THE
ORIGINAL TRADITION
"Evolutionary Spiral"
Since 1893 when the "Parliament of
World Religions" declared its aim, namely a "World Religion", interfaith
efforts have been developed at an increasing pace. In almost all big cities of the Western
world representatives of various faiths try to define common denominators. The results are
meager. Why? Because - as the members themselves admit - of lack of SPIRIT. The great
religions face a problem that can hardly be solved. They are caught in their own
definitions. Definitions are excluding each other.
In order to unite existing belief systems
you have to go beyond God: spiritually, mythologically, historically....That is exactly
what happened just recently....The new "world religion" has to go back to its
roots, redefining its subsequent developments until recent times. The surprise is this:
the evolution of religion proves to be cyclic. After many millennia of patriarchal
dominance we are once again embracing the Origin of God and the universe: the Cosmic Womb
or Great Mother. She is the Bottomless Vacuum to which everything returns and from which
everything evolves.
Paleolithic
The Great Mother
Originally, mankind lived in a magical universe, dominated by the
"Universal Feminine". Spiritually, it is the Realm of the Cosmic Womb, Absolute
Nothingness e.g. Emptiness beyond Emptiness. Mythologically and historically we have only
the Mother statues (Laussel, Willendorf) of 40.000 years ago and older at our disposal
Neolithic/Bronze Age
The Mother/Goddesses/Gods
The Great Mother is subsequently getting a face: Nuth, Isis in Egypt; Inanna,
Ischtar in Mesopotamia. She is the Source of Death, Rebirth and Permanence. Later Her
Son/Lovers took over the role of "Vegetation Deity", the dying and resurrecting
Gods, like Osiris and Tammuz. Spiritually, "death and rebirth" is the foundation
of inner renewal, while "permanence" invites to (once again) becoming part of
the Mother's web of life.
Iron Age
Goddesses/Gods
Fragmentation of the Mother results into separate Goddesses symbolizing
limited aspects of the Original Mother, e.g. the ""Goddesses of fertility",
"love", "war" etc. Sometimes they still have the aura of Wholeness,
like Asherah/Astarte of Canaan. Increasingly, they were forced to compete with male
colleagues. It culminated in myths like the babylonian Enuma Elish in which the God Marduk
destroys the Goddess Tiamat, announcing a new patriarchal era
Historical time
The One God
Political "necessities" - authoritarian, centralized regimes (Joshua
600 BCE) - were leading to a monotheistic religion: "One God, One Ruler, One
Country". The first attempt took place in Israel, where Yahweh "distanced
himself"" from his consort Asherah. Patriarchal society managed to dominate the
culture, this at the expense of Mother-oriented groups and societies. The Bible is an
account of how ruthless "Yahweh" initiated massacres and wars in order to crush
his enemies. ""I am a jealous God, and apart from me, no other God exists".
Ever since, the three "great" religions deny any relationship with this their
infamous past
The Son of God
A Substitute
Hellenistic mystery religions and Gnosis tried to revive and extend the Old
Mother Religion together with the "dying and resurrecting" God. The latter being
the role model for personal renewal. Jesus was the last chain of thousands of years of
Near Eastern tradition. The Church, however, monopolized inner regeneration, by making
Christ the "Only Begotten Son of God". (Buddhism is centered around Sakyamuni
Buddha as The Fully Enlightened One). Islam declared Mohammed God's last Prophet.
Christians were thus deprived of their inner Divine Spark as their True Identity. From
then on their only hope for redemption came from outside: "salvation" through
Jesus' death and resurrection
Decay
The Church
In order to extend its monopoly the Church did not shy away from every
thinkable crime. From oppression, lies, deceit, manipulation, falsification of texts,
burning of books, torture, murder and wars. Once again, political ambition (Constantin
"the Great") concentrated power, this time into the hands of the Pope. From then
on Christianity became the state religion. With state power on its side it did everything
to crush all its "enemies'': pagans, women, heretics, jews, philosophers...At last
the resistence of the people was broken. They fell back on their (primitive) ego's, the
beginning of the self-centered Western culture. Obviously, Western humanism subsequently
brought many progressive developments. However, its alienation from ""Heaven,
earth and the community" ultimately caused disaster after disaster, culminating in
the current global (ego) catastrophy.
Modernity
Disintegration
Nietzsches' "God is dead" reflected the "definitive"
degeneration of religious life in Europe. In fact, this was part of a process of general
decay: spiritually, culturally, socially, economically...It culminated in the current
global crisis with climate change as ultimate threat. Nowadays, our survival is at stake.
