Compassion/The Golden Rule as a Plan, a Discipline, and a Process for Building a Better World

 

(image is from The Cleveland Clinic)

by Julius-Kei Kato, SSL, PhD

[1] Personal Context |  I teach biblical and religious studies at King’s University College, a liberal arts college that is part of a public university in Ontario Canada. Among the courses I regularly teach is an advanced seminar on religious pluralism. One of our goals in that course is learning to work together for the common good in order to shape a brighter future despite being members of different religious communities or not at all.

[2] Strategies for Finding Common Ground |  To that end, at a certain point in the course, I introduce students to some possible strategies for ‘finding common ground among religions’ in our current societies (especially in the West) which are characterized by diversity, pluralism, and secularism. The last time I taught the course (Fall of 2023), these were the four strategies that I introduced to my students:  (1) the Perennial Philosophy (By this I mean: developing a spirituality that might lead to finding commonality even among people who have different religious/faith traditions); (2) The Global Ethic promoted by the Parliament of the World’s Religions; (3) The Charter for Compassion advocated by well-known historian  of religions and prolific author, Karen Armstrong; and (4) The Principles for Dialogue formulated by prominent Catholic ecumenist Prof. Leonard Swidler of Temple University (Philadelphia).

All four, I’m convinced, are excellent strategies for finding common ground among different spiritual-wisdom traditions but here I would like to focus my reflections on the third strategy, namely, the value and force of compassion, expressed in a declaration called “The Charter for Compassion” formulated by historian of religion Karen Armstrong. This so-called Charter for Compassion is in turn fundamentally based on the Golden Rule which, as you know well, is found at the heart of, and advocated by practically all world religions. I will also add this important observation: the effort to deepen this spirituality (of compassion) in individuals and communities is not only a narcissistic, selfish self-development program but is connected deeply with the advancement of the common good in society because it involves a deeper awareness that we are truly all interconnected with each other. That will hopefully lead to concrete practices and strategies for ‘working together for a brighter future’. I would also like to suggest that the value and practice of compassion should be given more priority in all the groups that are included in the category “civil society”.

[3] Compassion and The Golden Rule |  There is a TED talk given by Armstrong entitled “Let’s revive the Golden Rule.” It is an excellent piece, and my reflections here will follow closely what she says in that manifesto-lecture on compassion, its relation to the Golden Rule, and how compassion can be made a force for the common good in society and how it can help people from different backgrounds and traditions to work for a brighter future.

[see: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bhHJ4DRZNZM ]

It is very clear that compassion has a central place in all the major spiritual-wisdom traditions of the world. (“Spiritual-wisdom traditions” is how I often call the various religions of the world.) If you dig into these spiritual-wisdom traditions, you will surely meet with a version of what is called “The Golden Rule,” formulated either in a positive or negative phrasing.

For example, the words of Jesus expressing the Golden Rule found in the Gospel of Matthew (7:12) is an example of a positive formulation: “Do unto others what you want them to do unto you.” While the version that the Chinese sage Confucius (credited by some as the first who formulated the Golden Rule) is usually put in the negative form: “Do not do to others what you would not like them to do to you.”

[a quote from Karen Armstrong’s work] Confucius was the first, as far as we know, to enunciate the Golden Rule. This was some five hundred years before Christ. His disciples asked Confucius, “Master, which of your teachings can we put into practice all day and every day? What is the central thread that runs through all your teachings?” And Confucius said tsu [shu 恕], “likening to the self.” You look into your own heart, discover what gives you pain, and then refuse under any circumstances to inflict that pain on anybody else. Do not do to others what you would not like them to do to you. Confucius believed that if we did that consistently—all day, every day—then we would gradually leave ourselves behind, because compassion requires you to dethrone yourself from the center of your world and to put another there. [See: https://www.lionsroar.com/the-golden-rule/]

I’d like to emphasize by way of commentary what Confucius seemed to be explaining. It seems, he was trying to communicate the following: Look into your heart; find out what gives you pain; then resolve under any circumstance not to inflict that pain to others. Moreover, Confucius taught that this has to be done “all day and every day!” And not just, say, once a day, in order to fulfill what is sometimes called “our good deed of the day.”

The Nine Attitudes of Mindfulness -as proposed by Jon Kabat-Zinn

 "Mindfulness is a source of happiness." (Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh)

Transcription by Danielle Durand, MA (Thanks, Danielle!)

Source: https://youtu.be/2n7FOBFMvXg?t=4 (full video)

Video Published: 2015-04-24 / Accessed: 2021-07-12

About Jon Kabat-Zinn (timestamp 0:09)

 

Here, professor (of Medicine) and renowned mindfulness teacher Jon Kabat-Zinn, PhD, talks about the 9 Attitudes of Mindfulness, how to use them in our Mindfulness practice and daily life.

Jon is the founder of the Center for Mindfulness at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. He is also the founder of its renowned Stress Reduction Clinic. He teaches mindfulness and Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) in various venues around the world.

