Mystical Christianity: lesson 6 (assignement)

1.    How would you define the polarities of feminine and masculine? I agree entirely with the idea that "feminine" and "masculine" in this case refers not to physical maleness or femaleness, but to essential aspects of everyone (even everything). In fact, the preponderance of one or the other polarity may not coincide with physical sex at all (and by this I'm not necessarily referring to transgendered or homosexual people necessarily, but rather to men more in tune with the emotional, intuitive, reflective, creative or artistic side [we might say "right brained"] or women more in tune with the analytical, mathematical, logical, expressive side [or "left brained"]). 2.    Do you agree with Riane Eisler's theory of "Cultural Transformation" that posits an ancient partnership society that is usurped by a dominator mentality? In your opinion is matriarchy part of the dominator mentality? It depends on the definition one gives to matriarchy. If by matriarchy we simply mean a society ruled by women, then such a society would not necessarily mean an egalitarian partnership society – i.e. a society ruled by women could exhibit masculine traits ("warrior women" such as the Amazons come to mind). However if we give "matriarchy" the meaning of a society organized on feminine spiritual attributes, then yes, such a society could not be a dominator society based on force and violence. 3.    How does the history of the Goddess and its symbology impact the story of the Garden of Eden? Do you see the tree and the serpent any differently? Seeing the Tree as representing the Goddess sheds a whole new light on the story. It is forbidden to approach the Goddess (as lifting the veil of Isis was forbidden), yet it must be done – it's a necessary step towards maturity. Of course the male God forbids eating the "fruit of the Goddess" – but it's a rule made to be broken. J.P. Amis

Mystical Christianity: lesson 5 (assignment)

1.    What is Truth for you? For me, Truth is different from fact. As I adhere to an esoteric interpretation of religion, historical events are not particularly important as far as spirituality is concerned. The resurrection of Christ, for example, represents a spiritual truth whether or not it is historical objective fact. 2.    How do you respond to the possibility that what we know about the history of Christianity may be at the very least incomplete, if not outright wrong? I felt this to be the case already, so it is not only not a shock for me, but rather a relief.  The traditional message of original sin, substitutionary redemption, heaven/hell, physical resurrection, etc., was one I had difficulty accepting.  Knowing that what has come down to us as "orthodoxy" is not in fact the only truth, but the version of Christianity that won out politically in the late Roman period, allows me to rediscover a more balanced, mystical view of the Christ myth. 3.    Do you believe our thoughts can affect our lives and our world as Gregg Braden theorizes in The Isaiah Effect? How can you make a difference? Absolutely. "Thoughts are things".  Thought is the source of all creation, all action – both good and bad. Therefore we must practice "thought hygiene" – being careful to avoid negative, critical and destructive thoughts, and focus on positive, benevolent and creative thoughts. J.P. Amis

