John Scoble
Introduction
We are at the end of our examination of the four streams of Ken Wilber’s integral theory model of personal and spiritual development. This involves:
· episode 4 – introduction Nov 2021
· episode 5 – waking up Dec 2021
· episode 6 – cleaning up Jan 2022
· episode 7 – growing up Apr 2022
· episode 8 – showing up May 2022
Episode 8 will focus on Showing Up. It requires bringing our heart and mind into how we live our lives, to how we address the actual suffering and problems of the world. The theme of this topic is that how we live is more important than what we believe. Isn’t that one of the messages of the Good Samaritan parable?
The pre-reading will be a little longer this month because Episode 8 will also bring this series of topics to a conclusion. Therefore, we will also focus on summarising the series.
Showing up Notes
Here are some readings, quotations and a podcast on the final stream of showing up.
“For as the body without spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead.”
James 2:26
“If love is your purpose, it was and still is the time to double down on prayer. Because prayer, real prayer, is both contemplative and active. Part of that is working for a good, just, humane, and loving society. That means getting on our knees [to pray] and it also means standing on our feet and marching in the streets. It means praying through participation in the life of our government and society. Through fashioning a civic order that reflects goodness, justice, and compassion, and the very heart and dream of God for all of God’s children and God’s creation.” Episcopal Bishop Michael Curry from CAC meditation 2/11/21
“For me, Showing Up means bringing our heart and mind into the actual suffering and problems of the world. It means engagement, social presence, and a sincere concern for justice and peace for others beyond ourselves. If we do not have a lot of people showing up in the suffering trenches of the world, it is probably because those of us in the world of religion have merely focused on either cleaning up, growing up, or waking up. Showing up is the full and final result of the prior three stages—God’s fully transformed “work of art” (see Ephesians 2:10).”
Richard Rohr CAC meditations 1/6/2021
“Pope Francis says the Christian community is not meant to be a museum or a cocoon keeping us safe from problems of the world, but rather a “field hospital”, bringing healing and seeking out the wounded. His catchy phrases, like getting mud on our boots, or smelling like sheep, remind us that each of us, in our own way, shares this mission.”
Bruce Dean CSsR, Majellan, 30/1/2022“
Fr Ronald Rolheiser claims there are four essentials of Christian life: private prayer and morality, mellowness of heart, community as an element of worship and participation in the work of social justice. In works of charity and social justice we also overcome our loneliness. Rolheiser is insistent that personal charity is not sufficient; we must challenge the unjust structures and institutions in which we are embedded.”
From a review by Dana Greene, dean emerita of Oxford College of Emory University of Rolheiser’s book “Essential Spiritual Writings”, Jan 2022
“How do we learn to set healthy intentions? How do we set intentions that flow from the deep self and not a fear filled ego? We meditate. We become intentional about our own journey, and we share with others who do the same. We do not seek to arbitrarily establish our own morphogenic fields but pay close attention to that which is emerging as a result of the pressure of the spirit and then do what we can to grow in wisdom and respond with grace.”
Judy Cannato, “Field of Compassion”, p158
“From a Christian point of view, Jesus provides a blueprint, particularly in that hope filled strategy called the companionship of empowerment. Too many people are still waiting for divine intervention, while God and the universe are waiting on our collaboration.”
Diarmuid 0’Murchu, “When the Disciple Comes of Age” p173.
“Perhaps the most freeing insight that has come in the last few months is that it is helpful to throw away “beliefs.” To me beliefs tend to be mental constructs, assertions about reality, not reality itself. My beliefs have tended to come from my head, not my heart. They are accompanied by rules and regulations—and not far behind comes judgment. As of right now, I find no comfort in any belief. What does sustain me is what I know to be true—perhaps not ultimate truth, but my truth, what I know in my heart. I know love, and love never seeks to separate or exclude. I know freedom, and freedom never lets ego and fear have the final say. I know I am not alone, that we are all connected in the web of life, and we feel the connection most powerfully when we operate from within a Field of Compassion. Certainly, I am supported by what is of the essence of our tradition. I know Jesus, the human and the Christ, and I know a bit of mystery, and what I experience in that relationship is more powerful than any belief or idea. So I have kicked out beliefs in favor of holding what has emerged for me as true.”
Judy Cannato, “Field of Compassion”, p188
For further interest
On the Way podcast – Following Jesus in Unhelpful Ways - an interview with Anglican Bishop George Browning, 70 minutes.
https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/following-jesus-in-unhelpful-ways/id1228962749?i=1000523249904
Wilber Model Summary
Episodes 4-8 have attempted to introduce participants to the work of Ken Wilber and his associates which is broadly termed integral theory. They have provided a mind map – a way of categorising and thinking about the challenges confronted in the spiritual journey. Robert and I are not theologians; nor are we psychologists. Our presentations are therefore not precise explanations of Wilber’s model, but rather an adaptation of his concepts.
