MYSTICAL ATHEISM I: RELIGION IN A COSMIC AGE

A Sermon By

The Rev. Susan Manker-Seale

Something very exciting is beginning this month: the SETI Institute, SETI meaning Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence, will start a twenty-four hour search for radio signals using the Allen Telescope Array in Northern California, a new telescope composed of 42 dishes which can receive many different radio bands at the same time. This sounds like “Contact,” that movie Jody Foster starred in, but it’s real life, real serious exploration of what astronomers believe is a good possibility of life outside our solar system. The article was in the May issue of Discover Magazine, and the author, Seth Shostak, who is senior astronomer at SETI, calculated the latest probabilities that there are lots of other planets and how many could sustain life, not to mention intelligent life. His final conclusion was “that there should be a civilization within about 1000 light years of Earth.” (p. 58-61)

Astronomically speaking, that’s very close, and I was, well, dumfounded, amazed, awed! This isn’t Star Wars or even Star Trek. This is 2006 on planet Earth. My thoughts turned, as usual, to religion, and I asked myself, and I ask you today, what are our many faith traditions doing with this type of information? Who is doing the futures work for religion? And how can a concept of a personal god, or even a faith-tied god, fit with the possibility of other forms of life?

What are you doing with these new revelations from science? How are you doing incorporating them into your belief system?

I used to walk a fine line between my basically atheist Unitarian Universalist upbringing and my mystical experiences. I went to seminary and learned to be open-minded towards Christians and to reembrace my own Christian roots and traditions, although I’ve never had trouble with Christmas and Easter since I’ve celebrated those mostly from the pagan viewpoint of Santa Claus and bunnies. My first communion was in seminary, served up in a circle of my Christian dancer friends sharing fresh bread made by the nun in the group. As a poet I see the world in metaphor, so most religious teachings are completely translatable to me, and I don’t have the hang-ups people carry who left their religions under duress and disillusionment.

Shortly after I graduated seminary, I was at a ministers’ retreat and we were asked to describe our theology in one or two words. I chose the words “mystical naturalist.” I had been playing with those concepts for a while in my mind, and the word “atheist” carried too much baggage, triggered too much suspicion in the minds of those with whom I discussed my faith, and since I love nature and that is the positive embodiment of my beliefs, “naturalist” was a natural choice.

“Mystical” was a new word I had picked up in seminary, finally, as a way to describe the experiences I had had and a recognition of the mysterious energy that seems to flow through everything. So, I think I may have coined that term, mystical naturalist, but my father liked it so much, he decided to use it, too. Naturally, since he and my mother taught me to love nature and embrace a wide view of god, if any. As a mystical naturalist, I could embrace both aspects of my religious orientation in a way most people understood, and respected.

It’s worked for many years. As a minister, I’ve been very aware that I’m not here just for me, and that many people come to our congregation searching, carrying different beliefs like our banner out there on the wall says: “Room for Different Beliefs.” Some people come hurting, angry at all the years of what now seem like lies, wondering whether there is truth in religion and what that might be. Some people come without any organized religious experience, curious at what a liberal religious community might offer. Some people are searching for acceptance and freedom to be who they are and believe what seems right. Some don’t like hearing the word “god” and others are looking for a broader definition for a concept that still has hope and meaning for them. Unitarian Universalist ministers learn to speak in theologically welcoming ways, and to speak different religious languages, in order to communicate with such a diverse but mostly welcoming group of seekers.

But recently, and perhaps it’s a form of backlash against the dominant Christian atmosphere of our society these days, I’ve been feeling like I need to own up to the fact that I am an atheist, at least to any definition of god that I have come across. I like god concepts, and love to play with them. In fact, if I weren’t an atheist, I would be a mystic and actually believe god is within me all the time. It’s been fun to ask that god-sense why I feel compelled to admit to being atheist, and to propose that maybe people like me should be more out-spoken about it, maybe even redefine it for the world. Atheism sure does need help in that respect, considering the image Madeleine Murray O’Hare left with everyone: the angry, challenging, derisive atheist. That is one person and one image, but that is what many people think when they hear “atheist."

Listening to the inner god-sense, though, can be dangerous, as the Muslims who hijacked the planes on 9/11 demonstrated so clearly. One cannot be totally isolated from other human beings to understand what is right and good. One can’t be totally isolated from other human groups either, because the breadth of our different experiences brings breadth of perspective which keeps us, if we are paying attention, from what are called idolatries of the mind and heart – beliefs that emerge from one skewed perspective or from brainwashing.

