Here is a new Stephan Micus song, "Almond Eyes," from the 2008 CD, Snow, which I'm looking forward to purchasing soon; as well as an older one from one of my favorite of his albums, The Garden of Mirrors.

This blog was inspired by Cameron's interesting and provocative entry, The Role of Jesus in Inter-spiritual Dialogue , and the (still ongoing) discussion that it inspired.  Reading it might provide helpful background to this entry, but I think it can also stand on its own.  One of the questions that arose in that conversation is whether the Christian 'scandal of particularity,' the notion that Jesus is the Only Way, the only example of God-in-the-flesh and the ultimate source of human salvation, can be carried forward in any way into postmodern and Integral forms of Christianity, and that is one of the questions I'm trying to address with this entry.

Sacred Marriage

One of the implications of an enactive, postmetaphysical understanding for Christian spirituality that I've been considering is that, in some sense, it invites one to take seriously the notion of spiritual marriage -- where one's spouse, although not really the only choice available to you before you married, becomes the One, the Only, the Absolute object of your commitment and devotion.  And that choice has creative, transformative potential -- it makes you a New Man or Woman, someone you would not have been but for the love and presence of the other and your commitment to them.  Together, you enact a unique way of being, one which is not closed or final, but which is still particular. 

For Christians, to take Christ as Bridegroom is to enter into a unique relationship -- one which calls forth your potential in a way no other way ("spouse") can.  To "marry Christ" is, one might say, the "Only Way" to realize the unique Christian vision of the Kingdom (which becomes the universal horizon for all those so engaged). 

If you remove the "assurance" of a metaphysical, absolutized center -- a necessity which robs one, really, of truly free choice, since to "choose against" that metaphysical center is to choose Death or Eternal Damnation (in the traditional formulations) -- then you have a situation which is actually much closer to the love-commitment of marriage.  In modern Western society, at least, we marry in freedom, out of love, out of a mature willingness to devote ourselves fully and passionately to the other.  Can this work in the religious sphere?  I wonder:  How many people would choose to marry Jesus, spiritually -- to enter into the unique transformative crucible of love that he offers -- if the church took away the absolutized language and metaphysical assurances (and the accompanying existential threats), and instead offered only a challenging, difficult, creative, generative relationship?  One in which profound 'spiritual transformation' was still a potential, but one in which the 'end' was also, in some sense, 'open-ended,' still-to-be-enacted? 

In a postmodern society, of course, even the traditional marriage model is changing, so the forms of spiritual marriage would also likely change.  But in any event, I'm not really trying to argue for this approach, necessarily, for anyone.  I'm just looking at a way that a challenging spiritual 'particularity' or 'exclusivity' might show up in the post/postmodern world, this time as the particularity of freely chosen love and commitment, not the particularity of metaphysical givens.  Jesus is God means: We see in Jesus a vision of our own fullness and freedom en-fleshed.  Being a Christian means: Passionately choosing and committing to the promise and challenge of this love relationship.

This approach, of course, already has precedents in the teachings and metaphors of Christianity (Jesus as bridegroom, Church as bride) and other religions (Sufi and Hindu bhakti paths, for instance, or certain Tantric forms of guru yoga and yidam-practice).  But it is an approach that can 'fly' in post/postmodern space without requiring commitment to metaphysical idols, or adherence to the problematic triumphalist/inclusivist approaches to intercultural and interfaith relations that commitment to those metaphysical givens typically entails.