I think the piece below, by Jim Garrison, that prompted this post, is an excellent articulation about the realm of spirituality in which we are embedded.

I don't know why conversation based o­n these ideas is so rare. Deepak and assorted clergy were o­n with Larry King last week, and much of their exchange was a dualistic argument about whether God is or isn't. Although we can bow down unabashedly and reverentially to whatever force or intelligence made this universe, what that is is unknown, and anything we say about the maker is story telling.

I wonder why it is so typical for no attempt to be made, even by people like Chopra, to redress the simplistic nature of that kind of conversation. The Einsteinian idea is relevant here, about problems not being able to be solved at the level of awareness that created them. We won't fix this world via the outcome of arguments about whether God exists, or by anyone or any group insisting o­n their story being the real o­ne about what's going o­n in God's realm. We've got to get outside of those separating strictures, to where we experience the o­ne interconnected reality-structure that we are in together, to stand a real chance to solve the world's ills.

Inspired by the clarity of my ally, the late John Mack, about a change of perspective that is so vital for us to come to grips with, I'm looking at doing a project, CHANGING THE WORLD’S CONVERSATION: A Conference Toward a New Worldview:

“The scientific worldview is failing. It fails in a number of crucial ways. It doesn't tell us what really exists in the cosmos. It doesn't tell us about our own inner life. It doesn't tell us about all the anomalous experiences people are having that can't be explained by purely empirical and rationalist ways of knowing reality. It also doesn't have much to say when heightened dualism occurs under nationalistic pressures, as conflicts between powers and the dualism of the mind get more and more sharp and the polarizations become so severe that we threaten to destroy ourselves. The worldview of scientific materialism doesn't have much to offer at that point. But the emergent worldview — which would re-ensoul the world, which would reconnect us with the divine, which would transcend the dualism of peoples — would connect us with the world of all living creatures, not just o­ne another. That worldview, if it were to prevail, would have something to offer in relation to the social realities that we're facing, the economic problems.” John Mack

The intention of the event would be to try to get conversation about humanity's worldview o­n everyone's lips — like o­n Larry King's show. If we get the idea that we need a change of worldview into play, people would be exposed to this kind of cogent thinking:

From About Us — by Jim Garrison, President of Matthew Fox's Wisdom University

…What challenges global integration as the twenty first century unfolds is not so much a clash of civilizations as a clash of fundamentalisms.

In all of the world’s major religions, which so dramatically influence political ideologies and social affairs, there is a tension between fundamentalists who emphasize a sectarian aspect and others who emphasize a wisdom aspect. It is between these two poles — fundamentalism and wisdom — that worldviews are formulated, political action motivated, and the great conversation concerning what it means to be human in an unfathomable universe takes shape.

Fundamentalism divides the world into “us” and “them.” It is concerned with how to belong to an “in” group separated from other groups by certain commonly held beliefs and rituals. The Abrahamic religions in particular -– Judaism, Christianity and Islam — are to a significant extent currently gripped by the divisiveness and sectarianism inherent in their fundamentalist traditions. There are, of course, myriad differentiations and permutations between them, but what they share in common is a dogmatism that precludes meaningful debate with contrary voices.

These three fundamentalist traditions are absolutely sure of their theological correctness, are inserting themselves aggressively in the political process, and are convinced of their ultimate earthly as well as cosmic triumph. Their interaction is contributing to the spiral of destruction and hate that is threatening the entire Middle East with conflagration. Religious and ethnic fundamentalism is also present in parts of Africa, in Hinduism, and in Japan. Its divisive dogmatism upsets the moral and socio-political equilibrium of the world.

Against this fundamentalist trend stands wisdom. In the wisdom traditions, the issue is not how to be “saved” or how to defeat the “infidel.” The focus of wisdom is how to live in harmony with nature and all other sentient beings. Wisdom in all the great religious traditions concerns the process by which o­ne comes to identify with the whole human community and to understand values common to all humanity. It is that aspect of human reflection that emphasizes the process of personal and communal transformation within a divine presence that encompasses all life and is available to all who seek its transformative power. In Judaism, for instance, this understanding is expressed as “Sophia.” In Christianity, it is expressed as the “Cosmic Christ.” In Islam, Sufism has refined this awareness…

As the twenty first century unfolds, we bear witness to a great struggle between nation states and armed groups intent o­n conflict and destruction. This struggle has many social, political and environmental causes and repercussions. Undergirding and shaping this complexity lies a religious and cultural tension between those who emphasize the exclusivity of sect and those who embrace the inclusivity of wisdom. It is between literalist and non-literalist, between the fundamentalists and the universalists, between those who seek distinctions in order to divide and those who seek commonalities in order to unite.

Illuminating wisdom in this time of intolerance, terrorism and conflict, will not be an easy process. The endeavor will be fraught with difficulties and dangers. There are many forces, institutions and leaders who are motivated by the acquisition of power and have much invested in sectarian divisions and the politics of fear. We are in a time of overweening pride and the willingness to use force, and a time of competition, exclusion and degradation of community and the environment.

What is needed more than anything is a sense of interdependence, of proportion, of humility in the face of life’s complexities and human diversity. It is not an overstatement to say that in this time of crisis and opportunity, wisdom can illuminate the way. Wisdom may, in the end, be humanity’s o­nly source of peace and hope…

Using wisdom to fashion the future harks back to the earliest days of human reflection o­n how to live with intelligence and compassion. In antiquity, the Greek schools of Parmenides and Empedocles, and the academies of Pythagoras, Plato and Aristotle were wisdom schools. Indeed, the meaning of philosopher, a Greek word, is “lover of wisdom.” Wisdom schools also flourished in ancient Rome, Egypt, Mesopotamia, India, China, and among the Incas, Aztecs and Mayans in the Americas.

These schools were the precursors to what came into full bloom in twelfth century Islam and in Europe: the “university,” from the Latin universitas, meaning cosmic order or harmony. When the great scholastic theologian, Thomas Aquinas, gave his inaugural lecture at the first such school, the University of Paris, he chose wisdom as his topic. In that first university, as in antiquity, wisdom was considered the queen of the sciences.

In the ancient wisdom schools as well as in the earliest universities, the quest for cosmic order, expressed as justice, was at their center. Thus, the “isness” and the “oughtness” of life were understood as integral to o­ne another. Virtue was inherent in and inseparable from truth, beauty and goodness. Compassion without intelligence was seen as little more than sentiment, and often divisive. Intelligence without compassion was seen as cold and indifferent, and often cruel. The integration of compassion and intelligence was seen as the wellspring of wisdom…Such dimensionality lies at the heart of the wisdom civilization for which humanity has yearned since the beginning of its earthly journey.