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Any journalist worth his or her salt today knows
the real story is to define what it means to be spiritual. This is the biggest story not
only of the decade but of the century. That's television's Bill Moyers speaking to an
audience of religion journalists. I respect his insights and talents as a communications
expert so I've had to ask myself what makes defining spirituality such an important story.
I asked my Atlantic University students what it
means to them to be spiritual. Most reply by making a contrast with religion. Religion is
dogma, they explained, beliefs they are asked to accept by outer authorities. Spirituality
is something they explore within themselves. To get religion, in other words, look at the
finger in the pulpit pointing toward heaven. To cultivate spirituality, look inward and
listen to the heart.
Recently I found ample evidence to substantiate
the students' viewpoint. I've just learned, for example, that the basis of the Mayan faith
is "Entering inwardness." I discovered this fact while browsing in South and
Meso-American Native Spirituality. It is Volume 4 in the new series, World Spirituality:
An Encyclopedic History of the Religious Quest. The series consists of 25 volumes, with
Hindu, Buddhist, Jewish, Christian, Islamic, Taoist, and Confucian faiths well
represented, as you might expect, as well as many that you might not expect, such as
pre-historic and "archaic," shamanic, African, Egyptian, Zoroastrian, ancient
Egyptian, Native American spirituality, and including even such contemporary forms of
spirituality as communal living utopias and sports! Judging from the two volumes I've been
examining, the complete set will take up about three feet of shelf space and provide
information, perspectives and inspiration unlike any other reference collection on
comparative religion.
Excuse me, the subject isn't really comparative
religion. As I learned in conversation with the publisher, Michael Leach, at Crossroad
Publishing Company, the series is devoted to comparative spirituality. There's a
difference, a difference that is the essential guiding star of the series. Crossroad/s
Senior Editor, Frank Oveis, told me that whereas religion pertains more to the doctrines
and the institutions, spirituality refers more to the personal experiences of the
practitioners. Hmm, . . . sounds like my students.
Here's how Ewert Cousins, Professor of Religious
Studies at Fordham University and the General Editor of the project expressed it when
writing to prospective editors for individual volumes in the encyclopedia:
"This series focuses on that inner dimension
of the person called by certain traditions "the spirit". This spiritual core is
the deepest center of the person. It is here that the person is open to the transcendent
dimension; it is here that the person experiences ultimate reality. The series explores
the discovery of this core, the dynamics of its development, and its journey to the
ultimate goal. It deals with prayer, spiritual direction, the various maps of the
spiritual journey, and the methods of advancement in the spiritual ascent."
In the other volume I examined, Modern Esoteric
Spirituality, Jacob Needleman, a name many of our readers will recognize, proposes that
the esoteric traditions, which emphasize experience and imagination, have touched the
essential core of spirituality more than the traditional religions. Carl Jung (whose
impact on esoteric Christianity receives a chapter) felt that the original germ of
religion is the desire to be "true to one's experience." That statement would
seem to speak to the spiritual essence of religion. For that matter, favoring experience
over belief was the original impetus of science to distinguish itself from religion.
The freedom to explore truth as you individually
experience is essential to both spirituality and true science (as distinct from the
materialistic dogma of scientism). Being experience-centered gives them a democratic
aspect as well. Like science, spirituality is an equal opportunity employer. Anyone can
have the job who is willing to do the work. The nature of the spiritual job is to work on
one's consciousness. Spiritual experience, as you know, requires a transformed
consciousness.
The esoteric traditions that began in medieval
Europe and the native worldview of MesoAmearica demonstrate similar views of the human
being as an incomplete creation still in the process of evolution--a spiritual evolution.
Western esoteric traditions have in common the theosophical notion of God's
self-revelation within human consciousness. They view this revelation, in fact, as the
purpose of creation. The heart-centered spirituality of the Aztecs is based on a sense of
Moses-like covenant with the Creator, one that assumes an intimate relationship whereby
the seeker attempts to make one's consciousness a worthy mirror in which God may seek
reflection. One must sacrifice certain personal preoccupations in order to clean that
mirror. Again, spirituality is an inside job, work done to enhance an inward experience,
not merely to conform to some externally imposed standards.
The inward orientation of the series is supported
by the quality of the writing. Frank Oevis explained to me that the editors chose scholars
who could write with a personal spiritual authenticity while maintaining intellectual
standards of credibility. For the most part, I would agree that there is a spirit alive in
the articles. I found myself moved as well as informed. I learned a lot about spirituality
by browsing through the many articles. I found myself pondering the implications of what
I've read for taking a stand on spirituality. That reflection began to have an impact on
my meditations, my teachings and even on how I viewed the mundane hassles of the day.
There is something to be said for exploring a
subject from many differing points of view. As Professor Cousins writes, "the meeting
of spiritual paths--the assimilation not only of one's own spiritual heritage but of that
of the human community as a whole--is the distinctive spiritual journey of our time."
Perhaps then spirituality is what all religions have in common. Discovering our
commonality becomes the planet's most important story. If it is on such common ground that
we shall meet, then spirituality is the story of how we all meet one another within our
own hearts. Just
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