I thought this quote from A Course In Miracles might engender some discussion relevant to the cultural phenomenon of ‘organized religion’. This is a worthy discussion since the ego battles common between differing belief systems often escalate into full-fledged internecine warfare. Such is the troublesome nature of the human ego!"You are not special... What answer that the Holy Spirit gives can reach you, when it is your specialness to which you listen, and which asks and answers?" (A Course In Miracles, T-24, II, 4:1-3)
I see organized religion as a manifestation of a greater cultural addiction to egocentrism to which most of our troubles requiring ‘recovery’ (or positive change) can be traced.
In A Course In Miracles, the ego is to the human being something like what sugar is to a diabetic. It's still a necessary part of the operating system but also a deadly enemy requiring constant monitoring lest it get out of control and destroy the structure and function of the rest of the organism. Sound familiar?
Specialness is one of the defining psychodynamics used by the ego to maintain its illusory agenda of separation from other egos and from God. Specialness is the hallmark of most relationships here on psycho-planet, whether 'intimate' or not, until the Holy Spirit has been invited (by at least one of the participants) to come into them and make them holy. This invitation is nothing short of the insemination of an actual spiritual awakening and everything after that is a mere scheduling challenge in the sense of who will wake up next and when.
Why? Because, when the Holy Spirit is sincerely invited by even one person to come into a relationship (or web of relationships) and make it holy, the Holy Spirit responds immediately by replacing the ego's goal with It's (divine) goal. This has the effect of changing the attitudes and behaviors of the participants here in spacetime (which can be quite troubling until you realize what's going on) to be more in conformity to the new goal of the relationship(s).
So, discussion question: how might this apply to church organizations?
Or, maybe better yet, how does this apply to your specific church organization - is yours 'special'?
Let’s talk. Please include your point of view below in the comment section.
Additional reading:
My home page at Examiner.com: http://exm.nr/eHDY52
My other blog: PaleoPlanet http://bit.ly/dXx7yB
Also ~ Feel free to join my interfaith Facebook group, “Lay Interfaith Leaderless Alliance”, here http://on.fb.me/jkfLILA
Copyright © 2011 Jeremy K. Finkeldey; All rights reserved.
