(Richard Rohr on Dualistic Thinking)

There are many words for it  ¢â‚¬“

dualistic thinking,  associational thinking ¢â‚¬ ¦

It ¢â‚¬â„¢s all about our human need for resolution, judgment,  ¢â‚¬Ëœunderstanding ¢â‚¬â„¢ ¢â‚¬ ¦

The end-product of  ¢â‚¬Ëœunderstanding ¢â‚¬â„¢? Accusations of  ¢â‚¬Ëœheresy ¢â‚¬â„¢  (one side of the debate is superior, the other inferior) ¢â‚¬ ¦

Heresy must be destroyed – hence most disputes, wars, violence.

In the last 500 years we ¢â‚¬â„¢ve accumulated 40,000 Christian denominations ( ¢â‚¬Ëœall but our group are wrong ¢â‚¬â„¢). Our aim: to make others exactly like us: and in the process, to borrow from Jesus, making them twice as fit for hell as we are ¢â‚¬ ¦

If we Christians can ¢â‚¬â„¢t talk to one another what hope is there for the rest of the world? If we can ¢â‚¬â„¢t see the Divine image in Christian-others we certainly won ¢â‚¬â„¢t be able to see it in non-Christians…

Remember: God ¢â‚¬â„¢s sun shines on the good and the bad;  God ¢â‚¬â„¢s rain falls on the just and he unjust

(Did you know there wasn ¢â‚¬â„¢t a word for non-violent in either English or German until relatively recently? Similarly we didn ¢â‚¬â„¢t have a word in the West for non-dualistic thinking).

~~

The contemplative journey  ¢â‚¬“ with the saints and mystics  ¢â‚¬“ involves another level of thinking -  non-dualistic ¢â‚¬ ¦  Essentially it ¢â‚¬â„¢s accepting with love and faith what I don ¢â‚¬â„¢t understand.

And it ¢â‚¬â„¢s the only way we ¢â‚¬â„¢ll deal with love, death, suffering, God, infinity and Grace ¢â‚¬ ¦

~~

Exercise: observe your own mind:

You were trained to eliminate mystery:

You make comparisons:

Eg. racism: there ¢â‚¬â„¢s a  ¢â‚¬Ëœlowest to highest ¢â‚¬â„¢ level  ¢â‚¬“ even Christian believers have bought the notion of black-skinned = lowest, white-skinned = highest. It led to 200 years of Christians in the US, who believe in the unconditional love of God, justifying slavery!!!

If you don ¢â‚¬â„¢t trade-in your  ¢â‚¬Ëœreceiver ¢â‚¬â„¢ you can justify anything from as little as one line in the Bible, making it mean what the ego wants it to mean.

~~

How you see anything is how you do everything ¢â‚¬ ¦

Read/listen to someone mashalling arguments to prove the other wrong: we do that in churches, with pastors, and political leaders ¢â‚¬ ¦

It ¢â‚¬â„¢s a way of preventing us going outside our comfort-zone: someone says something, and you respond with  ¢â‚¬ËœBut ¢â‚¬ ¦ ¢â‚¬â„¢ (ie. oppositional thinking): you yield to the temptation of finding contrary evidence…

Contemplatives tend to be good listeners, leaving the field open, building on the 10% one knows is  ¢â‚¬Ëœtrue ¢â‚¬â„¢…

~~

The contemplative mind refuses to label.  It is not paranoid, self-referential.  It ¢â‚¬â„¢s all about dying, letting go ¢â‚¬ ¦

I don ¢â‚¬â„¢t need that opinion to defend myself.  (An opinion is a set of ideas we wrap ourselves around eg.  demonizing liberals or conservatives, straights/gays – you-name-it  ¢â‚¬“ naming anyone outside my group as totally wrong…

~~

Jesus was the Western world ¢â‚¬â„¢s first non-dualistic thinker

And before we had  ¢â‚¬Ëœsystematic theology ¢â‚¬â„¢ in mainline European thinking, the desert fathers and mothers and Celtic spirituality helped us stay in touch with Jesus ¢â‚¬â„¢ non-dual, nature- and story-based approach

