From Spiritual Feudalism to Spiritual Sovereignty

Last week, I made a distinction between a Christian orientation and a Christing orientation. This distinction is at the heart of what is required for America to evolve to the next stage of its maturity. Today, I explore this in the present day context of fundamentalism.

The political structure of America is one that demands conscious maturity in our voting citizens. It requires that we step into our own sovereignty - our ability to be intelligent masters of our fate, wise selectors of our representatives, and caring stewards of the future. Government of, by, and for the people requires skills that can only be developed via growth in consciousness.

Hitler was democratically elected. We often forget that. The Germans abdicated their sovereignty, and they got a brutally destructive form of fascism that came close to engulfing the world. In our own country, Benjamin Franklin said, when asked what had been created at the Constitutional Convention, “A Republic. If you can keep it.”

Democracies do not come with a guarantee of their survival. And many astute observers agree that American democracy has never been as imperiled as it is today.

Rather than review the signals of that danger, which are chronicled elsewhere, I want to focus on the roots in our national consciousness. Why is that after 230 years, numerous wars, and the great economic successes of this century that the foundations of our democracy are degrading?

While the consolidation of the media and the dominance of big business certainly play essential roles in this, one of the most important causes of the degradation is the rise in the political power of Christian fundamentalism and the psychology that underpins it. I say that without disrespect for the path of Christ. I believe that his life and teachings are one of the most important advances in consciousness this planet has seen. The challenge is that this wondrous being, who came to light the path to our own awakening, has been channeled into a church system based largely on a very different psychology.

The psychology that underpins that worldview is what spiritual teacher Saniel Bonder calls “spiritual feudalism.” It is grounded in the belief that most of us do not know enough to choose our own path or find our own way. We must be led by anointed leaders and sanctioned hierarchies, with clear rules and regulations. We are like ill-intentioned serfs who must be regulated by lords or masters to behave correctly. The terminology of much Christian religion reinforces this psychology. “Lord Jesus Christ have mercy on me” for example, imprints a master-servant relationship with Jesus.

This is not by accident. The beliefs and structures of Christian religion were largely shaped in imperialistic and feudal eras. It was a religious form designed to work with the politics of domination, with hierarchies of priests designated as intermediaries for supplicants to contact God. Some of the core tenets of Christianity were explicitly created for political purposes under the Roman empire. With the waning of that empire (except for the Catholic Church), Christian religion underwent important reformations and evolutions, but the underlying psychology endures.

The reasons for this legacy go beyond this article but, in short, I believe the radical transmission of Christ proved magnetic enough that people would subject themselves to a relationship of permanent serfdom out of the belief that they could become closer to his state of being. The power of his spiritual transmission made it more attractive (and easier) to co-opt for political purposes.

Today, the surge of political power of the Christian right has created an increasingly dominant voting block that is governed by an inherited psychology of spiritual feudalism. That voting block will generally act in alignment with what it sees as intrinsically good – namely, its traditional beliefs and values. For many, this system of morality and meaning has been a great savior so it’s not a leap to think it will help others as well.

The problem is that a modern democracy cannot survive when governed by a psychology of spiritual feudalism. Serfdom psychology does not adequately train people in their ability to make wise decisions for the whole (which necessarily includes honoring people with different value systems). Serfs are also easy to manipulate by mercenary elites, as if often the case today.

That said, the great failing on the other side of the divide is that many intellectually astute progressives are unable to sufficiently understand the power of the Christ transmission. They react to the feudal psychology on the surface and end up dismissing the heart of the path of Christ. Their brainy discussions of meaning and purpose often lack a reverential core and thus leave many good-hearted people unmoved.

Given the preponderance of Christians in America and the enormous sway they hold, we need to advance a new psychology of spiritual sovereignty that deeply honors the importance of Jesus Christ as a guide. That, in turn, can lay the groundwork for a true spiritual democracy. The lack of sacred depth in much of the left will not win the day, whereas the lack of a truly democratic psychology in much of the right will undermine what is most beautiful about America. If we want a more evolved America, we will need a more evolved Christianity, one that has bowed down humbly before the majesty of what Jesus realized while being willing to stand beside him in democratic brotherhood and spiritual sovereignty.

