What is a Wisdom Path"? What is inter-spiritual language?" How can anyone "see God within everyone" when God is not defined? Why teach Jesus's "teachings" if there is not some connection with God? ~Marie
Marie,
Thanks for writing. You ask important questions that most people just ignore but that does not stop them from talking as if they do know. First let’s be clear that no one can define "God." God is just one of the words we humans created to try and make sense out of the great mystery of creation. We can no more define god with accuracy then a horse can define humans, or for that matter a bug can define humans. We really do not understand Black Holes and multiple universes, although scientist tell us that they exist. And scientist actually cannot fully explain gravity but we "experience it" every moment of our lives unless we happen to be an astronaut.
Wisdom teaching is intended to guide someone into an "experience" the Great Mystery we chose to call God. You will find Wisdom Teaching in all of the ancient religious traditions which should be no surprise since they all started with a life transforming experience by their respective founder. Wisdom is sometimes known as Sophia perennis, it is concerned with the transformation of the whole human being. Not everyone wants transformation but most humans at some point in their lives, start wondering if this is all there is, start feeling like they are missing something. How do I live my life so that I see and hear and feel all that there is? For the Christian contemplatives, transformation is about moving past our egocentric, fearful, judging ways. It is about learning to live more compassionate, more loving lives. It is about going from a dualistic world view to a non-dualistic perspective; it is ultimately about having an experience of complete unity and oneness with all creation. I might suggest that this is an experience of that mystery we call “God.” This was the primary objective of Jesus teaching before his teachings were turned into religious debates. When we talk about a non-dualistic perspective, we are referring to the concept that we are all one creation and there is no separation between all living things, including the Creative One, except those our ego has created. We may not be able to define it but for those who have had such an experience of Unity or Sacred Unity as the early Christians may have defined it, there are no boundaries, no boarders, there are no separations, just oneness as part of that Great Mystery you might choose to call God.
Inter-spiritual language is when we look at the wisdom teachings of other traditions in order to garner a better understanding of our own traditions. We believe that in so doing, we come to realize that most of these ancient traditions have much in common in their original teachings. For us that means that we must be on the right track. For many the wisdom path had led to an experience of the Holy Unity but for them it does not end in a definition, but rather it leads to Wonder and Awe. May it be for you.
I hope this is helpful.
Thanks for writing,
Fred
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