Synthesis: Towards a Unifying Plan - Part 8

[Guest guest]

Dear All,

 

We concluded Part 7 with the following:

 

(p.271) " So the world is created with free beings, both angelic and human, but

freedom means capacity also to fail, to fall away from love, to centre on the

self and to cause disintegration. One way of talking about this is to speak of

the fall of the angels resulting in negative, hostile cosmic powers which work

against the order of the universe. These are the powers of darkness. In contrast

to these are the powers of light, the angelic powers, which are responsible for

organizing the matter of the universe. As a result of these cosmic and

psychological forces human beings fall away from the life of the Spirit and

centre on themselves, forming cells of disintegration like a cancer in the body,

in this body of mankind. It must never be forgotten that mankind is one. The

archetypal man contains in himself all humankind and all the universe. We fall

from this order of the oneness of man into a state of disintegration. Through

sin we fall away from the Spirit, from the Word, from the Truth, and we fall

into ourselves, into separation, becoming isolated individuals in conflict with

one another. That is like a cancer in the body; it is the disease of mankind. It

is into this fallen world that we are all born. On the other hand, as the human

race falls into disunity and disintegration the redemptive power of the Spirit

is also at work. (p.272) The one goes with the other. At the moment of fall the

redemptive process already begins, to restore this unity. So the Spirit is also

at work from the beginning. In every human being there is a presence of the

Spirit which is drawing us back from our disintegration, from our

self-centredness, into the life of the Spirit, the life of God. And the Spirit

is gradually rebuilding human nature in the likeness of the archetypal man, the

Supreme Person. We are all part of this process in which, even while we fall

away from the truth, from the perfect man, into our disintegrated state, we are

all being drawn back by the Spirit, by love, to the likeness of the perfect man,

the likeness of Christ. "

 

A New Vision of Reality (Western Science, Eastern Mysticism and Christian Faith)

Chapter 12, p.271-272

 

Here now is Part 8 - the conclusion of 'Synthesis: Towards a Unifying Plan'.

 

Enjoy,

 

violet

 

 

 

Synthesis: Towards a Unifying Plan - Part 8

 

(p.272) This process works throughout history. The Spirit is at work in all

humankind, in all the different tribal peoples of the world and all the great

religions of the world. It is part of the whole cosmic process that certain

centres are formed, as for instance when a new species comes into being and

there is a new centre of organization. In this way Israel was chosen as a new

centre of organization in and around which the cosmic process of redemption

should be consummated.

 

Throughout the history of Israel this cell is formed, as it were, in which the

organizing power of the universe, the archetypal man, can manifest himself and

overcome the powers of sin and death. In our understanding, Jesus is this

archetypal man, the eternal man, manifesting in time and undergoing suffering

and death so as to free the world from these powers of evil, sin,

disintegration, disease and death, thereby releasing redemptive power, this

power of the Spirit. So through the resurrection this power of death, of

disintegration, in matter is overcome and matter is renewed. The matter of the

body of Jesus is totally renewed and becomes spiritual matter, a universal

spiritual body. Through that resurrection, which can also be seen as a new

creation, the redemptive power of the Spirit is released in the world. The Holy

Spirit coming on the church is the descent of that power of redemption at work

now in the whole world. (p.273) This does not mean, of course, that the Spirit

is confined to the Church. The redemptive presence of the Spirit is everywhere

and the redeeming power is present everywhere, but it is focussed, as it were,

at this point, coming to a head in Jesus and in the community he establishes.

He, in and with his community, is the centre for the regeneration of humankind.

In this process the Holy Spirit is released as the energizing power overcoming

the contrary forces in nature, rebuilding human beings into the likeness of

Christ, the archetypal person, and uniting all beings in the love of the Father

from which everything comes. In love the whole universe is pouring out and that

love is drawing it all back to itself.

 

So, then, the universe and humanity return to the divine unity and each element

and each person discovers its original archetype. We all have our archetype in

God, our ideal form. As we grow out of sin, evil, limitation and all the

infirmities of this world, we return to that archetypal form and we are

reintegrated into the one. We are held together then in Christ, in the supreme

Person, and we become persons in the Person. It is important to emphasise what

Teilhard de Chardin says so frequently, that it is not a matter of simply

dissolving into the one. It is very common in Hinduism to think that all

individuality disappears and all differences in the creation disappear and

dissolve into the oneness of the Absolute. This is a mistake, for in reality

nothing is lost in the process. Every person and every thing is reintegrated

into the One in a total unity transcending our present understanding. This is

not, of course, something in time and space. It is an eternal and infinite

reality and all of us even now are interwoven and interpenetrating in that one

reality.

 

In this way the whole creation is restored and renewed. In the Christian

tradition this restoration is understood as the new creation in Christ and the

new humanity in Christ. (p.274) We saw that in Buddhism and in Islam, and in

many Hindu doctrines also, there is a clear understanding that it is never

simply a fusing into one. There is always a reintegration of the whole into the

one. That is the final goal. How the many are in the one and the one in the many

can never be explained or fully expressed, but we can get a glimpse of how it is

possible.

 

Thus in meditation we seek to go beyond our personal consciousness into the

sphere of the transcendent consciousness. Normally, though not always, that

means going through the psychic world and problems can arise because of the

presence of evil forces as well as good. On account of this one needs a guide,

and a Christian needs the guidance of Christ, to take him through that psychic

world. It is important not to stop in the psychic world but to pass on through

it. It is good to remember that in that psychic world there are not only evil

spirits and demons of all kinds, but there are also all the saints and angels.

As we go beyond our limited human consciousness we become aware of the whole

world of the saints and angels and other holy beings. Today we are generally

much less aware of this than people were in the past. In the Eucharist we say,

" Now with all the angels and archangels and with all the company of heaven we

praise and magnify your holy name. " This is a conscious relating of ourselves to

the whole world of the saints and angels, which is always present although

hidden from our normal mental consciousness. We need always to try to keep in

mind that not only is the physical world around us, and the ordinary

psychological world of our human experience, but also the psychic world of the

saints and angels and the cosmic powers. This subtle world is more real than

either the physical or the psychological world and enfolds both in itself. When

the New Testament speaks of casting out demons or evil spirits it is speaking of

realities.

 

(p.275) In meditation then we go into that 'mahat', the cosmic order or cosmic

consciousness, and then we go beyond that to where everything is gathered into

the unity of the one Person, the cosmic Lord. Then in and through the cosmic

Lord everything returns to the transcendent unity beyond conception. The

ultimate is beyond conception altogether. It is totally ineffable. That is why

we constantly have to remember that all the words we use to speak of this are

only pointers to that which is totally beyond. The Absolute itself is beyond all

human comprehension and we use words, images and concepts taken from everyday

finite experience in order to direct our mind, our will and our heart towards

the Infinite and to allow that Infinite to enter into our lives and transform

them.

 

A New Vision of Reality (Western Science, Eastern Mysticism and

Christian Faith) Chapter 12, p.272-275

Bede Griffiths

Templegate Publishers - Springfield, Illinois

ISBN 0-87243-180-0