lies our Soul Self or psyche, the total sum of our consciousness.

Where are we at any one instant in our pilgrimage?

May I suggest that we’re either heading towards the Divine or towards our Self.

In this post I want to look at the Journey towards the Soul Self for those who have already encountered their version of the Divine. In my next post I’ll examine the Journey of those who encounter the Soul Self prior to the Divine.

If we’re honest most of us religious devotees haven’t much of an idea of who we are. All we know is that God loves us to some extent depending on how we view the nature of that Love – conditional or unconditional. Unfortunately such an ‘us’ is usually identified as a redeemed sinner, who is lucky to have accepted the Divine offer of reconciliation, or a child of God who’s never seen their Father. If we’ve had a spiritual experience or conversion we momentarily enjoy a new identity that instantaneously initiated into us into the mystical ‘Body of Christ’ before joining its fleshed out manifestation, a religious organization known commonly as a ‘good church’.

Our newly birthed identity with the Divine is quickly absorbed and ultimately replaced by a new ‘Self Image’, that of a committed and loyal church member. Before long our old nonreligious self is deprogrammed, reckoned dead and buried  deep within the vaults of our unconscious. Our new zealous persona, now firmly installed in the driving seat, looks forward to a bright and blessed future.

Depending on the nature of our religious observance, such a paradigm shift generally works for a while. Empowered with a zealous energy we celebrate our new life, as defined through the teaching specs of our particular sect.

Does such a process deny the genuineness of our initial and perhaps continuing encounters with the ‘Other’?

I don’t believe so.

Yet, Divine Spirit is now strangely hampered in the healing and restoration of our true Soul Self, the reintegration of our fragmented psyche. Repressed by the stoicism of ‘sacrificial’ teaching the cracked psyche lies trapped in the darkness of our lower unconscious waiting for permission to emerge into the Light.

During this time of denial, the usurper or religious ego puts a brave face on things, cranking up the amount of blood, sweat and tears it can muster to convince itself that it is indeed a new creature. All the while the wounded Soul Self shuffles around in the basement of our unconscious waiting for liberation and acceptance.

Where is Divine Spirit during this religious performance?

Simply waiting for, and yet orchestrating events towards, one end.

Honesty.

Honesty is the gifted key that unlocks our prison of Denial.

How do we get to that place of honesty?

In my own experience it came through the brokenness of a transpersonal crisis – a stripping away of the religious self and its false confidence. My personal key to freedom was cleverly placed by Spirit at the end of my rope, a place of seeming abandonment and nervous exhaustion.

The Divine embrace of one’s recently released fragmented psyche parallels that of the Father’s in Yeshua’s tale of the Prodigal. Only when he came to himSELF was the religiously trained boy able to run back home into the arms of Divine Love. Was his prior rebellion just a frantic search for Soul Self, the missing piece of the Journey’s jigsaw? Does the revelation of Self follow the burn out of the desire driven ego? Something to ask ourselves.

Which end of the spectrum are you presently heading for? If Soul Self, remember that, contrary to much religious teaching, it too is welcomed into Divine harmony to be a healed companion on the Way.

In Nature mysticism we experience an often unexpected connection with something seemingly outside us – the created Universe.

In Monist mysticism we sense that we’re a part of the ‘All’; mankind, the Cosmos and the invisible energy matrix that appears, according to ancient tradition and modern quantum theory, to permeate our perceived reality.

Is this the sum totality of the mystical connections which many of us experience but are often reticent to publicly acknowledge?

I believe not.

May I introduce the third type of mysticism that has a long history in the affairs of man, viz. theistic mysticism.

Simply put, this ancient form of mysticism proclaims encounters with a ‘theos’ or god.

What makes this different from the Oneness mysticism of much Eastern religion and contemporary spirituality?

Instead of the ‘All is God’  Monist explanation for the mystical experience, the theistic mystic paradoxically claims an internal ‘union’ rather than an identity with the transcendent ‘Other’. There’s a subtle difference here from Monist thought that can be easily overlooked.

The best way to describe such a difference is in terms of relationship. For love to exist, there must be an object and a subject. One who gives love and one who receives that love.

Saul of Tarsus, not one renowned for his overt sexuality, describes how a man and a woman become one spirit as a result of their physical union during the act of sexual intercourse. Theirs is the intimate union of two separate individuals, not a merging towards an existential oneness where the eradication of the individuality occurs.

Perhaps then it’s no surprise that Saul, paints the relationship of the early Yeshua followers to their master as a ‘marriage’ literally made in the Heavens, e.g. the wedding feast of the Lamb.

Why then do we often resonate with the pantheist view of the inherent oneness of all created things even if their Divine Source is in some way separate?

Why do some experience the ‘God within’ (immanence) whilst others, like the medieval author of ‘The Cloud of Unknowing” search for a Transcendence without?

This dichotomy has puzzled many mystical thinkers since the dawn of religious thought..

Yet there is a solution – ‘Panentheism’

Translated from the Greek it literally means ‘All in God’

How is this ‘All in God’ different from the ‘All is God’ of ancient and modern pantheism?

Lets look at two simple analogies that help describe panentheism.

1) Concentric circles.

Imagine two circles; one large one with a smaller one lying totally inside, sharing the same centre.

The larger, all-embracing circle represents the Divinity or God who created and sourced the smaller circle within, viz. the Cosmos.

