INSIGHT 42: CHURCH SCHISMS ARE NOT DISASTERS FOR OUR CHURCHES. THEY ARE THE GREAT GENERATING FORCE FOR CHANGE AND IMPROVEMENT. THEY ARE THE SPIRITUAL IMPERATIVE MADE VISIBLE. THEY ARE THE SACRED PURPOSE OF ALL OUR PILGRIMAGES MADE CLEAR. THEY ARE THE MYSTICAL FLUIDITY OF ALL SPIRITUAL PURPOSE BROUGHT ALIVE IN OUR SIGHT. THEY ARE THE CONTINUAL AND GOD-GIVEN KEYS TO OUR SPIRITUAL UNFOLDMENT, TO OUR SPIRITUAL AWAKENING. AND WITH THIS AWAKENING, SO SHALL COME OUR SPIRITUAL HEALING OF OURSELVES, OF EACH OTHER, OF OUR COMMUNITIES AND OF OUR MOTHER EARTH, OUR HOLY GAIA.

Schisms are the great crises of the church. Schisms lead to schisms that become the great crises of the churches. But they are life-giving. In fact, the greatest threat to all religions organisations is not the threat of rival teachings, or rival interpretations of teachings, it is the threat of what the possession of power can do to the holders of power. Power does invariably corrupt, does invariably lead the adherents of a church away from the true core of Christ’s teach which had absolutely nothing to do with pomp and circumstance and everything to do with humility and love and compassion. Even a church of great pomp and circumstance and wealth can find its true or original heart when shaken by schisms of its own making. Such are the spiritual and sacred truths within the very hearts of our fractured churches.

ALL SPIRITUAL PROGRESS INVARIABLY RESULTS FROM SPIRITUAL CRISES. THIS IS TRUE IN OUR SACRED SELVES, AND IS TRUE IN THE CHURCHES AND FAITHS THAT SHOULD BE ATTENDING TO OUR SACRED SOULS. IN OUR SPIRITUAL CRISES WE CAN BE AWAKENED INTO NEW AWARENESS. IN OUR SPIRITUAL CRISES OUR SOULS CAN ACHIEVE THAT SACRED UNFOLDMENT THAT IS THE ESSENCE OF OUR SPIRITUAL, MYSTICAL AND INDEED SACRED PILGRIMAGE TOWARDS ONENESS WITH THE ALL, WHICH IS WHAT WE CALL GOD.

Schisms are the great crises of the church. Schisms lead to schisms that become the great crises of the churches. In Christianity alone we have seen numerous breakups, as the once all but monolithic Church split between east and west – between Constantinople and Rome – and leaving aside other minor breaks, we eventually saw the split in the west between Rome and Lutheranism, then Luther’s Protestantism splitting into many different factions, and the Roman Church then splitting off the Anglican persuasion. These are the great schisms. There have been many minor ones. Many evangelical churches have broken into house churches, which themselves have invariably broken into ‘rival’ factions or groups. Each split is invariably seen as a crisis for the ‘mother’ group. But as the churches fracture, two possibilities arise. The first is that co-religionists, even though adhering to rival factions, might begin to realise that the details of their beliefs are unimportant compared to how they actually live their lives in terms of the spiritual and moral teachings of Jesus the ultimate founder of their religion. Too often it is doctrine – the understanding of what various overly charged terms mean that lead to splits. It is rare for split to occur over issues of morality and ethics and life-styles. The second possibility that might at last arise is that the breaking of the churches, at one level, though not at the most important level of moral and ethical behaviour, diminishes the churches in term of their power. The greatest threat to all religions organisations is not the threat of rival teachings, or rival interpretations of teachings, it is the threat of the what the possession of power can do to the holders of power. Power does invariably corrupt, does invariably lead the adherents of a church away from the true core of Christ’s teach which had absolutely nothing to do with pomp and circumstance and everything to do with humility and love and compassion. Even a church of great pomp and circumstance and wealth can find its true or original heart when shaken by schisms of its own making.

Image of spires and pillars silhouetted against a rising sun.

These insights, that were begun by Richard Dell right back in the early 1990s, touch on all the most meaningful and indeed important religious and spiritual issues of our times. They are the same now as they were then. These Insights see religion just as firmly grounded in the Earth and in the stars as it is in the spirit and in the heavens. Richard sees no distinction between the material and spiritual realms. ALL is ONE. This comes through so clearly in these Insights, and that is why the environmental movement – our awakening at last to the needs of Gaia, of our planet – is as important as any spiritual quest, as important as all our need for healing, and is and must be an integral part of that holistic oneness that we must achieve in all that we do. It is also why issues such as Black Lives Matter are deeply spiritual. Richard sees inclusivity as being at the core of all our spiritual and religious endeavours. ALL is indeed ONE. And that mantra is the key to humanity’s future evolution: spiritual, social and political.