Gleanings from Richard Rohr

URBAN SUBURBAN CLERGY GROUP

PASADENA, CA

APRIL 2016

All Saints’ Church, Pasadena

Various topics addressed over 4 days

Cosmic Christ Resurrection Spiral Dynamic Theory (Wilber) Contemplative Mind Trinity

Franciscan Gleanings

John Duns Scotus: The function of good religion is to keep people free for God, but with greater difficulty, to keep God free for people. That is the best definition of religion, but church has made God iargely inaccessible.

Rob Bell: Hell is our refusal to trust God in retelling of our story of life. We refuse God’s mercy.

But there must be a choice against heaven or it is not heaven.

Hell is a separation of consciousness, not a location…

The Role of Religion

Since Constantine the Church has been more interested in transactional religion than transformational religion (Wilber)

We want to operate in rational realm, but the deepest mysteries do not reside there Love, death, suffering, God, eternity, sex—cannot be reduced to rational thought without losing the

essence of the true mystery. Hell is a transactional notion. God becomes the great condemner. Individual. Motivated by fear but really

just a state of consciousness.

We want to define the world in dualistic terms—good/bad, secular/sacred, dark/light, holy/profane, individual/community, These are false dichotomies.

The Trinity was designed to help us undo this dualistic approach to life, but we’ve mostly abandoned it, and the Church is a feeble shadow of itself.

Spiral Dynamics (or Dynamic Theory)—developmental levels of spirituality, moving beyond the dualistic world is our chief work, but very hard.

Positive vs. Negative

Negativity and fear and resentment and anger—attach like Velcro and imprint readily. They are addictive. It’s a strange attractor. It is the realm of the false self

Positivity—joy, gratitude, etc.—is like Teflon, slides off readily. A minimum of 15 seconds savoring for the brain to hold it and imprint the positive experience.

The true self doesn’t dwell in the negative realm, no need for resentment because true self resides in God’s love.

This is contemplation 101. It’s about practicing not affirming your fears… (political debate right now wrapped up in Velcro)

Negative Thoughts Hinder our True Selves

Attachment to our negativity is the biggest problem.

Beware of the victim identity.

We really have to work to acknowledge Jesus as the forgiving victim.

He neither asked for, nor did he insist on blaming those who crucified him. (despite John’s scapegoating).

Christianity did not gather around vengeance. Stephen echoes Jesus, forgive them.

Scorekeeping is spiritually bankrupt

Trinity

Genesis: “Let us create…in our image.” (plural)

Dynamic flow (interpersonal)—don’t get hung up on language (all metaphor) Father (transpersonal)

Son (personal)

Spirit (impersonal)

Jesus is the gate (a momentary expression of the Christ)

Problem: An overly sentimental understanding of Jesus whom we put on a pedestal enthroned in heaven (pulling him outside the trinity)

Solution: Cosmic Christ

Cosmic Christ

John’s prologue, Ephesians, Colossians—all hold that the real incarnation was from the beginning (not in Bethlehem)

Persona is the Greek theater stage mask that operated as a megaphone. Per-sonare, to sound through. Each was a sounding through of the other two. One direction of infinite love never-ending.

Flows to us, to all creation

Cosmic Christ is the physical material of creation in its entirety. High doctrine of creation, including you and me.

All about relationship; there is no individual, separate self (sin is disconnected from relationship)

Two Trinitarian thoughts

Exciting Times?

The collective consciousness is moving into new era, new paradigm

All is relationship, quantum entanglement, individualizing doesn’t work, nor does dualistic thought generally.

Cosmic Christ is the way, the truth, the life. But not specifically Christian (as old tribal religion, narrowly defined)

People want to be part of something larger than themselves.

CONSPIRE

CONSPIRE—a new offering at St. Mark’s

Richard Rohr and the Center for Action and Contemplation

Everything belongs. No one needs to be punished, scapegoated, or excluded. We cannot directly fight or separate ourselves from evil or untruth. Darkness becomes apparent when exposed to the Light.

Evolving into a “Wisdom School” here at St. Mark’s

Q&A…Conversation…