Although Tikkun was started as the voice of progressive Jews, we also honor the traditions of progressives in every religion as well as the insights of secular humanists and spiritually progressive atheists. Our interfaith Network of Spiritual Progressives is explicitly not only in its conception interfaith, but explicitly welcoming to secular humanist and atheists. In short, one does not have to be a believe in any conception of God or connected to any religious practice to be a spiritual progressive. Yet, we also do want to honor the religious practices of every religion to the extent that they embrace a spiritual progressive worldview—namely, seeking to build a world of love, generosity, nonviolence, peace, social and economic justice, environmental sustainability and enhancing our capacities to treat others as embodiments of the sacred and responding to the universe with awe and wonder rather than seeing it (or seeing other humans) primarily in instrumental terms (namely, “what can you do to satisfy my needs?”). It is in this spirit that we send out statements about Christmas and Chanukah, just as we have done for Ramadan. ~Rabbi Michael Lerner, Editor of Tikkun, rabbilerner.tikkun@gmail.com
The 12 truths of Christmas are universal truths meant to be savored and reflected upon, for they are the product of over 45 years of my personal quest to deeply feel and understand a state of love and soul consciousness I once felt and knew as a child. I then found the courage to identify it as the Unified Field, a state of consciousness that exists not only beyond time and space but also beneath our deepest fears. It has demonstrated its remarkable self-healing qualities through the power of gratefulness with clients as well as combat veterans by the simple act of surrendering to love and conquering fear in the process. ~Allen L. Roland, PhD
“Love alone is capable of uniting living beings in such a way as to complete and fulfill them for it alone takes them and joins them to what is deepest within themselves.” ~Teilhard de Chardin
- You can heal yourself by surrendering to love. It really is that simple. Only LOVE truly heals because it connects us to what is deepest within ourselves.
- The long sought-for Unified Field is a psychic energy field of love and soul consciousness which lies not only beyond time and space but ALSO beneath our deepest fears.
- The so-called laws of science and physics are essentially observer-dependent as the consciousness of the observer determines what can be truly seen.
- This Unified Field of love and soul consciousness is the absolute constant of the universe. Within it, time and space do not exist.
- The near and after-death experience is, in reality, a state of soul consciousness that lies beyond our present state of ego consciousness.
- Our life is a clearly defined quest, not a struggle, to emerge from our present state of ego consciousness and reunite with our authentic self and our original state of soul consciousness.
- Beneath our deepest pain and grief is a state of love, joy, and soul consciousness (the Unified Field).
- Jesus was divinely human – an evolutionary forerunner for a state of soul consciousness we will all eventually surrender to.
- There is no such thing as an ugly soul – we all come from a place of love, joy and soul consciousness.
- Relationship is the true test of who we really are – and every love relationship, regardless of the pain, is a gift on the journey to find and embrace our authentic self and our authentic vocation in the loving plan.
- Most long term therapy is thinly disguised co-dependency – we all have the capacity to heal ourselves if we will say YES to ourselves and not be controlled by fear.
- Darwin had it wrong – evolution is fueled by social cooperation and altruism, not violence and survival of the fittest. We cannot escape our destiny – it is divine! However, please note that Darwin did mention cooperation, collaboration, and love in his work – especially in his second book. He hated the term “survival of the fittest,” and only mentioned it twice – once in derogatory terms. See David Loye’s Darwin’s Lost Theory of Love and similar works.
Think of the ego as a protective cocoon that is meant to be shed. The Unified Field can be visualized as a grid of great luminosity joining all living beings within its energy field of love and soul consciousness.
The words of the American poet and educator Henry Longfellow and the Persian poet and Sufi master Rumi would seem appropriate in describing this all-encompassing field or grid:
“The thread of all sustaining beauty that runs through all and doth all unite.” ~Henry Longfellow
“Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing, there is a field. I’ll meet you there…. When the soul lies down in that grass, the world is too full to talk about… Ideas, language, even the phrase “each other” doesn’t make any sense.” ~Mevlana jelaluddin Rumi, 13th century
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Allen L. Roland, PhD is a Freelance Alternative Press Online columnist. He is also a heart centered spiritual consultant, author and lecturer who also shares a weekly political and social commentary on his web site at AllenRoland.com. He also guest hosts Truthtalk, a national radio show that airs monthly. He is available for comments, interviews, speaking engagements as well as private consultations via email at allen@allenroland.com.