 

Introductory Remarks (timestamp 0:20)

The cultivation of mindfulness—of moment to moment non-judgmental awareness—is, really—it sounds very simple, but it's actually just about the hardest work in the world for human beings because we get so caught up in our conditioned states of mind, and when we begin to

cultivate awareness, it's really important to bring a certain attitudinal approach to it so that we're not trying to force anything to happen, or sit in a kind of rigid posture, or attain some special state that will, you know, that we sort of think, “ah, that's what it is,” “I'll be enlightened” or “I'll just be permanently wise,” or “I'll be this,” or “I'll be that.” The problem isn't actually with the enlightenment, or the permanently wise, or anything like that. The problem is with the personal pronouns “I,” “me,” and “mine.” They are very, very problematic because who we think we are and who we actually are, are very different, and there's a huge separation. What we think we are is very, very small compared to who we actually are. And so, when we are cultivating mindfulness in MBSR or with people, we encourage a certain kind of attitude that's brought to the formal and informal practices that you can keep in mind through your daily life as well. And these attitudes—there are seven of them—that I put in Full-Catastrophe Living when I was writing it because it really felt like if you bring—if you start to cultivate acceptance, if you start to cultivate non-striving, if you start to cultivate letting go or letting be, if you start to cultivate trust and patience—that these qualities can be cultivated in everyday life—with your children, with your parents, with your partner or spouse, with your colleagues at work. And so, it's a way of reinforcing and deepening the actual formal and informal meditation practices.

This lecture primarily outlines the seven (+2) essential attitudes of mindfulness and practices to implement them in our daily lives.

***

Attitude 1: Beginner’s Mind (timestamp 2:36)

Beginner's mind is a lovely orientation to bring to the present moment. This moment is always fresh, always new—we've never been in this one before—and yet, we bring so many ideas, and attitudes, and desires to every moment that we can't actually allow ourselves, much of the time, to see things as if for the first time. Imagine bringing awareness to your children with beginner's mind so that you actually see them not through your lenses of ideas and opinions about your children, but fresh—the miracle of them, the amazing nature of them— so this is something that we could bring to any moment. [it has the virtue of.] Sometimes, we're so expert that our minds are just full of, you know, our expertise, but it leaves us without any realm for novelty or new possibilities. In the mind of the expert, they say there are very few possibilities, but in the beginner's mind there are infinite possibilities because we come to it fresh. So, it's a kind of a discipline to try to bring beginner's mind to every aspect of your life and not be so stuck in our ideas and opinions about how much we like this or don't like that or what the outcome of a particular situation might be. And when we come to things with this freshness. It actually, again, has tremendous transformative qualities associated with it. And when you bring it to other people, and you're open and spacious with them, and don't insist that they be the way they were half an hour ago or two years ago—or whatever it is— they feel seen, and recognized, and met in a way that they might not otherwise experience. That benefits them, and it also benefits us.

Attitude 2: Non-Judging (timestamp 5:04)

Non-judging is a very important element of mindfulness practice and, in fact, is part of my working definition of mindfulness, which is the awareness that arises through paying attention on purpose in the present moment non-judgmentally. And the non-judgmentally is the real challenge because when you start to pay attention to what's on your mind, you very rapidly discover that we have ideas and opinions about everything—just about everything—and we're always judging things in terms of “I like that,” “I don't like that,” “I want that,” “I don't want that,” “this is good,” “that's bad,” and it's like a steady stream of judging, judging, judging, judging, judging. So, when we speak of mindfulness is being non-judgmental awareness, it doesn't mean that there won't be judgments; it means that [you're] you will be aware of how judgmental we actually are, and then not judge the judging. And when we relate to it in that kind of a way, then we begin to see that that our judging is very often black and white; it's either this or that, this or that, good or bad, like, dislike, want, don't want. And we get imprisoned by that kind of view. 

But being non-judgmental doesn't mean that all of a sudden you get stupid and think, “Well, I'm not going to be judgmental, so I'll just walk out in the street in front of an oncoming truck. What difference does it make?” No—it means that we will cultivate discernment (this is the capacity to see what's actually unfolding) but not to judge it, but to recognize it and to understand it in relationship to our experience. So, when we speak about non-judgmental awareness that's what we're talking about—we're talking about a very fine degree of discernment of clarity, of wisdom, of understanding the interconnections between things and, at the same time, noticing the tendency to judge quite quickly—like, don't like, want, don't want—and to recognize that that actually creates a kind of veil or a filter in front of our eyes that doesn't allow us to see the thing—to see things as they are, but to only see them through the lenses of our own ideas and opinions, and likes and dislikes, which is practically blinding to us. So, there—this is a wonderful discipline: the cultivation of awareness of judging and the cultivation of being gently non-judgmental, or not judging the judging that we do discover in ourselves. And over days, weeks, months, and years, we can begin to actually find a way to navigate through our judging in such a way that it no longer dominates our lives in quite the same way. And we recognize when it comes up that it's actually, in some sense, toxic. And the more we challenge it, and the more we rest in discernment and in pure awareness, the more we can live life authentically in the present moment without getting caught by our own habits of mind—unhealthy, if you will, habits of mind.

Attitude 3: Acceptance (timestamp 8:57)

Acceptance is a very active process—there's nothing passive about it. It's not passive resignation, but it's an active recognition that things are actually the way they are. Sometimes, they're not the way we want them to be. So, acceptance doesn't mean that we can't work to change the world or to change circumstances of one kind or another, but it means that unless we accept things as they are, we will try to force things to be as they are not, and that can create an enormous amount of difficulty. If we recognize the actuality of things, then we have the potential to apply wisdom in that situation to actually shift our own relationship to what is occurring in ways that might be profoundly healing and transformative. But without acceptance of one’s situation, then it's very difficult to know where to stand, and without knowing where to stand, it's very difficult to take the first step. So, some things are very hard to accept, like when it's something—when you experience pain, for instance, and you don't—in your body—and you don't know what it's from, it's very, very difficult to accept it because we—first, we want to know what it's coming from. And if we don't have any answer for what is causing the pain, then it can be very, very difficult to accept it. But what we find working with chronic pain patients is that before you can actually work with pain and suffering, you need to actually put out the welcome mat for it and accept it as it is because whatever has been done medically that could be done has been done, and you're still living with a certain degree of pain. What our people with chronic pain who come to our clinic experience is that there’s a lot of different ways to actually work with pain, but the first step is to actually put out the welcome mat for it, which is very hard to do when you're suffering, but it's actually a gateway into freedom from suffering. So, that's one of the most powerful ways in which acceptance can be brought to bear on healing and transforming one's life and is a very, very powerful factor and is a very, very powerful attitude in the cultivation of mindfulness.

