1.  I know who I am…

2.  I question everything

a. The stuff I’ve been taught to believe

b. The thoughts my mind thinks A pretty high percentage of the time, both are wrong.

3.  I do unto myself as I’d have myself do unto me Everybody bitches and complains about the world and the need for change. That in you which incessantly bitches and complains IS the world that needs changing and THAT change will only come from within.

4.  I’ve let go of my regrets (and I’ve had more than my fair share) Anybody who’s been asked, “If you could live life over, would you change anything?” and they respond, “No.” Know this one thing! They’re lying through his/her teeth. Which makes them the same people who’d steal your wallet and never bat an eye. Honest people have many regrets and, given the opportunity, would make different choices.

5.  I look for the lesson in every life experience. There really are no mistakes, said Elizabeth Kubler-Ross

6.  I meditate more often than I medicate…usually!

7.  I practice living in space, not time.

8.  I am FOR – GIVING I am forgiven; I am forgiving; As a consequence, I am FOR – GIVING – if there’s a deficit in generosity, there’s a deficiency of grace.

9.  I think about DEATH daily It is only ever the ego in you that is afraid to die. The deeper you that came from God knows it will one day return to God. How could it ever be fearful of Perfect Love out of which it merged and to which it will return. The ego, on the other hand, your illusory self, what Martha Beck calls “your social self,” well it has plenty to fear but especially death. The ego dies at death. Jesus said, however, the key to life is “to deny self” (his way of saying, let the ego in you die). Muhammad put it like this, “Die before you die or you will die a thousand deaths.”

10.  I die daily, too. I’ll show you how to do the same. This is the ONLY way to, as Gandhi said, “Be the change you wish to see in the world.” Jesus said, “Take up your cross daily” – that’s death daily. But, death to what?

11.  I know why I’m here. The greatest disservice our culture (and that includes the church’s culture) is to teach people, and so create within everyone the expectation, that they showed up for some grand purpose in life that only they could fulfill. Almost daily new books are written on helping you find your destiny, fulfilling your purpose. It’s a whole lot of bullshit, to put it as plain as I know how. You showed up for one purpose and one purpose only: I’ll share what that is in the book.

12.  I am One with all that Is – the UNIVERSE is UNI “one” VERSE or “song” So, the universe is “one song.” This is the enlightenment or, as Christians call it, salvation that changes the world. It is the profound awareness that we are all really ONE – as long as there is the feeling of separation in you to anything or anyone, that’s your growth curve. I’ll show you how to remove the barriers and build bridges. The survival of humanity depends on it. I thought about the Unity pendant being part of the design on the cover too.

Like to know your thoughts. So, what do you think? On the right track? Dump it? Keep going? New title? Other points I’m missing? I’m open to all your wisdom. (Copyright)

Really? Like this is surprising? It is only surprising to the Evangelical leaders who have been pretending for years that their churches were gaining more people than they were actually losing.

For decades now, Evangelical leaders have gathered annually at church growth conferences where the few mega-churches that were actually growing were showcased, as well as their leaders, like sideshows in a city circus. What they were not telling the younger Evangelical leaders who enviously observed the ministerial stars with an almost desperate aspiration of being just like them one day, is that it was all an illusion. The few mega-churches that were growing experienced their numerical successes from two sources primarily, one source from those who desired a more entertaining worship experience (and, of course, mega-churches could afford the best talent in town); and the other from among the disgruntled or disillusioned members of other churches nearby.

But, this illusion appears to be finally ending for Evangelical leaders. They now appear more willing to be honest about what everyone else has known for a long time: the church is not only declining, so is its influence, along with the influence of its leaders.

But why? There are likely many reasons for the declining influence of the church. What’s certain it is not the cause of liberalism in Christian seminaries or secularism in the American culture, the two most commonly identified causes by Evangelical leaders themselves. Here’s a reason worth contemplating that comes immediately to my mind …

Evangelical leaders and their followers have made the same mistake that Billy Graham once made when he pitched his tent, so to speak, on the White House lawn under the shadow of the infamous Richard Nixon. When Nixon publicly disgraced himself and left office, Graham was so embarrassed by the debacle that he purportedly said something to the effect, “I’ll never get that close to another president.” As far as I know, he never did. The difference between Billy Graham, however, and most other Evangelical leaders is that Graham learned from his mistake.

Evangelical leaders have used the political process, as well as politicians looking for votes, in order to promote their religious and social agenda for as long as I can remember. And, in my own opinion, it is a gross error in judgment, as the history of failed organizations like the Moral Majority and the Christian Coalition clearly demonstrate.

Many of these leaders mistakenly believe that Jesus’ command that they “go” and “make disciples” of all nations means that they are to convert everyone to Christianity and the western version of Christianity at that! This is not only a misreading of Jesus’ words in Matthew 28:19-20 but a misapplication of their meaning as well.

Here’s how.

Jesus was not commissioning the church with these words. At the time he uttered these words, there was no church to commission. At best, he spoke to a handful of disillusioned friends whom he had every right to feel were his enemies, since they had all deserted him just days before. And, why did they desert him? It is precisely because he turned out to be a big disappointment to them. They wanted a leader who would launch a rebellion against Rome. Instead, he compassionately submitted himself to service and suffering. The way of submission has never been too popular to the church at any time in its history.

What Jesus was instructing this group of deserters to do was to learn from their debacle and then go about teaching and preaching his path to knowing God, living compassionately, and pursuing a Divine and ethical life. It would be decades later, even centuries, before Jesus’ teachings would be institutionalized by a Church that all too quickly became more interested in preserving itself and canonizing its doctrines, dogmas, and demands or, better, controls over people.

I’m not suggesting that, with the birth and development of the institutionalized church, everything about it has been wrong or misguided. It has not. While it is true the Church has done much harm throughout the centuries, it is equally true the church has done much good. Just try to imagine this country without the benevolence and generosity that has motivated countless people and congregations to compassionate activity here and abroad. The church’s concern for the well-being of people, for example, has given birth to many of the hospitals in this country, as well as abroad. Furthermore, virtually every great educational institution in this country owes its gratitude to Christian ministers and Christian people.

Some readers of my blogs mistakenly conclude I’m a disgruntled former churchgoer whose only interest is pointing out the problems within the Christian Church. Well, I do that, of course. But it is because I’m qualified to do so. I love the church and I remain hopeful for comprehensive change within it.

I’m also quick to remember not only the good the church has done but to remind others of it, too. And whenever I do, I intentionally remind the critics of the church, particularly educated ones who received their degrees from the likes of Harvard, Princeton, Yale and other such notable institutions of higher learning, that there’s a good chance none of them would be in existence today were it not for Christian ministers and benevolent Christian people committed to educating the masses.

So it is highly disingenuous for any critic of Christianity to fail to exercise respectful restraint when the inclination wells up inside them to bite the proverbial hand that’s fed them — or, at a minimum, made possible their dining at some of the finest educational tables in the world.