Originally published at OpEdNews.com:


Sacred America Series #7
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Marrying Science and Spirituality

In last week’s article, I started to explore the hidden dimensions of how America was birthed. Instead of being solely the product of a tax-driven rebellion for independence from England, America was also a fulfillment of a much longer dream, one that traces back into history through a series of esoteric groups.

This esoteric thread, when taken seriously, implies that America was founded not just for American citizens, but to serve as a beacon of light, hope, and justice for all humankind – a new template for human society. Francis Bacon, the English philosopher and scientist, publicly declared America to be the New Atlantis, a vision that inspired many immigrants to make the journey.

Regardless of whether we believe Atlantis existed, our collective imagination and esoteric traditions memorialize it as a culture that was both technically and spiritually advanced. Bacon’s proclamation suggests that America was seen as the fulfillment of the ancient dream of a culture where growth in knowledge and spirituality could proceed hand in hand. In Europe, entrenched aristocracies and church powers simply held too much sway.

Seen through this lens, then, America is involved in a project that is simultaneously spiritual and worldly -- the creation of a society that is technologically advanced and spiritually whole, with principles that show deep respect for the individual divinity in each of us. This is commemorated on our Great Seal with the words Novus Ordo Seclorum, a “new order of the ages.”

Most of our great leaders have simultaneously been worldly and spiritual leaders. They might be, like Washington, a general and a student of Freemasonry, or like Franklin, an inventor and a seer. Or they might be like Martin Luther King, who galvanized the civil rights movement for justice out of his religious ministry.

Of course, we’re a long way from actualizing our ideals. In looking at current leadership and national actions, our lower natures have, on the whole, trumped our higher ones. Our political leaders are rarely enlightened exemplars. Our wealth creation is often exploitative and environmentally destructive. We are just as often bullies on the world stage as we are servant- leaders. On the whole, America has a beautiful mission but has not achieved its full embodiment.

All of which brings us to America’s connection to Christianity. I believe a deeper understanding of this lineage can help us to realize the dream of simultaneously advancing scientific and spiritual development. The conventional view of Christianity, which dominates our national discourse, often pits it against intellectual, political, and spiritual freedoms.

This does not resonate with the historical picture of Jesus that is emerging. Jesus was a political radical, revolutionary in his ideas and no milquetoast advocate for the status quo. He was also deeply democratic and would not have accepted the supposed singularity of his realization. The process of becoming Christed – the divinization of individual human beings – was, in his view, accessible to all: “All this ye shall do and more.”

In many ways, Jesus’ life and teachings were aligned with creating a political philosophy that is committed to expanded intellectual freedom as well as democratic and evolutionary spirituality.

That’s why the Christian right is not quite right in saying that we are a “Christian nation”- it’s more correct to say that we are a Christing nation that is evolving a marriage between science and spirituality, technical progress and conscious growth. Jesus overturned the money-lenders’ tables as an expression of the call for justice. He manifested miracles as a demonstration of the power of our intention. He did not remain in enlightened bliss on a mountaintop but got involved in transforming the affairs of the world. That’s what I view as the deeper spiritual principle of Christing, a literal making divine of manifest reality.

A nation based on an orientation of Christing loves the process of evolution and eagerly draws the best wisdom, insight, and practices from every major religion. A Christing nation celebrates its scientists and trains them to wield their power with wisdom and compassion. A Christing nation loves the body and beauty, sexuality and experimentation. A Christing nation is dedicated to slowly bringing into practice great transcendental truths. Such a nation has embarked on an evolutionary adventure rather than simply following ancient guidelines.