So even though I sense what people call god within me all the time, that sense is mysterious, peaceful, and totally unconcerned about whether I believe in it or not. It is. And it is not god, not god in any sense of god that people try to describe. Perhaps it’s my god-brain, but I don’t need to give it more power than what resonates in my heart.

People who thank god for letting them live when others die, who think god is only on their side, who decide that their faith is the only right faith and disrespect the rest of the world for not believing in their god, seem blind to me. It scares me, what so many powerful religious leaders are doing to the world: they are creating divisions among us, teaching falsehoods, stirring fears in our hearts, and encouraging hate, especially today against homosexuals and Muslims. Other religious leaders preach love, like Martin Luther King, Jr., did out of his Christian tradition, and Mahatma Gandhi did out of his Hindu tradition. So there are people, many people, who find religious teachings freeing, forgiving, expansive and welcoming, as well as wise.

I just wonder, though, if this new global society we’re creating, this global society that has only spent the last fifty years in direct, instantaneous communication, this global society which sees our differences so much more clearly than ever and yet finds basic human values we hold in common, if this global society doesn’t need to let go of “god” in order to get along. I just wonder.

Aside from the many Buddhists in the world who manage to function nicely without a god concept, there is a growing number of secularists in Europe and even in our country, people who don’t follow a particular faith, who are separated from religious community because they don’t believe it holds a place for them. I’m wondering if we UU’s might have a stronger ministry in reaching out to them if we speak out more for atheism as a right path, and consider mystical atheism as a theology which might serve to both respect the mystery of existence at the same time as clear the air of the old god concepts that have been so destructive and divisive throughout time. If god is love, let us say love. If we are the hand of god, then let us recognize the greatness of humankind’s ability to affect transformation in the world. If compassion is the way of divine living, let us say it is also the way of human living that is the best for all life on earth. If we are in need, let us turn to each other for solace and support, rather than to what may or may not be able to respond within ourselves. If we feel a deepening, a connection through meditation and prayer, let us allow that maybe that is a natural mystical connection, a natural deepening within us that makes us better able to face the trials of the world.

Some of you are probably thinking “It’s about time she said that!” Others may be feeling relieved. And I imagine some of you may be feeling uncomfortable. The last time I gave a sermon on “Atheism as a Right Path Among Many,” the result was devastating to at least one parishioner who told me later that the arguments I’d given made his belief structure fall down around him like a bunch of empty boxes. He went off on a spiritual journey, and I’ve only seen him a few times since. But I shouldn’t have been so cautious since then. Each of you is at a different place on your path, as am I, and if my words can shake your foundations, maybe that’s a good thing. We’re here to shake each other’s foundations as well as to lend support and affirmation in the search for truth and meaning.

I’m sharing my personal thoughts right now. It’s where I’m at at this point in time. It doesn’t have to be where you are. But I do think we need to share our beliefs more and talk about the baggage we carry from our religious pasts.

I read a Guest Opinion in the Arizona Daily Star from April, in which a Tucson podiatrist, Gilbert Shapiro, asserted that “Atheism is a liberating world view.” He starts with the horrifying fact that “Atheists are ‘seen as a threat to the American way of life by a large portion of the American public,’ according to a national survey conducted by the University of Minnesota.” (4-19-06) I’ve been lamenting the state of our nation for quite a few years, ever since it became clear that fundamentalists had politicians on the run. When everyone from the legislators to the President feel they have to end every speech with “God bless you,” you know something is wrong. And when people start claiming our nation as a Christian nation, the ignorance they are showing becomes appalling and fearsome.

Shapiro says the result of that study is an insult to the “30 million Americans who are honest, rational, moral and unfortunately far too quiet.” He then lays down his gauntlet by saying it is “time for atheists to come out of the closet…”

Instead of looking backwards 2000 years and trying to sort out the meaning of those events, why don’t we look 2000 years into the future and try to foresee what our world might need to become the beautiful garden for which we so yearn. A world without god is not dry and hopeless. On the contrary, perhaps a world without god would help us really look to each other for guidance, to consider how precious is all of life on this earth, and for everyone to know that we have to work together if we are to save this planet from ourselves.

There are mysteries we are not yet able to define. And when we do come to understand them, there will be others to come along. Life is the greatest mystery of all, whether it is the abundance and diversity here on earth, or the imagined creations on other planets. Mystical Atheism might serve to help us both respect the mystery as well as take responsibility for who we are in this time on this planet, together with each other, companions on this journey in space.