A Lay Cistercian Looks at Spiritual Reality
III. THE CORRUPTIBILITY OF CHOICE AND MARTYRDOM OF THE ORDINARY— The effects of Original Sin on three defining behaviors of human nature: sexual urges, the urges of control, and the urges of power. The wages of sin.
I hypothesize that there is only one reality, but it contains three distinct characteristics that I call universes (physical reality, mental reality, and spiritual reality.) These strands or strings stretch from the beginning of what is to the end of it and don’t exist in temporal time. These seven (or more) strings interact with reality as it intelligently progresses through time.
Like Quantum Theory (but not like it), are there invisible forces at work that shape matter, energy, time, and space toward one fulfillment? Are there not only links between universes that have no beginning nor end but also links between human nature to divine nature? Such threads would not be strings at all but rather possess characteristics that emanate from God’s DNA, the invisible fingerprints on all matter, time, energy, and life anywhere it exists. It would guide us harmonically and with resonance. They are:
• Corruptibility and Incorruptibility
• Resonance and Dissonance
• Light and Darkness
• The Power of YES and NO
• Good and Evil
• Visible and Invisible Reality
• Physical, Mental, and Spiritual Energy
These seven strings channel God’s DNA, cosmic harmonics that guide time through its predestined pathway. We can hear the sounds if we “listen with the ear of the heart.” It is the rhythm of what we consider to be reality.
These strings exist beyond time to shepherd time, the succession of NOW realities, toward the end of their intelligent progression. They are the banks of a river, to use a human analogy, within which humans can achieve their destiny to be fully human as both individuals and as a species. The physical universe must stay within the boundaries of matter, time, energy, and evolution as an unchanged reality using natural laws. In the mental universe, humans discover these laws of reality within the boundaries of not only nature but also of reason and free choice. The intelligent progression to the next level of evolution is the spiritual universe, existing in the physical universe, using the languages of science, philosophy, logic, and reason to address the reality that is both physical and spiritual or visible and invisible.
When a river spreads outside of its banks, it is no longer called a river but a flood. In the spiritual universe, this happens when I only see reality as being what I want. The spiritual life calls for the martyrdom of the ordinary, not the shedding of blood for what I believe, but a real death to self (I offer the gift of my free choice to the Father that God’s will be done on earth as it is in heaven). As an individual, I am the only one who can die to myself. On the surface, it does not seem logical or even human to give up what the world says makes me fulfilled as a human. This sign of contradiction comes with me choosing to ratify the gift of adoption as a son or daughter of the Father and to live as a citizen of the kingdom of heaven while simultaneously living out my life until death on earth. The Christ Principle is the template, the key, the equation that allows me as a corruptible human to become incorruptible but only witReflections on the Mathematics and Physics of Being. h Christ.
IV, THE EFFECTS OF CORRUPTIBILITY ON MY CONVERSIO MORAE: Learning to use horizontal and vertical contemplative practice to prepare for incorrupof Being. I must work in this physical and mental universe tieve what the purposaccording to God andut also to sustain it there each day. If I don’t trim my grass, it will automatically become overgrown with weeds (an analogy for original sin). Daily, I must struggle against the condition of original sin. I ,do that with help from God who enabled me to be an adopted son (daughter) of the Father, with Christ in the Real Presence in the Church, and through the energy of the Holy Spirit.
I have citizenship in two worlds if I want to become the fullest human I can be. My role model is Mary, overshadowed by the Holy Spirit, the most fulfillment her humanity could hold. I must do it the hard way and toil each day to keep the Lord of the world (Satan) from seducing my citizenship in heaven to thinking I should just be a human with him (Satan) as my Lord. At the same time, I am corruptible (have a beginning and end, plus moral corruption from my false self in the world to that of my true self as an adopted son or daughter of the Father.) but am about incorruptible because of my Baptism and adoption. Here is the tension and the true battle for what is genuinely human.