Spiritual Quests & Optimal Living: How They're Intimately Connected

 

Ordinary Human Life as a Spiritual Quest

I've recently renamed my public Facebook page to "JK Kato-Spiritual Quests & Optimal Living." (LINK) Formerly it had a long and clunky name: "JK Kato-Studying the Human Quest for Depth & Transcendence."

Why? The new name reflects my growing conviction that human life--every aspect of it--is a spiritual quest, a quest which is nevertheless rooted in ordinary life with all its ups and downs. That means: Don't be afraid of "spiritual quests"! A spiritual quest is not an elite activity that is beyond the reach of ordinary people like you and me.

Rather, simply put, the spiritual quest actually consists in trying to live an "Optimal Life" (a key expression for me now), which is nothing else than trying our darned best to be the best versions of ourselves in the different situations where we find ourselves. 

In Japanese, one of the most common expressions for encouraging others is the expression "Gambare!" (頑張れ). That basically means "Do your best!" It also includes though this nuance: (Do you best) 'under all the different circumstances where you find yourself'. For me, "optimal living" then, simply put, basically means --what in Japanese is-- gambaru ("doing your best"). Thus, the spirituality of optimal living is simply a Gambaru Seishin (頑張る精神), a spirituality of doing one's best in every given moment.

Another way of putting it would be the following:  Optimal living is "showing up as the best version of yourself" in every moment of life. That is life-coach, optimal living philosopher Brian Johnson's dynamic rendering. To that let me add the important word: "mindfully." Therefore, my fuller description of optimal living is: While being mindful of where we are and what we face, we try to be the best version of ourself in every moment of life.

Now an important caveat: Optimal living is NOT perfectionism. The former is healthy because it is firmly based on reality and takes account of our different limitations; the latter can be unwholesome because it tends to have unrealistic demands. 

So, What's "Spiritual" about All This?

If "optimal living" (that is, "mindfully showing up as your best self at every given moment") is practically what a "spiritual quest" is all about, you may be asking: What is "spiritual" about that? Isn't that just an ordinary "human" goal and endeavor?

Yes, that's a very important question and here are my thoughts about it.

The great spiritual traditions of the world have always reminded us that each one of us, as well as all beings and all things in the whole universe, are part of a BIGGER REALITY. The spiritual traditions have called that Greater Reality by different names: "God", "the Spirit", "Nirvana", "Interconnectedness" (Emptiness-Nothingness), "Brahman", etc. That concept has even been given names in the popular culture of our secular age such as: "the Universe", "the Force", "Destiny", etc. 

What that means is, according to the great spiritual traditions of the world, each one of us is living out our daily existence within a wider and bigger dimension which is not normally perceivable by our ordinary senses. In other words, this bigger dimension is non-material; hence, it is "spiritual". Many spiritual traditions describe this bigger dimension as having a personal character. It is therefore thought of as a gracious, and compassionate personal Being (as in Christianity's assertion, "God is Love").

Remember then: According to the spiritual traditions, your actions, your thoughts, your very existence ... those are not only your own. You and whatever you do -- all of that is closely interconnected to everyone and everything else. You're playing out your life and your particular role on a bigger stage, and each and every action of yours, whether good, bad, or neutral, has consequences not only for yourself but for others and the whole universe. 

All of that leads to this conclusion: To live fully as a human being, it's certainly better to be attuned to this bigger, wider, and deeper, non-material/spiritual dimension of reality. Without it, life will be shallow and lacking in meaning. This is why it is often said, "You've got to live for something bigger than yourself."

That, in short, is why we are all spiritual beings. That's why we have to undertake the spiritual quest. That's why it's good to be "spiritually literate." It's in our nature as humans to be aware of and to actually "touch" in some way this spiritual (non-material, bigger, and deeper) dimension of life.
Furthermore, you don't have to attach "God" to this spiritual quest, although many of us still do so and that's fine as well. What is necessary though is to be aware and mindful of this "greater dimension." Whether you call it by a name (like "God") is secondary.

In our secular age, many people prefer to stress the mystery-dimension of this bigger realm and not explicity name it. This is a modern development that is somehow different from the practice of our past ancestors who liked to name this greater reality with titles such as "God", "YHWH", "Jesus", "Allah", etc. 

The Spiritual Quest is Primarily about This Life Here and Now

For all the complaints that religious believers have about our present "secularized" age, I think that the secular age has a valuable contribution to our sense of spirituality. Nowadays, it is emphasized that things are primarily played out in this life, in the here and now. Therefore, we have to give this life our all, without being overly concerned with the afterlife, contrary to what many traditional religions have advocated in the past. To give a concrete example, this means  that we cannot resign ourselves and sort of just passively accept the evils and oppressions of this time because we hope for a better existence in the afterlife. That is an instance of religion being an "opium of the people," to use Karl Marx's famous critique of religion. Rather, we struggle against and resist the many wrongs in this world; we try to live our lives now to the full, precisely as the best way of responding to the precious gift of life.

