Inquiry

  Ken Wilber states in several books that the greatest single problem facing the world today in the interior quadrants is that of the Orange Pressure Cooker clamping down on Amber Religious Beliefs.  This causes the spiritual line to be frozen at the amber level and prevents the shift from ethno-centric to world-centric.  This is also seen as the major cause of terrorism in the world today.

  Ken also alludes to the world's religions as the "conveyor belt" that can provide the way to move people from ethno-centric to world-centric.  However, putting this into practice looks to be a really difficult task, as one of the suggested requirements to have this come into being was for the mythic based religions to give up their mythic base and move up to (or include) orange, green and above versions of Christianity.  Whoa, big job!

  Thus, I would like to see this problem and potential solutions explored further on Integral Life, since I think it relates directly to the Future of Christianity as well as other world religions.  I'm at a loss at this point about how this might be done on a practical basis.

PS: In recent conversations with Ken Wilber and Robb Smith, Integral Life's CEO, they pointed out that Integral Life forums can also serve as part of that conveyor belt.  I've found that to be true for me, as it's stimulated me to be more rigorous in my thinking, but I'm also interested in what others' experiences have been with respect to this.

--In order for a mythic-level Christianity to evolve to the next level, those of us who have awakened into the higher or further stages have to look back down the developmental ladder and, from a more expanded perspective, be able to articulate the correlations or commonalities between mythic and rational world views. 

   For example, in the Pentecostal denomination of Christianity it is taught that the very Spirit or essence of God indwells one who is able to enter into a deep prayerful spiritual experience. This is Christian mysticism at it's finest. As someone who had subscribed to the tenets of Pentecostalism, I can tell you that there is a correlation between the euphoria experienced in deep meditation and the "Baptism of the Holy Spirit". The sense of oneness, the consequent peace, all of it is similar to experiences reported by those of the contemplative aspects of sundry other traditions.

   I also believe there to be a connection between the recitation of mantra (which I am a practitioner of) and the spiritual practice of glossolalial, or "Speaking in tongues" (which I am a practitioner of). I liken it to the differences between jazz music and classical music. One is structured and precise, the other is improvisational and intuitive. Both practices, however act as an energetic release or as a means by which one may gather energies.

   To the degree that those of us who are more rational minded are able to develop skillful means to communicate the similarities between traditional understandings and a more expanded world view, to that degree will the push to evolve be awakened in Christianity. Evolution is the natural inclination of individuals and cultures, what is needed is a gentle, yet firm push in the direction of growth, development and unfoldment. A willingness to help society, and the world thereby to evolve is essential to the manifestation of the integral vision. someone said that the best exercise for the heart is to bend down and lift someone else up!

Michael Ezell

Contemporary Christian mystic Raimon Panikkar in his book Christophany offers a sweeping vision of an inclusive Christianity for the 21st century.  It is described as the first unveiling of what the Christian path might look like when lived from a place of non-dual consciousness.  Departing from the implicitly monotheistic and dualistic views of traditional christology, Panikkar challenges us to join him in an open-ended inquiry into an advaitic, intercultural approach implicit in the trinitarian cosmovision of the Gospel.  One theologian, Ewert Cousins, speaking of Panikkar states "Some are lost irrevocably in the past; others - a few extraordinary personalities - already live in the future.  The rest fluctuate between the past and the future, not knowing where they are.  Among those who have made the transition, some become the mediators of the future for the others who can make the passage.  These spirital mutants may return from the future to draw others from the past across the abyss of the present and into the world of the future.  I suggest that Panikkar is such a spiritual mutant, one in whom the global mutation has already occurred and in whom the new forms of consciousness have been concretized."  I submit this as an inquiry of pivotal importance for our time.

Al Braidwood

Honolulu, HI