The church has done much good. Only a fool would say otherwise. It seems also clear to me that, throughout history, the church has been at its best, not when it has mistakenly thought Jesus’ mandate was to convert the world to Christianity, but when it has simply gone about, as Jesus did, doing good to and for all people (Matt. 9:35).

The good Jesus went about doing was preaching and teaching that all people are loved by God, welcomed into her family, and deserve the opportunity to live a joyful, peace-filled, and abundant life.

What Evangelical leaders have preached, however, has often been the very opposite: that everyone is wicked and deserving of suffering in an eternal inferno. Furthermore, had it not been for the cosmic Superman named Jesus, they would. He showed up to take the wrath of his psychotic Father whose rage was so out-of-control it had to be vented on something or someone.

What’s good about this? Not a thing. Yet, it is this narrow-minded misreading of scripture and the consequential theology that grows out of this kind of mindset that has contributed to the declining influence of Evangelical leaders and churches. It is also this theology that, when carried to its extreme — and it always does — gives birth to radical fundamentalist thinking, whether Christian or Muslim, as demonstrated in persons like Anders Behring Breivik and Osama bin Laden.

So again, I say, the church is at its best whenever it is behaving like Jesus … when it is caring for the sick and infirm, founding and funding educational institutions, providing clean water and purification technologies, creating more sanitary living conditions for all, teaching people to farm and improve their living conditions, serving meals to hungry and displaced people, speaking out against the political and social structures that dehumanize, demoralize, or discriminate against people, and, ultimately, modeling for all what it means to walk with God and live a compassionate, ethical, and joyful life.

Now, when Evangelical leaders and their congregations decide to return to preaching and teaching Jesus’ real mandate — that of learning, living, and loving — then you’ll see the church and its leaders restored to a place of influence.

Me, too. But, for much of my adult life, knowing God, knowing mind, or feeling connected to something grander than myself escaped me, eluded, even evaded me. Then, one day, something happened to me and I made a remarkable discovery. Meister Eckhart was right: “The eye through which I see God is the same eye through which God sees me.”

So, I write this blog today assuming two things: 1) That God is; and 2) she is knowable. I call God, God but, you might prefer something else as in Being, Transcendence, the Eternal, the Mind, whatever…I have long suspicioned she has many names and aliases.

I’m hardly looking for widespread agreement on these suppositions. Some of you will agree and that’s fine. Others of you won’t and…well…that’s fine, too. If you don’t share these assumptions, you’ll not likely read anything else in this post you agree with either.

What follows in bold text are a few of those things I’ve learned about knowing God or living a Divine life, or being enlightened, or awakened, or, as the Christians love to say, “being saved.”To know God is simply the deep, inner feeling of inexplicable oneness with what is, a kind of wholeness and connectedness with life itself…with God.  I love the way Eckhart Tolle puts it:  ”The word ‘enlightenment’ conjures up the idea of some superhuman accomplishment…it is really just your natural state of felt oneness with Being.”

Here’s what I’ve learned:

Knowing God is the purpose of human existence. It’s why you showed up. It took me half a lifetime of searching before I got this.  I had always thought, and had been taught, there was some “grand purpose” for which I appeared on planet earth…some job nobody else could do…would do…that I was supposed to do. So, I wasted a big chunk of my life looking for what it was.  Perhaps you’ve lived with similar expectations.  When I awakened from this illusion however, I realized there was nothing I was supposed to “do.”  The Divine had done it all. I had shown up to simply enjoy it–that is, to just be.

When you get this, you’re at peace.  The search is over.  The expectations are lifted. Life begins to be genuinely celebrated.  Then, you go on to “do” whatever you wish while enjoying who you are in the process. It is only after you stop looking for what it is that will define who you are…that one big moment or task or recognition that the ego in you craves and so deludes you into believing awaits you just around the “next” corner that you begin to live.

We show up for one reason and one reason only–to walk with God, as did Enoch of old (Gen. 5:24). This is an anthropomorphic way of describing what is the natural experience of deep connectedness with God.  If you read all of Genesis 5, you realize the writer is making the point that Enoch’s contemporaries were born, lived, begat, and died…but, they never got it.  That is, they never quite figured out the simplest, yet the most profound truth about life. It’s all about knowing the Divine, being one with oneself and with what is.

There is something else.  Knowing God takes no effort whatsoever. Effort is the stuff of religion.  Virtually all of them, too. While most religions seem to start out right – that is, with the purpose of helping people know and feel oneness with themselves…with life itself…with the Divine – it isn’t long before they turn this grant from God into some kind of loan that must be repaid with obligations, offerings, obedience, and so forth.

So, with those who’ve left religion for reasons associated with abuse (and those may number in the millions), the real reason most people have left organized religion (but have not left their spiritual longings), is because they’re frankly tired of trying to know a God their religion says requires still more sacrifices…still more duties…still more doctrines to debate over…still more rules to keep…lifestyles to conform to…and so on.

My advice is: don’t make knowing God into a problem…into a performance…into some kind of duty or ritual.  Know that you know God already.  Knowing God is nothing more than the progressive realization of Presence itself, which is why Jesus said, “The kingdom of God is within you” (Lk 17:21). You could not get any closer to God than you are now. So, know that every thought of God, every impulse is grace itself…IS God.

Give your attention to the inclination you feel to know God. I love what Thomas Merton said, “As soon as people are disposed to being alone with God, they are…no matter where they are:  in the monastery, in the city, in the country…in the woods. At the moment it seems they are somewhere in the middle of their journey, they have actually arrived at the destination already.”

Give your attention to the questions you have about God, too…even the doubts. See where that takes you. Your religion might tell you that you should accept the things you’ve doubted or questioned on the basis of faith alone. But, that’s nonsense.  God does not ask you to ignore your questions or disregard your doubts. Faith does not preclude doubt.  Real faith is learning to live in ambiguity…with paradox…with questions for which there may be no answer.

Your questions might frighten the faithful. But, I assure you that your questions are welcomed by God.  She created you with a mind.  Use it.  As I say in The Enoch Factor, “Doubt is no more disbelief than questions are compromise.” The most faithful followers of any faith have been those whose minds doubted, questioned, and so contemplated the inexplicable mysteries of life.

Meditate more often than you medicate.  It is so unfortunate in our western world but, as Christiane Northup has said, “The only acceptable form of western meditation is hospitalization.” I suppose it is conceivable that life would give you whatever you need–even a hospital bed–to help you look within–which is, of course, the only place where you could ever really find yourself or experience the Divine presence. The rabbis say, “God has but one synagogue…the human heart.”

