Interspirituality


Br. Wayne TeasdaleWe are at the dawn of a new consciousness, a radically fresh approach to our life as the human family in a fragile world. This journey is what spirituality is really about. We are not meant to remain just where we are. We cannot depend on our culture either to guide and support us in our quest. We must do the hard work of clarification together ourselves.

This revolution will be the task of the Interspiritual Age. The necessary shifts in consciousness require a new approach to spirituality that transcends past religious cultures of fragmentation and isolation. We need to understand, to really grasp at an elemental level that the definitive revolution is the spiritual awakening of humankind.


These prescient words are from Brother Wayne Teasdale's The Mystic Heart: Discovering a Universal Spirituality in the World's Religions (New World Library, 1999). In this volume, Brother Wayne, a lay Catholic monk who was ordained as a Christian sannyassi (a monk in the Hindu tradition), also wrote:

The religion of humankind can be said to be spirituality itself, because mystical spirituality is the origin of all the religions. If this is so, and I believe it is, we might say that interspirituality — the sharing of ultimate experiences across traditions — is the religion of the third millennium. Interspirituality is the foundation that can prepare the way for a planet-wide enlightened culture...

From Love of God Virtual CathedralThus the term "interspirituality" entered the lexicon, pointing to an understanding of the universal spiritual nature of humankind that arose from the interfaith movement. As interfaith literacy increased, it became clear how much the mystical paths of all the great religious traditions shared in common regardless of differences in doctrine. Brother Wayne could clearly see no inherent conflict in the monastic paths of the Christian and Hindu traditions, both of which he embraced. The path to the mystical communion with God or the Oneness or the Void are strikingly similar. In fact, all interfaith dialogue and studies have revealed great commonality of purpose and even practice among religions.

As humans of different cultures come to know one another better, many who experience a deep spiritual calling are reaching beyond the bounds of their own religions to acknowledge a universal spirituality that expresses through a myriad of beautiful faith traditions as a basic component of what it means to be human.

The term "interspirituality" came into popular useage following the publication in 2013 of The Coming Interspiritual Age, a virtual encyclopedia of contemporary religious thought co-authored by Kurt Johnson and Robert Ord.



What has become known in common parlance as "The Interspiritual Declaration" includes the various Points of Agreement arising over the last decades from the growing global Interspiritual phenomenon. These are listed at the Interspiritual Multiplex Visitors Center web page with the sources of the conferences, associations, organizations and publications that have assembled this consensus over the last number of years. These include: 
 
  1. The Nine Points of Agreement
  2. The Nine Elements of a Universal Spirituality
  3. The Elements of Interspiritual Education
  4. The Eight Shifts Needed in World Consciousness
  5. Evolutionary Developmental Elements
THE NINE POINTS OF AGREEMENT
 
  1. The world religions bear witness to the experience of Ultimate Reality to which they give various names: Brahma, Allah, (the) Absolute, God, Great Spirit.
  2. Ultimate Reality cannot be limited by any name or concept.
  3. Ultimate Reality is the ground of infinite potentiality and actualization.
  4. Faith is opening, accepting, and responding to Ultimate Reality. Faith in this sense precedes every belief system.
  5. The potential for human wholeness—or in other frames of reference, enlightenment, salvation, transformation, blessedness, nirvana—is present in every human.
  6. Ultimate Reality may be experienced not only through religious practices but also through nature, art, human relationships, and service to others.
  7. As long as the human condition is experienced as separate from Ultimate Reality, it remains subject to ignorance, illusion, weakness, and suffering.
  8. Disciplined practice is essential to the spiritual life; yet spiritual attainment isn't the result of one's own efforts, but the result of the experience of oneness (unity) with Ultimate Reality.
  9. Prayer is communion with Ultimate Reality, whether it's regarded as personal, impersonal (transpersonal), or beyond both.

Resources

ISDnA (Interspiritual Dialogue 'n Action): Exploring the Essence of InterSpirituality 

BECOMING ONE IN THE SPIRIT: The Growing Edge of Interspirituality, by Kurt Johnson for The Interfaith Observer (2017)

Interspiritual Revolution: How the Occupy Generation Is Re-Envisioning Spirituality and [New] Monasticism, by Adam Bucko for The Huffington Post

Global Oneness and InterSpirituality, By Kurt Johnson and David Robert Ord, The Shift Network (2013)

Dawn of Interspirituality Project

Love of God Virtual Cathedral: An Interspiritual Oasis

 

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