It was more about love than right-vs-wrong  ¢â‚¬Ëœtruth ¢â‚¬â„¢

It was more about the surprise of wonder, than closing one ¢â‚¬â„¢s right-vs-wrong  ¢â‚¬Ëœnothing can enter here I don ¢â‚¬â„¢t already agree with ¢â‚¬â„¢ mind

It ¢â‚¬â„¢s about getting rid of class-systems, laities,  Catholics vs Protestants (my group has the whole truth, the other ¢â‚¬â„¢s going to hell)..

The best individual exponents of Jesus ¢â‚¬â„¢ way: Francis, Teresa of Avila, John of the Cross (unfortunately after the 16^th century there ¢â‚¬â„¢s been no large-scale teaching on contemplation, even in monasteries)

Did you know that in the year 1400 there were 1400 Franciscan hermits scattered throughout Europe?

~~

IOW it ¢â‚¬â„¢s all about living the life of  ¢â‚¬Ëœand ¢â‚¬â„¢  ¢â‚¬“ both contemplatively (alone) and actively (with others)

Both/and

Everything ¢â‚¬â„¢s sacred…  Which is why Francis moved towards lepers/outsiders,  towards non-Catholics, non-Italians…

Ditto Jesus with non-Jews

~~

How?

1. Practise the  ¢â‚¬Å“I don ¢â‚¬â„¢t need to be right ¢â‚¬â„¢ lifestyle with 20 minutes of contemplative silence in the morning – allowing our lustful/negative/angry/judgmental/right-wrong/up-down/opinionated thoughts to dissipate into the love of God

Nothing is the doorway to something  ¢â‚¬“ actually, everything

In silence we make room for paradox, for the Other, for God, who is mystery

(Let ¢â‚¬â„¢s not kid ourselves: Richard led a retreat with monks at Gethsemane, but when he quoted Merton they looked down/away ¢â‚¬ ¦    ¢â‚¬ËœWhy? ¢â‚¬â„¢ he asked a friend.  ¢â‚¬ËœOh, they ¢â‚¬â„¢re ambivalent about Thomas Merton, because he suggested they weren ¢â‚¬â„¢t real contemplatives, only introverts ¢â‚¬â„¢ ¢â‚¬ ¦)

2. When Eckhart talked about  ¢â‚¬Ëœliving in the Now ¢â‚¬â„¢ he was accused of being  ¢â‚¬ËœNew Age ¢â‚¬â„¢/ ¢â‚¬â„¢pagan ¢â‚¬â„¢/ ¢â‚¬â„¢secular ¢â‚¬â„¢. But Jesus said something about that.

 ¢â‚¬ËœThe sacrament of the present moment ¢â‚¬â„¢

The  ¢â‚¬Ëœnaked now ¢â‚¬â„¢

The dualistic mind is more preoccupied with either the past (conservative, nostalgic) or the future (liberal, self-preoccupied, idealistic). As Shakespeare might say: fie on both their houses ¢â‚¬ ¦ The contemplative eye sees with a  ¢â‚¬Ëœ3^rd eye ¢â‚¬â„¢  ¢â‚¬“ to a vista not either/or but both/and ¢â‚¬ ¦

So Ann Frank can be happy in a concentration camp

Francis, with his body falling apart, can write a Canticle to the Sun.

Now   is  ¢â‚¬Ëœhome base ¢â‚¬â„¢.

  ~~

The gist of Richard Rohr: The Art of Letting Go (and summarized in his audio-book Living the Wisdom of St Francis )

~~

(As I write, Leunig ¢â‚¬â„¢s cartoon in this morning ¢â‚¬â„¢s The Age newspaper depicts a little family with big noses staring up at a large billboard which says WE ARE GOOD AND THEY ARE BAD. ALWAYS. )

Rowland Croucher

25 July 2014

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