If we can recognize the evolutionary embrace at the heart of the Christ path, there is the possibility to marry that with religious pluralism and scientific advancement. Such a stance welcomes the work of groups from pagans to alchemists, from Advaita teachers to Tibetan lamas. These threads of wisdom become essential for us to marry our scientific advancements with progress in our soul evolution. Out of this marriage, our country can grow in a more balanced way and better fulfill our founding ideals.

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Originally published at OpEdNews.com

Sacred America Series #6
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The Deeper Lineage of America

Americans are in the habit of thinking of our Founding Fathers as the source of our country. After all, they crafted the inspiring words and performed the brave deeds to free this land from the British crown and chart a revolutionary new path.

This picture, though, perpetuates a partial view of ourselves. We are also the product of hundreds of lineages, from the Iroquois elders who shaped a democratic Federation to Enlightenment scientists who broke intellectual gridlocks in Europe. Our melting pot has blended streams of art, culture, and philosophy from virtually every country in the world.

There is also one lineage that stands out, both in the degree of its influence in the founding vision and the lack of awareness of its importance: the Western esoteric traditions, especially those carried by the Freemasons.

Most Americans never learn that our country was founded by many prominent Masons as well as members of other esoteric orders such as the Rosicrucians. Men like George Washington, Ben Franklin, and John Hancock were Masons, while men like Thomas Jefferson and John Adams may well have been. George Washington was sworn in as President by a Masonic Grand Master on the New York lodge’s Bible. Masonic lodges served as a hotbed for revolutionary activity such as the Boston tea party and had strong influence in the Continental Army. Masonic principles of design and sacred geometry heavily influenced Washington, D.C’s master plan. When we look at America’s revolutionary views on equality, democracy, and religious freedom, we also see the hand of Masonic tradition. Even the pyramid on our Great Seal harkens back to an ancient tradition of wisdom, epitomized by the radiant eye of awakened knowledge at its apex.

When we look at the European influences that shaped America, we see the strong influence of Sir Francis Bacon, who is considered by many to be the original founder of our country. Bacon was a brilliant man, learned in many languages and arts, a scientist, philosopher, and political adviser to England’s royalty. Bacon was also, by many accounts, the Masonic Grandmaster of his day and chief of the Rosicrucians. He encouraged a steady stream of followers to emigrate to America and shape America in alignment with their principles.

The impulse behind America was thus to create a political-religious-intellectual sanctuary away from the established aristocracies of Europe. Esoteric groups were a significant group of pilgrims seeking such freedom. So why is this relevant to us today?

If we are ignorant of the forces that have shaped us, our ability to navigate wisely into the future is compromised. Furthermore, we may miss key insights that have been maintained in these esoteric circles.

Coming back to the Masons, there are two basic schools of understanding them. The first believes that they developed in the British Isles in the last five hundred years, largely as an outgrowth of working-class construction guilds, cemented together with an odd set of make-believe rituals and do-gooder ethics. The second believes that Masons are the inheritors of a very long lineage and that their strange rituals and initiation practices are attempts to memorialize ancient history and remain connected to principles, practices, and ideas that would otherwise have been lost in centuries of suppression.

In recent years, a number of popular and scholarly books have advanced the latter interpretation. In a simplified form, these books show that Masonic ancestors likely trace a history that began sometime in ancient Egypt, moved through pre-Christian Judaism, landed in southern France, came into prominence with the Knights Templar in the Middle Ages and went into a disguised form in Scotland after the Templars were decimated by Pope Clement V. This story makes for a fascinating tale, including Goddess-worship in the form of Black Madonnas, Medieval power struggles with the Vatican, as well as the search for the holy grail.

We are a long way from understanding the history of this lineage in its entirety. But the case is compelling that the “eccentric British builders” theory of Masonic history is likely incomplete and that the ancient lineage version is closer to the truth.

America’s 230-year view of ourselves may thus be profoundly ignorant of much deeper roots, roots that trace back thousands of years into Egypt. They are roots that pre-date Christianity and even ancient Greece. In this longer view, America becomes the political fulfillment of a lineage that has been working for millennia to advance and apply its understanding of philosophy, science, and spirituality.

