19. Until They Develop an Enlightened Consciousness, Liberal Main Line Religions Will Be Unable to Take A Leadership Role in the Creation of A Global Spirituality. Part 1

by Dick Rauscher

Abstract

None of the main line religions, including and especially Judaism, Islam, and Christianity, are structured or equipped to bring a critically needed global spirituality into the 21st century. The mainline religions of the world were localized tribal religions originally founded on the wisdom teachings of an enlightened ego, but this wisdom was later interpreted and then institutionalized by primitive egos; ego’s that unfortunately were unable to understand the deeper wisdom of the enlightened teachers. The primitive ego can only manifest itself. Until the primitive ego of an individual or an institution grows and matures, it will be unable to cope successfully with the diversity and complexity of a global human culture and there will be little or no ability to manifest the unconditional love of an enlightened consciousness.

It is rapidly becoming clear that the world is critically in need of a transformative global spirituality; a spirituality capable of transforming our current level of human consciousness to the level of maturity required to create a cooperative, compassionate global community. This growth in consciousness is humanity’s most pressing and critical need as we move into the 21st century.

Never before in human history have humans grown at a rate of change exponential in nature; a rate of change so overwhelming that it 1) threatens our very ability to embrace the burgeoning creativity of our own minds, and 2) threatens our ability to survive as a species. And the rate of change is continuing to grow.

Many futurists are predicting that to those of us alive today, our human culture will be almost unrecognizable by the end of the 21st century. Our growing technology is bringing changes to the way we live our day to day lives so quickly, we are having trouble digesting one change before three more are on our doorstep. For example, it is predicted that both our communication systems and our computer access to the internet will be completely wireless within the next three to four years. This means that desktop computers will soon be going the way of VHS tapes, floppy disks, black and white TV, and automobiles the local mechanic is qualified to repair.

To complicate matters even further, we are rapidly running out of oil reserves and freshwater, we are making dangerous changes to our global ecological systems, and the level of conflict around the world is growing; especially in the very area of the world where the major remaining oil reserves are located. It is predicted that within ten years both China and Europe will equal or exceed the energy requirements of the US.

It is estimated that we will reach the half way point on the earth’s oil reserves within the next ten to twenty years. The cost of extracting the remaining reserves will continue to grow in complexity and cost. Cheap oil is quickly coming to an end. The potential for world conflict over access to the remaining reserves is growing at an alarming rate.

The nations that comprise today’s political and economic world represent a wide diversity of ethnic, tribal, and religious roots. They represent many different levels of cultural, economic, and social development. Some are hardly out of primitive, spear carrying, tribal levels of emotional and psychological development, and some are creating global communication networks and reaching for the stars.

These widely differing cultures simply represent the various developmental stages of our growing human community. To label any culture, including the more primitive tribal cultures, as evil, or “undeveloped”, is to ignore the fact that we too went through the same stages in our own development. A brief review of slavery in American, the brutal treatment of Native Americans, or the last 1500 years of European political and religious history will quickly illustrate this reality.

These cultures are not unlike children; some are very young, some are entering adolescence, some are in the aggressive acquisition stage of young adulthood and middle age. We must find ways to honor and nurture the cultures that are moving through these earlier stages of human development, while at the same time not allowing them to threaten the world as they pass through some of the more aggressive stages. Their history and cultural heritage must be preserved for future generations, and their ability to grow and achieve the benefits of the modern world must be protected.

Paradoxically and sadly, the very institutions that know the most about human transformation, the main line religions of the world, are themselves the least capable of our human institutions to embrace change and take a leadership role in this vitally needed transformation in human consciousness. In fact, the main line churches of the world are stuck at a level of human consciousness two thousand years behind the majority of our planets secular, political and economic institutions.

These mainline religions were localized tribal religions originally founded on the wisdom teachings of an enlightened ego, but this wisdom was later interpreted and then institutionalized by primitive egos; ego’s that unfortunately were unable to understand the deeper wisdom of the enlightened teachers.

Not only are the main line religions of the world stuck in the past using theologies and institutional structures constructed by primitive egos, the majority of those primitive egos died more than fifteen hundred years ago. To further compound the problem, many of the main line churches insist on literal interpretations of what was clearly meant to be metaphor by the writers of their sacred texts. It is a rare modern theologian or biblical scholar, including conservative theologians that insist on a literal interpretation of sacred texts in any of the major religions.

There is an old adage that says “You can’t lead anyone any further into the desert than you have journeyed yourself”. Another way to say this is “You can’t teach someone, something you haven’t learned yourself”. Change is reality. Change is evolution. Change is creation. We no longer have the luxury of taking centuries to incorporate change in our religious institutions. Unless the main line religions can quickly learn to shake off the two thousand years of dust that has settled over their theologies and sacred texts, they will continue their march into the forgotten history of institutions created by human consciousness..

