David Kerlick - Spiritual

last revised 2008-05-12

Influences and Reflections

Eclectic is perhaps the best word for my spiritual experience, with a sucession of influences from Eastern Christianity (my upbringing), Physical Cosmology (my education), Psychedelics, Meditation, Teilhard de Chardin, Radical Faeries, Pagan Ritual, Body Electric massage and rebirthing, Mythology (Joseph Campbell), Intellectual Buddhism ripening into Buddhist Shamatha/Vipassana/Metta practice.

I say at the outset that I am not a religious believer. Reincarnation, heaven, hell, god, angels, devils, psychic realms, and all that are projections that human beings put on their own thought processes, which are nothing but emergent neural phenomena. Not that it is "just neurons" but that if you taake the neurons, and the physical basis, away, then there are no bodiless spooks left. What I experienced could be called "core consciousness" at the ground of being In that limited way, it is like computer programs vanish when you take away the hardware they run on. The programs did not create the machines they run on! In the sense of Teilhard, the spirit emerges from matter, not the other way around. If you need an object for breathtaking awe, I suggest that the physical universe is a darn good object!

Once you are "experienced," as Jimi Hendrix would say, it is clear that all traditions are united "at the top," only that the paths are as different as the individuals on them. Having said that, a lot of traditions degenerate into political power grabs and attempted mind control of "followers" by "leaders." Athanasius invented "heresy" and the idea that all other paths than his were evil, a precursor of the fundamentalist mindset. And fundamentalism of any stripe, whether "christian" (who have practically nothing in common with what Jesus taught -- who would Jesus bomb?), the fanatical violence of Bin Laden, or the Israeli settlers on occupied land that is not theirs ("Our god says we can take your land") seems very far from the mark. Jimmy Carter in his book on America's endangered values, takes on the political fundamentalism of the "neocons" now in power in the U.S.

Yet the nature of things would seem to get them to realization eventually in spite of all. Goddess knows how!

My one-time faerie name Persimmon was based on an article in Parabola Magazine on the parable of the ripening persimmon, the ripening of wisdom (which initiation I received in a fortunate psychedelic experience on my 30th birthday) into compassion (the point of my present meditation practice).

One philosophy which I have none of is "newage" which in my dictionary rhymes with sewage. It is politically reactionary cant, blaming the victims of social and political injustice, not the perpetrators.

If you consult the belief-o-matic I concide most closely with Unitarian, since they don't adhere to fixed belief, and are more about search than about revealed belief. Roman Catholicism now runs dead last, so perhaps I have recovered from the early spiritual violence that they
visited upon me.

Spiritual Reading (not checked recently)

Ss. Teresa of Avila and Juan de la Cruz
Read Teilhard de Chardin, Merlin Stone, some of Matthew Fox (but Rupert Sheldrake is a crackpot!)
For entheogenic substances, read Alexander Shulgin's "Pihkal"
for a how-to there's "The Psychedelic Experience" by Leary, Alpert, and Metzner.
Starhawk is good for paganism and walks the talk with political activism.

Spiritual Links

Eastern Church Web Sites: http://www.music.princeton.edu/chant_html/east.html
Physics and Cosmology: Gamow Ylem in TPE; What the Bleep - don't bother!
Teilhard: Christianity and Evolution
Faerie and Pagan: Some traces of the Radical Faery pages I once had, when I was more enthusiastic about that movement, which has lost its initial focus on men loving men.
Buddha Dharma: I much value the teachings of Jack Kornfield, because they are from the heart, with humor. I'm in tune with his background in psychology, and on some days I view Buddhist practice as depth psychology focused on positive mental health, not just freedom from disease. Kornfield makes a great case for finding a teacher, but I have yet to find a single person who would match my temperament and background very well. I have nothing against the idea. Time may tell.

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Dr. G. David Kerlick -- davidk at eskimo dot com
6342 34th Ave SW
Seattle WA 98126-3148