It is clear that we cannot conclusively prove that there is an afterlife or even that there is a non-material-spiritual dimension. Nevertheless, living our one life well and to the full, as the best version of ourselves, will bring us to--what Abraham Maslow pointed out is--the highest level of fulfillment: Self-Transcendence, a fully alive level of existence in which someone trusts that there is a greater reality, lives for a bigger cause and, at the same time, is authentically happy and fulfilled. Almost as an afterthought, if there be indeed an afterlife, living our life now to the full will be our best preparation for it!

If we somehow experience some self-transcendence, we will actually touch everyone and everything else in a deep and moving way. This has been shown by the spiritual mystics of all spiritual traditions. We will also somehow get a glimpse of and touch in some way the Greater Dimension itself or, if you will, the Greater Being, the one that some spiritual traditions have called "God", "the Spirit", "the Force", "the Universe". 

---

“YHWH” as (the) Breath (of Life)

This is an excerpt from a talk Fr. Richard Rohr OFM gave at Norwich Cathedral in 2015 titled “Christian Contemplation-Becoming Stillness.” It can be found online at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9TGS-JD80nE&t=778s  / Published on YouTube on: Jan. 18, 2015.

Rohr recounts a conversation he had with a scientist who happened to be a Jewish Rabbi. The Rabbi makes the case that the name of God, sacred to Jews and Christians, YaHWeH, was originally an attempt to replicate breath. Hence, we can conclude, that our very breath is intimately linked with the Greater Reality (some of us call God) and that, with every breath we take throughout our life, we exist within the greater divine reality. [jkk]

[50:03]

He [the rabbi-scientist] said, "Did you know that the consonants used in the spelling of the sacred name, Y-a-H-W-e-H,  are in fact the only consonants that if correctly pronounced do not allow you to use your tongue or close your lips?

In fact we know that the pronouncing of the sacred name was an attempt to imitate and replicate breath, that it was inhalation and exhalation."

And then he began to do it into the microphone and, in a few minutes, tears started being audible in the room [full] of PhDs

I now give this to every crowd I can because it can change your life.

If I would come back here a year from tonight and if some of you hold on to this and begin to live it and to experience it and to practice it, your prayer life will dramatically change. But notice it has nothing to do with thinking.

Here, Rohr reminds us that we should transcend the action of cognitive thinking in order to experience the spirit of contemplation. That, in turn, will change our lives.[jkk]

In fact it moves the entire experience to the cellular body, to the corporeal breath level and it means, wonder of wonders,  that the first word you ever spoke when you came out of your mother's womb was the name of God.

And it will be the last word you'll ever speak. You don't have to try to remember to say a prayer before you die.You're going to anyway: that last breath you take on your death bread will be the name of God

And it's the one thing you've done constantly. You just did it now and you did it again: You're breathing. [52:16]

***

Being mindful of one’s breathing is a fundamental component of practically all meditation techniques found in the world’s various spiritual-wisdom traditions (the world religions). Here is one way to make breathing exercises explicitly Christian: to understand and practice it as a form of recitation of the sacred name of God. Besides, one does not need to recite it audibly. The very breath is a recitation of the divine name and communing with the divine presence. [jkk]

---

The Rising “Religion of Life” Today: Philosopher of Religion Don Cupitt's Thoughts on This and My Critical Reactions to It

 

This blogpost is closely based on a lecture given by David Warden of the “Dorset Humanists” on "The Religion of Life,” (DCRL link below), a way of life advocated by British Philosopher of Religion Don Cupitt

SOURCE:  Don Cupitt and the religion of life – a lecture by David Warden

link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cK7pWPVV7LA (Hereafter referred to as DCRL)

Note well also the following works as further references:

·         Philosopher-Kings: http://www.philosopherkings.co.uk/doncupitt.html

·         The Fountain: https://iai.tv/video/the-fountain

·         Cupitt, Don. Turns of Phrase: Radical Theology from A to Z. London: SCM Press, 2011. (Hereafter referred to as TP)

·         See also the overview of Don Cupitt’s thinking at: http://www.philosopherkings.co.uk/doncupitt.html

*****

Don Cupitt and Religion 

Don Cupitt is a British philosopher of religion and theologian who has reflected deeply and written extensively on the state of religion in the contemporary Western world.

Cupitt thinks that “God” (the image of God) as traditionally conceived of in the West (namely, a supernatural Being who is all-powerful and controls all things) is fundamentally a myth (not an objective reality). However, “religion” which upheld this idea of God in the West for a long time, can still be deeply meaningful. He has called this position “non-realism.”

Besides, Cupitt also teaches that this life is (apparently) all that there is and that there is nothing else beyond this present existence. Hence, our main task is to live this life to the fullest and make the most of our limited existence here on earth.

Here in the West, religion is usually thought of as a belief in and worship of a supernatural God. Let us not forget though that there are other meanings of the word “religion.” For example, in everyday usage, “religion” is sometimes meant as an “all-consuming passion” (such as baseball or football, hence, expressions such as “Hockey is my religion”).