Hence the Cosmos, including mankind, is in some mysterious manner contained in the Divinity but not identical to it. This I believe helps explain our experiences of Spirit within and our strong sense of connection with all created things – we all lie within the same Divinely manifested inner circle of Creation, that is imbued with an essence of the Divine.

Meister Eckhart, the German medieval Catholic theologian talk of the ‘divine spark within’ all mankind. Could he be referring to the human spirit or ‘I’ that is inextricably linked to our Divine Source – the common centre of the Divine and humankind? Is this what the Genesis allegory is suggesting when it places the words ‘ Let us make man in our own image’ in the mouth of the Creator God?

In contrast pantheistic thought claims only one circle rather than the two of panentheism.

2) The saturated sponge

Think of a sponge that is floating in the depths of the watery ocean.

It is in the ocean.

It contains the essence of the ocean, i.e. water ; in other words the ocean is in it even if in a limited manner.

Yet although a union of sorts exists, the sponge, saturated as it is, is not identical to its ocean host.

Such is the theistic mystics experience with the Divine. A powerful sense of union with the Divine without the loss of individual Being.

Interestingly, theistic mysticism and panentheism  have played significant roles in the development of early Hinduism. In the  Bhagavad Gita, a sacred Hindu scripture, Lord Krishna, an avatar of the Supreme God Vishnu, gives advice to a king who has many philosophical concerns about going to war. Over time Hinduism’s Supreme Deity evolved into a polytheistic pantheon of sub gods, eventually resulting in disillusioned seekers like the Buddha seeking enlightenment free of  any divine intrusion.

Sufism too, within the Islamic tradition, has represented the theistic mystical strand that many of the other monotheistic religions share. e.g. the Temple cult tradition within Judaism and the Greek influenced mysticism of both Western and Eastern Christianity. All, primarily emphasize the ‘experience’ of God above the conceptual ‘knowledge’ about God and in doing so share many similar mystical experiences.

Where does this leave us in our search for the Divine?

Simply that the mystical journey may take us through many landscapes or philosophical paradigms but we shall know when we met the ‘Other’ on the way. In CS Lewis’ ‘The Last Battle’ an ‘enemy’ of  the Narnians is dumfounded that he is accepted into the Higher Country by Aslan, the victorious mystical Lion.

‘In following Tash, you were following me’ reassures the magnificent Lion, thus blowing apart the dualistic barriers of religion for all time.

May we all experience union with Divine Love before the darkened mirror of our earthly sojourn is removed; when we shall all know as we are known.

Leading on from this common. if albeit often unrecognized, experience lies Monism or Oneness mysticism.

Monist mysticism simply states that ‘All is One’ – that, in some mysterious way, all that can be seen and all that lies unseen is One. This clearly goes against the grain of rationalistic and scientific classification that we’ve been programmed with in the West.

Monist mystical philosophy appears to have originated in many of the world’s religions, yet surprisingly takes on different forms through the evolutionary process.

Pantheism is one such label on this mystical Oneness. Literally translated from the Greek is says ‘All is God’ – in other words the whole of the Universe is in some way God or Ultimate Reality. By inference, this includes mankind who, despite appearances to the contrary, are in fact, underneath all the strife and turmoil a manifestation of Being.

Pantheistic thought can be found in Hinduism, one of the earliest religious systems to have evolved in the Indus plain, in modern Pakistan. Although theistic in some of its original thought forms , Hinduism is really saying that Braham or cosmic Being is All. The soul part of us is known as  Atman, which will dissolve back into Brahman at death.

‘Thou art That’ is the oft quoted phrase that characterizes the identity of the apparent individual with All. In the works of 8th century Hindu mystic Sankara, this non – duality approach to existence peaks in the development of ‘a-dvaita’ or ‘not -two’ thought. This interprets life as a unity, with good/evil and all such dualistic pairings as a misperception of  Reality. Such teachings are extremely popular in the post modern West where we have grown tired of  dualistic struggle’both within and without; in other words we hunger and thirst for the peace that issues from Oneness.

Strangely it is Buddhism which has made Pantheistic thought its central belief. Why ‘strangely’? Well Buddhism doesn’t believe in an external ‘theos’ or deity but still comes under the philosophical umbrella of  pantheism believing that Oneness is the source of happiness. Buddhism’s main focus is the Oneness within, a type of soul mysticism that seeks the Source of all within the turmoil of the fractured human psyche. All suffering results from psychological attachments and only contact with ‘the Void’ – the focal birthplace of personal and Cosmic Being can lead to a reintegration of the world within and its resultant peace.

Such mystical experiences of Oneness through meditation, yoga etc is, I believe a lot healthier than the rigid dualism of much of much fundamentalist religion and the inherent violence that it produces. Many in the modern Spiritual movement have found contentment and connection with a ‘Presence’ and a greater love for their fellow-man, including a passion for ecological issues.

Personally, I believe that Monist mysticism has much to teach us about the unified Self – a psychological form of healing that many of us need to experience.It also has much to teach us about our connection with ‘others’ and with the natural world.

And yet, is that it? Are we  only manifestations of an impersonal energy field, without personality or will. Is the Presence encountered in mysticism only the Higher Self or Something or Someone connected to but greater than the nature of  both inner and outer worlds?

Next time we shall have a look at ‘theistic’ mysticism and its subtle but perhaps important differences in regard to its Nature and Monist cousins.