 Interfaith Openness and The Biocentric Universe Theory: Life Creates Time, Space, and the Cosmos Itself –
In the link to this article – “Stem-cell guru Robert Lanza presents a radical new view of the universe and everything in it." "The only thing we can perceive are our perceptions. In other words, consciousness is the matrix upon which the cosmos is apprehended. Color, sound, temperature, and the like exist only as perceptions in our head, not as absolute essences. In the broadest sense, we cannot be sure of an outside universe at all.” How may we see this in the context of a spiritual practice? How can we reconcile faith with science and find a connection between the two? Spend just a bit of time in deep prayer and meditation and you may come to understand what this means; that the emptiness of creation is a space waiting to be filled with infinite possibilities of thought and mind - a cosmic consciousness. God even, if you wish to perceive the nature of reality in theistic terms, or Śūnyatā-Nirvana in non-theistic and non-dualistic terms. The point is that we help shape the reality in which we live at many levels of our own consciousness or soul, our spirit, just as we shape the relationships in which we dwell and the consciousness that dwells within us. One may call this the Spirit of God, if one wishes. I like to do just that, it aligns to my own faith, but it also helps me to delve deeper into the mystery of all creation. It is for me a deep mystery. All the great literature, art, and sacred spiritual liturgy and scripture written and created by humankind across the ages speaks to this mystery, we dwell within it and it dwells within us. We have internalized the Presence of this Mystery, the Divine Ultimate Mystery. God is real. I believe that there is an eternal Holy Spirit, a divine presence that dwells within us and shapes the universe in ways we can hardly imagine, seen and unseen, visible and invisible. If thought can be prayer, is indeed a prayer, and prayer thought. Then we are praying all the time, and what we think and pray comes into being in some form or fashion, shaped by our desires. It becomes real for us; we come to dwell within it, within this mystery. And it brings new meaning to all the scriptures of humanity when we begin to see how it is all connected and interconnected. “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:” It is all one big open mystery in which we dwell and that dwells within us. And the literature and liturgy of our faith helps us to internalize this within our own spirit-soul-self-consciousness. It helps us to know and be known by God. 1 Corinthians 13:12(NRSV) –– “For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known.” Hear what our Lord Jesus Christ saith: Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it: Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets. Shantideva: “May the pain of every living creature Be completely cleared away. May I be the doctor and the medicine And may I be the nurse For all sick beings in the world Until everyone is healed.” – Shantideva “May I be protector for those without one, A guide for all travellers on the way; May I be a bridge, a boat and a ship For all who wish to cross (the water).” –– Shantideva From: The Buddha – Dhammapada: Translated by Thomas Byrom (Shambhala Press, 1976) “We are what we think. All that we are arises with our thoughts. With our thoughts we make the world. Speak or act with an impure mind And trouble will follow you As the wheel follows the ox that draws the cart. We are what we think. All that we are arises with our thoughts. With our thoughts we make the world. Speak or act with a pure mind And happiness will follow you As your shadow, unshakable. " There is a great conceptual image from ancient Christianity that may serve here, Perichoresis. Perichoresis can be described as the "Divine Dance", it is an indwelling between the Holy Trinity, between God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. This indwelling happens within us too, at a deeply felt spiritual level, within our own spirit and consciousness. Perhaps this image, this indwelling can also serve as a metaphor for Biocentrism. Where we begin to understand more clearly how interconnected we are to one another and creation itself, and how the reality we experience every day of our lives arises from these relationships. And how God dwells within us – God in whom we live and move and have our being. Ushering in a great thanksgiving of the Spirit who prays in and with and through us, even when we do not know how to pray ourselves. The Holy Eucharist: Rite One Episcopal BCP And here we offer and present unto thee, O Lord, our selves, our souls and bodies, to be a reasonable, holy, and living sacrifice unto thee; humbly beseeching thee that we, and all others who shall be partakers of this Holy Communion, may worthily receive the most precious Body and Blood of thy Son Jesus Christ, be filled with thy grace and heavenly benediction, and made one body with him, that he may dwell in us, and we in him. Many Blessings, Ron Starbuck Saint Julian Press
 Music From Jewish Life: I. Prayer - Sol Gabetta & Helene Grimaud - Duo The Four Quartets ~ Little Gidding ~ V Movement Faith is nought else but a right understanding, with true belief and sure trust, of our Being: that we are in God, and God is in us: Whom we see not. ~ The Sixteen Revelations of Divine Love - Julian of Norwich Written in the 14th century, Revelations of Divine Love is a powerful work of English mysticism. After falling deathly ill, St. Julian received sixteen different mystical revelations; in this splendid work, she describes and reflects upon those revelations. Julian of Norwich (c. 8 November 1342 – c. 1416) was an English anchoress who is regarded as an important Christian mystic. She is venerated in the Anglican and Lutheran churches. Written around 1395, her work, Revelations of Divine Love, is the first book in the English language known to have been written by a woman. Grace Warrack's 1901 version of the book, with its "sympathetic informed introduction" and modernised language introduced most early 20th century readers to Julian's writings. T.S. Eliot in his work the Four Quartets, employed allusion and invoked her words in these two lines. "And all shall be well and All manner of thing shall be well" T.S. Eliot ~ The Four Quartets ~ Little Gidding What we call the beginning is often the end And to make and end is to make a beginning. The end is where we start from. And every phrase And sentence that is right (where every word is at home, Taking its place to support the others, The word neither diffident nor ostentatious, An easy commerce of the old and the new, The common word exact without vulgarity, The formal word precise but not pedantic, The complete consort dancing together) Every phrase and every sentence is an end and a beginning, Every poem an epitaph.And any action Is a step to the block, to the fire, down the sea's throat Or to an illegible stone: and that is where we start. We die with the dying: See, they depart, and we go with them. We are born with the dead: See, they return, and bring us with them. The moment of the rose and the moment of the yew-tree Are of equal duration. A people without history Is not redeemed from time, for history is a pattern Of timeless moments. So, while the light fails On a winter's afternoon, in a secluded chapel History is now and England. With the drawing of this Love and the voice of this Calling We shall not cease from exploration And the end of all our exploring Will be to arrive where we started And know the place for the first time. Through the unknown, unremembered gate When the last of earth left to discover Is that which was the beginning; At the source of the longest river The voice of the hidden waterfall And the children in the apple-tree Not known, because not looked for But heard, half-heard, in the stillness Between two waves of the sea. Quick now, here, now, always A condition of complete simplicity (Costing not less than everything) And all shall be well and All manner of thing shall be well When the tongues of flame are in-folded Into the crowned knot of fire And the fire and the rose are one. |
Publisher's BlogRON STARBUCK is the Publisher/CEO/Executive Editor of Saint Julian Press, Inc., in Houston, Texas; a poet and writer, an Episcopalian, and author of There Is Something About Being An Episcopalian, When Angels Are Born, Wheels Turning Inward, and most recently A Pilgrimage of Churches, four rich collections of poetry, following a poet’s mythic and spiritual journey that crosses easily onto the paths of many contemplative traditions. Archives
August 2024
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This arrangement does help to sustain the press and allow us to publish more books by more authors.