But there is hope. There is a growth in human consciousness that is currently emerging in a growing number of people from countries, cultures, and secular institutions all over the planet. More and more people are listening to their own deeper wisdom; a wisdom that is calling for a new global spirituality and a new global political, ecological, and economic consciousness. This as yet unorganized but growing 21st century global consciousness is rapidly marginalizing the once powerful voice of the primitive main line religions.

So what is this “primitive ego” that is so powerless to enable or sustain humanity’s evolutionary growth into the 21st century consciousness? How do we know if we, or other individuals, or the various institutions of the world are using a primitive ego consciousness? What values, behaviors, characteristics, and beliefs should we look for to determine if a primitive ego consciousness is present?

Briefly, the primitive ego is the ego of the inner child. It is called old brain, or the unconscious. The term “primitive” is not pejorative, it simply describes the “not-yet-matured” ego structure of a young child; an ego structure that was then overlaid with all the learning’s and experiences the child was exposed to in the first seven to eight years of his or her life. In other words, the primitive ego is essentially the not-yet-matured brain of a second grader.

The primitive ego is easily recognized by nine basic beliefs and behaviors:

to keep the world safe and manageable, it splits the world into right and wrong and believes that it is right and it alone possesses “The” Truth on all matters, (the only outcome possible from of this primitive way of thinking is the creation of categories of “otherness” and conflict.)
it assumes that happiness will be found out in the world, (thus the accumulation of money and possessions becomes one’s life focus)
it believes that it is the center of the universe and it takes everything personally, (thus the ability to have empathy is low and greed is a primary way of being in the world)
it strives for perfection and is very concerned about what others think and need, (thus it is driven to be perfect in all things. This results in self criticism, low self esteem, exhaustion, and hopelessness)
it needs to avoid intimacy and remain in control using a vertical power or power-over mentality called survival of the fittest, (thus power and control become the intrinsic values so as to be the fittest and therefore survive. Generosity is present only when it is in the interest of the primitive ego to achieving more power and control)
it is stuck in the past and thus unable to embrace change, (it is a second grade child who sees the world through the glasses of the child it once was, and it passionatelyresists change so as to keep things safe and protect it’s own power, control, possessions, beliefs, and self-identity)
it insists that it’s “self” is a totally separate, unique being (it sees itself as only an individual, not a systemic part of all creation, thus it struggles with loneliness and concepts of cooperation and team work,
it is very reactive to criticism or any perceived threat to it’s beliefs, opinions, or assumptions, (as an independent individual “self”, it has “THE” truth on all thingsso it has no need to change, and it sees any change as threatening to the power and control it uses to keep the world safe) and finally,
it always loves based on a “because” (a primitive ego is not able to love unconditionally, it can love only until it is threatened by the loss of items 1 – 8 listed above)

It is easy to spot a primitive ego; even a primitive ego that is pretending to be a mature ego. Anyone can pretend to be mature and loving until squeezed or stressed. Then, like a wet sponge, the true beliefs and values of the hiding primitive ego will quickly become evident in the behaviors that emerge.

Unfortunately, our human institutions, including our main line religious institutions, and the overwhelming majority of human adults that hold power in these institutions, are still primitive ego’s walking around in adult bodies pretending to be grown up. They are using the thinking principles listed above and the result is the judgment and never ending conflict we see in the world today.

Our human consciousness must learn quickly how to embrace a more mature middlepath consciousness; a global consciousness that is capable of spiritually embracing the infinite diversity and complexity of all reality without the need to create the primitive and dangerous categories of “otherness” called you vs. me; us vs. them. A matured middlepath consciousness is comfortable with not knowing and intentionally searches for the truth on both sides of any issue; it is fully awake and lives in the present moment.

To summarize, the primitive ego can only manifest itself. It is unable to cognitively or emotionally understand, or live with, the diversity and complexity of a global culture. A primitive ego, or any institution created by primitive egos is not psychologically prepared to understand or manifest the openness or unconditional love of a matured or enlightened ego; the essential energy required to create and sustain a global human culture.

The world’s main line churches are struggling to bring love and compassion into the world, but until they grow, and mature to a higher level of consciousness in their theologies and institutional structures, they will not be capable of taking a leadership role in facilitating the transformation of human consciousness. As I stated above, you cannot teach what you don’t know.

Until this growth and maturing of our human consciousness is achieved, our world will continue teetering on a very dangerous fence; and we are rapidly running out of time.

In the next issue of the Stonyhill Newsletter, I will explore in greater detail and depth, the twelve manifestations of an enlightened individual or institution, and the essential teachings of an enlightened global spirituality. See you in March.
(The feature article in Issue 5 of the Stonyhill Newsletter will give interested readers a deeper understanding of the maturing process of a primitive ego.)