Tag Archives: mysticism

A brief summary of my spiritual quest

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sunsetBackground of this post:
These words were taken from a 2011 email to the director of Lipscomb University‘s relatively progressive Center for Spiritual Renewal, with whom I had recently reconnected at a Lindsley Avenue Church of Christ speaking engagement in March 2011. For some reason, I decided to give the director a brief account of why I am no longer a member of a conservative Protestant Christian congregation. C.M. never did receive my email due to a technical issue, and I did not resend it. More recently, C.M. returned to Lindsley Avenue Church (March 2012); I was in attendance as a guest of Steve Garrett, the minister — so C.M. and I talked again, this time setting a firm time and date for an April 2012 appointment!

Art, sketches
The sketches on this page are drawings or caricatures of Bible teachers at then-David Lipscomb University in the early 1980s. I hope Lipscomb readers will enjoy these, and good luck in guessing their identities…

Taking a risk: Being more open about locally controversial beliefs

Critically — personally, at least — this is the first time these "highly controversial" subjects will be discussed in detail by this writer with a prominent Nashville conservative (fundamentalist) Christian. Why have I decided to become so open about this, even to the point of risking total rejection and reprimand from someone who knows my folks? It is also very important to note that I have kept my opinions — including these writings — largely hidden from most conservative Christians — including my family, close friends of the family, Lipscomb University officials, church members, and so on.

Such secrecy about one’s religious beliefs will surely sound silly, or even ludicrous, to some readers; however, let me assure you that religious beliefs are no small thing within the local circles of Lipscomb University and community Churches of Christ. When one raised as I was, in a family of relative prominence, leaving the church is considered to be a scandal in some eyes!

It might have been much more serious, had I been vocal about my evolving religious and spiritual beliefs while my father still served as an elder in a large local Church of Christ. Technically speaking — and depending upon the degree of literal Bible interpretation by the other elders, deacons, and even the members of that particular church congregation — having an "unbelieving" son would have required his resignation from the eldership… no trivial matter.

So I kept quiet about my "different" beliefs for a decade and a half. Only recently — the last couple of years or so — have I begun to publish articles about religion and spirituality. Even then, as you may have noticed, the name of the author is Samana. (Samana is not my name!)

sketch by Stephen Frasier: Tom Holland, Bible teacher at David Lipscomb University and preacher Nashville, TN in the 1980sI have spent much of my life carefully studying religion and spirituality, their contrasts, how religion and spirituality relate to science, history, philosophy, and numerous other subjects, etc. In a sense, the seriousness and depth of my ongoing spiritual quest (largely held close to the vest) and the related experiences have been a roller-coaster ride!

To me, nothing is more important in life than the quest for spiritual truth and development; interestingly, this opinion has been one of few to successfully carry over from my early, frequent exposure to Nashville-style religious fundamentalism!

As a tween or early teen, I sensed — on a deep, personal level — that there was something missing from the legalistic, fundamentalist worldview to which everyone in my ken seemed to subscribe. I seemed to be more curious than the average young parishioner. While others seemed content to accept all the religious teachings and dogma at face value while refraining from asking the notoriously “difficult” questions that plague religion (evolution, origin and nature of evil, et al), I was not prepared to blindly follow them. I had an earnest, unrelenting desire to conduct independent, relatively objective research in order to confirm the teachings of the church, and in the process, hopefully reassure myself that what we were being taught at school and church was congruent with reality and truth.

sketch by Stephen Frasier - Bible teacher at David Lipscomb University in Nashville, TN in the 1980sI began to think then as I have come to believe now: that, although spiritual matters are certainly beyond reason and intellect, they ought not conflict with reason and intellect. In other words, I do not subscribe to fideism on any level: the belief that truth-telling tools such as logic, reason, science, philosophy, and intellect are actually enemies of religious faith! (For inerrantists who take the Bible 100% literally, there are numerous passages in the Bible that confirm, encourage, and support the employment of human reason in the process of discerning one’s religious beliefs.)