In parts of the East though, religion has often been understood primarily as a practice or applied philosophy that can deliver enlightenment and bliss to those who undertake its practice. In this understanding of religion, “believing” is not too important. Rather, the emphasis is on praxis: practicing and living according to teachings that are immensely practical and are geared to achieving a greater wholeness in the practioner and in the world. These teachings can actually be called—in the words of spirituality teacher Roger Walsh—"psycho-spiritual technologies” that can and do deliver bliss, happiness, and well-being. Spiritual-wisdom traditions such as Buddhism, Confucianism, and Daoism (among others) best exemplify this type of religion. There is a tendency in the West though to look down upon such non-theistic forms of religion and consider them as “mere philosophies” (mere human thinking) and not true religions, which are thought of as being directly revealed by the Divine Being. Needless to say, I do not agree with this condescending attitude toward Eastern spiritual-wisdom traditions.

It is fair to say that Westerners are generally not used to an understanding of religion that puts great import on practice (praxis) instead of believing. As mentioned above, it is usually thought that monotheistic religions are the only “authentic” forms of religions. Because of the prevalence of this idea in the West, there is still a strong tendency to equate religion with supernatural beliefs or with believing in things that one cannot really prove but have to be, as the popular formula goes, “taken on faith.” Many of these matters that are to be taken on faith have mythological features in common with other ancient myths. Many Westerners find it hard to see that a largely “beliefless” kind of religion that puts the emphasis instead on praxis can be interesting, let alone legitimate (cf. Cupitt, 2000: Philosophy’s Own Religion).

[jkk annotation]

In line with Cupitt, I propose that even in the West, it is high time to understand and practice religion in the abovementioned manner frequently associated with Eastern spiritual-wisdom traditions (Eastern religions). I say this because of my work with young adults at the university, many of whom identify themselves as MRB (‘Multiple Religious Belonging’ people), SBNR (Spiritual but not Religious), Dones (We’re “done” with religion), and/or Nones (We have “no” religion). This may very well be the reason why Buddhism, a tradition that has no explicit belief in God, is so popular in the West today.

Psychiatrist and spirituality teacher Roger Walsh (UC-Irvine) has called an understanding and practice of religion (that emphasizes the practical dimension) “transconventional religion.” This is contrasted with “conventional” Western religion which puts the emphasis on believing on faith (the creed, the Bible, biblical principles, etc.) and linking one’s eternal salvation with such an act of believing.

[end of jkk annotation]

How to Meditate: My Suggestion - "Life-giving Reading" (Lectio Vitalis)

(this is a revised version of a blogpost that I originally wrote in March 2021)

Why Meditate?

Practically all spiritual teachers in every spiritual-wisdom tradition agree that the spiritual quest (aka, the Hero’s Journey) cannot go far without some form of—what is commonly known as—meditation practice. “Meditation” (here) is known by other names such as: prayer, mindfulness, contemplation, etc. However it is called, meditation is essential to support your own hero’s journey, your own spiritual quest. Why? It is that formal act done regularly of trying to [1] reach your depth and [2] transcend yourself which, as we said, make up the heart of all spirituality and religion.

Besides, meditation has been proven even by numerous scientific studies to have many other benefits for the well-being and health of your mind and body. For example, Jonathan Haidt in his The Happiness Hypothesis, tells us that meditation is something like a magic pill. His words: “Suppose you read about a pill that you could take once a day to reduce anxiety and increase your contentment. Would you take it? Suppose further that the pill has a great variety of side effects, all of them good: increased self-esteem, empathy, and trust; it even improves memory. Suppose, finally, that the pill is all natural and costs nothing. Now would you take it? The pill exists. It’s called meditation.”

[for those taking the course RS2180] An important component of this course on spiritual quests and popular culture is the task of journal writing. I envision journal writing to be a result of your meditation on the different learning materials of the week. Try to practice some kind of meditation before you write your journal entry!)

 

Meditation Described Briefly 

A simple description: Meditation is a universal practice found in practically all spiritual-wisdom traditions (aka, the world religions). It is basically a concentration technique that has two key elements: 

1.    First, choosing a focus for attention. This is usually one's breathing (in and out). But it can be extended to: an emotion, a thought, a part of one's body, etc. It can even be applied to a sacred word or mantra (as it is done in the Christian prayer-practice known as "centering prayer"). 

2.    Second, when one notices that one's attention has wandered elsewhere, gently bring it back to the point of focus.

That is meditation in a nutshell! Our minds--as Buddhism often teaches--are like restless, wild monkeys that jump from tree to tree ("the monkey mind"). When one can tame this restless, wandering mind and train it to focus on something, then the spiritual quest can move forward in earnest (see Roger Walsh, Essential Spirituality, pp. 155-56).

 

A Suggestion on How to Meditate - A "Life-Giving Reading" (Lectio Vitalis)

There are many forms of meditation. The following is just my recommendation from my personal practice. For the absolute beginner, I would recommend starting with 10 minutes every day and aim to expand that eventually to 15~20 minutes. For people who are somewhat addicted to being endlessly engaged (often, distracted) with technological gadgets, that can seem daunting. But it is necessary to resolve and set out to "just do it" (as the Nike ad says).

There is a popular spiritual practice in the Catholic Christian tradition called "Lectio Divina." That means "Sacred [or Divine] Reading." It is a time-tested and proven method of reading the scriptures in a prayerful, contemplative manner. It is based on a simple method that can be summarized in the following steps: (1) Read -- (2) Think -- (3) Pray -- (4) Act.

