It’s been a while since I’ve posted anything – thanks Jon for pointing that out . I’ve been able to write some things on my kaala.com that allows for some spiritual release.

In fact, this post didn’t start off as a post at all but as a response to the video link below and a friend of mine asking me

“What implications do you see for building ongoing spiritual community?”

My email response to him is below and I thought that it might help to stimulate some other’s thinking as well.  The response is top of mind, that is, I didn’t spend much time planning and sorting it through.  Feel free to correct and shape through the comments.

Thanks for the Sunday message

aloha,
Kaala

The really un- shocking (?) point here for me is that the initial drive is one to belong, to be a part of, to be self in line with, empathizing with, a group.  According to the video, when we become more self-aware we become more other aware.  We recognize that others are going to go through the same things we’re going to go through.

Could it be that when we become more other aware we become more God aware?  Or is it that when we become more self-aware we become more God aware which also leads to other awareness and which may lead to the accomplishing of the commandments to love God and love our neighbor?

So much of my Christian life has been focused on coming at it from the know more about the bible and know more about God approach – so cerebral. I take notes, I highlight, I discuss and debate the pre or this or the mid of that. I memorize and I do this study and fill in these blanks for these 10 steps towards Christian Maturity.  What does this approach accomplish?

• I’m certainly more knowledgeable. This is good because that was THE OBJECTIVE.  Increasing my knowledge base was supposed to, according to the system, increase my loving God base.  It don’t think this was explicitly stated in my membership packet but if you look at a pie chart of activities that were offered for my spiritual development and growth, you’ll see a strong emphasis on acquiring knowledge.

• Also, by the way, in that “build my knowledge base” approach, I can distinguish between a “right” and “wrong” view and am able to list the reasons why my view is the former.  (Why would I believe it otherwise??)

I think that knowledge is important.  But there is only so far that knowledge will take me.  Now we’re back to my old fitness/health argument.  If you have not done any exercise then any exercise will help you lose weight or get more healthy.  That “any” exercise, however, may not be enough (depending on what you’re doing) to provide your body with enough stimulus to force continuing adaptation i.e. growth.

There probably are some people who, when they know more, grow more.  I don’t think this works for me.  I’m specifically talking about what I call book knowledge about God.  I’ve studied a lot, read a lot, and that lot hasn’t brought me to a state of wonder and awe as much an early morning sunrise over the Mokulua islands off of Lanikai beach.

Children’s illustrated bibles should contain enough of the information I need to move me to a certain point.  And here’s, I think, the crux of it:

The book/movie “The Notebook” has strongly influenced my perceptions on love, relationships and marriage.  I cried at the end of that movie as I sat next to my wife, also crying.  There are some things theologically that would make some not recommend it but for me the love that was demonstrated overrode the “issues.”

And this is what’s it’s about for me, this could be the root of my frustration:  movement.  Growth.  Difference. Change.  If I’m moving, growing, developing, if I’m continuing to make gains, then the system is working. And when I’m not there’s something wrong with the system.

Historically, I’ve put the blame on me, i.e. I’m not doing the system fully or correctly and that’s why I’m not growing.  Lately, I’ve been able to step back enough to get some perspective and question the system itself.

This brings me back (barely) to the self/other/God awareness process that originally started this off.  Is there a linear approach that looks like increased God aware -> increased self aware -> increased other aware which in turn all allows us to Love God and our neighbor hence fulfilling the greatest commandments? Or is it increased self-aware -> increased other aware -> increased God aware which would do the same?  If it does the same thing but gets there differently I’m thinking it’s all good.

It looks to me like the question could be a chicken or the egg debate.

Other “roads” or “systems” could be just as valid if they started from where I am as a “self” and, through the deepening understanding of who I am, lead me to the open door of the house of God.

Let me boil this down to some bullet points:

1. Loving God requires all of us, heart, mind, body and soul
2. Any efforts at Christian development (i.e. our ability to Love God) should be inclusive of the heart, mind, body and soul.
3. Historically, the system I come from emphasizes one or two of these development areas.
4. Efforts at Christian development should be able to define the process along these four parallel (or one wider) paths and the outcomes to be expected (i.e. fruit) in those four paths.
5. Community, or “other awareness” is an integral part of how we are “wired” and how we grow.  Efforts at Christian development need to provide opportunities to become more other aware, i.e. empathetic.

I remember a quote I heard a long time ago that said something like:

The Christian life is not something that has been tried and found wanting as much as it has not been tried.

I feel that I’m only now beginning to push aside the cobwebs and blow off the dust and get to a position that can allow me to give that Christian Life a shot.  Ironically, it’s my knowledge base that supports that