Final Essay for Master of Mystical Christianity Course

Final Essay for Master of Mystical Christianity Course;   The Master of Mystical Christianity course has had impact on my spiritual thought, prayer life and academic knowledge. I found much of what Mother Maryesah Karelon OMM taught through the lessons to be thought provoking.  The format of Questions for the Heart and Mind inspired me to view the lessons with prayer and reflection, as well as from the academic point of view.   The lessons clarified issues which had been in my mind at the start of the course. In the first lesson, I realized just how important the Scriptures and Sacred Writings are for me. They are my daily spiritual bread. I now have deeper understanding of further dimensions to the Genesis story after studying the teaching of Mother Maryesah. This has been reflected in the blog post I wrote; http://churchinterfaith.blogspot.com/2012/04/in-beginning.html   The second lesson highlighted for me the necessity of ecological respect as a part of spirituality. The third lesson deepened my understanding of each of us being called through the inspiration from God to be priest, prophet and king in our personal lives.   As the course progressed, I learned much about Gnosticism and other movements in spirituality over the years. I relived experiences in myl life through reflection on the lessons and questions. I learned more about myself and my personal spiritual road. I understand more clearly now that God has had a plan in my life, while leaving me free to make decisions.   I realize how important Jesus Christ is to me, and just how much I love and admire Him. Reflections about His Life as put before me by Mother Maryesah led me to spend much time in reading the Bible and Sacred Writings. The understandings I came to during the courses are beneficial resources to me in my ministry.   I derived much benefit from learning more about the mystics Julian of Norwich, Meister Eckhart and Teresa of Avila. The writings of the mystics seemed so difficult in the past for me to understand; Mother made them simple. The mystics are simply writing about their experience. The further we move in spirituality, the more we understand of how God moves profoundly and deeply within our souls as He leads us to growth and wholeness. God leads us to reincarnation of our inner selves as we constantly grow in our spirituality.     The teachings of Mother Maryesah on the mystics inspired in me the thought that God manifests full intelligence in harmony with compassion and emotional intimacy. God is able to reach out to all without over harshness or over emotionality. God is thus balanced, and I believe upon completing the course that it is our life's work to continue to seek harmony within our personal beings.   The overriding lesson I have learned from Master of Mystical Christianity is the reality that: God is not outside me. God is not at the end of a long life road God is not in another heaven that I must move forward to attain. God is within me, and has always been within me. In the final lessons of Mother Maryesah I reflected on all I was learning. I realized that I I simply need to turn within and contemplate the God Who has been in my heart, soul and mind all the time I have been seeking with Him without.  "The kingdom of God is within you," Luke 17;21. (The great Jesus)  "You were within me, but I was outside, and it was there that I searched for you." (Augustine, Late have I loved Thee)

ULC Mystical Christianity Course

 

Questions For the Heart and Mind for the Mystical Christianity Course

1. Have you worked with the chakra energies of your body and if so, what have you learned and experienced? Yes, I worked with the chakra energies of my body as directed by Doctors in India when I was seeking healing after a car accident which had affected my mobility and health. The Doctors enabled me to work with the chakras, and also prescribed prayer as well as medication and therapy. I carried out the same; and experienced much healing. What I learned was that each person has energies within themselves which is linked up to the Great Energy of God. God is aware at every moment of what is happening to each one of us; and within illness there are lessons to be learned. I learned patience and acceptance of what happens in my life, and I also learned to totally trust and depend on God.
2. What have you been taught about the role of sexuality? How has that affected your life and your spirituality? I was taught that sexuality is a gift from God enabling the giving of true sincere love from one to another, sometimes bringing forth a further loved one/s. I was further taught that the gift of love should be shared in exclusive, faithful and ongoing relationship between two people who accept the power of the Divine in their lives. This has affected my life and my spirituality in that I regard intimacy as a great gift to humanity from the Wise Creator God. I believe that loving another more than oneself teaches many lessons of deepening love, selflessness, steadfast loyalty especially in the tough times in a relationship, and forgiveness.
3. How have you encountered your shadow self? Is your shadow your enemy or your friend? If an enemy, what do you need to do to bring reconciliation between you? I believe I encountered my shadow self - which contained much fear - after a car accident some years ago. The resultant time of healing after the accident brought my deeper self to the surface, and I emerged from the experience a different person. My shadow self is now my friend; my fears faded as I experienced deep and true support from Jesus Christ, and the shadow of my fear developed into the quiet strength of knowing the Lord is, indeed, my strength, my rock and my refuge.

Catherine Whittle

Universal Life Church

Christian History from ULC Seminary

ULC Seminary: Master of Christian History Paper

                              Lesson 20

 

1. What was the nature of and what things contributed to a renewal in the Western church in the period immediately prior to the Great Schism of 1054?