I was quite rebellious in my early college years; I believe I was the only student in my Christian Evidences class [1] to argue for the “other side.” I think I still received a B- in the class, in which we used Sproul’s Reason to Believe as the primary text. For a short time around age 18, I suppose I was leaning toward atheism. Fortunately, that did not last very long.

sketch by Stephen Frasier - Bible teacher at David Lipscomb University in Nashville, TNAround the year 2000, I decided it was time to get very serious concerning my beliefs; I decided to devote my full time and attention to the study and research of religion and spirituality, and how they relate to truth, reality, science, history, etc. I spent months doing little apart from contemplating and examining the errancy/ inerrancy debate, the "special creation" vs. macro-evolution debate, intelligent design I.D.), comparative religion, the differences and similarities between Eastern and Western religious views and philosophies, Christian mysticism, New Thought, the perennial philosophy, and much more.

Over the years, I practiced and/or adopted belief systems including fundamentalist Christianity (as I was raised to believe at David Lipscomb first grade through college and at Brentwood Hills Church of Christ), "true" or "Jeffersonian" Christianity, Deism, agnosticism, secular humanism, atheism, pantheism/ panentheism, Buddhism, and Taoism.

sketch by Stephen Frasier - Roland Pack, Bible teacher at David Lipscomb University in Nashville, TN in the 1980sI wish everyone could (or would) take the time to conduct an objective, big-picture study of these matters; I would not trade that experience for anything in life!

These evolving views and beliefs have had several side effects: some positive, some negative. Relatively speaking, my widely varying experiences seemed to bring about a great deal of perspective, appreciation, freedom, compassion, perhaps even a mild enlightenment. On the negative side, I suffered socially from my beliefs since almost everyone in my life up to that point was from the Nashville world of Christian fundamentalism. I became more distant from my immediate family, though this was probably more of my own doing than anyone else’s.

sketch by Stephen Frasier - Bible teacher at David Lipscomb University in Nashville, TNI gained a tremendous respect for those spiritual giants of all paths who encourage interfaith dialogue, tolerance, acceptance, universal spiritual principles, and syncretism: People like HHDL (His Holiness the Dalai Lama), Thomas Merton [2], Martin Luther King Jr., Mother Teresa, Gandhi, Thich Nhat Hanh, and so many others. My heart clearly and firmly led me in the direction of openness, oneness, and spiritual unity – and away from closed-mindedness, fideism, legalism, and fundamentalism.

For many years now I’ve been writing about these experiences: the related study, research, and practice; religion and spirituality, etc. However, given my conservative heritage and environment, I’ve kept most of my writings and beliefs to myself — sharing them only with close friends and a few others. Perhaps to those who do not know me, one of the only outward signs of my faith has been the drastic reduction in my church attendance! The casual observer might posit that I either do not care about religion and spirituality, or have turned against it. Thankfully, neither could be further from the truth!

I am no longer content or satisfied to keep these things to myself; I am no longer willing to remain silent on such important matters — especially with the push of the Hard Right into modern national politics and the associated threats to pluralism, separation of church and state, the twisting of what great rational thinkers such as Thomas Jefferson really thought about religious fundamentalism, etc. (I’ll end my political references here; these potentially touchy subjects are covered in separate posts on the Search for Truth blog, as well.)

Therefore, it is with tremendous relief and some excitement that I have finally begun to publish a few articles, essays, and posts on these subjects on this Search for Truth blog and elsewhere. Goals include encouraging critical thought and deep contemplation re: spirituality and religion, spiritual unity and oneness, emphasis of unity over division, acceptance over judgment, truth over tradition, and so on. [ Mission, goals of Search for Truth, About Search for Truth... ]

Resources

Notes

[1] Christian Evidences course: A study of the evidences which support the Christian religion, dealing with such matters as the existence of God, the origin of the universe, the inspiration of the Scriptures, and the divinity of Christ.

[2] Even some of the most positively influential Christians of modern times cannot avoid being publicly condemned by radical, far-right religious fundamentalists. Apostasy Alert and its berating of Thomas Merton is a great example of religion gone haywire.

  • Biblical errancy vs. inerrancy debate
  • Special creation vs. macroevolution debate
  • comparative religion
  • Eastern and Western religious views and philosophies
  • Christian mysticism
  • Basic universal spiritual principles
  • Syncretism, New Thought, perennial philosophy
  • Aldous Huxley, Wayne Dyer, Eckhart Tolle, Neale Donald Walsch, etc.

