Liturgy/ Sacrament/ Natural Order: “The Evolution of Symbiosis”
The agents of Liturgy are The People; the agents of Sacrament (ritual remembrance) are The People; the agents of self-reflective purpose in Natural Order are The People. By decree of the Second Vatican Council, Church is The Whole People. The Whole People as Church is the intentional agency (subject) and agendum (object) of reason, of faith and of purpose.
The interrelationship of Liturgy, Sacrament and Natural Order is reciprocal, that is, each is the correlative of the other — Liturgy bears upon Sacrament, Sacrament bears upon Natural Order, bears upon Church; Natural Order, Church, bears upon Sacrament, Sacrament bears upon Liturgy, etc — all bear upon human self-reflectivity, the evolving continuity locus of purposeful agency and agenda.
Co-essential to each other, Liturgy, Sacrament and Natural Order are about inter-personal and ecozoic relationships. Natural Order, which subsists in divine immanence, is inclusive of all life, as are Sacrament and Liturgy.
No artifice of mental division can cleave the continuity relationships of energy/ matter, spirituality/ materiality, soul/ body; matter subsists in energy; materiality subsists in spirituality; and body subsists in soul. Energy, spirituality, and soul are transcendent; matter, materiality, and body are necessarily changing and impermanent.
The insensitive culture of dominion theology (exclusionary patriarchy) is counter-intuitive, anti-social, ungodlike and self-destructive. Sensitivity is the soul of mature consciousness, as intention (committed purpose) is the self-reflective soul of Natural Order — what is intelligent design.
Sensitivity supposes sense (faith/ reason) as maturity supposes reality (Natural Order). Reality is the premise, the sine-qua-non supposition of sensitivity. Religion is committed fidelity to faith/ reason mutuality, to the symbiotic sense of Eucharistic transformation, the necessary transformation of the impermanent into other/ Other.
As the supposition of Natural Order, intelligent design is the agency and agendum of faithful living, of grace in nature, and of symbiotic Sacrament. Agency and agendum are by way of communication, consciousness and conscience.
God is without hands, except for human hands; God is without voice, except for human voice. The People are the voice, the Word of God on Earth; The People are the hands, the Work (leitos ergon) of God on Earth. Word/ Work are about Liturgy, Sacrament and Natural Order — what self-reflection and symbiotic evolution are about.
__________________
[Excerpted in part from Monica Steffen, 1982, “The Evolution of Symbiosis”, from QUANTUM RELIGION, pp 117-123, www.secondenlightenment.org ]
“…As science explores the symbiotic phenomenon, it is becoming more and more evident that symbiosis is a common occurrence rather than a rare event, and according to Margulis, “…it is a product of an evolving interspecific relationship.”
“Symbiosis: The human realization.
“The species Homo sapiens is the highest evolved organism on this planet to date thanks to symbiosis and myriad other forces such as natural selection. Given the evolved human intellect, man has the potential to grasp the essence of his existence, to perfect himself, and to direct himself toward a purpose.
“Within the last couple of decades, we have witnessed a knowledge explosion in all areas of science. This scientific period of enlightenment has given us much insight into our existence. It is now time to coalesce this knowledge and direct it toward a universal purpose. Man can no longer afford to continue his exploitive abuse of this knowledge without running the risk of destroying himself.
“Man has yet to realize that in order for humankind to survive as a species, he must learn to live symbiotically with fellow men, with other species of the earth, and with earth itself.
“Symbiosis: A tool for learning.
“Science and religion provide vehicles by which man can realize his potential; unfortunately, they too have yet to be symbiotically united. In essence, science in its pure form and religion in its true sense are one and the same; their main pursuit is that of truth. The problem exists in the vocabularies of the two institutions. Their teachings are the same, but they are speaking two different languages.
“Because of this miscommunication, misunderstandings arise, thus, polarizing the pursuers of the same truth. This polarity is found not only between the school of science and the school of religion, but it is also found within the individual schools. Within the religious institution there are many denominations with their many different beliefs, and those who hold a particular dogma would profess that theirs is the only truth. Within the scientific institution there are many schools of theory and thought, and those who pursue a particular theory in a defined manner without considering other schools of thought and other consequences run the risk of discovering only a half-truth.
“It is not that these polarized institutions are all together wrong, for there is much truth in their teachings, but they are representing only a part of the truth and thus are only partly correct in their teachings.
“Polarization between and within these institutions serves only to complicate the search for truth. Men of science and those of religion need to strive for a symbiosis of the two institutions; the language barrier must be bridged so those who seek to learn the truth may be taught a whole truth.
“Symbiosis: Hope for human society.
“Our society, both national and global, is suffering from an acute case of the Old Testament’s Cain and Abel Syndrome. The two brothers represent two contentious forces. Rather than trying to accommodate one another, they allowed their differences to create bitter resentment. The consequences of this animosity culminated in the demise of one and the long-term suffering of the other.
“There are many contentious forces acting on the world which set individual against individual, culture against culture, and nation against nation. The consequences of these contentions and our failure to make accommodations are displayed daily in the many Cain and Abel scenarios that color the news media—and looming dangerously on the horizon are the consequences of a major contention between two nations that threatens the existence of all mankind and other life forms.
“Perhaps this is the message of the New Testament’s Book of Revelation. Taken literally, as many do take the Bible, this writing conjures up all sorts of unimaginable terrors. But if the mystical propositions are reduced to an applicable perspective, the choices it offers and the consequences of each choice may be brought to new light.
“Apocalypse (from the Greek “apokalypsis” which means “uncovering”) may be said to represent the uncovering of the true purpose of our existence, the symbiosis of all nations such that a unified, interdependent world society is created.
“Armageddon, the antithesis of apocalypse, may be said to represent the consequences of pursuing a contentious purpose, the maintaining of individual nations such as to perpetuate a divided world.
“Unfortunately, we are currently living in a divided world, a contentious world with a nuclear holocaust impending, and man is still applying his evolved intellect and acquired knowledge to self-serving purposes. He has yet to learn to be accommodating, to become symbiotic. He is still parasitic and sometimes even pathogenic in his relationships to other men, to other forms of life, and to the earth. But even so, there is still hope for mankind; according to Margulis, “…parasitic relationships may become benign and even obligate…” and thus these relationships would become symbiotic.
“The laws of love that are taught by many of the world’s religions, Christianity to name just one, are the laws of symbiosis. When man learns to become accommodating, when he learns to live interdependently, then would true religion and symbiosis be experienced.
“We have seen how symbiotic relationships between organisms have been used to solve problems of survival. Human symbiosis may well be the key to solve many of the problems that face mankind. But in order to take on such grandiose tasks as achieving world peace and feeding the millions of hungry people in this world, we must first learn to be accommodating in our daily existence. We cannot become a symbiotic world society unless we learn to become symbiotic individuals.
“It is time for us to realize that we live on a physically finite planet. The material things we borrow from this earth in order to survive are precious and must be shared. Yes, symbiosis is the way.”
www.evolution101.org