Although I am a devoted follower of Christ, I regularly practice eastern meditative disciplines.  There is much Christians could learn from the spiritual traditions of the east. Ignore those Christian leaders who warn you against meditative practices or yoga or whatever. They’re only admitting they live more from a place of fear and suspicion than they live by faith. For me, and many other practitioners of the Christian tradition, I have the highest regard for those spiritual traditions that, while different from mine in many ways, have enriched my journey nonetheless.  In fact, the more I learn from other traditions the more devoted I am to my own and the more I realize the similarities in all of them.

While Benedictine monks in the Christian tradition know this, most other Christians do not. But, Jesus himself regularly practiced meditation just as his eastern counterparts. What do you think he was doing for forty days and nights as he wandered in the wilderness? (Lk 4:1-13).  On a hunting expedition?  His temptations grew out of his inner impulses.  And, to deal with them, he had to go within in order to find his way out.

You will have to do the same.  Learn to meditate.  To meditate will mediate God’s presence faster than anything I know. Lao Tzu said, “Where there is silence, one finds the anchor to the universe.”

Know that every experience carries within it an expression of the Divine presence.  I am not suggesting that everything you might encounter in life is sent by God.  But, I am saying that everything that happens in life can be the occasion for connecting deeply with the Divine. When I experienced a profound shift in my spiritual life a few years ago, I did so with the realization that life has a way of unfolding as a series of synchronous events that, seemingly coincidental or even random, are actually conspiring together to bring you into union with the Divine. This understanding has been transforming my reaction to and interaction with every experience of life–the good, the bad, and the ugly.

Make it your daily spiritual practice to bring your awareness into the present moment.  When you are here (and not somewhere else in the mind), you will be at peace…in presence. If you haven’t discovered this already, you will likely learn that one of the greatest challenges to living with a felt sense of oneness to God is disciplining the mind and so training it to the “here and now.”

To be in union with God may take no effort but to know that union and so enjoy its blissful benefits…well…that will likely take a lifetime.  Which is why it’s important to get started now and why the sixteenth century Carmelite monk, Brother Lawrence, called this “practicing the presence of God.” Think of this in the way Ernest Hemingway said to think of yourself: “As an apprentice in a craft where you could never become a master.”

Again, don’t make a problem of this.  Just know that knowing God unfolds naturally as you train yourself to give attention to every thought, impulse, or inclination you feel to know God. Recognize the thoughts.  Acknowledge the inclinations, however faint they may be.  It is here you will find peace, enter presence, and so know God.

The ancient sages said that Enoch walked with God (Gen. 5:24).

If he did, so may you.

I grew up in a very conservative Christian environment. But, if you regularly read my articles, you know I have moved beyond many of those early beliefs, most of which can work as long as you live in a very small, narrow, exclusive, and illusory world.  Which, of course, I did. But, no longer. Given my exposure to other cultures and religious traditions, and at a very young age, I can remember wondering how Christians alone could be right and everyone else wrong. But, I tried for some decades to ignore those inner questions. And, so, I went the way of most Christians. I tried to conform to everyone’s way of thinking and believing, graduated college, went off to seminary, earned a doctorate in theology and pastored for nearly twenty years among Baptist people.  All the while, wondering in my heart, do I really believe all this narrow-minded nonsense I’m expected to preach every Sunday?

You don’t ignore such questions or live an inauthentic life for long. Life will give you whatever you need, or so Eckhart Tolle reminds us, to bring you to a place of awakening.  And, of course, that’s exactly what happened to me. It took the unexpected death of my father and my world crumbled beneath me.  I left the ministry and divorced. And…well…the rest is history, as they say. I wandered and wondered for many years.

Then, one day, I quit struggling, looking, searching and then it happened. I woke up. Might be why I like the Buddha so much. His name means, as you perhaps know, “the awakened one.” In a little way, I think I know what his name means.

Today, I am a devoted follower of Christ.  His way of knowing God is the path I follow. However, I also know that Jesus said, “I have other sheep that are not of this fold…”(John 10:16) meaning, as the Sufi poet said, “There are many gates into the garden; and you need pass through only one.”

So, I prefer to refer to my beliefs today as “perspectives,” as that leaves room for growth and change.  That openness has enabled me to embrace what’s wholesome and good about the diversity one finds even within the Christian community.  In fact, I can say today, “I am Christian, first, as well as a Baptist, a Roman Catholic, a Methodist, a Lutheran, a Presbyterian, an Independent, and so forth.  It also enables me to affirm and embrace the spiritual truth I find in other traditions.  This is what Gandhi meant when he said, “I consider myself a Hindu, Christian, Muslim, Jew…and, so forth.”

If this resonates with your spirit, permit me to make a few recommendations that might help you continue growing in the same direction.

1. Stay open to everything and attached to nothing.  It’s our attachments, in this case to a particular belief system or way of thinking, that creates much of our mental suffering. You can have firm convictions, provided the platform upon which you build your life is made of wood, not cement.

2. In the Christian tradition, St. Paul said, “Work out your own salvation.”  Most Christians misread his meaning. What he’s not saying is that one’s experience of transcendence is manufactured by you or me. Grace is grace because it’s surprising. It shows up the moment you stop struggling to know God, as I try to make clear in my book, The Enoch Factor.

What Paul does mean is that your spiritual growth, in whatever tradition seems right for you, does depend on the attention you give it.  This is the real meaning of the Law of Attraction. There’s so much nonsense written about this fundamental spiritual law. Most of it from very greedy little egos looking for some magical way to make their dreams come true.  The real meaning is that the universe will work with you–it can’t do otherwise–in helping you advance in self-realization and God-realization but…and this is a big but (pardon the pun),–when you make it your intention to awaken and so give your attention to your spiritual awakening.

3. Then, I would suggest you meditate this day, and a little every day, on the rich diversity of spiritual truth experienced and expressed through countless spiritual traditions–not just your own. Sure, affirm your own perspectives and spiritual convictions. But, ask God, or, if you prefer, the universe, to give you an open heart, an open mind, and open hands to embrace all whose perspectives and experiences might be different.

Just a little wisdom today from the myriad of rich and wonderful spiritual traditions – and this from a former Baptist minister.  How’s that for openness?

The following are a few of my perspectives. I make no claim that they’re absolute, so I have no interest in debating them. Further, I do not write this as a polemic or treatise in order to convince you of anything. Saint Paul said, “Work out your own salvation” (Phil.2:12). What follows is my work and works for me. You’ll have to do your own, if you so elect, as the spiritual path is one journey no one can take for you. In Jackson Browne’s song “For a Dancer,” there’s a stanza, the lyrics of which go like this: “Just do the steps that you’ve been shown, by everyone you’ve ever known; Until the dance becomes your very own … In the end, there is one dance you’ll do alone.”

