Sensing the divine

Some vague ruminations on spirituality, world religions, and mysticism. The writing is rushed and repetitive and rough, but it gets my point across well enough. The issue here is how Christianity relates to other "faiths" and such hocus-pocus as evidenced in the spiritualist/New Age movement. What about, for instance, psychics--are they really doing anything? I believe it is possible that divination and even some form of "spellcraft" is legitimate (though not necessarily advisable). I also think that the other religions are in tune with something real. There is a spiritual dimension to reality, and it connects all humans; indeed, there is a sacred "connectedness" to all creation. The source of "magic" and the source of mysticism may be different levels of that intangible world, but I think it is the same unfathomable dimension whence they hail. Humans are sensitive to this spiritual realm, and "tap into" it through mysticism, meditation, incantations, nature worship, etc. Humans have enormous mental potential, and I believe we can somehow influence the spiritual realm, and in turn effect the physical in ways inexplicable by science, and thus influence one another. The question is, does this capability, this distinct reality, stem from humanity's development? In other words, do humans make it an actual dimension? Is there something in humans that gives rise to the common experience of spirituality and mysticism?

Of course, it could all be a delusion, a spark in the human imagination that got out of control, an upset in the digestion. Maybe all the spiritual people, everyone who ever believed in a "spooky" supernatural realm, were just lying to themselves. Humans are all related and we all think alike, so it's not big surprise that we should all come up with the same quaint notions of spirits and magic and eternity. But let us just assume that there is something more than the tangible, and that the stubbornness of religion to leave us alone is a pretty good indicator of the fact. Perhaps the spiritual dimension arises from the evolutionary process by means of some kind of latent energy contained within the material spectrum... but that does not explain how it comes about, or why it should in the first place; besides, the fact of its becoming a reality tying all people together entails some preceding element or force separate from the merely physical and which somehow comes to reside in the rational agency of humans. Then the spiritual realm would be working through the physical to produce common experience. Which leads us back where we started: a separate dimension acting on the physical. That "latent energy" in the system is not the system itself. Besides, the mystery of why anything exists at all is most sensibly answered by appeal to the "supernatural"; thus we do not need to suppose that all things are simply products of natural circumstance. It is easy to imagine the physical deriving from the spiritual, carnal from numinous, but the testimony of the Judeo-Christian tradition suggests that both derive from an actual entity. (That we call God "spirit" does not necessarily mean that the spiritual realm exists alongside with God, rather than stemming from him; the unseen world is most likely "closer" to God than the physical, since it is more of a kind with God's actual essence, but still I think we should see it as a created reality. As for where God actually "dwells", that's beyond me. Maybe it is the spiritual dimension, but I suspect he's way past all of it, in a completely different category altogether.)

So what is most probably the case is that there is a realm of transcendence already at work within the universe from the beginning, penetrating the mundane sphere. Humans simply become aware of this reality, as they become aware of morals, virtue, beauty, value, etc., and this awareness can lead them to better comprehend their place in the universe, since the unseen sphere is nearer the heart of all reality. Does the ontological independence of morals and value arise from the evolutionary process--i.e., do they not come into play until the ability to reason arrives? If so, this would give the evolutionary process a deity-status, something it most certainly doesn't warrant. Rather we should envision the evolutionary process as a vehicle through which an agency wholly separate from the physical world acts upon creation, imbuing it with meaning and order and aesthetic depth. The spiritual and moral realms (and our sense of awe at the wonders of Nature) press upon us, although of course cognizance of them rises from within our merely natural brains. It can be argued that if there is no mind around to think about beauty, or goodness, or any of it, then those things simply don't exist; and while to some degree the realms of morality and spirituality reside within self-aware minds, still they reside within the physical realm itself and have from the start. These separate dimensions can be seen as deriving from God himself, just as the physical world derives from him. They serve to enhance the glory of the physical by giving it depth and mystery and purpose; they may also serve to connect it, in a sense, to God himself. And just as things in the physical world are all somehow connected, so our souls are bound in unity through the spiritual/moral dimension. There is a common experience of transcendence (and, yes, perhaps even psychic communication) that suggests something real and other than our own neurological processes. But even if we were to say that the spiritual/moral reality was something that came to be out of humanity's collective consciousness, rather than something to be accessed by brains sensitive to "otherness" and geared toward willful investigation and contemplation, that doesn't effect the testimony of the Christian message: for the Christian message, like the Jewish message which precedes it, is completely different from the other "ultimate purpose" messages.