I will adopt and tweak a bit the 'Sacred Reading' method and propose it to beginners or people who want to progress further in their meditation practice. As I said, I'll rename the practice to "Lectio Vitalis" (Latin) which means "a life-giving/life-sustaining reading." The Latin literally means "Vital Reading."  "Vital" here means: "life-giving, life-sustaining, life-affirming," but also "important" (vital!) for cultivating and sustaining one's spiritual quest or hero’s journey.

Main Takeaways from our Study of Spiritual Quests and Popular Culture

Popular Culture is often just thoughtlessly consumed today as entertainment. That is unfortunate because if one looks deeply at many works of popular culture and analyzes them properly with the right tools and background knowledge regarding the sources from which they come, one will realize certain profound and noteworthy things which I will try to summarize below. We have done this by analyzing films such as The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe; Harry Potter (and his different adventures), Regarding Henry, etc.

[1] Heroes and Villains |  Works of popular culture generally have “Heroes” and “Villains.” These characters, their respective “journeys” and “adventures/misadventures” usually form the backbone of the stories. The journeys of heroes have been a main focus of this course because they reflect and mirror the real journeys that each of us undertakes in life. Each of us is “the Hero” of our own life. At the same time, we can also potentially become “the Villain” of both our life and the lives of others.

[2] Journeys and Spiritual Quests |  The “journey” itself can be considered a spiritual quest. The essence of the “spiritual quest” can be expressed in this way: We may not be fully aware of it, but all of us are actually seeking (“questing”) in everything we do for a more MEANINGFUL and HAPPY existence. This can only be reached—I’m proposing—by pursuing a more profound “depth in life” and, at the same time, participating in something “bigger” than ourselves. The key words here are “depth” and "transcendence.”

[3] Spirituality and Spiritual Quests |  Hence, the (working) definition of the spiritual quest (or of “spirituality” itself) that I have proposed in this course is: The spiritual quest (or spirituality itself) is the human quest for meaning by finding ways to go deeper into oneself and transcend oneself for something bigger. We can shorten that to: Going “Deeper” and “Bigger” as the very essence of the spiritual quest. At their best, the different religions and spiritual traditions of the world try to enhance the development of this spiritual quest/spirituality in their own particular ways. Sometimes they are successful; at other times, they are not. Another main point I’ve emphasized is that spirituality is a basic human dimension. It is not the exclusive domain of institutional religions although the pursuit of spirituality has been predominantly done within religious institutions in the past. Hence, spirituality can be properly pursued within but also outside institutional religion today.

[4] Christianity and Jesus |  We cannot neglect the major role that the Christian tradition and its central figure (Jesus Christ) have played in the history of Western civilization.  For better or worse, Christianity has impacted many aspects of Western culture both in the past and still in our day. Therefore, a knowledge of key aspects of Christianity, particularly, of its central figure—Jesus Christ, is key to understanding Western culture itself and the many pieces of literature and popular culture (among other things) that come from it.

[5] Joseph Campbell and the Monomyth |  The American mythologist Joseph Campbell proposed that stories of heroes around the world follow one basic plot which he outlined in his influential work A Hero with a Thousand Faces. Campbell called this plot “the monomyth.” It is also popularly known as “The Hero’s Journey.” These stories, which basically follow Campbell’s scheme of the hero’s journey, are found in various mythologies and religious-spiritual traditions. Or course, they are also found in many of the stories and plots of popular culture.

The “Limit Experience” and the Hero’s Journey (aka, the Spiritual Quest)

 

I recommend that you view the film Regarding Henry first before reading this blogpost. Available from the Western library system HERE.

Thinking about “Limit” Experiences and Situations

The film Regarding Henry (1991, starring Harrison Ford and Annette Benning) would probably be considered nowadays a rather unremarkable film that is too sappy and corny for an audience composed
of many “jaded” people used to more glitzy films. I consider it though a good chance to reflect on the concept of “limit” and “limit situations/experiences.” “Limit” is a major key for understanding and reflecting about the most important questions of human life and existence, particularly, how these relate with God, spirituality, and religion.

According to theologian David Tracy, a “limit situation” refers “to those human situations wherein a human being ineluctably finds manifest a certain ultimate limit or horizon to his or her existence.” Tracy distinguishes two main kinds of existential situations: “Either those ‘boundary’ situations of guilt, anxiety, sickness and the recognition of death as one's own destiny, or those situations called 'ecstatic experiences'... intense joy, love, reassurance, creation.” (David Tracy, Blessed Rage for Order, p. 105).

Let me explain “limit” in my words (with my students in mind). A “limit experience or situation” can be described as an intense moment when something major (either positive or negative)—be it an event, an overwhelmingly magnificent or evil person, extraordinary beauty or ugliness, a serious crisis or extraordinarily beautiful moment, or the like—so powerfully discloses the limits of human beings to understand the mysteriousness of human existence. It forces us who experience this event as “a limit” to nevertheless make at least some sense of this event’s mysteriousness that transcends the ordinary limits of human understanding. How to do that? By attempting to do an interpretation of the experience (“interpretive understanding”). That’s just a fancy way to say: When faced with a limit situation, humans try to put forward a possible explanation of the event. Of course, it is obvious that the effort to make sense of limit experiences often takes place in the midst of many strong positive or negative emotions, such as hope, faith, love, anxiety, sadness, anger, fear, despair, etc., elicited by these powerful experiences.

