American Unitarian Conference Forum

During the last couple of years that I have been hammering out my own vision of spirituality, the term that best expresses my own view has come to be "Evolutionary Spirituality". I'm not sure where I first came across it. My sense of it is that though it is not used widely, at least yet, it has sprung up pretty much independently in several places.

What is it that I like so much about this term?

First of all, it emphasizes the notion of Spirituality as process rather than destination. I have always been an adventurous sort of person, willing to take personal risks, more interested in freedom than security, with an enormous curiosity about this world we live in and the people that inhabit it. In acting on this curiosity I have discovered a world filled with possibilities in my own life and a constant process of change in my own perceptions and view of the world. I have found it prety much impossible to accept any form of religion that does not acknowledge and support this experience of personal evolution.

When I was a youngster, I was fascinated with the Natural World. I had an uncanny ability to recognize the flora and fauna of Northern Delaware and understand the natural processes it was involved in This fascination lead me quite naturally into the study of Evolutionary Theory. Intuitively, I recognized the authority of close observation of the world around us and the superority of knowledge gained in this manner to the Authority of Ancient Books. At an early age, the futility of clinging to ideas that were in conflict with modern Scientific Observation was obvious to me. Though I've slipped from this principle at times in my life, I've always returned to it in time. And, for me, The Theory of Evolution is the most critical single issue that separates rationality from a pre-rational mentality.

At a personal level, Evolutionary Spirituality gives rise to a realistic view of myself that accepts my flaws but maintains optimism that I can do better tomorrow. Progress, not perfection has become my goal. It also supports acknowledgement that forces beyond my own will haver been instrumental in creating the Fred that I am now, which helps me maintain a spirit of humor and good will towards myself and my many predicaments in life. A spirituality that fails to support humor as well as reverence is a sorry sort of structure from which to view the Human Condition.

Yes, I feel that the process of Evolution extends to that Divine Presence that we know as God. It is arguable that the Ultimate Ground of Existence known to Humankind's Great Spirits is unchanging; I can not speak to that. It is beyond my experience. In the world in which I live, all things change. Change is built in to the very structure of reality. What is just as significant is that there is clearly a direction to that change and spirituality has the potential to direct that change in the direction of increasing satisfaction at all levels of existence.

For me the AUC is a comfortable place to be because of the implicit acceptance of Evolutionary Spirituality I find here. Of course, there is much more than that to be found here, but, for me, that is the single most magical ingrediant.

Best Regardfs, Fred

Hi Fred,

And the problem we face is that as soon as we write something down as a held "belief" we must be ready to modify or reject it if such belief is incomplete or in actual error. I.E. an "integral" faith..one that builds upon and includes the past but is spiraling upward toward greater understanding.

I guess a minimalist set of propositions....generally unverifiable by science since they fall in the realm of faith, are all we can anchor to in an evolutionary faith. For example, I may hold that God is the creator and sustainer of the universe and God is One etc. Rev. Dorris likes to say the two commandments are to honor and love God and to serve your fellow man. A simple faith but one that is open ended.

E., it is odd that when I read a passage how a particular sentence or phrase will "light up" and give birth to inspiration. When I read your comments, the single phrase "open ended" fairly leapt from my screen and grabbed me by the throat. If there is a set of qualities which is critical to the definition of a modern spirituality, surely this MUST be among them.

Open Ended. How, exactly is this notion to be captured in a set of spiritual beliefs and practices? I am not sure, but it is, to me, a critical issue.

Your friend, Fred

Ahh Fred, surely your Won Buddhist training has shown that you cannot capture the sky, grasshopper!

Seriously...I think of open ended as natural because nothing to me remains fixed (even a "process" God is becoming)..when does our search for understanding end? A closed end faith / religion claims all answers for its members....believe x and y will happen...reject x and z will happen etc.

Therefore, beliefs represent the best contingent statements of faith.
At best, partial understandings.

I find myself lately in a state of profound confusion. One of those times when things seem to add up to little, feeling like an addled old man who has somehow wandered into traffic with cars and trucks whizzing by, missing him by inches, but unable to get his thoughts together sufficiently to make it to the side of the road.

I think my "Wilber Period" is drawing to a close, and I find myself putting Wilber and his thought into a wider perspective, with a lot to add to my vision of life and a lot to think about but falling well short of providing any final resolution of the mysteries life poses to us. Or, at least to me.

Perhaps the greatest inadequacy that I see in his thinking for me is the degree that it is conditioned by the academic community he has lived and taught in during his lifetime. Never in my lifetime have I felt comfortable in that environment, starting with my terrible experience in First Grade of Public School and ending with my struggle to finally graduate from Rutgers University. I will always feel that acadamia limits one's understanding of life to a somewhat peculiar vision that disregards certain sorts of competence and wisdom based on knowledge and talents that are foreign to the requirements of academic excellence. Early in my life, this would have been Woodsmanship, later in my life it was Business Skills.

I believe that periods of confusion, as noted by Eruonen, are necessary to our progress and are to be welcomed into our lives. God, like the rest of us, apparently hates a "know-it-all" and creates the conditions in our lives to help avoid this sorry condition - at least, if we're paying attention.

Fred

It seems that the more we learn, the more we realize how little we truly know.  We can still share that little bit of knowledge and see if it helps someone else with their journey.  Periods of confusion are a great learning aid for without them we would think we were the "know-it-all."  As you pointed out this would be a sorry condition.

Each of our life experiences aids us in learning and developing.  Some of them are happy and some are not.  We do however grow in understanding with each new experience.

With love,

Rev Dorris

Fred,

I think of spiritual "teachers" as similar to explorers / map makers.....Colombus discovered a New World for Europe (at least made it a permanent discovery) and others outlined the full edges and interiors of the continent...Cabot, Vespucci, Verrazano, De Soto, Marquette, La Salle etc.....all had flaws...yet their information became the building blocks of a new society. Were all the lines drawn correctly?...no...were they updated and modified..yes.
So, in like manner, Zoroaster, Buddha, Plato, Jesus, Augustine, Auribindo, Kant...Wilber... etc. layed down more lines on the map..some with differing interpretations...but eventually those areas will be resolved / integrated.

Don't feel alone....you may be older but I see myself in about the same future place....unless I have some kind of life changing spiritual awakening....I will have to just keep probing, along with others, the the contours of our spiritual life....like the blind men and the elephant.

As I've continued thinking about this area, a most interesting question has occurred to me that may help explain the estrangement I've ALWAYS felt toward traditional Christianity: Is the world a basically friendly or hostile place?

I think traditional Chritianity views it as basically hostile, with its doctrine of the world needing to be "overcome". I have never seen it that way. With all its pain and tragedy, the "world" provides the rules and motivation for development in all areas: physical, mental, moral, spiritual, you-name-it. As well as the stage for this to happen.

I think that this is the way Ben Franklin saw it. With his fascination with scientific investigation, his devotion to good works, his down-to-earth involvement with business success, he embraced the world around him and felt it worthy of his attention and very best efforts. I think it is clear from his accounts of his efforts to achieve perfection of his own character in this world that he saw no need for "other-worldly" speculation or escapism but saw the here and now entirely deserving of his love and devotion.

Which I see as the basis for "Evolutionary Spirituality".

Fred