Answer:

Western Christianity was under the influence of the Holy Roman Empire in the latter half of the time period between A.D. 800 and 1054, while Eastern Christianity at that time was more acknowledging of its differences with Western Christianity, and it ended with a great schism wherein the Western and Eastern churches went off on their separate ways. However, a lot of factors which was not always spiritual but instead many times a renewal of power that assisted in the Western church's fights with the state as signified by the Holy Roman Empire contributed to a renewal in the Western church in the period immediately prior to the Great Schism of 1054. Such factors include:

·       Pro-Papal Documents:

False decretals were used to bolster papal power within the church. The "Donation of Constantine" was the basis for papal land possession, and the biggest land grant that this document was used to justify was the Donation of Pepin the Short in A.D. 756. Pope Nicholas I in A.D. 865 was the first pontiff to use a collection of decrees from various Roman pontiffs. This collection was the False Decretals or Pseudo-Isidorian Decretals. This included the Donation of Constantine along with real and fake decrees of Roman pontiffs dating from the era of Clement of Rome and some canons of the great church councils. This collection was appropriated to Isidore of Seville (c. A.D. 560-636) who was head of the Spanish church in the early 7^th century A.D. These documents were important to the Roman pontiff's supremacy claims.

These false decretals were used to bolster papal power within the church. The Roman pontiff was superior over all ecclesiastical leaders of the church. Any bishop had the right to appeal directly to the Roman pontiff over the head of his archbishop. The church was also free of all secular control. Many popes made use of this collection of documents to maintain their superior power.

·       Scandinavia Becomes Christian:

The conversion of the Scandinavians made The Roman pontiff became more powerful. Scandinavian, a native of Amiens, France, Anskar (A.D. 801-865) is mostly responsible for The Roman pontiff's becoming more powerful. When the Jute (Danish) king Harald Klak asked for a missionary in A.D. 826, Anskar went. Anskar devoted his life to missions in northern Europe.

·       Doctrine of the Mass:

The row over how Christ was present in Holy Communion plagued the Western church in the early 9^th century A.D. If it was believed that Holy Communion was a sacrifice anew by the priest, that would enhance papal power because the Roman pontiff was at the head of the hierarchy of clergymen who were the only ones who had the power to perform this miracle of the Mass. Around A.D. 831 Paschasius Radbertus (c. A.D. 785-860), abbot of the Corbie monastery near Amiens, started teaching that by a divine miracle the substance of the bread and wine were actually transformed into the body and blood of Christ. This view was delineated in a book issued in A.D. 831 called Of the Body and Blood of the Lord. This view strengthened the priest and the Roman pontiff though the Roman Catholic Church did not officially accept transubstantiation until 1215, and it was not fully defined until the Council of Trent in 1545.

Reforming the Monastery:

Monastic reforms done by the Cluniac monasteries in the 10^th and 11^th centuries really helped the power of the Roman pontiff. By the 10^th century the monasteries had become wealthy and corrupt. Service had been replaced with individual salvation joined with an easy life in a wealthy monastery. The reforms coming from Cluny were the first of several reforms of Roman Catholic monasticism.

Original monasticism called for each monastery to have its own abbot and was independent of the other monasteries of the same order. The Cluny abbot appointed priors of new monasteries founded by him or others and made them subject to him. This new way of doing things fostered a new order centered on one head, the Cluny abbot who was in harmony with the Roman pontiff. By the 12^th century over 1100 monasteries were under the leadership of the Cluny abbot.

The Cluniac leaders called for clerical reform. They condemned simony [buying/selling church offices for money] and nepotism [showing favoritism to relatives in appointments to office]. They also advocated celibacy for the clergy. Clergymen were neither to marry nor keep concubines so that they could keep their entire attention toward church affairs. They also insisted that the church be free of all secular control by kings, emperors, or dukes. Self-denial was also reemphasized.

The Cluniac reforms went further. Good monastic schools were created, and they helped make Latin the common language of the Middle Ages. They may have been ultimately responsible for the Crusades. Cluniac monasteries on the frontiers became headquarters for missions. The order came to a legal end in 1790.

Able Leaders:

Many of the Roman pontiffs between A.D. 800 and 1054 were corrupt or incompetent. Yet there were several able leaders who consolidated papal power. Pope Nicholas I (reigned from A.D. 858-867) was the most able of these men. He stressed papal supremacy within the church as one who was responsible for the spiritual welfare of the faithful and is supreme over earthly rulers when dealing with morality and religion.

