tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4011153531757350757.post8492201020266719442..comments2023-02-11T01:12:26.802-08:00Comments on Inclusive Theology, Spirituality and Consciousness: Religious Recipe for Inclusivity is All in the Labels?Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4011153531757350757.post-67127987347446717462011-03-07T10:51:28.669-08:002011-03-07T10:51:28.669-08:00..a response to Rami's comment from Lynne Feld.....a response to Rami's comment from Lynne Feldman:<br /><br />I would love to engage with you here, since I feel significant tension within me as I "struggle with God", good Jew that I really try to be. The homophobic story actually happened to my husband, and we are, at this very moment, working on ways that he might deal with this man with whom he has an occational professional relationship. My husband, an honorable and stalwart "Blue/Amber" soul, was so offended by this man's homophobia because my husband's parents had taught him that Jews tended to at least attempt to be more understanding, more moral and ethical in their treatment of others than other religious adherents. So here we have some essential realigning of the triumphalism that almost all religions dip into at times.<br /><br />Not all people live up to this, but within the Jewish "code" there is the ideal of ethical action and ethical thought. Within the LL there is the group belief that Jews are held to (pardon me, Hebrew National) a higher standard of conduct, and thought.<br /><br />My husband and I have lived this struggle, and have imbued our daughter with the same ethics, Jewish ethics. We share the Jewish rituals of lighting Shabbat candles, following holidays, giving extenseively to charity and anonymous gifts to individuals in need. I have two sets of dishes, pots, and silverware, and then a different set for Pesach. My daughter was married under a chupah with her cantor singing the blessings and she has designed her impending motherhood around raising a Jewish child. She studied Hebrew in college and is continuing with that interest even today. Yes, we are cultural Jews, the last stop on what often becomes a pluralistic and less than observant life.<br /><br />I wish, Rami, I wish for the entire collective shared experience, but our family just cannot do that. Yes, we have taken from the cupboard as suits us, and left behind what does not work for us. I tried, I really tried, but modern family life pushed me back into the "mainstream", even if it is an Integral mainstream of balancing our lives within the 4 quadrants. We look over our shoulders at what we recall from our family lives of yesteryear, and although the sweet memories remain beckoning, we just cannot commit to the full table of Jewish observation.<br /><br />Unless.<br /><br />My daughter has challenged me to bring the Integral perspective into Judaism, on BOTH the religious and spiritual level. I am working on that as we await the birth of her first child.<br /><br />I have given my word to her, Rami, that I will dedicate myself to what she, and you, have asked. It is a work in progress, and I dearly hope that I can apply my Jewish and Integral knowledge to bring this back to us as the treasure it is.Webmasterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10096010153569598876noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4011153531757350757.post-12195440335671976792011-02-28T05:31:44.599-08:002011-02-28T05:31:44.599-08:00Rev. Lynne raises some important and challenging, ...Rev. Lynne raises some important and challenging, issues. This post is not meant as a criticism of Rev. Lynne. On the contrary, I am grateful to her for raising these issues. And I believe these are THE issues we must address as we try to articulate what we mean by Inclusivity, Integral, Interfaith, and the rest.<br /><br />First, what does it mean that she is a Jew who practices Buddhism, enters into Christ Consciousness, and yet cannot dialogue with an Orthodox homophobe? <br /><br />I too am a Jew who, having been initiated into other religious traditions, practices a number of spiritual disciplines drawn from those traditions. Unless we reduce the meaning of “Jew” to ethnicity only without any religious commitment (Chosen People, Israel as the Promised Land, Torah as the only revelation, rabbinic authority, observing the mitzvot, etc.), how can Lynne and I continue to identify as Jews?<br /><br />Second, if our understanding of Spiral Dynamics and the conveyor belt metaphor doesn’t allow us to engage constructively and compassionately with people (such as her homophobic rabbi) who think differently from us, what good is all this stuff? <br /><br />Third, does the assumption that there is an esoteric, mystic level of spiritual realization where all religions are either transcended or seen to be one cause us to devalue the exoteric side of religion? While I believe there is a level of realization where religion is transcended, I am also very taken by Stephen Prothero’s call to honor religious differences and not to affirm a faux sameness where Buddhist enlightenment and Christian salvation (to name but two very different religious goals) are the same. If there is a unity at the esoteric level, why bother with the exoteric at all?<br /><br />Perhaps it comes down to this: Is it time to for “Second Tier” folks to stop playing with “First Tier” religions, and allow a new spirituality to emerge from the experience of the Tao that can’t be named? Is it time for Interfaith, Integral, Interspiritual people to affirm something of their own rather than manipulate the religions of the past? Or to put it another way: should we be pioneers of a new Digital Age faith as different from Bronze Age religions as the Space Shuttle is from Noah’s Ark?<br /><br />This is something I struggle with daily. I would love to hear other people’s sense of this.Rabbi Ramihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07549679279782491931noreply@blogger.com