The avoidance of deeper consciousness
Why churches overlook mysticism
In America, there are churches which exclude certain types of people. I call them ‘exclusive’. And when you think about it, it seems logical that exclusive churches attract people who enjoy feeling exclusive and thinking in exclusive terms.
Oddly, these same churches teach that God is highly inclusive, that He loves everyone. But based on their behavior of exclusion, these kinds of churches don’t seem to believe that themselves. Is it not fair to then ask, do they truly believe in God?
But they will reply and say, “No, no. You misunderstand! We do love and include everyone. The thing is, we love the sinner, we just hate the sin.”
This is, of course, a self-rewarding closed circle logic loop. It’s a deceptive practice conveying the notion that such churches are standing for higher value, when ultimately they are teaching closed-mindedness. And this type of teaching informs us that placing self-reward as the highest value, even through the use of deception, is laudatory. It is this way of thinking and teaching that has weakened some churches, and put them in a fundamentally flawed position. You can’t lead by not leading.
You can’t lead by not leading.
My understanding of this began as a small child. As the son of a minister, I had every reason to deeply respect the church and its teachings. And I did. But even back then, I could spot closed circle logic. As I grew a bit older, and my reasoning skills gained more experience, it became obvious that many churches had built a vast library of closed logic loops, the design of which was constructed to crush certain questions, or to cut short anticipated forms of inquiry.
Churchmen are taught something called Apologetics. When I was in Bible College this was the most widely anticipated and popular of all courses. Young men and women eagerly settled into their seats to embrace logic that was designed to short circuit, to dull a vital section of their mind, closing off their right to question, as though becoming intentionally brain dead was a perfectly normal behavior. It was as though the church gave each of them a debilitating stroke.
It was as though the church gave each of them a debilitating stroke.
In homes and in buildings, a short circuit causes electrical breakers to trip. Short circuits are undesirable outcomes that indicate a problem in the circuit, that things aren’t working properly. Yet, society has learned the opposite from the example of churches. Our lords and masters have sufficiently short-circuited critical thinking to the point that we’ve become childishly easy to manipulate and influence. As a society we’ve become normalized to short-circuited thinking.
Churches have long had a deep influence on American society, including the expansion of non-critical thinking. Consequently, not even our major political parties dare wander too far into inclusiveness or truth. The churches have taught us that close-mindedness is Godly, and that muddy thinking and weak logic is saintly.
I’m not condemning all churches or religion here. Not at all. I’m certain there are many churches that are appalled at such things.
But… I’m unhesitatingly attacking the practices I’m describing because they are program-level code for the anemia present in our understanding of what clear thinking actually looks and sounds like.
It’s being employed everywhere. Class Warfare proponents, for example, have eagerly embraced the ‘good work’ of the church in these matters.
Churches have taught us that close-mindedness is Godly, and that muddy thinking and weak logic is saintly.
The God of many of today’s churches sits stiffly on a throne of judgment — hidden in the mists of fake truth, swirling in clouds of closed-mindedness, exclusiveness, judgement and excessive self-reward. This God has taught us how to fragment, and how to accept fragmentation and divisiveness as normal and sacred. This God has taught us to reward ourselves first and foremost even if, especially if, it’s at the expense of others. Because if it’s good enough for God to be fragmented, divisive and selfish, then it’s good enough for me.
This God has taught us how to fragment, and how to accept fragmentation and divisiveness as normal and sacred.
Churches advocating Prosperity Gospel teach that the collection of riches is godly, particularly if the riches are piled up around the feet of the blessed and superior him/herself. Oddly, God himself is marginalized by their pastor’s interpretation of him, as they forcefully champion America’s latest version of new religion.
This stunted intellectual approach is exactly what Socrates may have labeled as the loss of reason.
The truth is that God, the so-called One True God, is ignored by many churches. This is easily proven by the dearth of churches teaching the actual ‘how-tos” of union with God. They play pretend at teaching about union with God, because they can only pretend, because they often don’t really have a clue. To be clear, mystics don’t know either when they first start out. But they persist. Because, as holy writs inform us, that’s the goal.
Vital to attaining union with God, or experiencing the Oneness (which happens to be a term I’m personally more comfortable with, but really, they’re the same thing), is the ability to face the Truth. We tend to overlook that there truly exist ways to get insights and perspectives as to exactly where humanity or we as individuals are stuck: practical standards of eternal weights and measures.
In her famous book on mysticism, The Interior Castle, St. Teresa of Avila would likely place this confrontation with Truth in her second room or within the context of what she calls the Second Pillar of her Six Pillar journey into unification. For it is here, within the Second Pillar, that the initiate confronts the deceptions of Satan.
My own Great River Jiu Jitsu training began with its own pillars or rooms, called The Seven Fundamental Principles for Standing in the Face of the Truth. These principles provide very granular resolution to measure our progress. And they also train us how to face and accept the Truth, however discomforting or threatening it may be.
The point here is that the mystic’s path can be measured, even though many people remain strongly and passionately convinced that such measures don’t truly exist or are utterly unnecessary. After all, a weekend retreat or a pop of peyote is pretty much all that’s needed. Because they’re smart. But for an outsider looking in, it’s apparent that the strength of their passion to deny the truth reveals what professional gamblers call a “tell”.
If you want to understand how to bring harmony to a fragmented, divided, blame-focused, self-serving society… give your mystics some bandwidth.
Churches overlook mysticism because they are not wanting to confront some uncomfortable truths. But then, neither do the mystics. Yet, in the mystic’s case, they press forward. And as they journey onward, navigating through rooms that are often arduous, they are slowly overcoming that which stands between them and union with God, with the supreme human experience of abiding in Oneness.
