A dangerous religion stems from a dangerous mind

“Without the contemplative and converted mind — honest and humble perception — much religion is frankly dangerous.”
— Fr. Richard Rohr

We too easily assume that because a church or other faith system is set up in God’s name that it truly succumbs to and serves the purposes of God.  This is a dangerous assumption.  The default of humanity is ‘what’s in it for me?’ and this must consciously and continuously be overcome.

Dangerous religion is the default unless God is truly the pinnacle of the system.

A contemplative and converted mind

What Rohr is getting at is a concentrated concept in the mind of a believer, a leader in the case of a church, a disciple of God.  Their mind is converted to the purposes of God and their heart is compelled toward pleasing God and not themselves.  Their conscience is piqued toward their own fallibility and bearing the fruit of the Spirit to the blessing of others — which is faith that pleases the Lord.

The entire article that the above quote is drawn from speaks of nondual thinking — the absence of a judging mind.  The judging mind, especially a judging mind that justifies hazardously judging thinking and behaviour, is at the core of dangerous, toxic religious systems.  There is no sanctuary in it.  There is no place where a fallible person can just be there to rest, recover, renew in safety, to be restored.

The person of Jesus’ Spirit holds two seemingly opposing things simultaneously:

a person is accepted and allowed to be AS THEY ARE whilst 
being ready to assist as the Holy Spirit calls the person to more.

For God and for us, every person is deserving of unconditional love.
Our judging mind doubts this.  We must repent of this thinking.

There is the complete absence of judgment in Jesus, even though he is the only one positioned to appropriately judge.  Jesus recognises that the human spirit and condition finds judgment repugnant — though paradoxically we judge ourselves in a heartbeat!  Jesus knows that the last thing any of us needs is judgment, yet we only begin to grow when we can see our need to grow — without judging ourselves harshly.

It’s a precondition for anyone’s growth that we completely do not judge them, but we provide inspiration and room for growth, trusting the Spirit to convict the converted one.  It’s all about God’s agenda and timeframe.  None of us have any idea what God’s up to.

Growth cannot come unless the person themselves sees and knows they need to grow.

A truly converted person will want to grow.  A contemplative leader who has mastery over their mind — who resists judging and manipulating people — will be a powerful instrument in the hands of God in the life of a truly converted disciple of Christ.

Such a contemplative leader — who is momentarily in tune with their judging thinking; who repents every moment, every time — bears the fruit of honest and humble perception.  They know just how quickly the human mind is given to judging, so they have agreed with themselves before God to swiftly repent each time, regularly praying Psalm 139:23-24.

Beware the non-contemplative, judging leader

Leaders must bear the fruit of repentance in their own lives, exemplifying it, to be able to lead others in that way.  Without this, they are completely unqualified to lead under God.  It doesn’t matter how many degrees they have or whose endorsement they bear.

Without honest and humble perception — without the ability to see; i.e. plagued by dualistic thinking full of unacknowledged biases and prejudices — a leader doesn’t truly have God’s blessing, because their eyes don’t see straight.  Throughout their lives there are all sorts of unacknowledged problems, especially in relationships.  They cannot bear to think they could be wrong.  There is a trail of damage left behind them.  Realistically, any sign of damage done without effort made to put it right is a blight.

God looks on and sees with utter dismay the damage that occurs from a religion that puts people in harm’s way and very definitely produces harm.  People will always trust themselves to a leadership they think has God’s blessing all over it; until they’ve been hurt, and some of those completely turn away from God.  People submit trustingly in the power of a leader anointed in God’s name.  And they are vulnerable to being brutally betrayed.

~

A good shepherd puts their life on the line for the lives of the sheep; every single one.

From honest and humble perception, a shepherd as a leader seeks the best for the other.

Because a shepherd is fallible, as well as being committed to honesty, they see first their own spiritual poverty and it reinforces their need to be humble.  Their humility causes them to stay in being honest about themselves.  As a result, they judge well, judging themselves first at all times.  They quickly recognise the way they care for people is central to their person; that their relationship with God is in direct correlation to their relationships with others.

A good shepherd cares about what others think, and they do all in their power to reconcile damaged relationships.

Photo by Michael Krahn on Unsplash