The Limit Situation in Regarding Henry

Let’s go back to Regarding Henry. First point for consideration: At the beginning of the film, we see that New York lawyer Henry Turner is at the top of his game. He is a tremendously successful lawyer who “has everything” in terms of worldly success. At this point, recall that in order to reach such success in one’s career, Henry has had to work and study hard, hone his rhetorical and reasoning skills, have the right connections, and pursue everything with drive and perseverance. Being successful in life (such as having a successful career) is itself an impressive feat that could not be reached without much discipline and sacrifice. Being university students, most of you are in that “struggling” stage now.

But Henry’s life and success are obliterated in a single moment because of a seemingly random and senseless shooting that almost kills him and tragically reduces him to the state of a helpless person who has lost even the most basic of human capabilities such as walking or speaking, let alone reading or writing. This is the story’s BIG limit experience and situation. How can a whole life of hard work culminating in great success be gone in a few seconds? Such tragic experiences make us come face to face with our limits to comprehend life’s utter mysteriousness. Henry himself as well as his family and colleagues think of the whole situation as a tragedy. But is it really? (see the Zen story below)

How do you evaluate this tragedy in terms of the Hero’s Journey? How would you apply the Hero’s Journey to the whole life-journey of Henry presented in this film? Reflect on those questions and be prepared to give meaningful responses.

Some “Big Ideas” on Spiritual Quests & Popular Culture

From 'Creative Educator'

Summary of the Most Important Points of a Course that I regularly teach called “Spiritual Quests & Popular Culture” 

[1] “Spiritual Quests” |  Human Life can be described in general as a “quest" or a “journey.” It is a quest and a search for something so precious that is worth the trouble of a difficult journey filled with lots of challenges.

In philosophy & religious studies, it is said that the most important quest or search in life is the one that will lead you to know deeply who you really are and all that you can be – in short, your authentic self. And that “authentic self” is someone who accepts yourself as you are but is, at the same time, connected with others (and the whole universe even!) and also living for a cause that is “bigger than yourself.”

To summarize, the spiritual quest is “a quest for your deepest and most authentic self—a self that is connected with the universe and living for something bigger than your small EGO.” The external circumstances will differ from person to person, your life-adventures can bring you to far-away places or be done close to home but no matter where you go or what you face, the goal is the same: to know your authentic self as described above.

[2] “Spirituality” | Spirituality—as I [jkk] understand it—is composed of the following: One, it is a process of going deeper to find out who you really are in the most profound part of your being. Let’s call that “depth.” Two, it also means living for “something bigger than yourself.” A good term for that is “transcendence.” When you’ve begun to know deeply who you really are (depth) and when you’re pursuing something bigger than yourself (transcendence), only then can your life have a deeply satisfying and fulfilling meaning.

[3] Spirituality and Religion |  Spirituality as described above (in #2) is the heart of all religion. A religion is valid only in as much as it can enhance the spirituality of its members. However, spirituality can also be pursued outside of institutional religion. That is a growing trend especially in the West today (and in other parts of the world in which religion is on the decline).

We can make a good case that spirituality itself is the summum bonum (the highest good) for humans whether it is pursued within or outside a religious tradition. In other words, pursuing a spiritual quest (for depth and transcendence) is the greatest and most fulfilling adventure humans can be engaged in. Some will do it within a religious tradition; some others will do it outside the bounds of an institutional religion.

[4] The Hero’s Journey |  In order to accomplish this goal (of knowing deeply who we really are and partaking in something bigger than ourselves), everyone has to go on a QUEST or JOURNEY in life. This is in fact “the spiritual quest.” In the course of this journey, one has the possibility of becoming a HERO. [Note well though: If you allow the journey to embitter and break you, you can end up becoming a villain.] Hence, this spiritual quest has also been frequently expressed as “the Hero’s Journey.”

[5] Joseph Campbell’s Iteration of the Hero’s Journey |  The American mythologist Joseph Campbell outlined this quest well in his teaching on “The Hero’s Journey.” In one of his most well-known books, Campbell referred to “a hero with a thousand faces.” There, he described the Hero’s journey as “the monomyth.” By this, he meant that almost all “hero stories” throughout history and across all cultures seem to follow basically “one mythical plot” (hence, “mono-myth”).

The Hero’s Journey according to Campbell has three main parts: [1] The Departure or Separation: a hero is called to adventure and has to leave “home” (that is, everything familiar to them); [2] Initiation-Adventure: This part of the journey involves all the adventures, trials and defeats, joys and triumphs, etc. that the hero experiences. These experiences in turn forge the person into a genuine hero; [3] The Return: The hero then returns home bringing the fruits of their journey. There they bring about a new and better world.

Worldviews and Religions: The Role of Religions-as-Worldviews in Building a Global Community of Justice & Peace

image from gracechurch.org

By: Julius-Kei Kato, PhD

I acknowledge my debt to the many thinker-teachers who have taught me precious lessons about the topics I write about here, particularly, Ken Wilber and his iteration of “the Integral Theory.” A full list of references for sources of the content here as well as for further study is found at the end of the article.

Part I

Worldviews and Religion-as-a-Worldview – Attaining a Worldview that Can Help Build a Just and Peaceful World

This essay is principally about the importance of worldviews, especially religious and spiritual worldviews. It describes what worldviews are and how they can impede or contribute to the building of a world in which true justice and peace are present.

[1] Building a Just and Peaceful World |  One of the most important keys to building a just and peaceful world today is to bring people (as individuals and as groups) to truly want to be “global citizens,” in other words, willing participants of—what we shall call here—a “global community.” Let us define “global community” along the lines of the concept of “global citizenship” as a movement of many people throughout our increasingly globalized and interconnected world who value the well-being of others: one’s own insider group of course but, equally, also those outside one’s groups of affiliation (extending this concern to the whole world even). A particularly urgent matter at this juncture in history is for members of this global community to become deeply aware of the precarious ecological situation of our common earth-home and act to improve the situation.

