The Manifest: West Side Stories

IF I GOT A PENNY FOR EACH TIME I've heard someone in the integral scene mention the name "Jesus" in a spiritual context—beyond the "Jesus Fucking Christ!" of being late for one's Buddhist sangha—I'd probably have ... a penny. While there are some discussions of Western faiths by the integral community, both in writing and in dialogue, overall, they tend to fade into the woodwork when overwhelmed by the vast preference of attention towards Eastern spirituality.

Being as it's around Christmas, and for the first time I can appreciate this holiday myself on something other than a material level, I'd like to impart some of my thoughts on Western religion, in particular, Christianity.

Many of us (in the West at least) grew up in some sort of Western-faith oriented household as kids; my family is from the Midwest, and one half is very Catholic, the other very Protestant. The fact that one of my parents was forced to convert to marry the other was a pretty obvious pointer to me at an early age that however devout and insistent my relatives might be, they were largely worshipping bigotry, not true spirituality. All I saw were doctrines, holy books full of nonsense, priests, sacraments, inane ceremonies, and a lot of conformity, fear, and close-mindedness.

Even my own parents--in spite of not being nearly so Christian as their own parents—exhibited this same intolerance and disinterest in anything other than their own faith. They were at the opposite pole of the Western spectrum to which I'd been exposed—they didn't actually seem to pay any attention, practice, or belief to their own self-proclaimed faith (most unlike my relatives), in spite of their insistence in it.

I grew up pretty confused and annoyed by it all—the only thing I knew for sure was that the Christianity I saw was obviously flawed, or just dead ridiculous. So I tried everything else: magical superstition, revolutionary atheism, a modernist worship of progress and power—all of them bizarre contrasts of spiritual or religious extremes.

It took me years to understand that I didn't directly know the Way Things Are at any point along that spiral—I only had a good idea of how I thought they must be. That's when I recognized what was to become (and in some indirect, quiet way, had always been) my passion, drive, and reason for existence: to know, directly and without doubt, the Way Things Are, and to recognize and rise to my highest potential within that.
I approached this task the only way I knew how: to pursue growth in as many dimensions of the self as possible. Quite naturally, this landed me in the integral scene!

One of the most important dimensions of this quest for The Way Things Are is that of the intellect, and luckily a good deal of valuable understandings, theories, and outlooks have already been discovered by many people in a whole bushel of fields. Neglecting this storehouse of information (and misinformation) would be absolutely remiss, for it would take me many lifetimes to "reinvent the wheels" these many thinkers had already conceived! So I started reading everything I could, and soon discovered that one of the most penetrating and driven collections of observations and ideas was found in the tomes of religion.

I was still a bit cautious regarding the ever-shallow-seeming Western Faiths. Beyond that, I also had not been exposed to Eastern traditions much, so I readily pursued knowledge of them to see if they matched up with my own findings in mysticism, and whether they could then offer more to my own path.

Surely enough, I found many similarities between what I'd learned on my own and the expressions of truth within the Hindu, Vedic, Buddhist, Sikh, and Santist systems. But eventually I came to a point where I began to wonder about the rest of the world--shouldn't the truths inherent in the Kosmos be evident to anyone in it? Why did I think someone had to be from India, China, or Japan, just to have something to offer me? I began to realize this thinking that God somehow favored the East was absurd. I also came to see that Hinduism (in particular) had two faces: the abstract (yet concrete) nondual causal practices of Advaita, and the more primitive forms of pagan idol worship the masses craved. Looking past their dogmatic facades, might not the faiths of the West be like this as well? So I turned my reading to the West to discover the spirituality that Western religion might be hiding.

I found pretty quickly that Judaism, Islam, Zoroastrianism, and even Christianity not only had truths to offer me, but they were the same perennial (pan-cultural) truths I'd been finding in the East! I learned to see the complicated stories and metaphorical descriptions as what they really are: metaphor, not absurdity. I began to find that there was a depth of not only perennial wisdom, but also purely unique knowledge contained within the Western faiths. I finally understood that the teachings of Jesus were different from Christianity, and that Christianity is also different as a faith from Christianity as an established, organized, religion—and all three had something to offer.

U.G. Krishnamurti's pimp hand stays strong as the East Side Playaz
represent that which cannot be represented at last year's All Levels,
All Lines, All Metallic Paints lowrider rally in Chino, CA

Now that I was beginning to benefit greatly from the power of the teachings I was receiving from the West—including the formerly-loathed-now-honored Christian tradition, I was suddenly taken aback at the realization that I have only once had a conversation with a fellow integralist that so much as mentioned the contributions of Western faith. Sure enough that one person eventually brought up my own observation: there is a distinctive prejudice against Western faiths within the integral movement!

How can that be integral, comprehensive, and balanced? But ask yourself, what's the ratio of mentions of Buddha or Krishna mentions to the mentions of Jesus or Mohammed or Zarathustra mentions on your average Integral Naked web forum or SD yahoo group? 100:1? Frankly this is a major weakness in the community: plenty of attention is afforded the East, to the growing neglect of the West (and let us not forget the religions of Africa, Australia, and Native America. There's also missing links in the Eastern chain: Shinto for instance).