Pope Nicholas I exerted his power over bishops and earthly rulers like in the situation with Lothair II of Lorraine. Lothair II had married Teutberga for political reasons. He later fell in love with Waldrada and put aside his legal wife. He got a divorce from Teutberga by calling a synod at Aachen in which the bishops granted him a divorce. Pope Nicholas received appeals from both parties, but during that Lothair II married Waldrada. The pope was determined to bring the bishops who had acted so hastily to heel, and he wanted to punish Lothair II for his immorality. The pope forced Lothair II to set aside Waldrada and restore Teutberga to her place as his rightful wife.

Pope Nicholas I was also successful in upholding direct papal appeals. When Hicmar, archbishop of Rheims, removed Rothad, bishop of Soissons, from his position, the pope reversed Hicmar's action and forced him to restore Rothad to his bishopric.

Pope Nicholas I also tried to assert his authority and power over the patriarch and Byzantine emperor in Constantinople. Emperor Michael III "the Drunkard", corrupted by his uncle Bardas, got rid of the patriarch Ignatios when he refused to administer the sacrament to Bardas. The emperor in A.D. 858 appointed Photius in his place as patriarch. Ignatios asked Pope Nicholas I for help. The pope declared Photius deposed, but an Eastern synod led by Photius accused the Western church of heresy for adding the filioque clause to the Western version of the Nicene Creed saying that the Holy Spirit proceeds from both the Father and the Son. Animosity between the Eastern and Western churches increased. Pope Nicholas I, though successful over earthly and ecclesiastical rulers in the West, failed to be successful in like manner in the East.

From Pope Nicholas I to Pope Leo IX there were not many acceptable leaders on the Roman cathedra. A terrible scandal occurred in the mid-11^th century. Pope Benedict IX was driven from Rome. Pope Sylvester III assumed the Roman cathedra. Benedict IX returned to Rome and sold the papacy for a lot of money in 1045 to a man who became Pope Gregory VI. Yet Benedict IX refused to give up the papacy. This resulted in three popes claiming the Roman cathedra. Holy Roman Emperor Henry III (c. 1017-1056) called a synod at Sutri in 1046. Benedict IX and Sylvester III were kicked out, and Gregory VI was forced to resign in favor of Pope Clement II. Pope Clement II soon died. His successor, another Henry III appointee, did not live long. Henry III later appointed his cousin Bruno as Pope Leo IX.

With Pope Leo IX this time of corrupt popes ended because he and his successors were strong men who wanted reform in the style of the Cluny monastery. The Synod of Sutri was the lowest for papal power in the Middle Ages. Under Pope Nicholas II, helped by Humbert and Hildebrand who later became Pope Gregory VII, papal election was taken out of the control of the Roman population and put in the control of the church leaders in the College of Cardinals in 1059. From then until the zenith of papal power under Pope Innocent III, the constant advance of papal influence continued in European affairs.

 

 

2. What things made the Great Schism of 1054 almost inevitable? What event became the "straw that broke the camel's back"?

 

Answer:

The Great Schism of 1054 became almost inevitable because the Eastern Church was bogged down with keeping the Muslim hordes from overrunning the Byzantine Empire. It was weakened by the control of its affairs by the Byzantine emperors. It was plagued with theological decline after the work of John of Damascus. (The Eastern Church was not able to put up much opposition to the increasing earthly and spiritual power of the bishop of Rome. The growing animosity between Western and Eastern Christianity, coming from historic origins, led to schism in 1054) Due to this Western and Eastern churches rowed over theology. In A.D. 867 Patriarch Photius accused Pope Nicholas I and the Western church of heresy because of the West's addition of the filioque clause to its version of the Nicene Creed. The West accepted the procession of the Holy Spirit from the Son. The East did not.