I’m often asked, “Do you still believe in God?” Yes. But, my perspective is this: I can no more prove God exists than anyone else can prove God doesn’t. When people debate God’s existence I get the feeling it’s little egos in either direction — as believers or disbelievers — needlessly engaging in an exercise in futility. You cannot prove or disprove the existence of God. Those who argue for God’s existence do so because they’re secretly afraid he doesn’t. Those who debate against God’s existence do so because they’re secretly afraid she does. So, in the end, what really is the point? Raised as I was to believe in God, I could no more not believe than I could stop the sun from shining or the earth from spinning on its axis.

I’ve tried, too. I finally concluded, however, I suspect I’m hotwired to believe. Written into my DNA perhaps. Who knows? This much I do know: When I contemplate, and then try to articulate, what happened to me one Sunday afternoon — what I’ve called “the Enoch factor” in the elibook by that name — I’m at a loss to explain what happened in me. For all practical purposes, it changed virtually everything in my life: how I feel about myself, others — and particularly those I would have once labeled enemies — and this world. What Romaine Rolland called “the oceanic feeling” descriptively expresses my experience. So, I think it’s safe to say I’m addicted to God.

I call God, God. But I suspect he has as many names as she does aliases. Even among monotheistic religions — Islam, Judaism and Christianity — there are countless names for God, even more among eastern religions. So the question is: Who’s right? My perspective is, they all are. For me, however, the name “God” works just fine.

Beyond this, however, I hesitate to say much more. In fact, anything more I do say, only diminishes this ineffable reality. How do you name what really cannot be named, as Lao Tzu put it? How could anymore presume to explain what’s really inexplicable? I think one of the biggest problems in much of Christianity today is this unfortunate notion that Christians alone know or understand God. I used to think this, but my perspective today is slightly different. My suspicion is, those who think they know God most likely do not.

“What do you believe about Jesus?” is perhaps the second most common question I’m asked. To me, Jesus was a human being, as much flesh and blood, mind and emotions as I am. What distinguished him is that he lived, as did Buddha before him and Muhammad after him, at the highest level of self-realization, which really means God-realization or you might say Divine consciousness. But bear in mind, even these are just words, limiting and inadequate in conveying a dimension of living that no word, explanation or concept could ever capture.

A self-actualized life is a mystery. It is so precisely because it is so rare. To be fully human, as well as fully divine, which means the self is completely free of its-self, is a lifelong, spiritual endeavor. In my estimation, this is why Jesus said, “Follow me.” He gave us a simple invitation to be sure. But as any serious follower knows, it takes the discipline of a lifelong pursuit to actualize.

Jesus lived so connected to himself — with Mystery itself — it wasn’t long before people regarded him as Divine, as God-Incarnate. In that way, they revered or worshipped him, even if they did not always follow him. I still regard Jesus as Divine. But, I do not in the same way I did before. For example, there was a time when I viewed Jesus, and only Jesus, as capable of being divine, or living free of self-interest or self-obsession, and in oneness and unity with Source itself. Today, however, I feel I have the capacity to live a divine life, too, just like everyone else. A divine life is one lived in oneness with all. What else could it be?

When you live at this level of consciousness, there is no separation between you and another — or between you and God. This is why Jesus said, “The things you have seen me accomplish, greater things you will do” (John 14:12). His own prayer was that the oneness he knew with God would be a reality shared by his followers as well. He prayed, “…that they may be one as we are one” (John 17:11). I love the way Meister Eckhart, the Catholic mystic, described this unity: “The eye through which I see God (or anyone else) is the same eye through which God sees me.” To live in this way could only ever result in a very different world. How could it not?

For years, I thought, because I was taught, that when Saint John said, “…God gave his only begotten Son…” (John 3:16), he meant Jesus was God’s one-and-only son. Text critics of scripture will tell you that this might be the meaning John wished to convey. If they are honest critics, however, they will also tell you it is equally possible Saint John was merely noting the “uniqueness” of Jesus. I think this is what he meant. There is no question that Jesus lived a unique life — it’s how he treated others, how he willingly laid down his life in sacrificial love for others and how he survived death. But that does not necessarily mean he was God’s only son, or daughter, with the capacity to live a selfless, self-giving life. Otherwise, why would Jesus have invited people to follow him?

Somewhere in this conversation, I usually hear a sigh of disgust from my very conservative Christian friends (a sigh that I would have shared in unison a few years ago myself). They will press, “But don’t you believe Jesus is the only way to God?” This is the deal-breaker for many Christians. Even for those who regard themselves as tolerant of other beliefs, even other religions, still regard Jesus as the only way to God. In fact, they will vehemently argue that Jesus himself claimed that he was: “I am the way, the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father but by me” (John 14:6).

For most of my adult life, I tried to accept this — that “believing in Jesus” was not only the only way to God, but the only way to go to heaven when you die. Today, however, I have a different perspective. It revolves around the word “believe.” Though this is a somewhat small word, its misuse has caused great misunderstanding among Christians.

What does it mean to believe in Jesus? When Jesus invited people to follow him or to “believe in him,” he was inviting people to trust that what he said, as well as how he lived, would result when emulated in a divine life — one connected as deeply with the Father as he was. The one condition was this: you had to believe in him enough to be willing to follow him. But isn’t it a whole lot easier to believe in Jesus than it is to actually follow him? Indeed! This explains how the church can be full of believers in Jesus, but perhaps only a few real followers of Jesus. And, not surprisingly, Jesus predicted this is the way it would be: “The way is broad that leads to destruction and many will go that way. The way is narrow that leads to life and few there will be that find it” (Matt.7:21). Maybe it’s just me, but a “few” does not sound like “many.”

What you might not realize is that to “believe in Jesus” is to have confidence enough in what he said and taught to make it your own spiritual practice — daily. It is much easier to worship Jesus than it is to walk after him. This too, explains, for example, how the church can be full of people who for all practical purposes ignore the teachings of Jesus such as this one, “It is more blessed to give than to receive” (Acts 20:35). It seems to me that the church is full of people who are far more interested in receiving than in giving. Ask any church treasurer.

But this is only one example. There are many, and in part three of this series, I’ll address several of the sayings attributed to Jesus and how the church almost universally ignores these teachings. Yet, the church claims to follow Jesus. But isn’t there a canyon of difference between “believing in Jesus” and in following him? Doesn’t the former result in dogmas, doctrines and debates about Jesus, as well as division around who he was? Of course, it does. And anyone with even a cursory sense of history will know that the story of the Christian church has been, and continues to be, one of conflict, confusion, even corruption.

The latter, however — “following Jesus” — could only ever result in a selfless, self-giving and transformational life, one lived after the example of Jesus himself, whose divine life positively impacted this world for good.

Since we have no verb in English for the Greek word translated as “faith,” the translators of scripture used the word “believe.” Over time, its use or, more accurately, its misuse has resulted in the misguided notion that believing in Jesus means believing certain beliefs about Jesus. So what we have today are more than 20,000 different Christian groups and denominations, each with a catalogue of “beliefs” about Jesus, the Bible and a host of other religious doctrines and dogmas. Ask any one of these groups and you’ll quickly discover that each believes its beliefs are a little more “right” than the beliefs of 19,999 others. The inevitable consequence of this kind of madness is division, which leads to more division and then more division still.

