"And" not "Either/Or"

In a world that cries for inclusion, the word "and" could make the difference for millions. When we shift our thinking from "either/or" to "and" we are doing a number of things. We are shifting from black and white thinking filled with judgment to a more expansive perspective of possibilities. We are moving from a fear based "me" thinking, to a more compassionate "we" prospective. We are actually creating new neural pathways from the reactive lower brain to the higher brain functions of the prefrontals where the mystical Oneness of all can be experienced.

In Dwight J. Friesen's book Thy Kingdom Connected . which we are reading for my Theology After Google class at Claremont School of Theology, there is a poem called "And" by Father Richare Rohr. He beautifully articulates the power of "and."

"And teaches us to say yes
And allows us to be both-and
And keeps us from either-or
And teaches us to be patient and long suffering
And is willing to wait for insight and integration
And keeps us from dualistic thinking
And does not divide the field of the moment
And helps us to live in the always imperfect now
And keeps us inclusive and compassionate toward everything
And demands that our contemplation become action
And insists that our action is also contemplative
And heals our racism, our sexism, heterosexism, and our classism
And keeps us from the false choice of liberal or conservative
And allows us to critique both sices of things
And allows us to enjoy both sides of things
And is far beyond any one nation or political party
And helps us face and accept our own dark side
And allows us to ask for forgiveness and to apologize
And is the mystery of pardox in all things
And is the way of mercy
And makes daily, practical love possible
And does not trust love if it is not also justice
And does not trust justice if it is not also love
And is far beyond my religion versus your religion
And allows us to be both distinct and yet united
And is the very Mystery of Trinity..."

In what areas in your life could you shift from "either/or" to "and" thinking?

What difference would that make in your life?

What difference might you see in the world?

A New Kind of Christianity: The Pluralism Question

For me, the New Kind of Christianity is the old kind of Christianity that Jesus demonstrated before the Church took over the Christian identity and used it to control people within and conquer "others." Divide and conquer has been the working motto of ego man throughout the Christian Church.

What would the world be like if humans minds had been able to really “get” Jesus’ message of universal Oneness?

The very word religion means to tie or bind together again: To tie or bind us to the source of our being, and to tie or bind us to all creation in the ONENESS that we were and are created in. However, humans in our foolishness seemed to miss the whole point of Jesus’ mystical teachings of Oneness. I appreciated Brian McLaren’s recital of some Christian crimes against humanity. We have really missed the mark. And until we take the “log our of our own eye, how can be possibly remove anyone else’s splinter.”
How do we take the log that sees separation out of our eye?

Jesus was a mystic. He knew his Oneness with the Source of his being, God. He spoke out of his experience of ONENESS, yet, as McLaren notes, Jesus’ message was not understood by his own disciples, let along the church. So Jesus’s message of love and peace and oneness has become a message of fear and hate and separation. I think that may have something to do with young people not wanting to be a part of the separation mindset in churches, inherited as McLaren explains from the Greco-Roman mindset. McLaren writes about the Greco-Roman mind as the imperialist mind which is "anxious, paranoid, domineering, and at all-out war" against any “other” which seems or is deemed different.
Does Christianity need to ask forgiveness and give reparations for its many acts of brutality and aggression? What would that look like?

Interestingly, Jesus’ message of Oneness and Love is very similar to the messages of many of the world’s religions.
 Hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One.- Judaism and Christianity. Bible, Deuteronomy 6.4

 Say, He is God, the One! God, the eternally Besought of all!
He neither begets nor was begotten. And there is none comparable unto Him. -Islam. Qur'an 112

 He is the one God, hidden in all beings, all-pervading, the Self within all beings, watching over all works, dwelling in all beings, the witness, the perceiver, the only one, free from qualities. - Hinduism. Svetasvatara Upanishad 6.11

 The sage clasps the Primal Unity, Testing by it everything under heaven. -Taoism. Tao Te Ching 22

 Absolute truth is indestructible. Being indestructible, it is eternal. Being eternal, it is self-existent. Being self-existent, it is infinite. Being infinite, it is vast and deep. Being vast and deep, it is transcendental and intelligent. It is because it is vast and deep that it contains all existence. It is because it is transcendental and intelligent that it embraces all existence. It is because it is infinite and eternal that it fulfills or perfects all existence. In vastness and depth it is like the Earth. In transcendental intelligence it is like Heaven. Infinite and eternal, it is the Infinite itself. Such being the nature of absolute truth, it manifests itself without being seen; it produces effects without motion; it accomplishes its ends without action. -Confucianism. Doctrine of the Mean 26
 When appearances and names are put away and all discrimination ceases, that which remains is the true and essential nature of things and, as nothing can be predicated as to the nature of essence, is called the "Suchness" of Reality. This universal, undifferentiated, inscrutable Suchness is the only Reality, but it is variously characterized as Truth, Mind-essence, Transcendental Intelligence, Perfection of Wisdom, etc. This Dharma of the imagelessness of the Essence-nature of Ultimate Reality is the Dharma which has been proclaimed by all the Buddhas, and when all things are understood in full agreement with it, one is in possession of Perfect Knowledge. -Buddhism. Lankavatara Sutra

 Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of working, but it is the same God who inspires them all in every one. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. -Christianity. Bible, 1 Corinthians 12.4-7

If we find the Oneness of the Truth in other religions of the world, does that remove the log from our eye and bring us into the mystical truth of Oneness, so that the Kingdom of Heaven on earth becomes our experience?

The Time Is Now

The time is now to realize the interconnectedness, the Oneness that underlies all that is. As we come into that awareness, we come into peace, joy and harmony. -Jan Chase