THE LIFE: Four Inscrutables

I find it interesting to think of these three steps to solving The Divine Equation (Way, Truth, and Life). Why, for example, is Way the first requirement? I would have thought Truth would be first. Here are a few fragmented scraps of ideas from my basket of Lectio Divina meditations on this subject (Philippians 2:5). I find it not without some reasoning that LIFE is the result of mastery of THE WAY and THE TRUTH. If Christ is the Lord of the WAY and the Holy Spirit is Lord of THE TRUTH, then it stands to reason that solving THE DIVINE EQUATION has to do with THE LIFE, now and in the Kingdom of Heaven. The question I have always had, throughout my lifespan, is “How does all of this help me to fulfill my humanity and become what my nature intended through evolution?”

I use four inscrutables to apply them to THE LIFE. These four, as you have read, are the same categories used in THE WAY, and the TRUTH. What is different is the application of each inscrutable to WAY, TRUTH, and LIFE in me.

THE FIRST INSCRUTABLE FOR LIFE: The cross.

To even begin to grasp what it means for the cross to be necessary to discover what it means to be fully human (THE LIFE), I must abandon everyTHING that I have learned that describes my values and what is meaningful to me. Of course, that makes no sense at all. Why would I even consider it? I wouldn’t except for the necessity of choosing the cross as my WAY to make sense of the chaos of the corruption of matter and mind, both physically and morally (original sin). It is the folly of stuff that fairytales contain, and yet, it is only when I take up my cross and see that this seeming paradox is necessary for me to move to the next level of my human maturation (intelligent progression) that what seems a contradiction of reality, makes perfect sense (although I still don’t fully comprehend it).

At Baptism, with the pouring of water, the exorcism of original sin (but not its effects), and the grace to become an adopted son (daughter) of the Father, something happened to change my LIFE. I added a dimension of reality called the Spiritual Universe, one that is the opposite of the world in which I live and love and have my being. The cross on my soul (the divine tattoo) reminds me that, although I must exist in the physical and mental universes until I die, subject to nature and societal influences as to what is good or bad. The cross is a reminder to me that I must face each day as a new beginning where I seek to discover my ever-deepening awareness of what it means to move to the next level of my human evolution, that of the dimension where my source of energy is not the Sun or the expanded capabilities of my mind, but rather when I seek to become more human, I must die to my false self in order to rise to a new one, bit by bit, inch by inch, day by day.

I use the “spine of reality,” the intelligent progression of all life from inception to conclusion as a way for my mind to put this sign of contradiction in some order so that I am not completely off the path to Omega. My assumption is that, for most of what I consider to be meaningful and purposeful about my physical and mental time on this earth (82.7 years to date), my entry into this spiritual realm has defined the other two universes, in terms of a purpose, my purpose, what reality looks like, how it all fits together, how to love fiercely, and finally, the realization that I am going to die, now what?

The “Spine of Reality” as proposed by Father Teilhard de Chardin. (The Phenomenon of Man)

For me to discover THE LIFE, I must realize that what I choose must not only contain my experiences of this world but also how I moved to the next level of my human evolution by choosing the opposite of what this world says is true. My secular humanist friends thump their chests confident that all this spiritual stuff is a fairy tale and doesn’t exist. I don’t argue with them but simply reinforce in my heart that The Christ Principle is the stone rejected by the builders and has become the cornerstone of the New Jerusalem. With Christ Jesus what doesn’t make sense in the kingdom of earth (my citizenship as a human being for so many years), makes complete sense in the kingdom of heaven. The incredulous always seek a sign, both believers and non-believers, but no sign will be given to them but the sign of Jonah. If you have to ask for a sign, know that this may not be THE WAY you seek. Read Matthew 16 as a prayer, not as a phone book resource.

The Demand for a Sign

1^* a The Pharisees and Sadducees came and, to test him, asked him to show them a sign from heaven.

2^* He said to them in reply, “[In the evening you say, ‘Tomorrow will be fair, for the sky is red’;

3^b and, in the morning, ‘Today will be stormy, for the sky is red and threatening.’ You know how to judge the appearance of the sky, but you cannot judge the signs of the times.]

4^c An evil and unfaithful generation seeks a sign, but no sign will be given it except the sign of Jonah.”^* Then he left them and went away. https://bible.usccb.org/bible/matthew/16