Integral theory is quite complex. It is based on a combination of traditional wisdom from millennia as well as more recent developments in science and human psychology over the past century. It proposes that humans develop within four broadly defined streams and at different rates of development in each. These streams influence each other but are not co-dependent. For example, there are well established cases of spiritual gurus and teachers who were morally bankrupt. Let’s look again at these four streams.
The first that we examined was “waking up”. We noted that this was a difficult concept to define and to understand; various commentators have defined it in different ways. It seeks to address the questions: Who am I? Who am I not? What is the meaning of life? What is my true or essential self? It leads to an understanding that one’s real identity has been covered up by social conditioning and egotistical rational minds. It is here that we can find the foundation of our freedom. The place where Howard Thurman says we can listen for the sound of the genuine in ourselves. That place where de Mello describes the awakened person as one who no longer marches to the drums of society. It also moves us towards adopting a worldview that encompasses everyone and everything.
The second stream we examined was “cleaning up”. We observed that this involves taking a “helicopter view” of one’s life, wherein one adopts a dispassionate observer role in reflecting on one’s own behaviour. One can then identify behaviours or habits that are inconsistent with Jesus’ teaching and resolve to diminish or completely detach from those behaviours or habits in the future. We looked at both principles for observing behaviour and common practices for observation and reflection. We also introduced the concept of one’s “shadow”, which is often so ingrained that it is hidden even from oneself.
The third stream we examined was “growing up”. Here we pointed to various models of human development and focused on the simplified 4 levels which were called egocentric, ethnocentric, worldcentric and cosmocentric. We noted that in each of the three lower levels, there is an “in group” and an “out group”, as distinguishing characteristics are used to define who is in and who is out. As our worldview expands towards cosmocentric, we begin to understand the connectedness between all of creation and develop unitive consciousness.
In this fourth stream we will examine “showing up”. Here the focus will not be on beliefs, but rather on how we behave. If we are waking up and cleaning up and growing up, what difference does that make to the way we behave? Are we allowing life to simply happen to us or are we being clearly intentional in our actions? What criteria are we using to determine whether our actions are consistent with our true self or our false self?
These streams of development are a mind map for us. They are a way of viewing and analysing our development as individuals both secularly and spiritually. They are also a way of viewing and analysing communities and their development both secularly and spiritually. Consider for example how our small community of the St Lucia Spirituality Group has developed over the past 12 months.
Our spiritual journey together
This series of meetings on spirituality has been called the Butterfly Series. It uses the metaphor of the caterpillar becoming a butterfly to express the transformation that is open to spiritual seekers. Adapting the Wilber model, we could be considered to be calmly living life as a caterpillar, when either suddenly or gradually we “wake up” to the awesome world that surrounds us and the potential that spiritual enquiry contains. We begin to spin our cocoon as we continue to “clean up”. We learn about the power of the ego and begin to detach from unhelpful behaviours and our shadow self and put more time and attention into helpful behaviours. We continue this process inside the cocoon as we “grow up” and develop a worldview that is more inclusive and expansive. As we begin to “show up” through intentionality of action and non-egoic behaviours, we break open the cocoon and emerge as the beautiful butterfly we were born to be.
Robert and I have been at pains to emphasise the importance of asking the right questions to inform spiritual reflection. Recall Rainer Maria Rilke’s [1875–1926] advice to the young poet:
“Live the questions now. Perhaps you will then gradually, without noticing it, live along some distant day into the answer.”
This advice is echoed and strengthened by this quote from Pierre Teilhard de Chardin SJ:
“Above all, trust in the slow work of God. We are quite naturally impatient in everything, to reach the end without delay. We should like to skip the intermediate stages. We are impatient of being on the way to something unknown, something new. And yet, it is the law of all progress that it is made by passing through some stages in instability. And that may take a very long time. And so I think it is with you; your ideas mature gradually – let them grow; let them shape themselves, without undue haste. Do not try to force them on, as though you could be today what time (that is to say, grace and circumstances acting on your own good will) will make of you tomorrow. Only God could say what this new spirit gradually forming within you will be. Give our Lord the benefit of believing that His hand is leading you and accept the anxiety.”
From John’s point of view, two critical themes emerge from reflection on Wilber’s model:
· that it is important to establish and implement consistently a spiritual practice of prayer, scripture reading, reflection and meditation, both personally and communally
· that how one acts and behaves is far more important than what one believes; our baptismal call to “follow Jesus” requires intentional action to discern one’s true calling and pursue it with vigour and with love
And so, here are three questions for our Episode 8 meeting:
Questions for discussion
1. What does Showing up mean to you?
2. What themes emerge for you from Wilber’s four streams model?
3. How has Wilber’s model informed the person you are becoming?
May 2022
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