Following up on a reader's skepticism, I googled the author and spiritual leader David Hawkins and came away un-surprised. According to his critics, he was (he died in 2002 at age 85) a sincere self-believer who did not abuse his position as a spiritual leader. However - also not surprising - his critics claim logical inconsistencies and pseudo-science, although his overall concept of Truth was deemed at least somewhat acceptable. Yet - are the critics themselves enlightened? We're not talking "peer review" here, and that is the problem with critiques of spiritual masters. We may find logical holes in their arguments, but that is to be expected; anyone trying to explain the unexplainable in logical terms will always be caught in inconsistencies. As for pseudo -science, science is often seen as the only way to convince the modern acolyte, as we have given science the imprimatur of truth whether we wish to admit it or not.
In short, I came away with the same view of Hawkins that I had before the dalliance with Google: a sincere guy with great insight with maybe a little too much enthusiasm for the "muscle-test" which I see as a psychic tool rather than a scientific one (that is, it works for those who have a psychic ability, but it is not objective. The chiropractor mentioned in the last blog has this ability, as I think do all effective healers). Fully enlightened? Again, how is this average Joe to judge? That he gives us something and takes away nothing in a deceitful fashion is good enough for me to give him a read.
Now, on to the book, "The Holy Trinity and the Law of Three," by Cynthia Bourgeault. At first a tiresome book, it has become, at about the 30% mark, something of a revelation. It was tiresome for, in the beginning, she laid out Gurdief's idea of the trilogy of reality in typically cold, numerical fashion. This was not without interest - the law of three posits that movement in reality is based on a trinary rather than binary system. As she goes on, however, the plot thickens; we find that the perennialists adhere to the binary system, as do most of the Great Religions; there is Yin/yang; good/evil; god/devil; male/ female, etc. This, however, is static, a dance of opposites that eventually runs out of energy even as it turns farther and farther from the source, the Godhead. So it is that we have one of my favorite perennialists, Fithjof Schuon, declare that there is no evolution, only devolution and re-creation. In this view, we must work out the cycle of movement away from God until we do ourselves in one way or another. It is only after the Fall that we are remade and brought back, in a way of speaking, to the Source, which is essentially humanity in the Garden of Eden, one with God again.
Not so with a trinarian position. Here, we not only have a set of opposites, but a third force, "reconciliation." This is NOT the Hegelian "synthesis," that is, the product of the friction of opposites. Rather, the third force is a power unto itself, and its inflection into the duality eventually produces something new. It is thus evolutionary, which is God's creativity expressed in time.
We will certainly return to this book, for it is bringing about two great ideas in its pages: one, that Christ was a revolutionary new ingredient pressed into the world. For non-Christians, don't worry - this is not about the Church or dogma, but about the meaning of Christ through God in a non-partisan framework. For Christians, this is great. It does not tear down Christ but gives his presence a power that is inspiring. And that is the second thing - this gives hope that the "end of the world" that seems more and more immanent as things fall apart, is not the end of the world at all, at least in a dark and cataclysmic sense. Rather, what we are witnessing and living through is the turning of a new reality paradigm guided by God's presence on Earth through the historical and/or symbolic action/figure of Christ. That can't be all bad.
Not a book of proselytizing or dry theory, as it is read, it is bringing a vision of energy and hope even as it fills a certain need for intellectual scrutiny. As said, more on this later. FK
In short, I came away with the same view of Hawkins that I had before the dalliance with Google: a sincere guy with great insight with maybe a little too much enthusiasm for the "muscle-test" which I see as a psychic tool rather than a scientific one (that is, it works for those who have a psychic ability, but it is not objective. The chiropractor mentioned in the last blog has this ability, as I think do all effective healers). Fully enlightened? Again, how is this average Joe to judge? That he gives us something and takes away nothing in a deceitful fashion is good enough for me to give him a read.
Now, on to the book, "The Holy Trinity and the Law of Three," by Cynthia Bourgeault. At first a tiresome book, it has become, at about the 30% mark, something of a revelation. It was tiresome for, in the beginning, she laid out Gurdief's idea of the trilogy of reality in typically cold, numerical fashion. This was not without interest - the law of three posits that movement in reality is based on a trinary rather than binary system. As she goes on, however, the plot thickens; we find that the perennialists adhere to the binary system, as do most of the Great Religions; there is Yin/yang; good/evil; god/devil; male/ female, etc. This, however, is static, a dance of opposites that eventually runs out of energy even as it turns farther and farther from the source, the Godhead. So it is that we have one of my favorite perennialists, Fithjof Schuon, declare that there is no evolution, only devolution and re-creation. In this view, we must work out the cycle of movement away from God until we do ourselves in one way or another. It is only after the Fall that we are remade and brought back, in a way of speaking, to the Source, which is essentially humanity in the Garden of Eden, one with God again.
Not so with a trinarian position. Here, we not only have a set of opposites, but a third force, "reconciliation." This is NOT the Hegelian "synthesis," that is, the product of the friction of opposites. Rather, the third force is a power unto itself, and its inflection into the duality eventually produces something new. It is thus evolutionary, which is God's creativity expressed in time.
We will certainly return to this book, for it is bringing about two great ideas in its pages: one, that Christ was a revolutionary new ingredient pressed into the world. For non-Christians, don't worry - this is not about the Church or dogma, but about the meaning of Christ through God in a non-partisan framework. For Christians, this is great. It does not tear down Christ but gives his presence a power that is inspiring. And that is the second thing - this gives hope that the "end of the world" that seems more and more immanent as things fall apart, is not the end of the world at all, at least in a dark and cataclysmic sense. Rather, what we are witnessing and living through is the turning of a new reality paradigm guided by God's presence on Earth through the historical and/or symbolic action/figure of Christ. That can't be all bad.
Not a book of proselytizing or dry theory, as it is read, it is bringing a vision of energy and hope even as it fills a certain need for intellectual scrutiny. As said, more on this later. FK
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