If we are, indeed, the inheritors of that secretive lineage, we have an obligation to understand it, to teach our children about it, and to begin to embody its ideals in a more mature way than we have to date. This hidden lineage may hold important keys to unlock our future evolution.

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Sacred America Series #5
Originally published at OpEdNews.com

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E Pluribus Unum

The Great Seal of the United States, which we find on today’s dollar bill, contains the Latin motto of E Pluribus Unum – “Out of Many, One.” At the time of the suggestion of this motto in 1776, it clearly reflected the unification of 13 states into one nation.

The question, though, is whether this motto is merely a historical celebration of a political alliance or whether it is a deeper commitment embedded in the DNA of our country that can help us chart a course forward for our next American evolution.

If the first were the case, we could assume our country’s mission was completed long ago: a singular feat of rebellion, independence and nation-founding. However, the original 13 colonies have grown into 50 states, covering a geographic area perhaps ten times the size of the original colonies. The mission of creating a greater political union has thus been a dynamic process rather than a singular event.

If we take E Pluribus Unum seriously as a motto, it also points beyond political alliances to a spiritual role that America has charted for itself: to lead towards increasingly greater wholes, especially ones that are more integrated, healthy, and inclusive. Spiritual leaders from all the world’s great religious traditions point to the experience of oneness at the core of spiritual teachings. As Jesus said, “I am in my Father, ye in me and I in you.” There is an experience where the seemingly solid boundaries between us dissolve and we recognize our unity in a larger whole.

The creation of greater political unions works in tandem with the shift in consciousness towards greater wholes. Without the latter, expanded political unions tend to destabilize. Both political and spiritual shifts stabilize when we recognize that we are more virtuous, fulfilled, and stronger through our active participation in a greater whole rather than through reinforcing our isolation. When we truly, deeply recognize our unity, we stop fearing, hating, or attempting to destroy the other. We expand the definition of our tribe.

War is an expression of our “manyness” whereas peace is an expression of our “oneness.” Seen deeply enough, then, America has charted a course for itself where it must lead beyond the wars that have characterized one long epoch of human civilization - a time of perceived “manyness”- to an era in which our sense of “one-ness” triumphs.

Over the last 230 years, America has had considerable growing pains in embodying our motto of E Pluribus Unum. The noble principles of our founding charter have often been compromised by the dominance of our lower natures. For much of our history, the tendency to segregate and reinforce the sense of “many-ness” has led to gross racial injustice, beginning with slavery and gradually shifting into less overt forms of racism. The impulse towards racism runs counter to our motto of E Pluribus Unum. The same is true of ruthless forms of capitalism, classism, and the subordination of women

Some of the shifts into alignment with E Pluribus Unum are on their way to being accomplished. Others are barely begun, such as our full acceptance of homosexuals, immigrants, and these days, members of other political parties.

With each passing decade, our motto calls upon us to evolve still further individually, socially, and collectively. It calls us to illuminate where are we creating divides rather than finding where our interests, ideals, and dreams are interlinked.

Politically, aligning with E Pluribus Unum means that we need to continue to strengthen global accords, agreements, alliances, partnerships, and development. We will need to let go of the level of national self-interest we have often displayed and encourage the United Nations and other structures to develop in healthy ways. A narrowly-defined national self-interest perpetuates the sense of many-ness in the countries of the world rather than our one-ness as a planet.

Spiritually, aligning with E Pluribus Unum means we need to outgrow seeing ourselves primarily as Americans and begin to foster a sense of ourselves as global citizens. When we see ourselves exclusively as Americans who are looking out only for “our” interests, we perpetuate the sense of “many-ness” that breeds war, suspicion, and mistrust.

By bringing our country back into alignment with our motto, we can help advance a historical transition beyond a global culture of war to an enduring civilization of peace. And that is why I believe the simple Latin phrase E Pluribus Unum was inscribed on our most sacred seal.

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Sacred America Series #4
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