So when Jesus said, “Not everyone who says to me ‘Lord, Lord’ will enter the Kingdom of heaven; but he who does the will of the Father…” (Matt. 7:21), I suspect he was driving home the point that it is infinitely more important how you live than what you believe. Beliefs change no one. Believing in Jesus, however, enough to stake your life on his teachings, on how he thought and the way he lived, well, that willradically change you. And it will change your world.

In Zen Buddhism, there is this statement: “The finger that points to the moon is not the moon.” You can spend your life, if you so choose, clinging to the finger of your beliefs — debating, defending and developing an endless array of doctrines around the identity of Jesus. As for me, it is my desire to reach the moon of my spiritual potential. I wish to think like Jesus might have thought — the Buddha, too, as well as Lao Tzu and other spiritual masters — and to practice the way Jesus treated himself and those around him. In short, I wish to answer his invitation: “Follow Me.”

Isn’t that all he really asks of me and of anyone who wishes to believe in him?

In the second part of this two-part series, I’ll outline a few of the perspectives I hold today. I no longer call the things I believe “beliefs” because the word connotes too much rigidity and inflexibility to me. “Perspectives” feels a little softer, more pliable, as if there might actually be openness in me to a new way of understanding something. If either part of this two-part series is helpful to even one reader, for what more could I ask?

It is not my intention to stir a reaction, to debate with anyone, or to cast stones at a belief system or at those who may embrace it as I did once with much passion. I wish only to help those who have become disillusioned by a faith tradition or a belief system that no longer works for them. I wish only to help those who want to walk with God beyond the narrow path of understanding that they may have followed in their childhood and youth. My only desire is to show those who are open to it how they might embrace a faith, know God and themselves in a spiritually healthy fashion, as well as make room for those who hold to a different belief system or who may not believe in God at all. It is my hope to build bridges between people, religions and cultures. The Dalai Lama is right. “Until there is peace among the religions, there can be no peace in the world.

Both parts of this two-part series are taken from my book, The Enoch Factor, I will add only a little commentary on a few of the beliefs listed below. My commentary is wrapped in parenthesis.

• The Christian religion is the correct religion. That is to say, all other religions are wrong and the people who believe in them need to be converted to Christianity or face the dire consequences that await them in eternity — which means, of course, they will go to hell;

• Jesus is the Savior of the world, the only possible way to God. After all, he said himself, “I am the way … no one comes to the Father but through me” (John 14:6). (While there is an alternative way to understand these words of Jesus that I’ll discuss in Part Two, for most Christians this one is the deal breaker — the one non-negotiable). All other paths may lead to some kind of spiritual experience, but they do not lead one to God. If you want to go to heaven when you die, you’ll have to believe in Jesus;

• God’s word is in the Bible. God’s word is only found in the Bible. You should be suspect of anything that anyone else may call sacred scripture;

• Furthermore, the Bible is infallible (which means “without error”), at least in its “original manuscripts,” referring to the actual parchments on which the Biblical writers wrote their words. (Although many fundamentalist Christians do not know this, the fact is, no original manuscripts have ever been found. So, to argue something that no one can prove or disprove is hardly credible. Furthermore, the earliest manuscripts we do have date from the second century and are distinguished by the innumerable discrepancies between them);

• The family God has ordained is made up of one man and one woman. A few other arrangements may be permitted, but they are hardly preferred. Furthermore, God made them Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve. Homosexuality is a sin against nature and an abomination to God. Any more questions?

• The Creation Story in Genesis is an actual account of how the universe was created by God in six literal days of 24-hour duration. Evolution is suspect and those who accept it typically become materialistic, even atheistic.

• Abortion is murder. It’s always murder. No exception. No debate. Next question;

• If America wishes to remain strong, it had better be on the side of Israel, no matter what. Israel is God’s chosen nation. Again, no exception. No debate. Next question;

• The Second Coming of Jesus could occur at any moment. (Never mind the fact that Jesus said his return — whatever that really means — would occur only when people least expect it. Since most fundamentalist Christians are expecting Jesus’ return at any moment, even praying for it, they are most likely unaware they are responsible for his delay);

• God is not finished with Israel. So the nation of Israel will play a pivotal role in a pre- or post-tribulation Rapture-of-the-church-view of the end of human history. (Many fundamentalist Christians believe in what’s known as the premillennial view of history, a few believe in what is known as the post-millennial view and, fewer still, an a-millennial, meaning “no-millennium.” It isn’t important to go into detail here about the meaning of these different views of history but, if you’re familiar with the Left Behind series of fictional books released a few years ago, you’ve met the most popular of these complicated apocryphal systems of thought. The series of novels themselves are based on the “pre-millennial” view of history, with its special devotion to the most suspect of all futuristic notions known as the “Rapture.” If you’re not familiar with this notion called the “Rapture,” you are not alone. If fundamentalist Christians knew where this fairytale about the future actually originated — which, of course, they do not — they would repudiate it immediately);

• Christians will go to heaven; everyone else will go to hell. Hell is real, a place with fire where disbelievers burn for an eternity;

• God is not associated with any political party (but, everyone knows He’s really a closet Republican. In fact, any God-fearing soul knows there’s no way she would ever be a Democrat. Oops, did I just refer to God with the feminine pronoun “she”? An obvious slip of the pen! While fundamentalist Christians know God is neither male nor female, they are typically quick to remind women which of the two God created first).

Of course, there are many other beliefs common to fundamentalist Christians, but these are a few of the more common ones. If you’re guessing that I’ve given up on most but not all of these, you’ve guessed correctly.

So, what do I believe? That’s the subject of Part Two.

Instead of a bridge to God, religion is often a barrier to God.

Instead of freeing people from their burdens, religion itself is the burden.

Instead of knowing God, religion is obsessed with knowing about God.

Instead of divine acceptance, religion is preoccupied with guilt and failure, and the depiction of God as a deity displeased about both.

Instead of bringing unity to humanity, religion is the principle cause of most disunity, with its endlessly expanding hard-drive of beliefs, dogmas and doctrines around which little egos collect to argue, debate and ultimately divide.

Instead of peace and tranquility, religion is, for many its practitioners, a circus of endless activity, programs and meetings all of which are time-consuming and exhausting.

Since I know other religions only as an outsider, I’ll reserve my observations to what I know best as an insider to Christianity. I’m certain, however, many of the same problems could be found in other faith traditions as well.

To begin, it is not a little ironic to me that the literal meaning of the word religion is “to return to bondage.” It comes from two words, the prefix re meaning, “to return” and the root legare meaning, “to bind.” Since everyone wants freedom and happiness and many turn to religion to find it, the regrettable consequence is that too often the only thing they get is greater enslavement.

