Paul Smith & Coming Home

I was born into a catholic family with a history of many generations of faith. When I was a child my family could not afford an automobile. I vividly recall walking as a family for a mile every Sunday morning through the rain, snow, and sunshine to the nearest Catholic Church. Sometimes my family would let me stay and sit quietly after mass and walk home alone. I had not heard of the term meditation but it felt good and right to sit there alone and silent in the oak wooden pew.

For some undeserved reason God blessed me with powerful mystical experiences. I intuited that I needed someone more spiritually mature than myself to teach me how to embody and live out these experiences. I looked deeply into the eyes of all the priest and sisters I met. Did he know? Did she know? I could not seem to personally meet any living Christian who knew. But they did teach me well that the heart of Christianity is charity; expressed holy love.

Like Ken, I turned East and was fortunate enough to meet and learn from a few precious teachers who did know and were willing to teach and share what I needed to learn. And Steven Levine shares that we never lose our connection with the faith of our childhood. Much later I had the chance to gaze into the eyes of Saint Mother Teresa and saw that she also knew gloriously well.

It was also later in life that I fell in love with the teachings of Ken Wilber. I am glad I do not have to choose between his teaching and those of my childhood religion. Ken is aware that Jesus was integral in many ways and that the early church members were ablaze in the sanctification caused by the letting in of powerful mystical experiences. I would like to believe that this is not something confined to the distant past.

My childhood religion taught me well that without charity, expressed holy love, we are no more than a clanging bell. I pray this is never completely beaten out of me. I ask patience of my more clever and uncaring integrally interested neighbors if I continue to work towards an end to harmful abuse in our community and continue to call for a shared integral community of charitable service including at our events like our upcoming “Integral” “Spiritual” “Experience”.

Thanks for the talk Paul. Thanks for teaching me that integral and Christian church need not be antonyms. I think that people in your area are very fortunate to have a church like yours to attend. Sorry for the people who picket your church. I know how painful this kind of thing can be.

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