I think that one of the main reasons for this is that many Integrals grew up the same way I did: disillusioned and jaded by the shallow, non-spiritual Western religions of their families. Like me, they turned elsewhere, particularly to the East, which they consider with new hope.

It's true that in many ways, Eastern faiths—at least Zen and Vedanta—are more direct (and less ritualistic) than Western faiths. However, most direct is not always most inclusive; and there are certainly unique contributions of the West that are missed when one turns strictly towards Eastern systems.

For instance, the East manages to touch deeply on the impersonal—which is a necessary exposure when attempting to orient oneself within the transpersonal. Impersonal isn't transpersonal in itself though—a common fallacy I witness. Transpersonal both transcends and includes impersonality and personality. And while we are all personal by nature in this life, we often do not explore it in its deeper and higher levels and manifestations; Western faith sheds new light in this area.

Another contribution of the West comes out, strangely enough, when one considers its inherent darkness, particularly in Christianity (not so much in the teachings of Jesus as in the institution which followed). Interestingly enough, this is not the contribution of a core teaching, but rather of an attitude. The practically gothic appeal of Christian aesthetic, doctrine, and lifestyle bears a deal of ponderousness to it, particularly in relation to divine justice. While Balance/Karma is acknowledged in the East and integrated into lifestyle, it is not appreciated fully in terms of its sheer gravity.

The darker aspect of Christianity, a kind of lingering angst, is in some ways a reflection of the awe and dread that an unstoppable, universal force can inspire within a small human being. While Karma can be avoided (by committing Karma-less actions), it cannot be controlled, fled, or bargained with. We cannot shift the Balance, but it can shift us.

The Christian Church has not only acknowledged but celebrated that unimaginable Power in a stronger way than the East has. It has had the courage to face the weight of inevitability. So even the institution, so different from the actual teachings of Jesus, has contributed something important and unique through the vessel of its culture.

So, post-Jesus Christianity as an institution itself has offered something; what about the religion of Christ himself?

Jesus was as much a sage as any of the great Eastern masters, but he was also an integrally-informed sage! Consider the following:

"You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. The second is like it, You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the law and the prophets" - MATTHEW 22:37-40

This is pretty direct. Jesus stated that everything—doctrines, principles, ritual, you name itrested on one thing: Love. He also expressed nonduality—"You shall love your neighbor as yourself". This was probably a very literal statement—you should love your neighbor as your own self, because your fellow men are you (a hint of the transpersonal).

And now take "with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind". This is an appeal that the emotions, the soul itself, and the intellect, should all be united and utilized towards this common purpose. The pursuit of life and of God and of Love transpires through all these levels within the human being; if that's not integral, what is?

Western paths prior to Jesus (the Old Testament, the Hebrew scriptures, Judaism) weren't exactly devoid of typical "Eastern Wisdom" either:

"What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun." ECCLESIASTES 1:9-14 NIV

This statement beautifully—and bluntly—captures the monotony and insatiability inherent in not only human life, but within the workings of the physical universe itself. It relativizes the accomplishments of daily life weighed against the absolute—beyond space, time, and repetition. It's as good as any similar expression from the East.

"Now there was a great wind, so strong that it was splitting mountains and breaking rocks in pieces before God, but God was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but God was not in the earthquake; and after the earthquake a fire, but God was not in the fire; and after the fire a sound of sheer silence. And God was in the silence." 1 KINGS 19:9, 11-16 (paraphrased)

In the end, as most great scriptures seem to end up confessing, God will not be found within the words, rituals, or elaborate explanations of any faith or system. Or rather, he will not be found within these things until he is heard beyond them. God is both Nothing and Everything—present in both silence and noise—but will not be witnessed totally within any one event until He is witnessed in totality.

This involves facing the apparent paradox that Something can be present in Nothing. In truth, nonduality shatters this supposed problem—God can be in the silence if existence and nonexistence themselves are taken as singular and nondual. And who will be able to perceive God in an earthquake (creation in destruction) who cannot understand nonduality? Within that deepest silence, within our deepest inner selves, we must listen to perceive the Self that we are—that core which cannot be reached solely through the external. We must incorporate internal and external, sound and silence, into our search for understanding. Until we understand that we and God are nondual (or "not two"), we will not understand that the manifest world and God are nondual, and that we are thus one with the earthquake and the wind and the fire.

CONCLUSION

The topics raised above, as well as themes found in many other faiths seemingly neglected by integralism, can be discussed in far greater depth than they are here. I would encourage you this Christmas to be inclusive instead of neglectful. When you're pulling out your meditation cushion and burning the new incense someone gave you for the holidays, try meditating upon one of the quotes I've given. You'll probably find far less conflict between East and West than you'd imagine. Indeed, each will be found to augment and elaborate on the truths presented by the other, and soon you'll be on your way to discovering a more complete—a more integral—system of the Way Things Are.

Manifest associate editor Meera Francois is a 17-year-old high school student from the East Coast and is, in her own words, "the next Ken Wilber." Start lifting weights now kid!