Here’s are a few random observations of mine:

Many churches and church leaders seem obsessed with achieving the status of being the biggest church with the largest crowds and the most elaborate campuses. In the last 10 years alone, for example, churches have spent more than $100 billion on buildings and facilities while 400 million people starved to death somewhere in the world during that same period. Something is horribly wrong with this picture. Church leaders measure spiritual progress in terms of the number of attendees, the size of their annual income and the square footage of their facilities. Furthermore, virtually every Christian leadership conference lauds the largest of these churches and their leaders as if they were role models for all other churches.

Additionally, churches and church leaders saddle their followers with a catalogue of “dos” and “don’ts” as onerous as the proverbial Sears catalogue. They are told what to think, how to believe, and the way they are supposed to live. Furthermore, many Christian leaders disregard the fact that Jesus himself repudiated the religious leaders in his day for doing this very thing to the followers of Judaism (Matt. 23:4).

And, what of the “circus of endless activity?” Have you been in a church lately? Were it not for the cross at the top of the building, you might think you had just stepped inside the big tent at a Barnum-and-Bailey circus. It’s not only a wheel of perpetual and often pointless activity in many churches, but leaders seem to take pride in the fact that their church has become a 24/7 operation. All that really means is that the members have no time or energy to be “salt and light” in their communities because they’re incarcerated in a church with its plethora of activities.

Churches are neurotically preoccupied with peripheral matters of faith, too. They argue theology and debate over the Bible almost incessantly. Their beliefs and dogmas are imposed on believing and unbelieving people alike. In the throes of this kind of madness, it is not surprising that millions of believers are leaving the church in greater numbers today than ever before in the history of the Christian church.

Replacing members they are losing, as well as the equally difficult task of keeping the ones they have, are among the most important priorities facing ministers today. Whether they wish to or not, they are forced to spend an inordinate amount of time looking for the latest gimmick to attract people through the front door, just to counter their mounting losses out the back. If they succeed in getting people to come, then the rest of their time is spent trying to get them to stay. Churches actually compete with each other the way Las Vegas hotels compete for the best show in town. Since the mega churches can afford the more expensive talent, they have a manifest and unfair advantage over almost all other churches. The churches in America that are growing numerically, and there are only a scant few anymore, are finding that their growth comes largely from the disgruntled, disenfranchised or burned-out members who’ve left other churches. Mega churches are filled with people who desire a spiritual connect to God but want nothing to do with the madness of busy-ness that is most churches today.

Rather than mutually respecting and affirming the one and only thing all religions share in common, which is their diverse ways of knowing peace and Presence, religious leaders become preoccupied with what distinguishes them in terms of their beliefs, doctrines, viewpoints and so on. Whenever they do, which is most of the time, it isn’t long before they begin insisting that their beliefs are right and by implication the beliefs of others are wrong. The inevitable consequence is disagreement, division and even destruction. Unless this madness ends, and soon, religious people will end up destroying the very world their religion has evolved to redeem.

I feel more strongly today than ever before that the future of humanity is at stake. Unless there are profound changes in human consciousness — changes in how we understand ourselves and this universe, how we look at each other, as well as how we treat each other — I sometimes wonder if there is much hope for humanity’s survival. The Dalai Lama is right, “Until there is peace between religions, there can be no peace in the world.”

Here’s what I think must happen:

First, accept the fact that there will always be many religions. No one religion will ever convert the whole world to its way of believing. How do I know this? Followers within the same religion can’t even agree on everything and so have divided into an almost endless number of sects and denominations. In Christianity, for example, there are more denominations than there are flavors of Baskin-Robbins ice cream.

Noted historian, Huston Smith, once observed: “…if we were to find ourselves with a single religion tomorrow, it is likely that there would be two the day after.” So, what does this mean? Just what John Coats said recently in a HuffPost article, “Your place at this table is a given.” In other words, we must make room, not only for all Christians, churches and their denominations, but for all religions as well.

Second, religious leaders must continually remind themselves of the supreme purpose of their religion — to bring followers into a meaningful relationship with the Divine — and stick to this purpose. Everything else is secondary. However, if secondary matters — things like your understanding of the Divine, your beliefs or your group’s beliefs, and so forth — are given a place of preeminence, the eventual consequence is a feeling of superiority. That feeling quickly gets ugly and, when it does — and it always does — no good thing will ever come of it.

So again, there must be room at this table for everyone. How? The only way to accomplish this is to grow up. Your ego (and the arrogance around it), as well as the collective ego of your group, must die, which is what Jesus meant when he said “Deny yourself,” (Mark 10:37) or the Buddha meant when he referred to “anata,” or “no self.”

Just call it maturity if these concepts don’t work for you: the capacity to cherish your individual beliefs while making room for the differing beliefs of others. F. Scott Fitzgerald put it something like this, “The mark of maturity is the ability to hold two opposing ideas in the mind at the same time and still be at peace.” Religious people who continually debate, defend and then demand their way of believing is the “right” way or, worse, the “only” way are only revealing their immaturity, as well as inability, to live with paradox, ambiguity and, most important, to live by grace and with grace.

Third, I would suggest you make the effort to forgive your faith tradition for its failures. There is so much anger and well-deserved rage toward the church, particularly from those who’ve been damaged or disenfranchised by it. I was one of these persons myself but, since I describe that story in detail in The Enoch Factor, it isn’t necessary to go into it here. Suffice to say, forgiveness will be no small task for many of people. The injury inflicted on them by the church is not only inexcusable, it is in countless instances so inconceivable, even horrific in nature, it borders on being unforgivable. I admit there are times I fight the impulse to walk away from it myself. I still find it incomprehensible, for example, even reprehensible, how the church could expect gays and lesbians to return to the proverbial closet, as someone so eloquently put it, while hiding, as well as protecting, clergy pedophiles in its own closets. If you haven’t forgiven your religious tradition for its insanity, or simply cannot just yet, know that I completely understand. For myself, however, I’ve chosen to forgive and, of course, that’s what forgiveness really is: a choice.

Finally, the fighting must end, too. And, this statement isn’t directed just to Islamic fundamentalists but to Christian fundamentalists, too. The former use weapons to destroy people who don’t agree with them. The latter use a little belief system they call the Rapture against those who don’t agree with them. This system has no Biblical basis as any scholar knows but it postulates that Jesus will return to earth, hover in the clouds while Christians are zapped from the earth, leaving behind all disbelievers.

It’s a belief system straight out of the comic books, which is the irony because, if Christians actually knew where the idea of the Rapture came — which of course they do not — they would reject it outright. Meanwhile, however, belief in the Rapture serves as a convenient way to take revenge on disbelievers or all of those whom Christians have failed to convert to Christianity.

