CONNECTING
THE DOTS,
REALIZING
THE WHOLE:
Looking for What Our Greatest Teachers and Exemplars
Have
in Common
Part
1
This article is hardly more than a beginning attempt to conceptualize
something [Part 1], and the outline of an example that follows [Part 2],
hopefully enough to get at least some of you started on your own
explorations along these lines. It represents a type of
exploration that will become the
focus of a whole web community
[see the link further down the page, re: "The Death Transcendent
Cooperative Inquiry Initiative"]. One objective here is to
help us move beyond the exclusivity-type thinking regarding the works
and experiences of those we consider to be our special Teachers and
sacred Exemplars, while still honoring those whom our hearts especially
belong to, for those to whom this is important. As far as I know, except for basic religion courses
or a few committed academic enclaves [e.g., the Academy of Religion and
Psychical Research], very few individuals or institutions have committed
to more than a fairly superficial study of such Exemplars as a
whole. Such an undertaking could be truly revelatory in terms of
what we may further discover about our Human potential and
capacities.
I respectfully suggest we now have exponentially more to gain through
cross-study of the adept Sages / Experiencers / Seers, not only those
familiar to us through our religious traditions, but a vast, sweeping
tide of people across and beyond all traditional affiliations, who have
themselves had powerful Experiences and acquired extraordinary abilities
and wisdom that could be said to reflect, clarify, and even sometimes
appear to enlarge upon our understanding of those such as are cherished
through our religions.
One thing we can agree upon, I am sure, is the fact of their,
across-the-board, EHE-rich lives and all that comes with that [see Aftereffects].
Without those implicit in the equation, I daresay we wouldn't even have
religions as we know them today. These individuals have had Experiences
that had a transformative impact on themselves, their lives, those whom
they influenced in special ways as a result, and on the world-at-large.
By embarking upon in-depth studies concerning what they have in common,
we would be transcending the specifically religious and localized or
cultural markers that tend to set them apart from one
another. We can better imagine together the Possibilities of the unfolding of a
collective consciousness capable of moving confidently, healingly, more
wisely and awarely through the straits of the global challenges we now
face. We can with this kind of engaged collaborative work and
Visioning and increasingly EHE or Experience-based perspective
ensure our passage into a more evolved, unified Humanity that is more
attuned to a higher purpose and field of meaning together. In the
process, I believe we will become more open to, more engaged in
facilitating a quality of consciousness that is, as Elaine Pagels says
it so beautifully, more "susceptible
to revelation."
We need a bridge to each other and to our higher-sourced beingness as
denizens of eternity. Through many millions of people's
exceptional human experiences, through
studying, examining together, etc., I believe one of the most revealing
projects we can undertake together is to find what they have in common.
Surely this must result in some of the greatest insights to
be gained for all of Humanity. For one thing it would provide
another incomparable unifying activity that would give us a whole new
perspective on our innate Human capabilities. This also further
would solidify the understanding that we are beings of eternity.
Through this field of study another bridge would be built between
religion / spirituality and Western science, as well as other scientific
perspectives, such as those from Eastern spiritual traditions and those
of the shamanic cultures. It would totally and I believe globally
alter our perceptions of who and what we are and bring us closer to an
awareness of how all Life is connected [as ONE]. It would also
increase our experiential awareness as all this sinks more fully into
our collective consciousness and our idea of "normal" shifts
substantially to mirror even more powerfully our coming to terms with
all this together.
This would offer another powerful path toward helping us finally realize
we are one Great Family of Humanity, as evolving and eternal spirit
beings. Any great divides / divisiveness are tragic misperceptions
that we need to leave behind now, first of all, so that we as a
planetary culture [and indeed as a planet] may find the means together
to outlast our current murky time of crisis in which the very survival
of our Earth is at stake.
CONNECTING
THE DOTS,
REALIZING
THE WHOLE:
Part 2
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