Removed content
(I realize I must trim back the level of detail – otherwise, this email will take up too much of your time! As a writer, I tend to be verbose…)

Gospel of Thomas – the first three verses

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Based on what little I know about apocryphal works, my favorite non-canonical early Christian writing (as if I’d read them) is the Gospel of Thomas. A jewel of the Nag Hammadi library, the Gospel According to Thomas (usually known as the Gospel of Thomas) is a well preserved, early Christian, non-canonical sayings-gospel discovered in 1945 near Nag Hammadi, Egypt. The Gospel of Thomas was found among a collection of fifty-two (52) writings – including gospels claiming to have been written by Jesus’ disciple Philip and an excerpt from Plato’s Republic. Scholars have speculated that the works were buried in response to a letter from the bishop Athanasius who for the first time declared a strict canon of Christian scripture.

A couple of days ago, I suddenly realized the spiritual practices of a Christian fundamentalist friend of mine have been evolving toward Christian mysticism. Admirably (IMHO), he has been meditating regularly for months now. He is not much of a scholarly reader, but I’ve nevertheless been encouraging him to read about Christian mysticism and to check out the most mystical early Christian work I know of: the Gospel of Thomas. (No word so far.)

While mysticism is inherently difficult to describe, Bible readers might find this contrast useful: the most “mystical” of the four canonized New Testament gospels is the book of John. A quick comparison of John with any of the three synoptic gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke) will reveal its relatively mystical nature.

The first three (3) verses of the Gospel According to Thomas:

These are the secret sayings that the living Jesus spoke and Didymos Judas Thomas recorded.
1 And he said, “Whoever discovers the interpretation of these sayings will not taste death.”
2 Jesus said, “Those who seek should not stop seeking until they find. When they find, they will be disturbed. When they are disturbed, they will marvel, and will reign over all. [And after they have reigned they will rest.]”
3 Jesus said, “If your leaders say to you, ‘Look, the (Father’s) kingdom is in the sky,’ then the birds of the sky will precede you. If they say to you, ‘It is in the sea,’ then the fish will precede you. Rather, the kingdom is within you and it is outside you.
When you know yourselves, then you will be known, and you will understand that you are children of the living Father. But if you do not know yourselves, then you live in poverty, and you are the poverty.”

The gist of the Gospel of Thomas is that the Kingdom of God is spread out upon the earth today, right now, if only people could come to see it – and that there is divine light within all people, a light that can enable them to see the Kingdom of God on earth (very mystical, indeed). It seems to elaborate a bit on Jesus’ response to the Pharisees in Luke 17:21 where he said that the kingdom of God is “within” or “among you.”

Resources: Gospel of Thomas

Believing in only one true path: Your own

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I am going to make an effort to point out in a realistic, compassionate way one of the major issues with this particular fundamentalist religious belief:

“There is but one, sole correct religious path: (insert Fundamentalist Belief System here). All other religions, all other denominations within my religion, and all other spiritual paths are wrong.”

Proof supporting fundamentalist religious belief is nonexistent. It cannot be found; not yet, anyway – and probably not ever. After all, a true creative force – Mother Nature, God, Yahweh, Jesus, Allah, universal intelligence, etc. (whatever you choose to call it) – remains well beyond present science and is not yet decisively subject to logical or intellectual proof.

I become ready by meditating and receiving direction

The single greatest convincer that one’s own religious fundamentalist beliefs are true and right seems to be the mystical, intuitive reinforcement of esoteric knowledge that settles upon a believer during worship, meditation, or similar deep insight or spiritual practices.

For example, many fundamentalist Christians receive comfort in their reflective practices in the form of joyful feelings or spiritual experiences that are beyond description. There seem to be no adequate words to describe this ecstasy; the related flood of feel-good chemicals in the brain is often translated as religious correctness. In Christian mystical practices, the meditator simply “knows” their own ideas of Jesus and God are correct and real and true because, at the height of the meditative state, the holy Trinity itself seems to be whispering ultimate truth directly into the ear!