MY APPLICATION

• The cross reminds those signed with it to look at the Rule of Opposites when praying, working, meditating, and serving others.
• The Rule of Opposites, along with its two other Rules, that of The Rule of Threes and the Rule of Revolving Centers, form the reflections from my book, The Three Rules of the Spiritual Universe.
• The cross is a way of looking at reality to realize that when we look at the World (our base of existence), we view it with our senses and interpret it with our intellect using the filters we have acquired in our lifetime to help us decipher what it means. There is a deeper and more profound level of depth (where we don’t want to look inside us). Some don’t look there because they just don’t think there is anything there worth investigating. Others, using the sign of contradiction, think that if we want to see the fullness of our humanity, we must learn to look inside and convert our false selves to that of the higher nature (divine) and thus discover what science alone or philosophy alone or religion alone cannot generate.
• Following the WAY of Christ, we gain LIFE by doing the opposite of what our human tendencies might indicate. If we want to be the greatest, we must serve all. If we want to know about God, we must dump all preconceived notions of who or what God is and sit in the presence of Pure Being and wait, listening with “the ear of the heart.” None of this makes sense to the worldly approach to what it means to be human.
• The cross is the sign of Jonah, who died by being swallowed by a big fish only to be resurrected with a new purpose: God was a part of his future now.
• The world wants us to seek self-fulfillment using human needs and our freedom to choose what makes us happy. The Cross is needed to gain perspective over a lifetime influenced by original sin.
• Using the Cross as a sign of contradiction, it is only when I die to my old self (plunge into what makes some sense to my reasoning but sets off bells and whistles that I should be careful), that I come out on the other side having all I experienced before but now having expanded my reality to include that next level of my human evolution, adoption as a son (daughter) of the Father and heir of this next dimension of citizenship.
• With the sign of the cross, what makes no sense to the eyes, can be interpolated by the heart. It is only with the abandonment of what is real that our will sync with that of God. That makes absolutely no sense to those who see it as folly.

THE SECOND INSCRUTABLE FOR LIFE: Dual Citizenship

This second inscrutable has to do with me as having dual citizenship in the world (until I die) and simultaneously with the world, possessing citizenship as an adopted son (daughter) of the Father. I did not choose Christ, but he chose me. Read the passage from John as a prayer.

13^* No one has greater love than this,^j to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.

14bYou are my friends if you do what I command you.

15 I no longer call you slaves, because a slave does not know what his master is doing. I have called you friends,^* because I have told you everything I have heard from my Father.^k

16 It was not you who chose me, but I who chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit that will remain, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name he may give you.^l

17 This I command you: love one another.^m

The World’s Hatred.^*

18 “If the world hates you, realize that it hated me first.ⁿ

19 If you belonged to the world, the world would love its own; but because you do not belong to the world, and I have chosen you out of the world, the world hates you.^o

20 Remember the word I spoke to you,^* ‘No slave is greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours.^p

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/john/15

Observations

Anyone who has been Baptized lives in two worlds simultaneously, the physical and mental world and the physical, mental, and spiritual world. The latter provides me with a perspective on reality that looking at the physical universe with the mental universe does not permit. In terms of THE LIFE, I am constantly searching for how to deepen my awareness of what it means to be fully human as the final product of evolution. The problem is I am using what I have learned NOW to try to peer into the unknown (but yet real) world where Christ is the LIFE.

I do this by using the Teilhard de Chardin map (unattributed), which gives me a picture of the “spine of life,” or “the spine of reality.” This is a macro picture for me to look at spirituality from The Christ Principle as a system. I am constantly trying to deepen my awareness of the Mystery of Faith through Lay Cistercian practices and charisms (silence, solitude, work, prayer, and community, among others). LIFE not only means my life but the whole divine economy from creation to Omega, being ever more and more conscious and complex as it matriculates through time.

Conversion of morals in life is like cutting the grass. It is the nature of grass to grow (unless there is no water), and it soon becomes too high and needs to be cut. Grass doesn’t cut itself. An external force must trim it. Likewise, I must keep my spiritual grass trimmed, or the weeds of original sin will take over and crowd out my planted grass and kill it. Remember what happens to a Beaver who does not gnaw wood? They need their teeth to keep growing, or they will die. It must literally eat to survive. That is like spirituality, especially the very challenging and difficult Lay Cistercian Way of Life. We seek God daily, not because we feel guilty about anything but rather because we will die if we don’t seek God daily and keep plugged into the Holy Spirit. The citizenship of the World, good as it is, doesn’t have the power to help me do this. The Christ Principle alone is THE LIFE (energy) that allows me to be an adopted son (daughter) of the Father. Lectio Divina is so important and my number one Cistercian Practice. Eucharist sustains my Lectio Divina. In making this statement, I declare that each day, each hour, each second, my only purpose is to seek to be present to Christ each day through the power of the Holy Spirit. I am not saying that my brain thinks of Jesus addictively, but rather as one who loves another, and that person is always at the forefront of any thought or action. Balance in all things Lay Cistercian keeps each of us from plummeting off the edge of the path of THE LIFE into the abyss of spiritual schizophrenia.

If you share this view of reality, which I hope somewhat conforms to what I think Cistercian spirituality is, then what I say makes some sense; if not, I speak in fairy tales. When my citizenship of the World ceases, and I die, my citizenship of Heaven, which began at my Baptism when God chose me to be an adopted son (daughter), continues because my inheritance is incorruptible and to be happy with God forever.

