Columnists
Integral Spirituality
Bill Wilson
Volume 29 Issue 4, 5 & 6 | Posted: June 30, 2015
In the last article, I talked about the need for spirituality to be involved with our everyday life. What this has lead to is an exploration on the topic of Integral Spirituality.
Integral Spirituality is a spirituality that is contemplative and experienced based. Contemplative as defined as a cherishing and loving gaze of reality. Integral Spirituality starts from life rather than concepts. It is lived in constant dialogue between experience and concepts, where one informs and complements the other. When we only start with concepts, God or the Divine and the experience of the Divine can be expected to happen outside of my life. This creates a detachment from my life and the world around me.
In the last article, I talked about the need for spirituality to be involved with our everyday life. What this has lead to is an exploration on the topic of Integral Spirituality.
Integral Spirituality is a spirituality that is contemplative and experienced based. Contemplative as defined as a cherishing and loving gaze of reality. Integral Spirituality starts from life rather than concepts. It is lived in constant dialogue between experience and concepts, where one informs and complements the other. When we only start with concepts, God or the Divine and the experience of the Divine can be expected to happen outside of my life. This creates a detachment from my life and the world around me.
We need to start with what we are already experiencing and acknowledge the sacredness of it. This can often mean we need to change our idea of the sacred and how and where we experience it. We will need to develop practices and rituals that will deepen that experience and that will sustain it. This will require effort, commitment and patience. There is no easy short cut.
The following map of the spiritual journey may be of some help. There is the Via Positiva which is manifest by a sense of awe, wonder and delight in the mystery of nature and of all beings, each of whom is a manifestation of some aspect of the Divine.
Then there is the Via Negativa which is when we experience a sense of darkness and nothingness, of silence and emptying, of letting go and letting be, and experiencing the pain and suffering that constitutes a part of the spiritual journey.
Next is the Via Creativa where in our generativity we co-create with the Divine in our imaginative output. We trust our images and dreams enough to birth them into existence.
Finally there is the Via Transformativa where we work to relieve suffering, combat injustices, work to achieve greater equality and delight and celebrate with those who are struggling for justice and trying to live in mutuality. We can then come together to praise and give thanks for the gift of being in communion and in support of each other.
Bill Wilson