coming out - a heretic emerges…
April 20, 2008
Nic @ sound & silence asked me to contribute to a synchroblog on “emergent heresy”. how could i resist responding to such a request, albeit a short one.
heresy comes in many shapes & hues and no two heretics are the same. i have a shaved head, a goatee, a taste for evocative electronica & walks along wintered beaches and an affinity with those through the ages known by the orthodox as “heretics”.
the first - in fact only - time the word heresy has been used in relation to me and in my presence, was at a home group i attended for a while, a couple of years ago. i had expressed my increasing revulsion towards the teaching of hell and my increasing wonder at the doctrine of universal restoration. in response, a well meaning senior member of the group warned me that i was dabbling with heresy.
since then i have moved all my heretical & dangerous books down from my office/studio and into the lounge, in full view. for me, this was an important act of “coming out” as a spiritual being.
i don’t wear my heretical status like a t-shirt. i have too much respect for my more orthodox friends and family for such pettiness. in fact, quite the opposite. i sometimes miss the simple belief i had when i first became a christian at age 15, unfettered by the lacunae of theology. however, we cannot go backwards and have to be true to where we are and how we perceive the heart of G-d at that moment.
many a holy man or woman was killed for holding beliefs that fell outside orthodoxy. however this has everything to do with the spirit of pride & judgement and does not reflect the Divine.
every mature fellowship needs it’s resident peace loving contrarian - it’s heretic - to challenge and provoke. i don’t claim that title or role but see it’s value to the Body.
love covers all heresy.
R.
April 21, 2008 at 3:44 am
Wholeheartedly agree. Spiritual maturity is not for the faint of heart! Please come visit my humble Heretical blog.
April 21, 2008 at 9:42 am
paulonegnosis, there’s no link to your blog? where is it?
LL,
I like your point on love and heresy and how valuable the heretic can be.
April 21, 2008 at 10:45 am
LL, theres nothing like lived experience. The pain of your labelling-shaming by the senior cleric has helped pave the way for a work of G-d in your life. Also I take your example as not institutionalising the heretical in a sort of contra-orthodoxy, as one to take heed of.
What are your top 5 “heretical” texts that now are in place of pride in your parlour?
April 21, 2008 at 2:06 pm
[...] Liquid Light - Coming out a heretic emerges [...]
April 21, 2008 at 2:58 pm
[...] - The Gender of the Creator and Face forward Cobusvw - Conversing with the heretics Liquid Light - Coming out a heretic emerges Nic Paton - The Lif Cycle of Heresy and The Blessings of Heresy Roger Saner Towards a heretical [...]
April 21, 2008 at 8:22 pm
Russ- Amazing how close our stories are (age excepted). I, too, have been accused of “dabbling in the black arts”. It took a while for me to come out. Now I see the value in the “contrarian” way of life. It adds something to “religious” conversation. I have a grown son (39 yrs old) who is about as conservative, traditional, a Southern Baptist as you will find. He has contested my views only twice. Since that time, he has left the subject closed. I really wish he would re-open the dialogue on the subject again if he will allow me to speak my peace (literally!). A post well-done….
April 22, 2008 at 9:12 am
[...] - Conversing with the heretics FakeExpressionsOfTheUnknown Who’s Heresy Liquid Light - Coming out a heretic emerges Mike Smith - Emerging Heresy Nic Paton - The Lif Cycle of Heresy and The Blessings of Heresy Roger [...]
April 22, 2008 at 10:05 am
Don I pray that your family would be one, and that compassion would conquer rigidity and fear. That G-d would hold your pain, and break in to your world. That your light would continue to shine, and your seeking for truth would be evident to all.
April 22, 2008 at 10:48 am
“love covers all heresy”
Truly a weighty, true, and convicting statement. Thank you!
April 22, 2008 at 1:56 pm
Thank you very much, Nic….
April 22, 2008 at 1:57 pm
labelling someone a heretic is such a powerful discipline & manipulation device - for me it was always closely related to “blasphemy”. i’m now much more comfortable with it and don’t have that knee-jerk fear reaction to it.
Don, i trust that you’ll have the opportunity to communicate your heart with your son, at the right time. i had a similar conversation with my mother recently, with mixed results. at least she knows more of who i am, even if she doesn’t agree. i suspect that many of our more orthodox travellers are as much fearful of their attraction to certain so-called heretical ideas, as they are of the beliefs & concepts themselves.
Stray, i’m pleased the “love covers all heresy” phrase resonated with you. imagine if we had to have everything correct in order to be acceptable!?
Nic, my top 5 “heretical” texts would include:
1. The Gospel of Thomas.
2. Gnosticism: New Light on the Ancient Tradition.
3. The Mystic Christ: The Light of Non-Duality - Ethan Walker III.
4. God is a Verb - David A. Cooper
5. The Secret Teachings of All Ages - Manly P Hall.
there are plenty of others but i rate the above 5 for a combination of theory, speculation & practise.
love to u all.
Russ.
April 22, 2008 at 2:46 pm
How did you like the last verse in the GOT? I call it the GOTcha verse. It’s so awful, couldn’t whatever microbes or preservatives in that Egyptian cave have worked out a better compromise about what parts of the text to destroy and what parts to keep? Maybe the organisms in question were indeed “male” and had developed a molecular partriarchy of some sort.
But the rest of it is wonderful. Tell me LL, was gnosticism around before or after “christanity”?
April 22, 2008 at 4:36 pm
[...] - The Gender of the Creator and Face forward Cobusvw - Conversing with the heretics Liquid Light - Coming out a heretic emerges Nic Paton - The Lif Cycle of Heresy and The Blessings of Heresy Roger Saner Towards a heretical [...]
April 22, 2008 at 7:25 pm
Nic.
yeah saying 114 does jarr somewhat - i did read an explanation of it somewhere. it may have been added at a later date, which is one of the major theories - it does seem at odds with the reverence in which the gnostics held the divine feminine.
from what i have read, gnosticism was around before christianity according to some and came after, according to others. i take the view that for as long as people have “known” the truth for themselves, there has been a gnosticism of sorts. i’d recommend you reading Stephan Hoeller’s book - alternatively, i can give you a copy of the lecture series Stephan did on the book.
we shall know the truth.
R.
April 24, 2008 at 12:31 pm
Interesting that the senior cleric thought that the doctrine of universal restoration was heretical, since it (apokatastasis) is part of the theology of the Orthodox Church.
A pity that the early church focused on shared belief rather than shared values as the focus of unity.
April 30, 2008 at 8:54 am
hi Yvonne.
thanks for your comment. that’s an important distinction you raise - shared beliefs vs shared values.
Russ.