APPLICATION

This second inscrutable is important because it is a mindset I use to live THE LIFE. The conformity of life is the integration of THE COSMIC LIFE (Teilhard de Chardin’s map), LIFE OF HUMANITY FROM ADAM AND EVE TO THE LAST HUMAN, MY INDIVIDUAL LIFE OF 82+ YEARS SO FAR, all encapsulated within The Christ Principle. Life is one, and it is all integrated. My spirituality, in particular my Lay Cistercian spirituality, helps me solve the six questions of The Divine Equation with the unique experiences and choices (good and bad) that channel my life path. Each person answers this Divine Equation with the only tools they have, their LIFE experiences. Life experiences of The World are valid, and lead to more consciousness and growth, but do not possess the power to live my humanity, not to be God, but to be the best me.

• What is the meaning of life?
• What is the meaning of my life within that meaning of life?
• What does reality look like?
• How does it all fit together?
• How do love fiercely?
• You know you are going to die; now what?

With dual citizenship in the World, it is very difficult to ask these six questions, let alone receive answers. And most importantly, who is to say you are correct? Some deflect answering them because they challenge that these are the six questions that describe (not define) reality? Others, say each person is the answer to the six questions, which is true until you ask the question, “What is the key that overlays all reality with THE WAY that leads to THE TRUTH, and thus produces THE LIFE that allows each human to reach the apex of their evolution.

My contention is that the second set of citizenship I have, one that exists concurrently with my citizenship of the World, is there to supply the key, the answer to the Divine Equation. I can ask myself the six questions of myself; I can give what I consider to be the correct answers to these questions; but, it is only when I use a power above my nature, outside of my nature, one that left its DNA fingerprints on each atom causing reality to move with intelligent progression toward a direction of consciousness and complexity.

I wake up within this process for 82.7 years and must discover how to move to the next level of my humanity, a WAY that has TRUTH outside of my normal human experience, and all of this leads to a LIFE of contradiction (the cross) and looking at life, not just with the eyes of the World (good as that is) but going deeper to penetrate the purpose of what it means to be fully human.

I am coming to believe (help my unbelief, as St. Thomas Aquinas says) how necessary the cross and the paradox of dual citizenship are in being aware of the reality that is physical, mental, and spiritual.

THE THIRD INSCRUTABLE FOR LIFE: The Divine Equation

I have mentioned The Divine Equation in the previous section so that I might focus on the six questions that I use to define the meaning of LIFE that makes sense. I came across these six questions over a lifetime of moving down paths of NO EXIT, as Jean-Paul Satre says in a hit play of the same name. I tested life’s allurements and challenges to God and my humanity. I found that these six questions are the core of what it means to be human if answered correctly. The big elephant in the room is. “Who determines what is true?” The big speed bump in modern progressive thought is, “You can’t tell me what to believe?” which I believe to be true. I have reason for a reason plus the ability to choose what is good for me, even if I make poor choices. If everyone has, not only the ability to choose what is right for them but to determine that what is right for them is true, then we have a collection of competing truths. Truth for humans is always subjective, although we can use objective techniques to ensure that what we choose is above the mere opinion of the individual. Yet, because of Original Sin and being condemned to this period of years we have on earth, what we determine as objective truth must ultimately be ratified by each individual.

Here are those six questions of The Divine Equation:

1. What is the purpose of life?
2. What is the purpose of my life within that purpose of life I just selected?
3. What does reality look like
4. How does it all fit together?
5. How can I love fiercely?
6. I know that I am going to die, now what?

Atheists, Christians, Jews, Hindi, Buddhists, all philosophies or lack of them, are just templates that I, as an individual can choose with my reasoning, to make sense out of these six questions. My template should be able to explain these to my satisfaction, given the assumptions that I have assimilated as meaningful throughout my lifetime. I get to choose myself as that guarantor of life if I desire. I can also choose a force outside of myself as a template, one that may not make sense with my reasoning without a plunge of trust that there is a dimension of life just beyond what I can see with my eyes alone.

THE FOURTH INSCRUTABLE FOR LIFE: The Christ Principle

If I want to live an authentic life as a human being, I must use my reasoning and choices to not only identify the lock in the door of meaning but discover what key will open it. All I have are my life experiences (good and poor) to help me choose how to keep close to that center line and not waiver. Original Sin causes my resolve to weaken as thoughts flood in to share my resolve. Having the Life is not enough. I must be able to struggle each day to keep my equilibrium. As a human, I don’t possess the power needed to keep myself centered on what gives me purpose in life. By myself, I am not strong enough to withstand the onslaughts of competing templates that beckon my spirit to choose hatred, lust, jealousy, factions, and envy as centers for what gives me life.

As a Lay Cistercian, I have made promises, with the help of Christ through the Holy Spirit, to seek The Christ Principle as my template, tough as it may be to keep myself centered. I use Lay Cistercian Practices and Charisms (you may choose a slightly different methodology) to keep myself centered on the presence of Christ in all that I do each day. Because the power of the Holy Spirit in Christ is my constant companion in my life, I receive LIFE that I assimilate from the source of pure energy (LIFE not within me, but taken within me by my giving up my will to follow the way of the cross, using my dual citizenship to struggle to choose what is good for my nature, having the six questions of the Divine Equation to keep me focused so that I can receive LIFE from LIFE eternal.

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