{"id":18582,"date":"2020-02-07T11:12:24","date_gmt":"2020-02-07T16:12:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/?p=18582"},"modified":"2020-02-07T11:12:24","modified_gmt":"2020-02-07T16:12:24","slug":"alternative-orthodoxy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/?p=18582","title":{"rendered":"Alternative Orthodoxy"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Mysticism and Eco-Spirituality<\/strong><br> Friday, February 7, 2020<\/p>\n\n\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/zt15EgCuYi8\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n\n\n<p><em>When the bow appears in the clouds, I will see it and\nremember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature\u2014every\nmortal being that is on the earth.<\/em>&nbsp;\u2014Genesis\n9:16&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Franciscan\nalternative orthodoxy emphasized mysticism over morality. Moralism is the task\nof&nbsp;low-level religion, concerned with creating an ego identity\nthat&nbsp;seemingly places us&nbsp;on moral high ground.&nbsp;But&nbsp;moralism\nis normally not a&nbsp;primary&nbsp;concern&nbsp;for love, the&nbsp;focus of\nmature spirituality. Scripture, Jesus, the mystics, and the saints recognized\nthat&nbsp;the goal of religion is not a perfect moral stance, but union with\nGod. Mysticism is about connection not perfection.&nbsp;[1]&nbsp;Perfectionism\nalways leads to individualism\u2014as if the individual could ever be perfect.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The single\nbiggest heresy that allows us to misinterpret the scriptural tradition is\nindividualism, revealed now in the problems we are&nbsp;facing with climate\nchange, pollution,&nbsp;the&nbsp;loss of&nbsp;biodiversity,&nbsp;and&nbsp;the\nextinction of&nbsp;many&nbsp;species. We became so\nanthropocentric&nbsp;and&nbsp;self-referential that we thought God cared not\nabout \u201cevery living creature\u201d nor about the new heaven and the new\nearth&nbsp;(Revelation 21:1), but just&nbsp;about \u201cus people\u201d and not even very\nmany of us. That\u2019s what happens when we go down the track of individualism and\nlose the&nbsp;mystical level of perception.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Eco-spirituality\ncould be considered&nbsp;another gift&nbsp;of Franciscan alternative orthodoxy.\nFrancis of Assisi is the patron saint of ecology because he granted animals,\nelements, and the earth subjectivity, respect, and mutuality.&nbsp;In his&nbsp;<em>Canticle of the Creatures<\/em>,\nFrancis the mystic describes a participatory universe in which God loves and\ncares for us through Brother Sun, Sister Moon, Brothers Wind and Air, Sister\nWater, Brother Fire, and \u201cthrough our sister,&nbsp;Mother Earth.\u201d&nbsp;[2]&nbsp;At\nthe same time, God receives praise, honor, glory, and blessing through each of\nGod\u2019s creations.&nbsp;On the mystical level,&nbsp;Francis could see the\ntransformational power of&nbsp;Love\u2019s presence within all creation.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I\noften&nbsp;wonder if the one thing we all&nbsp;share in common\u2014our\nplanet\u2014could&nbsp;ultimately bring us all together.&nbsp;We&nbsp;stand&nbsp;on\nthis same \u201csister,&nbsp;Mother Earth\u201d and we look up at this same Brother Sun\nand Sister Moon. Could it be that the Mystery of God is already hidden and\nrevealed here? I believe so. Naming&nbsp;the&nbsp;universal Christ helps us\nto&nbsp;recognize&nbsp;the inherent&nbsp;sacrality, holiness, goodness, and\nvalue of the whole material world.&nbsp;For those who see deeply, there is only\nOne Reality; there is no distinction between sacred and profane.\n[3]&nbsp;Humanity is becoming capable of a truly global\nspirituality&nbsp;which&nbsp;is&nbsp;desperately&nbsp;needed for the common\ngood&nbsp;to be realized.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>God has come to save\nus&nbsp;<em>all<\/em>&nbsp;by\ngrace.&nbsp;<em>No exceptions<\/em>.&nbsp;The\nmystics have no trouble surrendering to such fullness. For Bonaventure, God is\na&nbsp;\u201cfountain fullness\u201d&nbsp;of outflowing love, only flowing in\none&nbsp;positive direction, always and forever. There is no wrath in God.\nThere is only outpouring love.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Mysticism and Eco-Spirituality Friday, February 7, 2020 When the bow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature\u2014every mortal being that is on the earth.&nbsp;\u2014Genesis 9:16&nbsp; Franciscan alternative orthodoxy emphasized mysticism over morality. Moralism is the task of&nbsp;low-level religion, concerned with creating an ego [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18582"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=18582"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18582\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18583,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18582\/revisions\/18583"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=18582"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=18582"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=18582"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}