A New Kind of Christianity - Brian McLaren [153]
9. Albert Einstein is famously quoted for saying that a problem can never be solved at the level of thinking that created it.
10. This difference—between Jesus and the Christian religion in any of its colors or zones—makes all the difference. This distinction explains why as a Christian I do not believe in Christianity the way I believe in Jesus. I am a Christian who does not believe in Christianity as I used to, but who believes in Christ with all my heart, more than ever.
11. Most subcultures, including churches and denominations, have their center of gravity in one “color” or stage, although two or even three stages may live as guests or refugees in their community. Over time, denominations and churches may shift from one color to another, either moving higher on the spectrum or regressing to a previously transcended stage.
12. Nondual (or beyond-dual) thinking is a powerful theme of my Franciscan friend Fr. Richard Rohr (http://www.cacradicalgrace.org/aboutus/founder.html). See especially his upcoming book The Naked Now: Learning to See as the Mystics See (New York: Crossroad, 2009).
13. Jean Danielou, Glory to Glory (Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 1995), pp. 59–60.
14. We might distinguish between inhabiting a zone and experiencing a zone. I think many of us have extraordinary peak experiences during which we enter a higher zone for a few moments or hours. Depending on our tradition, we might call these experiences mystical experiences, being filled with the Holy Spirit, deep contemplation, the beatific vision, and so on. But these experiences are always intense and short-lived, like a wonderful vacation to an exotic country or like a child’s dream of being able to fly. In order to live in that higher zone rather than just visit it occasionally, we need a community to help us learn its practices and ways, which brings us back to the need for traditions, faith communities, and generative friendships within them.
15. This might be a good time to find a Bible and read Rev. 21.
Chapter 21: Living the Questions in Community
1. Bernard of Clairvaux understood what it means to be a friend to oneself. He spoke of four stages in the spiritual life, beginning with learning to love oneself for one’s own sake. This is the infant, nursing at his mother’s breast, ecstatic in the warmth of being held and filled, but unaware of anyone outside his own skin. Then comes loving God for one’s own sake. This is the child who learns to appreciate his mother, maybe to draw her a picture or gather her a bouquet of flowers, overflowing with love mixed with gratitude for all she does for him. Then comes loving God for God’s own sake. This is the adolescent or young adult who begins to see his mother for who she is, not just for what she does for him, and his love grows even deeper. One wonders how any love could go deeper than this, but Bernard sees yet another dimension to the journey of life: loving oneself for God’s sake. This is the young man who has made a mess of his life and feels knocked down and beaten up, but then thinks of how much his mother loves him, and her love inspires him to not give up, but to get up and give life another go.
What would it mean for you to stand with God, to join God and learn to see yourself with God’s eyes, to love yourself with God’s great heart? Others might call you a heretic for raising questions like