God Beyond Religion: Eclectic Spirituality Part 1

The focus that I will be centered on going forward in this blog is "Eclectic Spirituality." While each and every post may not be entitled that, the fact is that, in the upward spiral of humanity as laid out by spiral dynamics, and integral theory, eclectic spirituality is key in the upward movement. When one thinks about reincarnation, they usually think about cyclical or circular movement of the soul. In reality, the goal and actual process is that it is in reality a spiral. A spiral can either move upward or downward depending on the direction taken along the circular line. The goal for humanity should be an upward spiral. An upward spiral depends on taking what is beneficial from the past, and discarding what is not beneficial, on an ever moving course upward. 

Thus far, in my spiritual journey, I have had a pendulum experience between evangelical Christianity and metaphysical, esoteric, and new age thinking. As I look back in retrospect, I see the hermetic principle of rhythm manifesting over and over in my life. It is interesting to view what was written in the Kybalion.

“Everything flows, out and in; everything has its tides; all things rise and fall; the pendulum‑swing manifests in everything; the measure of the swing to the right is the measure of the swing to the left; rhythm compensates.”—The Kybalion

I believe that eclectic spirituality will help bring the pendulum to the center with a less drastic swing to the right and left. The reason is that there is ample room for both in my spirituality. There is room for Christ and there is room for the metaphysical aspect. In synthesizing the two, it will help me to find myself closer to the middle and moving away from polar swings. I maintain an emphasis on Christianity because I chose to be born into Christianity and I chose a life path that put me smack dab in the middle of western thought and culture. 

From what do I draw my spirituality? The answer is from eclectic sources. I focus on what is the discernable truth in many spiritual paths. I refer to these sources as spiritual paths rather than religions because religion has a rather toxic connotation. It is religious dogma that is responsible for much of the pain and suffering that we experience here in the material world on planet earth. Dogma necessitates being dogmatic, and dogmatic does not lend itself to inclusion. Whereas, eclectic spirituality is very inclusive. While I realize that this view is highly unpopular with evangelical Christianity, it is indeed finding inroads there and will even more in the denominations of main stream Christianity, especially as we move farther into the age of spiritual awakening.

For me and my chosen life path, I will rely heavily on mystical revelation that came through Christianity. However, it is important to realize that there is some great revelation that came through other traditions. The following, though not exhaustive, is a list of other sources that offer great insight into the spiritual world.

• Hermetic Teaching: My favorite source is the Kybalion and the writings of William Walker Atkinson, such as The Arcane Teachings, and The Arcane Formulas. It is my believe that Atkinson wrote the Kybalion as well. The source of this material is from the Egyptian Thoth and was transported to Greece and read by Plato and all the Greek philosophers. In the Greek, Thoth became Hermes Trismegistus. While the Greek word Logos was not used this Egyptian teaching taught that God's word was the son of God. It was written on hieroglyphs.
• The Stoics of Greece and specifically Heraclitus. They are the first to introduce teaching about the Logos being the creative source of the material world. They no doubt got the concept from hermetic teaching.
• The Tao Te Ching from Lao Tzu. It describes the Logos in the femine.
• Metaphysical teaching of the current new age movement, including Reiki, Tarot, Numerology, Astrology, and Transcendental Meditation..
• The writings of Aldous Huxley and Frijof Capra, the work of Abraham Maslow and Carl Jung.
• The scientific studies and theories of Dr. Donald Hoffman, a cognitive scientist, and quantum theory.

This is the beginning of understanding the New Humanity that Paul introduced. As we leave the age of Pisces and enter the age of Aquarius there is still a lot to be gained by the revelation found in the New Testament, but it must be read with a different lens. A lens that acknowledges that the real revelation of Jesus was not for the age of Pisces but the age of Aquarius.

Eclectic Spirituality is inclusive not exclusive. It is revelatory and not dogmatic and is the beginning of an exciting journey.