Musings

Hope in the Ashes

 

The sharp tang of ash made my nostrils flare as I walked on the powdery dirt of the trail in the mountains above Malibu.  Apocalypse came to more than one California paradise in recent weeks.  Blackened branches of scrubby sumac reached vainly into the air.  Green blankets of chaparral were reduced to grey dust.  Oaks on steep slopes were scorched, sycamores in the arroyos were singed.  96,949 acres of stunning wilderness went up in smoke, obliterating the plant and animal life along many of the trails most loved by Angelenos, including myself.

 

I was not supposed to be hiking on the Backbone Trail.  Only later did I learn that the whole National Recreation Area was closed.  When I got to the trailhead, there were no signs to that effect, so up the steep path I climbed.  Some of the vegetation on the trail was intact, some was stained red with fire retardant dropped from planes, and some was blackened.  As I hiked higher, I could see that the Castro trail on the ridge was burned over.  Same with the trail to the site where the M.A.S.H. shows were filmed.  Same with the trails in upper Las Virgenes Canyon and on Simi Mountain.

 

When I was in high school in Santa Cruz, CA, our biology teacher, Ed Borovatz, taught us about the "greenhouse effect" - an early term for what we now call "human-caused climate change" resulting from CO2 emissions.  Through Ed's intervention, I was appointed, at the age of 16, to the Student Council on Pollution and the Environment.  It was an advisory group set up by the Nixon administration to monitor and co-opt student environmental activists.  I was by far the youngest student on the Council.  Most of the others were leftist graduate students.  We traveled on federal vouchers, meeting with government officials.  The grad students were wise to Nixon's machinations.  They arranged for us to visit universities on each of our trips and radicalize students into the ecology movement, at government expense! 

 

On one of our trips, we had a private meeting with the Secretary of the Interior, Wally Hickel, an affable fellow who had served as the governor of Alaska.  It violated my innocent assumptions that, for a big shot, he was so short in stature.  I asked him a question based on my new-found knowledge about CO2 in the atmosphere.  "Mr. Hickel, shouldn't the government tax gasoline at a very high rate, in order to reduce consumption and lower emissions?"

 

Wally Hickel looked me right in the eye and said "Young man, you're absolutely right.  That is exactly what should happen.  But it is politically impossible."  I was upset at the answer, but had to respect the forthright manner in which he delivered it.

 

The year: 1970.

 

Forty-eight years later, the current Secretary of the Interior is on a mission, head-bent and hell-bound, to pump more oil and blast more coal out of the ground.  The President maintains his denial of the reality of human-caused global warming even as he tours the devastation left by the worst fires in California history.  This week in Paris, where the French government fully recognizes the climate threat, people are storming the streets to protest a gasoline tax increase imposed to mitigate the effects of CO2 emissions. 

 

Gazing at mile after mile of denuded peaks and scorched hills, I felt despondent that half a century later, Wally Hickel's answer could still be true. 

 

"Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what is seen? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience."  (St. Paul in Romans 8: 24-25)  From the Backbone Trail, hope definitely was not seen.  What hope remains within me for rectifying our collective damage to the planet lies buried by thick layers of ash.  Yet like the seeds of California chaparral plants that lie dormant until cracked open by wildfire, germinating to green the mountains once again, I must wait with patience for hope to spring up.

 

My hike was preceded by weekends spent knocking on doors in northern Los Angeles County for Katie Hill, a young Democrat.  Gazing at the massive turnout of other volunteers on the last day of canvassing, my eyes filled with tears, sensing that the impossible might be possible after all.  She - and we - eked out a victory.  But that was just the beginning.  There are so many more doors to knock, and so little time. 

 

So may holy hope rise out of the ashes, grow big, and move us to action.....

 

JIM BURKLO
Website: MINDFULCHRISTIANITY.ORG   Weblog: MUSINGS    Follow me on twitter: @jtburklo
See the GUIDE to my articles and books
Sr Associate Dean of Religious Life, University of Southern California

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Natural Spirituality

 

NURTURING NATURAL SPIRITUALITY

Dr. Lisa Miller, professor at Columbia University, is a leading researcher into the new scientific field of “natural spirituality”, which she describes in her 2015 book, “The Spiritual Child”.  There are now separate neurophysiological metrics for the human relationship with the transcendent, a realm that until recently was folded into psychology and sociology.  Miller has popularized awareness of spirituality as a distinct developmental process, to be taken as seriously by parents and scientists as physical and psychological growth. 

Miller calls for parents, regardless of their religious or non-religious orientations, to nurture actively the natural spiritual inclinations of their children.  The awe and wonder of children deserve the awe and wonder of adults.  An observant Jew, she is very “religion-friendly”, but she assumes that the non-religious can be just as helpful in their kids’ spiritual growth as those who follow formal faiths. 

This new science opens the prospect that public education may someday include active nurture of students’ spirituality, but in a pedagogical form that makes no mention of traditional religions.  The new field of developmental natural spirituality may result in secular replacements for the functions of religion.  My boss and I started a big program called Mindful.USC.  The classes we offer have no religious content.  But mindfulness is certainly the content of a lot of religion.  Our program has inspired many students to take greater interest in the contemplative traditions of the world's religions.  Mindfulness is now liberated from religion.  But it also has the potential to liberate religion from the confines of particular doctrines.