Thinking Christians know that, whatever was meant by the words of Jesus’ return to earth, the New Testament passages that speak of this all suggest it will only occur when people least expect it. Since fundamentalist Christians are all looking for Jesus’ return, they do not realize but they are likely responsible for his delay.

Again, just as it is outlandish to believe your religion is going to convert the world to its way of thinking, it is equally outlandish to develop a belief system that would leave behind the world you can’t convert. We’ve got to learn to get along. “No tree has branches so foolish as to fight among themselves” (Native American wisdom).

One day, the rabbi took Jacob aside and said, “Jacob, why do you suppose Christians make it a habit to tap the side of the saltshaker while Jews always tap the bottom?”

Certain the rabbi was going to join him in ridicule of Christians, Jacob was more than ready to play along. “No, Rabbi, I do not know. Why do Jews tap the bottom of the saltshaker while Christians tap the side?”

“To get the salt out!” answered the rabbi.

There are many ways to tap the shaker, but the purpose is the same—to dispense salt.

Ask the followers of almost any religion what is the purpose of their religion and they will say the purpose is to guide them to know God. They may use different words or ideas to say this, but it is essentially the same purpose. Even in religions like Buddhism, where there is no belief in a Higher Power per se, they still speak sometimes of the “Universal Mind.” What is that, if it is not the same Reality toward which the words and names that others use point aw well?

Similarly, a spiritual seeker in Christianity is really no different than a spiritual seeker in Islam, Taoism, or Hinduism. All want to know God, the higher self, or to reach what Hindus call Samadhi, or “bliss consciousness,” what Christians may call, “salvation,” or “God-realization.” In other words, everyone wants to be complete, to be happy, and to alleviate human suffering, which the Buddha showed us is mostly self-induced anyway. In other words, we all seek the same thing. We just know it in different ways, based on our cultural, social, ethnic, and religious conditioning.  Since everyone is seeking God-consciousness, sometimes confused with “happiness,” then you can understand that every religion has evolved to help facilitate this purpose.

In Christianity, the purpose is called by as many different names as there are names for God. Sometimes, it’s called “salvation.” At other times “redemption,” “justification,” “conversion,” and, in some repressive cultures wherein missionaries took the Christian story, the promise of “liberation” had great meaning to the indigenous, but oppressed peoples. It became known among Christians as “liberation theology.”

In Buddhism, it is nirvana or freedom from dukkha, or “suffering.” In Hinduism, the purpose is called moksha and the goal is to escape earthly suffering and cyclical existence—and to ultimately arrive at nirvana.  In Islam, a follower is known as a Muslim which, by definition, means “one who submits to God.” Islam is now the second largest religion in the world, just behind Christianity. It’s multiplying much faster, too. If its growth continues at the present rate, and every indication would point in this direction, it will soon become the religion with the largest number of followers in the world.

Many Christians find this thought, if not unbelievable, reprehensible. But, the fact is, Islam will achieve this status and will likely do so in just a matter of years. The political, social, and economic environment worldwide is conducive for Christianity’s decline and Islam’s growth.  You can resist this reality if you choose.  Or, you can wage war with it and so attempt to prevent it from happening.  Some Christians would actually opt for this approach, which partly explains why fundamentalist Christians are among the most ardent supporters of our military presence in countries like Iraq and Afghanistan.  While they would argue with this analysis, the fact is, their real desire to see terrorism defeated masks a secret desire to see the Islamic faith, if not defeated, seriously impeded.

To those persons who may not have a specific faith orientation, the shared human quest for self-realization or self-fulfillment is the same, nonetheless. It is expressed, however, with terms like “inner transformation,” “awakening,” “unity consciousness,” and so forth. But, again, the terminology may differ, but the purpose in all of these is to know unity with the Self and so live with a sense of connectedness to the universe or Intelligence itself.

Even those persons who do not believe in God per se still share in the same human longing for wholeness. Just like everyone else, they instinctively seek its fulfillment. It may sound to Christians a bit like doubletalk to hear of a “spiritual atheism,” but there are some devout atheists who’ve had some kind of spiritual awakening themselves. Even Albert Einstein referred to himself as “a deeply religious non-believer.”  Whatever it is that has happened to them, they have found it humanly satisfying and life-transforming. It has rewarded them with a sense of the sacred that gives them peace, joy, gratitude, and contentment in ways many religious people I know have never experienced.

If you’re a religious person, how do you explain this? Well, some would dismiss it as a trick of Satan himself. They would argue that these atheists have been deceived—that they just think they’re happy, satisfied, contented, and at peace.

But, I’m not so sure. The ones I know seem quite content, happy, and at peace. As a matter of fact, some of them think more like Christ, and live more Christ-like, than many of the Christians I know. So, my perspective is this:  the only real delusion here is the denial of this possibility by those who cannot accept it. God’s grace is scandalous to those who haven’t really experienced it.

Since I have always believed in God, it is hard for me to understand what someone might describe as an “atheist spirituality”—a kind of oxymoron.  But, I will not deny that anything is possible. Besides, after reading some of the writings of Andre Comte-Sponville, a contemporary French philosopher and self-professed atheist, there is no denying he has had some kind of transcendent and transformational life experience. He does not call what he has experienced “God,” but it has left him with the satisfying sense of belonging to something much grander than he.  Moreover, it is shaping him into a more ethical and felicitous human being.

So, for all their differences, all religions share the same essential purpose.  It has long been my hope that religious people would learn to “celebrate our similarities and respect our differences.”  It seems today far more imperative that all people share a similar hope, indeed a commitment in this direction.  I firmly believe, in the words of the Dalai Lama, “Until there is peace among the religions, there can be no peace in the world.”

After reading excerpts of his speech, I was left with the feeling that the Pope actually believes religion is being marginalized in society, and that the cause is culture, social and political liberalism.  And, by implication, people.  Regular folk like you and me.

This much I can agree with. The Pope is right that religion is rapidly becoming a marginalized relic in public life and discourse.  Larger and larger numbers of people, according to the recent American Religious Identification Survey, do not take organized religion very seriously anymore.

But, who’s really to blame for this?

My own sense is this: It is not culture, society, or, by implication, people who have marginalized religion.  Religion has successfully marginalized itself.

How so?

While all religions share the same essential purpose, virtually every religion is failing miserably, and none more notable to westerners than Christianity itself.  And, it isn’t so much that Christianity is failing, it is the church itself in its varied complexity.

Today, for example, there are over 20,000 groups or denominations within the larger Christian Church. Each believes its understanding of truth is a little more “right” than the 19,999 others.  It is not that there is anything abnormal about this variety or phenomenon of diversity.  In Hinduism, for example, there is a diversity that would make this seem slight by comparison. And, what would explain this?  The longer a religion is around, the more diverse it seems to become.

