The Integral Message
To expand the picture of relationality captured in the dynamic of love, I believe the contemporary development in the social responsibility and social justice movements are insightful. For just under two thousand years Christianity has developed within a predominantly dualistic perception of reality. Such a perspective lends itself well to a metaphysical world which is inclined to separate the spiritual from the material. The recent awakening to the non-dual has presented a new picture that enlightens the mind to the unity found in the relationality of all, whether one is formally a Christian or not.
To expand our understanding of a non-dual perspective presented by Panikkar’s advaitic Cosmotheandric vision with its Creator-Creation polarity I again return to the personality theory of Jung, specifically the self archetype-collective unconscious axis. Illustrates how the Creator-Creation relationship is integrally one. The self archetype is representative of the collective unconscious, yet it is also representative of the dynamic totality of the full relationality of all other archetypes and hence becomes a mental window to the Absolute Divinity of Being. Regarding the dynamics of love, God and neighbour, the divine and creation, we see that both are inseparable. They are not two separates but a perichoretic unity. Can there be a point in reality where the Divine is not present? I re-call the traditional great chain of Being which presents the notion of the good, the true and the beautiful as irreducible realities ever present within the creation. Wilber’s A.Q.A.L model[1] illustrates this most helpfully by pointing out the wholistic vision consisting of the pillars of the hard sciences, the sociological, the psychological and the cultural. They are each creative expressions of what we call Spirit. Wilber’s schema is holding together the collective and the individual, the internal and the external. Action in anyone of these four quadrants has an equally active impact in each other quadrant so that all is an inter-relating dynamic as one.
The Cosmotheandric ‘dance of life’ is captured in Panikkar’s notion of sacred secularity. The social responsibility and social justice call of ‘spirit in action’ articulates the dynamics of this realm of relationality. The quality of such a dynamic depends upon the sacred vision one holds of the world. As an expression of the Divine in time and space, we perceive its infinite value in the entire scheme of all things. The integral theorists such as Gebser speak of its diaphanous luminosity, where all past, present and future is transparent as time-free. The quality of social responsibility and social justice are fundamental to our mission as stewards of care. Our respect for the world around us - whether the sacredness of the galactic system in macro panorama or micro vista of the microscopic - the quality of our relationality reflects our respect for the Divine, our neighbour and our very self.
From the collective unconscious, we intuit the Spirit/Christ who intercedes for creation on our behalf with sighs too deep for words as it groans in its Being in its Becoming, to recall the image of St Paul (Rom. 8:26-27). The Spirit in action is ever actively seeking to move creation forward, to fulfill its purposes of which humanity is an integral part. Scientifically, the quantum world has opened our eyes to the inter-relationality of the world of matter. But this is not only relevant in the physical world of matter. Sociologically, theories like systems theory speak of the inter-related reality of all forms of community. Senge has highlighted these insights for the business world by seeking models that engage all people as essential components of the whole. Technology has crossed so many boundaries of communication that our lives are dependent upon its systems for functioning. Health and wellbeing are treated with the most extraordinary scientific professionalism and technological equipment and systems incorporating the domain of statistics, trends and environment to further diagnose and prognose. For Jesus, the healing of body and mind were at the forefront of his inauguration of the Kingdom. His declaration to his listeners, ‘know that the kingdom is very near’ (Lk 10:9), amplifies non-dual awareness that all is one: the kingdom of God is both within and amongst us. Creator and Creation are in a relational dance. For Panikkar secularity is graced by the sacredness of Being. The law of love calls people to love God and neighbour as oneself as a sacred inter-relational whole.
[1] All Quadrants, All Levels 857