Meanwhile, other research is revealing the neural pathways and brain processes of healing.  Research demonstrates that the “placebo effect” works even when the subjects of the research are told that the medication they are taking is indeed a placebo.  Believing that the pill is real medicine, even when it is not, is not required.  It appears that the “active ingredient” of the placebo effect is going to the doctor, getting attentive care, getting a prescription, and taking the pill.  “This is the specific effect of the ritual of medicine,” says a researcher, Ted Kaptchuk, at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School in Boston.   It is fair to extrapolate from his findings that there can be a similar positive effect from the rituals of religion. 

Further research is beginning to reveal the chains of neurochemical events in the brain associated with the positive placebo response.  It is deeply ironic that this might lead to the development of drugs that could mimic the effect of placebos!  Apparently, people differ in their positive responses to the rituals of medicine.  This suggests that certain genotypes might derive more or less benefit from the gestures of caring offered by doctors and nurses.  This finding could lead to the tailoring of medical caring rituals to the genomes of particular patients.

Science is just now confirming what we've always known:  religion, when practiced wisely and deeply, is good for us.  At least some of our spiritual practices actually, objectively benefit our natural spirituality and thus enhance our mental and physical health. 

Brain science is beginning to explain or at least describe and confirm our spiritual experiences.  We’re at a point where we can isolate the neural pathways that correspond with mystical religious awakenings.  Atheists may conclude that this is proof of that God is nothing more than a human construct built around our genetic propensity to create meaning out of our experiences.  The discovery of a discrete developmental process of the unfolding of universal natural spirituality might suggest that religion is optional, unnecessary, and perhaps even a hindrance to this process.  We may be able, finally, to explain religion away as a product of our innate spirituality.  But why do we have this propensity?  How was it etched it into the very structure of our brains?  If we’re hard-wired for transcendence, doesn’t that suggest that the experience of union with Ultimate Reality is hard-wired into the cosmos?  Holy awe appears to be a feature of our human nature.  So what does that say about the nature of Nature as a whole?  Through us and other sentient beings within it, is Nature in awe of itself?  The science of natural spirituality is just getting started... let's look forward to further amazing revelations!

 

Here are my "notes and quotes" from THE SPIRITUAL CHILD.  I highly recommend this book for all who care about nurturing the natural spirituality of young people: 

 

THE SPIRITUAL CHILD  -- Lisa Miller, 2015, Picador/St Martin’s Press

“The absence of support for children’s spiritual growth has contributed to alarming rates of childhood and adolescent emotional suffering and behaviors that put them at risk.’  P 3

“Spirituality is the central organizing principle of inner life in the second decade…”. P 3

“Biologically, we are hardwired for spiritual connection.”  P3

“Our findings show that natural spirituality exists as a human capacity – just as EQ and IQ are commonly acknowledged human capacities – and is associated clearly with life success and satisfaction.”  P 6

“Natural spirituality, in fact, appears to be the single most significant factor in children’s health and their ability to thrive.”  P 6

“Transcendence… has been shown by multiple research teams to have biological markers, such as structural differences in the occipital and parietal regions of the brain, increased levels of the neurotransmitters dopamine and serotonin, and genetic markers in the human genome that are associated with production of these neurotransmitters and their regulation.”  P 58

In research by Ralph Piedmont of Loyola University, the human propensity for experiencing spiritual transcendence was found to exist independently of the “five-factor model” of personality:  “…spirituality and personality were separate entities.”  P 62-63

“Adolescents are profoundly spiritual, they are experiencing spiritual stirrings as the momentous and the wondrous, and they are surprised that for the most part, nobody has talked to them about this experience.  Nobody, even people they love dearly, have asked, or commented, or said something to make spiritual development part of the conversation, shared words that would make their inner life a spoken reality.”  P 71

Miller describes moments of mutual recognition of awe and compassion between parents or relatives and children as “nods” – incidents of intergenerational transmission of spiritual awareness.  When the child understands that the parent validates and supports these experiences, there are powerful consequences, according to Miller’s research findings:  “To put the force and magnitude of the nod into perspective, in offspring of depressed mothers, a shared spirituality was between three to seven times more protective than any other sources of resilience against depression.”  P 87

“The young child needs no training in mindfulness.  Rather, she needs protection from the disruption of focus, from exposure to spinning or running thoughts, from rushing, and from lack of peaceful moments.”  P 115

Lisa Miller's advice for parents:

Make space for awe

Slow down – don’t rush

Share your own intuitive feelings with kids

Acknowledge your bonds

Honor their deep questions

Describe things/people to kids in a way that lifts up their sacredness

 

JIM BURKLO
Website: MINDFULCHRISTIANITY.ORG   Weblog: MUSINGS    Follow me on twitter: @jtburklo
See the GUIDE to my articles and books
Sr Associate Dean of Religious Life, University of Southern California

Microdosing on Christianity

It's been a thing for a while in Silicon Valley.  Computer engineers, seeking a creative edge, take small doses of hallucinogens on a regular basis. They claim it enhances their problem-solving capacities without impairing their ability to function.  (Having lived in that part of the world for over two decades, I can attest that while IQ's are high in Silicon Valley, EQ's - emotional intelligence quotients - are often not up to par.  Folks in that business already get away with odd behavior, so who notices or cares if they microdose on the job?)

