What Color Is Your Christ? (8/24/08)

What Color is Your Christ?

John Shuck

August 24^th, 2008

Introduction:

Bruce Sanguin, The Emerging Church

            Darwin, Divinity, and the Dance of the Cosmos

Spiral Dynamics, Clare Graves 

"What I am proposing is that the psychology of the mature human being is an unfolding, emergent, oscillating, spiraling process, marked by progressive subordination of old, lower-order behavior systems to new, higher-order systems as man's existential problems change."

Nested holons. 

DNA—we retain it

Newton and scientific theory nested in larger theory

The same is true for psychic, social, and spiritual awareness

Thesis of Sanguin’s book--

           

1^st Holon

BEIGE

SurvivalSense

"ME"

Group bands together to stay alive

           

PURPLE

KinSpirits

"WE"

The sense of family-tribe

Christ is the Tribal Christ. "He makes the world go 'round when proper ritual is performed....He answers the prayers of those who are obedient."

Ancient religion.  But is present with us.  Prayers to deities to solve our problems.  Not a bad thing, but it can be if it isn’t aware of its limitations.

JC Press survey of those who would pray for a miracle rather than trust the doctor.

Interpretation of events because we have been disobedient and so forth.

2^nd Holon

RED

PowerGods

"ME"

Power-action driven,

egocentric       

The Warrior Christ. "Followers of the Red Christ go with him into battle on behalf of their tribe, nation, or belief system....In its most positive expression, following this Christ gives us the energy to "fight" for what we believe in--to take a stand."

BLUE

TruthForce

"WE"

Purposeful, absolutist, "one right way"

The Traditional Christ, a Divine Scapegoat. "As part of the divine plan, God sends his only son to suffer and die on behalf of humanity, modelling sacrifice of self for a future reward....Christ's own sacrifice invites followers to led lives of self-sacrificial love, with the hope of eternal reward.

Constantine in the 4^th century unified Christianity under the Roman Empire.  “Under this sign conquer”  The result was centuries of Christendom.  Outside the church there is no salvation.  This is the Christ of patriotism.  Creed, confession, Bible. 

3^rd Holon

           

ORANGE

StriveDrive

"ME"

Entrepreneurial, materialistic, success-driven

The Modern Demythologized Christ and Christ as CEO. "Christ is seen as the human one, a teacher of spiritual wisdom....In its positive expression, the Orange stage helps us transcend the literalism of previous levels....modernist values give us permission to think for ourselves.

Enlightenment.  Scientific method. Reason.  Progress. Competition.  Academy, business.

GREEN

HumanBond

"WE"

Community, harmony, equality, relativistic

The Egalitarian-Postmodern Christ. "The postmodern Christ embraces multiple cultures and downplays the "Truth" of any particular religious system. The Green Christ draws the circle ever wider, so that it includes the outcasts, the left-behinds, and the marginalized.

Social justice and human rights are also values of the Enlightenment.  Lack of Spirit and this Christ doesn’t seem to be up to the task of dealing with our global problems and connecting us as a human family.

4^th Holon

           

YELLOW

FlexFlow

"ME”

Natural processes, mutual realities; live for mutuality

The Integral/Ecological/Cosmic Christ. "The Yellow, integral Christ encompasses the universe and all cultures as an integrated ecology of systems....Followers of this Christ become fascinated by the world that the new sciences are discovering, and by how this world connects to the core metaphors and narratives of the Judeo-Christian tradition."

           

TURQUOISE

GlobalView

"WE"

Harmony, holism, spirituality

The Mystical Christ. "At this level, the world is experienced--not merely conceptualized--as one. A follower of this Christ does not merely perceive the universe an integrated whole. She knows herself to be a form of the integrated whole, the part in whom the whole is manifest. The great diversity of life is also an expression of the Holy One. All of life is sacred revelation, for those with eyes to see."

Thunder, Perfect Mind

Conclusion

All of these holons are within us and we draw from them.  They function within their limited contexts, when we recognize these contexts are limited.  It is not a matter of giving up or getting rid, as if we could.  But of being aware. 

May the Truth of the Voice resound to the Greater Glory of God.
May the Love and Wisdom of the Great Mother find a resting-place in the fallen Soul.
May the consciousness of Christ be as a guiding Light unto all beings.
For ever and ever. Amen.