The Dialogue - That they may be one ...

"That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us.” - John 17:21

The concept of our Unity, of Non-Duality, can be found in all the great core religions and wisdom traditions found in human history, in myth and metaphor, in storytelling, and most especially in poetry.  All sacred scripture is poetry.

Poetry, especially Spiritual Poetry, is like a software program you are using to reprogram the mind; the SPIRIT-SOUL’S operating system, the Divine Core Language of Creation (DCLC) perhaps, with many variations or versions.  

Sacramental spiritual practices (praxis), like ritual, prayer, and meditation are an extension of this as well.  Such practices and participation in a sacred community are helping you to grow spiritually, reprograming your mind.

The Word or Words (Logos) you are taking into your being now are what you are becoming in your future self.  Except there is no time, time is an abstraction.  

That future self already is, it exists now and is reaching within you to lead you forward, to discover your own fullness.   The Holy Spirt dwells within you and is an intimate part of your whole being within and across creation.

It is a Mystery. You know this already, it is written, it is part of God’s core operating system. And the close connection your Spirit-Soul has already, an eternal one, to the Ultimate Divine Mystery of God, knows this at the deepest levels of the self-mind.  In a subtle memory that flows and moves throughout your whole being.

In Christian theology they speak of Christ being both fully human and fully divine. Christianity has celebrated this divine aspect for over two thousand years. What has not been understood or celebrated as clearly is the human side of this equation, this dance, this Perichoresis. 

Your presence on this earth, in this reality, is no accident; it is a gift.  You are here to learn and in many cases to teach or help one another, to heal the world, to create heaven on earth.  

Take time to develop a spiritual practice and to join a sacred community that helps you to discover where you belong, that you belong here, and that you are being called into new relationships every day of your life.

Take time to pay attention, to see how God, the Divine Ultimate Mystery is calling you into relationship with one another.

In his book, Without Buddha I Could Not Be a Christian, in writing about Thich Nhat Hanh’s idea of “interbeing,” Paul F. Knitter tells us that understanding God through relationships is critical and that the source and power of our relationships is driven by the presence of the "Holy Spirit.” 

The importance of this concept is summarized by this: "behind and within all the different images and symbols, Christians use for God – Creator, Father (Abba), Redeemer, Word, Spirit, - the most fundamental, the deepest truth Christians can speak of God is that God is the source and power of relationships.”

Another way to view this, as Paul Knitter explained to me once in a conversation, is that in meditation Buddhism asks us “to let go of all concepts, and to let go and open ourselves radically and utterly to the present moment, and in the trust that this present moment contains all that I need. 

This setting aside of words and imagery and opening oneself to what St. Paul calls God as Spirit, letting that Spirit make itself (or herself or himself) felt within us, grow within us, to lead us.” 

We find this idea beautifully expressed in these two scriptures. The Gospel of John, and in the book of Romans.

But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.”  - John 14:26-27

Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words. And God, who searches the heart, knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.” - Romans 8:26-27 

---