V. REFLECTIONS ON THE INCORRUPTIBILITY OF MY SPIRIT AS I USE THE CHRIST PRINCIPLE TO ANSWER THE SIX QUESTIONS OF THE DIVINE EQUATION. Everything that is has a purpose for existence, a natural one, one that is because of reason and the freedom to choose our own destiny (for good or bad), and the conclusion of our intelligent progression (evolution) as a species, being gifted with the ability to be incorruptible so that we can assume the purpose of our humanity as nature intended (Pre-Fall). Our human nature by itself does not have the power to lift us up to that next level of evolution. Christ came to save us from being stranded on this island in the midst of what seems like a sea of radiation hostile to our continuing existence. He did that by paying the ransom for many as demanded by the Original Sin of Adam and Eve. Philippians 2: 5-12 is the most eloquent description I know about what it feels like to be God and abandoning that because of love for humans. Christ died to allow us to retake our inheritance, now called adoption by the Father as heirs of the kingdom of heaven.
The Divine Equation is my quest to continue to find the depth of meaning in six questions that allow we to be fully human. Although I am far from reaching the answers, my Lay Cistercian promises I made in my lifetime profession of commitment to Christ as a contemplative Cistercian in the world is my new bond with what I know to be the questions and answers to these six questions, once which I confront daily as I seek to be in God’s presence and just wait for what comes. They are:
Although I call this The Divine Equation, it does not, nor can it prove, God’s existence in my life. What I can do is use my unique life experiences (science, philosophy, psychology, logic, reason, and freedom to choose) to discern the presence of God and then sit on a park bench in the dead of winter and wait for my humanity to calm down enough that I can focus on Christ, while invoking the power of the Holy Spirit. Essentially I just put myself in the presence of God as Christ taught and then wait. I need the strength or energy from the Holy Spirit to keep my raucous humanity tamed enough for me to listen “with the ear of the heart,” as St. Benedict teaches.
Christ has chosen me to be baptized and receive adoption. I have chosen Christ in humility (realizing that humility begins with emptying myself as Jesus did and giving my freedom to choose as the recognition that God is God and I am not God but one who tries to love others as Christ loved us. It is discovering the Divine Equation’s simplicity within humanity’s complexity.
The more I place myself in the Real Presence of Christ, the more I fulfill what it means for me to be human. In this sense, I am an agnostic atheist but redeemed by the blood of the Lamb. I am a single, solitary orange tree planted in the soil of the resurrection that leads to incorruptibility. I am a sinful and sorrowful human who has been allowed to move from my false self to my true self in Christ Jesus daily. I am that humbled and penitent tax collector sitting on the back bench of the church, daring not to raise his (her) eyes to heaven, and in my heart continuing to repeat, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy of me, a sinner.”
This is the Incarnation moment, the Resurrection event, and the daily Pentecost as I confront each day “have in me the mind of Christ Jesus.” To this, say to God, “thank you,” through, with, and in Christ Jesus, to the glory of the Father, with the power of the Holy Spirit.
I have few words that can express the supreme joy that permeates my waiting for Christ. I echo the words of the Psalmist in my heart:
aOf David.
A
I
The LORD is my light and my salvation;
whom should I fear?
The LORD is my life’s refuge;
of whom should I be afraid?
2When evildoers come at me
These my enemies and foes
themselves stumble and fall.
3Though an army encamp against me,
my heart does not fear;
Though war be waged against me,
even then do I trust.
II
4 One thing I ask of the LORD;
this I seek:
To dwell in the LORD’s house
all the days of my life,
To gaze on the LORD’s beauty,
to visit his temple.c
5 For God will hide me in his shelter
in time of trouble,d
He will conceal me in the cover of his tent;
and set me high upon a rock.
6Even now my head is held high
above my enemies on every side!
I will offer in his tent
sacrifices with shouts of joy;
I will sing and chant praise to the LORD.
uiodg