A Quick Thought: What is Interspirituality?

I am often asked what it means to be an “interfaith” and “interspiritual” minister. Interspirituality is both an understanding and a movement. As an understanding, interspirituality recognizes the common denominators that unite the world’s wisdom traditions, like the strive for peace, love, and unity with the Divine. As a movement, interspirituality sees that the world has becomes smaller, and as globalization blurs the borders between East and West, North and South, and all parts of our modern world, our understanding of all things spiritual has also undergone a globalization of sorts. Out of this experience we see the rise of several mystical scholars and teachers who have been piloting the interspiritual movement for many years. These beings include Thomas Merton, Wayne Teasdale, Diane Berke, Kurt Johnson, Ken Wilber, and many others too numerous to mention.

The interspiritual movement understands that the world’s wisdom traditions all point to the achievement of the same important goals: the establishment of world peace, the spread of unconditional love for and between all the world’s beings, care and stewardship of planet earth, and justice for all nations and races. As more humans identify as “spiritual but not religious,” the interspiritual minister has an especially important role to play in service to all humankind: companioning people to make such goals a reality, and to forge closer relationships between souls with the Divine (by whatever way one understands the Divine).

The "spectrum of consciousness" refers to interspiritual scholar Kurt Johnson's explanation (see his book, The Coming Interspiritual Age (2013)) of the development of interspirituality and interspiritual thinking in the world today.  There are three notable types of consciousnesses in the spectrum:

First Tier Consciousness, also known as “Box” or "creed and screed” consciousness, where the level of spiritual consciousness is devoted to the differences between the major belief systems, such as lines drawn by culture, practice, tradition, scripture, teachings, rules, and a specific belief framework. 

Second Tier Consciousness is the recognition of the profound “Interconnectedness” of all things, and a striving toward a world where mutuality, cooperation, sharing, and synergy are the norm. 

Unity Consciousness is the “Awakening,” or the world of the heart where all is united by one spirituality and an agreement that a unified or unifying set of norms brings all beings and all things together as one. 

One Spirit Interfaith and Interspiritual Learning Alliance founder Rev. Diane Berke, in her essay, "Reflections on Spiritual Maturity," explains that as one awakens to the upper levels of consciousness within the spectrum, we ourselves undergo a spiritual transformation that allows us to be healed and to heal, and to grow and cultivate a self-knowledge that allows us to be more spiritually attuned to the world and others around us.

Noting that Wayne Teasdale in his book, The Mystic Heart, coined the term “interspirituality,” Rev. Diane Berke commented that, “An inner life awakened to responsibility and love naturally expresses itself through engaged spirituality, in ‘acts of compassion…, contributing to the transformation of the world and the building of a nonviolent, peace-loving culture that includes everyone.’ (Teasdale, The Mystic Heart).”

Ken Wilber mapped the world’s spiritual beliefs in what he termed an “integral” way, creating a ladder of sorts to help us better understand different interspiritual thought and belief systems. Wilber’s map looks like this:

Jules Evans writes in Medium (July 9, 2021) that “Wilberites can get a bit obsessed with this map, and with categorizing every human phenomenon into one of these stages, or one of Wilber’s ‘four quadrants’ (one of their favorite mantras is AQAL — all quadrants, all levels).”

 But the map presents the various ways humankind understands their place in the universe. It contributes to helping us understand our goals and aspirations as spiritual beings. It helps communities understand one another better. Do you recognize where your belief system fits, and where those of your ancestors fit? Does this help motivate you to understand where you and the next generation may be headed? Does the map promote a longing for unity and peace among the tribes of humankind?

As an interfaith and interspiritual minister, I often feel the weight of this mission: to understand and appreciate the different wisdom traditions and their importance within culture (that is the interfaith part), and the real need to promote unity and understanding across communities and cultures (that would be the interspiritual part). In the end, our ministry ultimately serves the goals of universal love and appreciation of the Divine throughout the world, and the hope that a great Awakening among all humankind will ultimately be the result.

“The rise of community among cultures and religious traditions makes possible what we can call 'interspirituality': the assimilation of insights, values, and spiritual practices from the various religions and their application to one's own inner life and development.” - Wayne Teasdale

Peace and blessings until next week!

Rev. Chris