Another series of rows worsened the relationship between the Western and Eastern churches. From the mid-2^nd century A.D. the problem of when to observe Easter caused big headaches. Iconoclasm in the Eastern Church in the 8^th and 9^th centuries A.D. increased the animosity. In A.D. 726 Byzantine Emperor Leo III outlawed any kneeling before pictures or images. In A.D. 730 he ordered all images except the cross to be stripped from churches and destroyed to limit the power of the monks and to answer Muslim accusations of idolatry. This lay revival in the Eastern Church went against the parish and monastic clergy. In the West the Roman pontiff and Emperor Charlemagne were in favor of using visible symbols of the divine. The Eastern Church did not like this interference by the West in its internal affairs. The West continued to use pictures and statues in worship. The East got rid of statues but kept icons usually those of Christ which received reverence but not worship.

The Eastern Church was deeply resentful of Pope Nicholas I's attempt to meddle in the selection of the patriarch though it may have been justified for moral and ecclesiastical law reasons, reasons the Eastern Church did not accept. Pope Nicholas failed, but his meddling in a perceived Eastern matter only further increased the animosity between the Eastern and Western churches.

The "straw that broke the camel's back" was a minor issue. In 1054 Michael Cerularius, patriarch of Constantinople from 1043 to 1059, condemned the Western church for using unleavened bread in the Eucharist. The Western church had been doing it increasingly since the 9^th century A.D. Pope Leo IX sent Cardinal Humbert and two other legates to the East to settle the row. The differences widened as discussions continued increasingly entering into more and more issues. On 16 July 1054 the Roman legates placed a writ excommunicating the patriarch on the high altar of the Hagia Sophia church. The patriarch was furious. The patriarch in turn proclaimed the Roman pontiff and his legates to be anathema. This event is intriguing because the writ of excommunication might not have been valid because Pope Leo IX had never seen it or signed it, and the pope had already died three months previously thus causing the papal legates' authority to cease. Also the patriarch's consequential anathema was originally restricted to the pope and the papal legates personally. Regardless this ruined the unity of the church. From now on the Roman Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church went their own ways. The excommunication of each other would not be lifted until 7 December 1965 by Pope Paul VI and Patriarch Athenagoras in the Catholic-Orthodox Joint Declaration of 1965 during Vatican Council II though this action did not officially end the schism but did bring the Roman Catholic and Orthodox Churches much closer to reconciliation.

 

3. What were the consequences of the Great Schism of 1054, especially as it related to Eastern Christianity?

Answer:

Schism kept the Eastern Church from the vitalizing influences that benefited the Western church. The beginning of towns, nations, and the middle class; the culture of the Renaissance; and ultimately the Reformation missed the Eastern Church. The Roman Catholic Church came under these things and made stronger either by accepting the helpful things or reacting against perceived detriments.

The Eastern Church did have missions at this time. Boris the Bulgarian ruler accepted the faith of Constantinople in A.D. 864. Cyril and Methodius brought Christianity to Moravia, but Moravia later fell under Roman jurisdiction instead of Constantinople. Russia was a better success story. A princess named Olga became a Christian in A.D. 955 and was able to get her grandson Vladimir (A.D. 956-1015) to become a Christian in A.D. 988. This was the beginning of Christianity in Russia and the Russian Orthodox Church. Russia and most of eastern and southern Europe went under the patriarch of Constantinople as well as the Magyars.

The surprise of the spread of Islam in the 7^th century A.D. and the loss of people and real estate to the Muslims along with two centuries of chaos caused by iconoclasm left Eastern Christianity in a state of shrinkage. There was little change in liturgy, polity, or theology until modern times. It did not have the influence on the world as the Western church has had. Yet in the ancient period of Christian history the Eastern Church had been on the forefront in forming Christian theology.

 

 

Thanks,

Yours in Him,

Ikpenwa, Chizoba Gabriel

Master of Mystical Christianity Lesson 16

Mystical Christianity Course from the ULC Seminary

Questions For the Heart and Mind

1. Have you ever had memories or experiences that your rational logic could not explain? Where do you believe the experience or information originated?  Yes, I have had memories and experiences that my rational logic could not explain. I believe that the collective experience of my forebears and their prayers from the next life help to assist me in my path through life. I believe the experiences I have gone through have come from Almighty God working within my life.