Global citizens (the members of this envisioned global community) commit themselves, first, to refrain from things that harm others and, second, to act in order to realize better the vision of a more peaceful and just world not only for themselves and their in-group members (aka, one’s “tribe”) but for everyone in the world, particularly, those who have been considered “others” by one’s tribe.

[2] What We Mean by “Tribe" |  We will use the word "tribe" or “tribal” frequently here. It is proper, therefore, to describe it further. “My tribe” can mean many things. It’s basically the human group that I consider “my own people” or my “in-group.” Hence, “my tribe” can refer to: my family and extended family, my clan, my village. It can also refer to: my race, my culture, my social and economic class, my gender and gender-orientation. More specifically for our purposes here, we should be aware that “my tribe” has also meant “my religion and my religious community” for many people in past history and continues to mean so in the present.

Note that it is of course natural and good to value one's "tribe." We affirm that. However, we should also remember that if we uncritically overvalue our tribe in a way that excludes others, that unfortunately results in neglecting other groups or, worse yet, it can make us marginalize, discriminate against, and even cause harm to others not included in our tribe.

[3] Worldview and Its Pervasive Character | Our aim in this reflection is to understand better the potential contribution that spiritual-religious traditions can make to the building of a truly just and peaceful global world. To reach that aim, it is important first to recognize the importance of “worldview” and how that is a key to humans becoming active and committed global citizens.

A worldview is, literally speaking, the way by which one views and understands the world. It is a combination of all the influences one has had in one’s life up to this point. One is largely unconscious of it but it informs practically all the areas—big and small—in life: what one believes; what one holds as true or false; how one approaches life; how one relates to others, and so forth. It is like the pond someone is swimming in if they were a fish.

Another useful analogy to understand worldview is this: It’s like someone’s mother language and all the complex grammatical rules that make up that language. One is largely unconscious of this process, but people speak their mother language perfectly, without being aware that they’re actually following all the complex grammatical rules of the language flawlessly as they speak. We only experience how actually complex any language is when we learn a foreign language and, as if for the first time, marvel at how effortlessly native speakers can speak a language that, for us, seems so difficult to learn. Thus, our mother language is an accurate image of the all-pervasive, total character of our keyword here—worldview, in the life of individuals as well as groups of people.

[4] Religion is a Worldview |   It is obvious that religion (or any spiritual tradition for that matter) is definitely a worldview. It is a way of viewing the world which usually involves some “ultimate reality” that is meant to pervade the whole existence of believers, influencing how they understand the world and informing them how they should live their lives if they want to reach the particular religion’s ultimate goal. That goal may be the Christian union with God, Buddhism’s Nirvana, Islam’s total surrender to God or Judaism’s fidelity to the covenant, and so forth. Moreover, it is good to be aware that a religious worldview has an arguably stronger hold on the psyches of those who are living entirely within it because they believe that this particular worldview has been somehow “revealed” and gifted to them by an ultimate or divine Being or Entity, hence, carries with it some kind of absolute character. 

[5] How Worldviews Develop |   There is a basic and foundational principle about worldviews: Worldviews can and do undergo a process of evolution/development from: earlier, basic, (arguably) immature and more selfish stages – to: more advanced, more inclusive, (arguably) more mature stages. Since religions are worldviews, that principle is equally true about religions.

Up until now, the various spiritual-religious traditions of the world have not given much attention to the process of how spiritual-religious worldviews evolve and develop in individuals (as well as in whole groups of people). And this is perhaps one of the major things that religions lack which must definitely be rectified: a lack of knowledge and awareness of developmental processes as explicitly applied to religious faith.

To elaborate on this, various developmental studies have pointed out that humans (across different cultures and historical eras) go through a predictable general pattern of growth or development in their worldviews.

The pattern usually begins with a first level (Stage #1), a stage at the start of life that can be described as Egocentric. This is a stage in which one’s worldview is focused on oneself. Babies and young children are clear evidence of this. From that stage though, if humans would develop properly, they should grow and transcend their natural egocentric worldview and move on to being (2) Ethnocentric, a stage in which the person goes beyond and overcomes the “natural self-centered focus” of life’s initial stages. Instead, the person advances to a stage in which they can include the people closest to them (one's "tribe" or "in-group") as valuable for themselves. In short, the circle of one’s concern is getting bigger as one grows. That is a sign of good human development.

[6] Moving Beyond Ethnocentricity in a Global Community |  Today, in our more interconnected, diverse, and globalized world, it is more urgent that one should not stop at the ethnocentric stage unlike in the past. From an exclusive focus on one's "tribe" or “in-group” (ethnocentric stage), people in a globalized, interdependent world, as an ideal, should grow further into higher worldview stages, that is, (Stage #3) Worldcentric, a stage in which we acknowledge that those who, up to this point, were considered "Others" (by our “in-group”)  are deserving of the following things: at the basic level, a just and humane treatment and, if possible, also friendship and care. The highest level of development would be becoming more (4) Cosmocentric, a stage in which we consider not only humans but also other living and non-living things (our whole cosmos even!) as the objects of our concern and care. This cosmocentric dimension is in the forefront today in our globalized world as we become more aware of the precarious situation in which the ecological order of our earth finds itself.