Sometimes it just helps to see contrasts put into a table. So here’s a table contrasting how religion and the sacred function in both the Multi Earth Worldview and the One Earth Worldview. It adds to the overall contrast posted earlier as Part 1.
For readers who shy away from words like “God,” “religion,” and “sacred,” you will likely still recognize the significance of these contrasts and have your own preferred language to talk about them as you engage in practices expressing one or the other worldview. Please join in and tell me other contrasts that you’d add to this table. You know the saying, “There’s always room for one more at the table.”
Multi Earth Worldview One Earth Worldview
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God is believed in, usually as the God or deities of a religious tradition, is restricted to the private sphere; is invoked to address personal needs and bless human endeavors |
God is the experience of The One – beyond and behind all religious traditions – inherent in and beyond the evolutionary processes of Earth and Cosmos and seeks co-creativity from all life |
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Gods of civilization receive daily devotion and are the deities of functional religion |
Gods of civilization are relativized to the cosmic God of continuing Creation |
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Sacred and secular have separate realms; sacred reduced to religious sphere and absent as a living Spirit or Mystery from economics, politics, business, and elsewhere |
A deep sense of the sacred so infuses everything, everywhere that even the term “secular” loses meaning; no realm is separate from sacred presence |
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Religious power of nationalism and economics goes unrecognized and functions uncontained when sacred is confined to realm of religion |
Religious power of nationalism and economics is recognized and contained within the greater sacred wonders |
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The primary revelation of the sacred comes through sacred texts, temples, and priesthoods or teachers |
The primary revelation of the sacred comes through the natural world, the interactive, evolutionary processes of continuing Creation |
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Having more than enough materially is considered a sign of divine blessing; giving back to the community in some ways an act of generosity and, perhaps, spiritual practice |
Having more than enough materially is seen as a violation of the creational order, taking what rightfully belongs to others or the entire community of life |