Posted by Dave on April 05, 2005 at 13:17:56:
In Reply to: Re: all the cows are cashin' posted by cav on April 05, 2005 at 05:25:16:
Hi cav-
You're right--Teasdale's not for everybody. I think that whether or not you like him would depend on a number of factors.
Huston Smith, in his book Why Religion Matters, outlines what he calls the four basic "Spiritual Personality Types." They are:
1) The Atheist: There is no God. This doesn't involve necessarily denying God's existence, but involves believing in no personal God. Einstein and Camus.
2) The Polytheist: There are many gods.
3) The Monotheist: There is only one God. The vast majority of Christians, Jews, and Muslims fall here. Some Hindus, as well, if you take into account that all of the Hindu "gods" are really just manifestations of the one true Brahma from their point of view.
4) The Mystic: There is only God. There aren't really many of these. This is not pantheism, because it believes in a personal God, but one who pervades creation completely and utterly, to the point that there is no place (or dimension) where God is not. This is panENtheism. "God IN all." The problem that monotheists have with this position is that it denies (or fails to consider) evil. As Smith puts it, "In the mystic's world evil drops from the picture and only good remains. There is only God." This teaching, the mystic teaching that you find with people like Teasdale, is hard for most people.
That doesn't mean that everyone falls neatly into one of the four catagories. For instance, a dominant monotheist with mystic tendencies might like early Thomas Merton, but not his later stuff. Someone who is more of a mystic might like Merton's later stuff more. You get the picture.
Dave