Whereas the primordial religions and Eastern thought envision reality as a wheel, and either understand the universe as peopled by multiple gods or the universe as god or the universe as something to be abandoned, the Judeo-Christian faith envisions the universe as something progressing toward a goal. In the Abrahamic story, God breaks into creation and invites humans on a journey. This is not something humans tap into of their own accord. It begins with a sudden mysterious idea. Whether that idea grew out of long reflection or not is irrelevant. What matters is that the history of the faith has proven that it was God working through the ideas of the ancient Hebrews as they responded to this sense of destiny and purpose. God bent down as it were and took up the thoughts of a minute tribe--actually it probably did start with God "speaking" to Abram, just one curious man who had a radical notion of history as an arrow--and used those human thoughts to express his purposes for creation. God is not identifiable with the spiritual realm toward which mysticism, etc., climbs, even if that is the plane of his dwelling (if that is the case, is it a created realm?--if it is, the natural question would be, Where did God live before he made it?...and that's a genuine conundrum). God is something separate: he is an entity, an actual person. And while I believe that morality is such an absolute principle, bearing down upon us as an often unwelcome disciplinarian, that it must be laid as a foundation from the dawn of time, being rooted in the holiness of God himself, and thus is not a product, however potent, of human imagining or evolutionary miracle; and while I believe also that the spiritual experience shared by all people groups of all times (mostly) is compelling and convincing enough to warrant the claim that there is a separate reality underlying the visible, into which our souls can delve and by which our essences are all strangely tied (without compromising identity of course), and that this dimension too exists from the beginning and stems from God--while I believe these things, I do not believe that all people who live in purity or seek enlightenment are on the same path toward "salvation", much less "God". For the moral/spiritual reality is something that is simply "here" by default, and it is the lot of rational agents to experience that objective dimension and figure out how to incorporate it into daily physical existence. (Note: I'm of the inclination that morality and spirituality are separate principles. The former is purely abstract, more a groundwork, or blueprint, for how things are to go, so to speak, more a reflection of God's person; the latter is more an actual plane of being to be explored. But both function as forces external to the material that humans encounter, and both are intangible and immeasurable so they are easy to lump together.)

God, however, is not something to be stumbled upon, nor is he to be sought out with clever contemplation. He seeks us out, he enters upon the scene when we are ready to behold him and take on his dire mission. The full purposes of God for the world are not revealed through the ideals of good behavior, nor through rapturous transcendence in which one becomes lost in the "all" (the Eastern notion of losing oneself in the great thrum of universal life-force is actually probably contrary to the way spirituality is to be utilized). They are revealed by God's word speaking through humans in a certain mode, under certain circumstances, at certain times. This happens throughout the long story of Israel. How it happens is another matter altogether: but that it is God who is speaking is apparent to those whose hearts are open. Because people do seek God, and he will come to those who desire him. But the full measure of his intent, and the true shape of his nature, are only known through the faith passed down from Abraham to Christ and on to the Church.

All in all, mystical/spiritual/psychic

experience is a very bizarre phenomenon; we wonder why this enigmatic facet of reality should be at all. Where exactly does it come from? Does it come from the dark depths of the human mind? Or is it something that has always been here separate from our minds, "waiting" to be appreciated by self-aware beings? Whatever the case, I believe that it is God's will for there to be a spiritual spectrum in which all humans are connected. His plans are unfolded through that medium; his purposes are revealed by people "in touch" with spirituality. This does not mean that anyone who concentrates hard enough upon the mystery of existence will find God. It certainly does not mean that aligning yourself with nature, or whatever, by worshiping it, will get you there--if God is distinct from creation, then nothing in creation is to be hailed as sovereign but him. What it does mean is that at a particular point in history, God called out a single man or single group, using their dreams and myths and aspirations to gradually make himself known (and while the revelation may have come through a long development of reflection, I suspect that it came upon the chosen party unawares and as a source of much discomfort, something external pressing upon the consciousness). And it is that God, revealed through the Judeo-Christian faith, who is the God of creation, to whom all people must bow. Other religions may have caught glimpses of God along the way, but more likely, they have simply made contact with that overarching web of spirituality and morality that pulses through the cosmos, and have fashioned gods based on introspection and whim.

The God of Abraham is a strange, unexpected sort of deity, full of actual personality, making real demands of humans. This God is the one who rules all things, and who has a plan for bring this creation to fulfillment. This is the one and only God--and if a person desires to get "in touch" with the actual Absolute, the ultimate Source of life, then that person must call on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. I don't know to what extent people of other faiths can encounter God, but I am not so sure that their religious convictions are based upon any actual encounter with the true God at all. They could very well merely originate from that spiritual realm to which all people have access, which offers clues to the meaning of existence but nothing really definitive. In that regard, whether we see that sphere as part of creation, or as the domain of divinity itself and thus existing from beyond all worlds, we can safely say that anyone who makes inroads into the spiritual reality with a mind eager for truth, will witness some aspect of God. But it will never be as much as what God desires us to see and understand. Granted, we cannot hope to ever really understand the inner workings of reality: it is far too deep and far too wondrous. But we can know that in the person of Christ, the one who sums up the story of Israel and points toward a new world of hope, we see Truth itself embodied; we behold the face of the creator, and witness his love for us. More still, we receive his will for us.

Christ is the definitive Word, the great inbreaking of the Other into our reality. We experience his glory through both the physical and spiritual dimensions--neither of these is an end unto itself. They are mere channels for entering into the life that is in God and made open to all by Christ's work. When we trust in the power of Jesus, and when we accept him for who he is, we can put aside the silly puzzles of clairvoyance, incantation, and superstition. Magic will have no place, whether or not it is actually possible to bend the universe to your will by mere thought; we are here to work with our hands, and the spiritual effects we have are to be accomplished through prayer and supplication to God, not the attempt to get benefits without physical effort. Divination will also be ruled out--if there is a mystery to be understood, let us go to the Lord for clarity. Let us never presume to subjugate the spiritual by setting up shop on our own, deploying our mental powers to connect with the unseen realm by ritual unsupervised by doctrine. This is the descent into darkness. Mysticism can have a place in this faith, but it must be grounded in the solid conviction that Christ is Lord and that he is the clearest picture of the Father ever given. A "transcendental experience" that seeks to go deeper into that Person and so on to the Deity behind it--rather, one that yearns for that Person to draw into itself the mortal soul--can be considered legitimate; not one that flippantly expects to cut around the "man-made images" and search out the secrets of God/god/"Everything" on its own steam.