2. How would you define the concept of resurrection? Resurrection is the new life we are destined to share with God in the next life.

3. What do you believe regarding the preexistence of the soul? I believe that we are in God in some mysterious way, and that He incarnates us into existence in human form according to His time and Plan.

4. Are you a physical body having a spiritual experience, or a spiritual body having a physical experience? What for you is the difference? I believe that I am neither. I believe I am a united entity of the wonder of body and soul/spirit fused together according to God's Plan to live out my allotted time on this earth. I believe I leave behind my earthly covering like a coat left behind once my journey is over. Yet in some mysterious way I will still be resurrected body and soul immediately after my last days on earth, however no longer subject to the illness, aging and sufferings my body is subject to in this world. The difference for me is in the detail. I believe much of what God does is by itself a mystery. of which the detail is not always known. However, the work He does is no less real or accurate despite my lack of full knowledge of the action of the Divine.

Master of Mystical Christianity Lesson 17

Questions For the Heart and Mind from the Mystical Christianity Course

In your opinion, why do bad things happen to good people? I believe that that there is an evil force named satan/lucifer which has the goal to bring about evil in the world and to frustrate God's plan for good for our universe. I believe that the force named satan/lucifer and his followers have influence to bring about bad situations in order to trouble good people. The story of Genesis highlighted in symbol the evil force entering the dynamic between humanity and God. Satan succeeded in turning the heart and mind of humanity away from total acceptance and worship of God (Genesis 3;1-24).  How do you resolve the ancient dilemma of how a loving and just God can allow tragic things to happen? I accept Jesus Christ's explanation that there is a negative/evil influence in the world which He named lucifer ((Luke  10:18); and that lucifer/satan has influence to cause tragic things to happen. I believe that God has worked to frustrate this influence by His plan to incarnate as Jesus Christ in the human world, and to bring about a reentry visa so to speak for humanity to enter heaven after our time here on earth. I believe that God allows tragic things to happen in the short term, but will bring about His Plan for our happiness and good in the long term, i.e. in eternity and the state called heaven. I cannot give a full answer to the ancient dilemma, as to me there is much that is mystery about God. However, my life of prayer and faith helps me to see that there is much I do not know, but I can rest assured in the faith that God does know, and so all is well. In my own personal life experience, I was injured in a car accident years ago, and since that time have lived with the resultant fibromyalgia and pain/difficulties this causes. At the time this was a tragic event to me, and I suffered much physically and emotionally. Now, years later, I realize that dealing with the difficulties and pain of fibromyalgia gave me much time to reflect and commune with God, to depend totally on Him, and ultimately led me to ordination and ministry as priest. What was at the time a tragic thing for me is an event that brought about the most wonderful thing that could have happened to me. Describe the way you see karma working in your life. I believe karma to be the law of cause and effect leading to balance. So I believe karma is God at work in my life. If I do good, ultimately all situations will turn out for the good through the grace of God actively at work in my life. Do you believe that karma is one hundred percent responsible for your current circumstances or are there other important factors involved? If so, what are they? I believe God's Plan at work in my life is the important factor at all times. My current circumstances I believe to be the end result of God walking with me on my life's path as I seek to find the answers to life's challenges. Karma - the law of cause and effect leading to balance - has certainly been at work in my life. I believe karma is influenced by other people and their decisions. If someone makes the decision to do something hurtful, the end result will cause difficulty and negativity for others. If someone makes the decision to do something helpful towards others, the end result others' lives will be helpful and positive. I do not have control over the cause of situations caused by others. Nor do I have control on the effect of situations. However, I do have control over how I respond to the situations. I believe that reaching out to God to ask for answers as to the best way of dealing with these issues will lead towards balance and harmony with the universe as God inspires through His Word in the Gospels and His example during His incarnation as Jesus Christ here on earth. Catherine Whittle