In this week’s “Robcast”, Rob Bell gives a sermon entitled “The Endless Invitation” — definitely worth a listen — I have included a link to the podcast below.
He starts with the story of Abram in Genesis 12:1-4:
“Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew thee: And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.
“So Abram departed…”
Abram was invited to leave his tribe and form a new kind of tribe, one that would bless all the other tribes rather than pursuing its own interests.
When we embark upon our Journey of A Thoughtful Faith, I wonder if this invitation to Abram applies to us.
I think there is a temptation, when we are confronted with the historical and doctrinal problems in our Church and culture, that we, too, want to leave. We want to transition from our Mormon country, kindred, and parent’s house.
I have felt this deeply at times. I sense that many of us do.
Yet I don’t think the point of Abram’s leaving was as critical as was his response to an invitation to *transform*.
Bell explores different centers we may have in our lives: the “egocentric,” the “tribe” or “ethnocentric,” the “world centric;” citing Ken Wilber’s integrative theories (similar to spiral dynamics and Fowler’s stages of faith development).
But there is a notable difference here. When we move from our Mormon tribe-centric existence into “world centric,” do we really have a tribe any longer? Bell notes that many in NGOs/Non-Profit organizations are very world centric, but are broken people in terms of having a healthy sense of self or a community.
I have had, for some time, a stuggle with “Stages of Faith Development,” as if we “graduate” from stage three to stage four, and then hopefully become stage five in our quest. I have my days when I feel very at peace with all things, and then other days when I connect very deeply with my Mormon tribe, either in temple, home teaching, or just reading the scriptures. Yeah, and between these two I do get angsty and very “stage four.”
I guess I will never grow up.
But what is this? This desire to graduate to some enlightened point of view? Is it not just another desire? Have I just exchanged the comfort of being Mormon for the smugness of my more enlightened world-centric consciousness? Why must it be “either-or” stage 3 or stage 4 or stage 5? Is enlightenment really the elimination of the ego and tribe?
Bell speaks of how we “transcend and include” as we move from ego — to tribe — to world-centric. He critiques how some extreme groups require a total negation of the self/ego and submit to the group/tribe. He speaks of the vacuity of being solely world-centric without having a healthy sense of self and the community of tribe.
Indeed, I resonate with the idea that stages of faith should be “added upon” rather than “transition to.” If I have a world centeredness, I am not at a “later stage of development,” but rather, I have a broader perspective.
I’m beginning to see “stages of faith development” more as perspectives rather than degrees to be attained and moved beyond in this life. Does this make sense to anyone?
I like this concept: “transcend and include.”
Chuang Tzu speaks of a frog in a well. A well-frog’s perspective is that of his own environment. It brings joy and happiness. A great tortoise from the sea has a different perspective. When the turtle shared his perspective with the frog, the frog became confused and discouraged. Yet I’m left to wonder something. Which perspective is “better”?
I don’t think it’s practical for a great tortoise to reside in a well — in fact, in Chuang Tzu’s story, the tortoise gets stuck trying to enter the well. In like manner, a frog in the great sea would be out of its environment.
There is a lot of symbolism in this story. Mormons can definitely be well-frogs, limited to the worldview of the well of Mormon doctrine and culture. Should we outgrow the well by having a greater perspective, where shall we call home?
On one hand, it’s anywhere we like. We CAN be like Abram and leave our country, kindred, and parents house — and indeed we should at some level. We can ask “where will we go,” and we can find many answers to that question.
We may find a new tribe. Or we may become completely individualistic. Or we may become world-centered. All of these are possibilities. But must we choose? Must we, upon abandoning the security of the Well, find another well in which to enter?
We may, we do, and as we do, as we re-enter tribal-centrism, then have we really transcended or have we just replaced one tribe for another?
Transcend and include.
I think there is another Way. It doesn’t quite fit the frog in a well story. It doesn’t quite match “stages of faith development” or “spiral dynamics” or anything else I have found. Or maybe I just don’t understand the material. That’s ok.
It seems to me that my whole self needs more than me, but not less than me. If the ideal in buddhist thought is ‘no-self,’ ‘no-desire,’ am I really human? Is it even possible or is it just another game?
If the ideal in my stages of faith development is to evolve into a kind of world – and cosmic — centeredness, yes, perhaps I now see the forest, but have I forgotten that I am a leaf on a tree?
It seems to me that to transcend and *include* means that the whole self is both-and rather than either-or. I have desires, I have ego and self. To deny their existence is to deny that I AM.
In like manner, to deny my tribe and culture, yes — it’s necessary to depart/transcend as Abram departed — but I will always be Mormon wherever I go: it’s part of me, it’s inside of me. My tribe doesn’t leave, although I do transcend it in leaving. To “transcend AND include” means I CAN be Mormon AND world-centric at the same time.
This, to me, is an endless invitation: to transcend our tribe, yet paradoxically, to be a new kind of tribe, either within or without mormonism, from which I include self-tribe-world into One.
Note: Rob Bell’s podcast episode, The Endless Invitation