This unprecedented situation requires a total "Umdenken" - a total new way of
thinking - as a prerequisite for a "new global order". According to Toynbee this
can only be achieved through radical new values, norms and way of life. To be able to do
so we have to first return to the Source in order to become renewed. A New Spirit as a
prerequisite for a New World!
Return of
The Great Mother
Our traditional concept of "God" proves to be incapable of renewing
the culture. Hence, in order to receive new insights, love and strength we have to go
beyond it. There a big surprise is waiting for us. God isn't the Ultimate but orginates
from "something'' beyond. This "Something" is Absolute Nothingness, or as
Buddhists say: Emptiness beyond Emptiness. At the same time people say: "We are all
heading towards nothingness". Without deeper meaning this is rather frightening. What
if "Nothingness" isn't the end of all things, though, but proves to be a Cosmic
Vessel in which everything old, sick, ugly is dying, while continuously giving birth to
the new, the fresh and the young? In ancient times this All-Embracing Dimension was called
"Great Mother". Our evolution isn't linear, but proves to be a eternal return,
indeed, an ongoing spiral.
A New Era
The
Original Tradition
Universal/All-Inclusive/Interreligious
I have called this evolutionary spiral "The Original Tradition".
It includes the various stages of Consciousness. the Cosmic Vacuum as the Origin, followed
by the Divine Light (God/God-Realization), the harmony with Heaven, earth and the
community (birth, growth, flowering), to subsequently entering stages of decay
(ego-centeredness/greed/ accumulation/disbalance/disintegration). Nowadays, we are at a
cross road: the culture either dies or regenerates. Renewal means, that we have to
cooperate with the ""Law of the Universe"" - death, rebirth and
permanence - only then "Divine Grace" will be regenerating us. The first
prerequisite is to continuously dying to the old, while subsequently becoming part of the
Whole, once again. Being part of the "web of life" implies cherishing a world
view based on ""feminine"" (holistic) values: interconnectedness,
love, respect, peace, tolerance, cooperation, community, justice and harmony with nature.
Existing religions could take the lead here by emphasizing the ""Maternal
Dimension of God", everything according to their own tradition (Great Mother,
Madonna, Kuan Yin, Matri Devi, Sophia, Shekinah etc.). Moreover, worldly balance should
reflect cosmic balance, e.g. we should create balance on all levels of society. That's why
The Original Tradition advocates a community democracy, an economy of balance and a
sustainable earth.
Leadership
Green Men/Wise Women
To be part of the Whole: spiritually, culturally and socially puts an end to loneliness,
emptiness and angst. Instead, an all-inclusive security will take possession of you. From
then on you only live in the Here and Now. Neither prisoner of the past nor of the future
you have managed to replace "having' by "Being". This is the background of
your commitment to Life. You are the one who has discovered that "from the moment on
that you commit yourself to Life, Life will be committing itself to you". You will
fly on the wings of the Ultimate. Supported by the knowledge that you are part of the most
ancient tradition on earth, Wise Women and Green Men relentlessly commit themselves to A
New World. They do this through Spiritual Service, Health Service, Community Service
and Earth Service.
First Steps
Healing Communities
With increasing disintegration of society, the necessity of creating new
communities only becomes more acute. It can be compared with the Dark Ages. At that time
Irish monks went to the continent in order to start monasteries. This monasterial movement
was very successful. It saved the culture from disappearing. Nowadays, the survival of the
planet is at stake. Individualism and materialism are the two major undermining factors.
They are the cause of alienation, lonelines, fragmentation, meaninglessness, angst and
degeneration. The answer is to establish New Communities. It is one of our main concerns.
Hence, our commitment to support you wherever we can.
International
Training Centre
Transformatorium
Do you want to become part of the New World rightnow? It is possible. We are working hard
to start an educational curriculum in short notice. It will be a (spiritual)
"University for CultureRenewal", based on a daily "monastic" rule -
with an ashram-like structure - aiming at teaching you the 7 Steps of the Healing the
Planet Initiative. It will train you as a Green Man e.g. Wise Woman, volunteers, who's
passion it is to go into the world practising Spiritual, Health, Community and Earth
Service. This consists of guiding people on The Universal Way, offering them Mother
Healing, while initiating "Healing the Planet" Programs. Together you will be
the hopefuls to the world, new leaders, who will take the lead in making new steps on the
Evolutionary Spiral.
Joy,
gratitude! |