 

Hearing about this phenomenon got me to thinking.  What else could people microdose, to good effect?  Then it dawned on me that Christianity might well be a candidate.

 

I'm into a strong dose of Christianity every day.  Works for me!  But people are different.  Some folks can't deal with full-strength Christianity - not even the progressive kind.  So they forget the whole thing.  But some of them might find that microdosing on the faith could do them good, and serve those whose lives they touch.  I don't believe anyone goes to hell for failing to accept all or any of the Christian tradition.  But I am enthusiastic about welcoming into it those who have any level of interest.

 

So in this spirit, here I offer some perfectly legal microdoses of Christian spiritual practice:

 

1.)  Mystical contemplative prayer.  For twenty minutes, daily or at least weekly, pray like Jesus did in the desert before he started his ministry.   Go to a quiet place – a metaphorical desert, if not a physical one - and get into a physical position in which your body will be comfortable but you'll be unlikely to fall asleep.  (The “lotus position”, seated with legs crossed and tailbone slightly elevated on a little pillow, is just one way to achieve this balance.)  Close your eyes, and in silence, observe whatever arises to take your attention.  The object of your observation can be anything at all.  A thought.  An idea. A sensation – something your body feels, something you hear.  A memory.  A scheme for the future.  It can be an urge – a desire – a sense of needing or wanting to do something.  Just watch the urge.  Let it be.  Watch all that arises and passes, observing with non-judgmental, caring attention.  Be a quiet presence, like a friend who stays close in silence with a loving attitude toward you.  As you enter into deeper and deeper present awareness of your physical and mental experiences, ask yourself:  who is doing the watching?  Who is paying loving, non-judgmental attention to your experiences?  The answer of the mystical teachers of the church is that God is doing the watching within and through you.  Awakening to the presence of God within you is the moment of your spiritual union with the divine.

 

2.)  Adore the sacrament.  This is an adaptation of a very old Catholic spiritual practice of contemplative prayer in front of a "tabernacle" box containing the wafer of bread for communion, blessed by the priest as the "body of Christ".  Take a cracker or a loaf of bread or a piece of bread.  Place it on a table or mantel or other surface where you can comfortably gaze at it.  Look at the bread for ten minutes.  The ritual of communion, or eucharist, has many meanings in Christianity.  What are its meanings for you?  A simple one to consider is that by mindfully observing and appreciating everyday things like bread and wine, we enter into spiritual communion with the universe.  We can experience the whole by fully embracing the particular.  The bread becomes a window through which we are able to see and experience the Ultimate Reality.  Look at the bread, admire it, consider its origins in fields of wheat tended by farmers, in the hands of bakers and shop-keepers.  Love the bread with your deep attention.  Then, slowly and with reverence, step forward and take it and eat it, savoring the experience.

 

3.)  Listen to the Christ.  At least once a day, as you are listening to another person talk, imagine that the person is the Christ.  The name "Christ" has layers of meaning and significance in Christianity, but you don't need to know them all.  Just go with one of those meanings, such as this:  the Christ appears in our encounters with other people where unconditional love is shared.  When you are with another person, and you are paying deep attention to them, and releasing judgment toward them, and/or they are doing the same toward you, then that person becomes the Christ.  First imagine that the person is the Christ, and then "love your way" into that reality through deep listening - which is one of the highest forms of service we can offer each other.

 

4.)  Choose your focus in worship.  When you are in a church for worship or another occasion, and feel some trepidation about it, just choose one thing as your focus.  Maybe you can't handle a full dose of the Lord's Prayer, for example - so just pick out a word or phrase from it that speaks to you, and meditate on it.  Pick out some feature of the worship space and focus your attention on it.  Let an image or a snippet of a hymn or a phrase from the sermon become the "mustard seed" for your contemplative prayer.  Christianity should be a gift, not a burden.  So reverently receive the gift from the church that most speaks to and for you, and leave the rest alone for the time being. 

 

5.)  Turn acts of service into sacred offerings.  Our ability to give is itself a gift.  Our ability to serve others comes from a Source beyond ourselves.  So when we do any act of kindness for others in our jobs, our homes, or our communities, we can dedicate it in silent prayer:  "I serve in the name of the Christ."  It's a way of acknowledging that true service is "selfless", given while releasing any expectation of reward, as Jesus taught us in his Sermon on the Mount.

 

You don't have to identify as a Christian to microdose on Christianity.  But if taking it a small step at a time begins to work for you, don't be surprised if you start taking more!

 

 

 

JIM BURKLO
Website: MINDFULCHRISTIANITY.ORG   Weblog: MUSINGS    Follow me on twitter: @jtburklo
See the GUIDE to my articles and books
Sr Associate Dean of Religious Life, University of Southern California