Diversity, however, isn’t the cause of “marginalization of religion.”  It is, instead, what accompanies the diversity—an insanity that assumes “We’re right,” “You’re wrong,” “We’re in, you’re out,” “We’re the chosen ones, you’re not.”  It is this madness that divides people.  It is from this madness within most expressions of religion that multitudes are moving.

Religions start out well-meaning. But, it isn’t long before they seem to become obsessed with matters of lesser importance. For example, instead of being a bridge to a unified self or a sense of the divine (which is the principal purpose of virtually all faith traditions), religion too often becomes a barrier; instead of freeing people of their burdens, religion itself is a burden; instead of divine approval and acceptance, religion gets preoccupied with guilt, failure, and the depiction of the deity as displeased despot whose pissed off about virtually everything and everyone.

And as we have seen with the recent Koran burnings that gained media attention on the 9/11 Anniversary – and here I am talking about the radical Christian groups who led the charge – instead of bringing unity to humanity, religion is often the cause of great disunity.  It is madness and it must end or the future of humanity is at stake.

There are many Christians who are just as radical as Islamic radicals. But the way they typically express their displeasure with the world, and the fact that their evangelical efforts at converting the world have failed, is to look and earnestly pray for the end of the world.  They call it the “Rapture,” or the return of Jesus for his elect, which of course means them.  This too is madness and a menacing threat to the future of the human family.  These Christians would love to influence America’s foreign policy so as to speed up what they believe to be the ultimate showdown in the Middle East.  They may be succeeding.

What many of these Christians want is the return of Jesus to secretly zap them from Earth and whisk them off to a peaceful never-never land.  Never mind the fact that Jesus himself said no one could predict the end of the world or his return, whatever that may mean, but that one thing is certain: it would be when people “least expect it.”  Since these Christians are expecting it, even longing for it, it has perhaps not occurred to them that they are most likely responsible for his delay.

I’m pretty sure there are many other explanations for the “marginalization of religion” today.  But, if the Pope, and indeed all religious people, are serious about restoring the place of religion in public life and in people’s personal lives, the way to do so is clear from Jesus’ own words: “He who would save his life will lose it, but he who gives his life will find it.”

In other words, here are three simple suggestions:

1. Give up the notion that there’s only one way to know God. Instead, make room for each peaceful faith expression. The religions are here to stay. They’re all needed, but the insanity that they easily become is not.  Whatever the divine is, he’s big enough to embrace all faith traditions.  She’s only small when someone wants to limit her abundant grace to one group of people, or to one way of believing or thinking.

2. Second, give up the notion of “saving the world,” which means, converting everybody to Christianity, or to Islam, or to whatever religion. It isn’t going to happen.  No religion has ever succeeded in getting everyone within it to agree on all things.  And, this is a good thing because those that do succeed usually end up like the infamous Jonestown.  So, have your missionaries leave their “Have you been Born Again?” tracks at home.  Instead, send them armed with knowledge as to farming, water purification, and the like.  Send them with supplies and equipment, with medicine and medical and financial resources.  In other words, give away your compassion and see what happens.

3. What the world needs now is love, sweet love. Trite, but true. I’m pretty sure that’s about all this world has ever needed.  St. Augustine say, “Love and do what you will,” which is just another way of saying “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” Until religious leaders know this however, as well as practice it, I suspect Pope Benedict and others will continue to blame the marginalization of religion on culture, ideas, conflicting movements, and ordinary people like you and me.  And, that will lead nowhere, except to greater marginalization.  What you seek to save, you lose. Or, as the easterners put it, “What you resist persists; what you fight survives.”

I wasn’t expecting much.  I got to the first scene, however–the one where the author, Elizabeth Gilbert, cries out to God in prayer–and I was hooked. In a marriage that isn’t working, Gilbert is an emotional train wreck waiting to happen. Since her life makes no sense to her whatsoever, she does what many of us have done when we can’t think of what else to do–she prays.

“Hello, God.  How are you? I’m Liz. It’s nice to meet you…I’m sorry to bother you so late at night…but I’m in serious trouble…I’m not an expert at praying, as you know. But can you please help me?…I don’t know what to do. Please tell me what to do.”

Who hasn’t prayed this prayer?

It’s appeal is in its familiarity. But, what hooked me most is the fact that this first prayer, or cry, to God, isn’t Gilbert’s last, as it is with many in circumstances equally as troubling. Rather, it is the first of many prayers she offers to God–prayers that evolve into an on-going conversation in a year-long journey through Italy, India, and Indonesia.  Each prayer is but the next step she takes in the search for herself and a life that matters.  As she journeys and converses, the consequence is self-discovery, self-acceptance, and an awareness of the Sacred presence.

Not a bad spiritual practice, if you ask me.

If a spiritual life is really about learning to accept yourself, learning to live compassionately, and becoming so aware of the Sacred presence within you that you converse with this Presence the way two friends would sharing a fine wine in a corner cafe, then Eat, Pray, Love could be a guide to any seeker after a sacred life.

Gilbert prays the way Jesus prayed.  The Buddha, too.

So, what kind of praying is this?

Silence. Stillness. Some call it meditation — the kind of praying Jesus instructed his followers to practice (Matt. 6:6).  It’s also the only kind of praying we ever see Jesus doing (Matt. 14:23; 26:36ff).  Yet, strangely, go into almost any church, synagogue, or temple today and you’ll hear plenty of public prayers (in spite of Jesus’ discouragement against it – Matt. 5:5); but, little or no provision for silence, stillness, or meditation. Most worship is distinguished by its chaos — loud music, continuous chatter, lots of substance but little sustenance.

With very few exceptions, religious leaders almost universally overlook this kind of prayer and it is likely because they know little about it themselves. It is this kind of praying, however–and perhaps only this kind of praying–that results in self-awareness and Divine consciousness. The Buddha said, “He who meditates attentively will attain abundant joy.”

Jesus said, “The Kingdom of God is within you” (Lk.10:27). If that’s true, then to know yourself, as well as to know God, you must make it your spiritual practice to go within. The rabbis say, “God has but one tabernacle–the heart.” It is there, in the secret place (what Jesus likened to a “room” – Matt. 6:6) that you practice slowing down the mind, (that virtual stream of thought-making) and to relax and rest in the Sacred presence.  The psalmist put it like this, “Be still and know that I am God” (Ps. 46:10).

“Is it easy to learn to pray this way?”

Ask Liz. If you make this your spiritual practice however, the discoveries will mirror those made by Elizabeth Gilbert and will be equally remarkable.

Then, if you ever visit Italy, India, or Indonesia, you’ll do so for different reasons.

Dr. Steve McSwain is the author of The Enoch Factor: The Sacred Art of Knowing God (2010, Smyth & Hewlys). For more information, please visit www.stevemcswain.com.

For an interview or to receive a review copy, contact Tolly Moseley at Tolly@prbythebook.com or (512) 501-4399 x708. Visit us at www.prbythebook.com or www.twitter.com/prbythebook