Likewise, in the Muslim mystical practices of Sufism, the practitioner “knows” that Mohammad and Allah are, in fact, part of the one true path. Once certain meditative states are reached, Mohammad and Allah themselves seem to directly communicate with the believer in a manner beyond mere words.

In the Jewish mystical practice of Kabbalah, the mystical spiritual experiences are equally powerful; however, in this case, the ultimate truth of Jewish religious belief is mystically conveyed. The Jewish practitioner is thus personally assured of being an adherent of the “one true religion.”

Amazingly, the truths communicated to the Buddhist meditator always seem to confirm Buddhist teachings.

In all of these cases, the ecstasy resulting from meditative states encourages the belief that the truth is being revealed in a personal way. It can hardly be put into words and must be experienced to be understood.

Need I say it? They cannot all be correct.

Or can they?

I have come to believe that all these views are “correct” at a certain, very superficial, non-literal level. Perhaps these wonderful intuitive experiences indicate that all honest, serious, open-minded, genuine spiritual seekers are on the right path. (In a sense this is true since the path itself is the goal: an important oxymoron.)

The true value of spiritual experience hides within the journey itself.

this optical illusion always seems to be moving

Perhaps each of these apparently conflicting and seemingly irreconcilable views – as beautiful as they are to the individual practitioner – relates only to the surface, a thin veil draped over truth. Like camouflage on a uniform, paint on a house, or the cover of a book, these conflicting experiences are not fully representative of the deeper truth.

Another possibility: These experiences mean nothing, objectively speaking; all of these experiences are purely subjective.

Or, maybe such spiritual adventures consist only of biochemicals and the reactions they cause in our brains.

Perhaps those religious experiences are just like the statement, “The ocean is a never-ending series of waves”: a seemingly true statement – but only when applied to the surface. The uncut onion appears to have but one layer.

When one perseveres, displaying the willingness to continue the spiritual quest by venturing ever deeper, the previous belief that the superficial waves actually represent the entire ocean can then be seen as the shallow, immature view it was. From this more enlightened perspective, it’s elementary and immature to believe the onion has only a single layer.

As new, previously unimagined depths are discovered beneath those now insignificant waves, the validity of the previous perspective simply evaporates in the face of the amazing new insight. This the progression of spiritual experience.

Venn diagram

When less experienced practitioners describe the ocean as a series of waves, you’ll just nod and encourage continued practice.

Sadly, the near-literal interpretation taught and encouraged within religious fundamentalist worldviews usually prevents this deeper exploration.

Isn’t it possible that ultimate truth, or a portion thereof, can be found in that special, beautiful place where all major religions and spiritual paths intersect – where they are congruent and in agreement, just like the common space shared by all the circles in a Venn diagram?

Venn diagram

Ultimately, religion and spirituality are intensely personal, non-congruent experiences and are largely dependent upon the content and strength of existing beliefs and knowledge, as shown by each group’s heartfelt belief that their own views are correct – and by further reinforcement of those beliefs through mystical experiences. When continued, hopefully, the eventual result will be enlightenment, the blissful realization of oneness, unity, and non-duality. The practitioner finally understands the ultimate silliness, futility, and impossibility of fundamentalist belief systems; that rigid minds cannot lead to enlightenment is finally understood and appreciated.

As I do not claim to possess any special, unique knowledge, I intend to remain teachable and open-minded as I trudge along the path as long as I may live. May my clay remain pliable, always!

I have the same hope for all the other truth seekers out there. Please share your experiences.

Older notes, set aside for now
By sharing these experiences with others, we are doing the world, ourselves, and spiritual seekers and students some good by joining in spiritual unity and oneness with others seeking enlightenment.

If you are a deeply religious person who once embraced fundamentalism and has since transcended it, I applaud and admire you. We hope you’ll share your thoughts with those who still believe that only one narrow, rigid worldview is correct and that all others are wrong, or even evil. When old rigid schools of religious thought are finally transcended as a result of persistent spiritual practice, the world seems brighter.

(However, I will allow for a sub-minuscule chance that science will eventually encompass what is presently considered to be supernatural. If it is real, then science will probably get around to measuring it at some point – if man is around long enough to discover how to do it.)