Transcend and Include
The Spiral Dynamics Model is an evolutionary spiral that expansively transcends and includes (ideally) the best of what has come before. We are called to transcend our old paradigms of being and including only those elements that are life-supporting and serve the evolution of our consciousness.
We envision a world-wide culture in which forgiveness (whether for errors, injustices, or debts) is the norm.
Compassion is the practice of the principle of Oneness, Spiritual Beings, Heaven, (elevated state of consciousness) and Immortality. Compassion respects and honors the True Nature of others, all life and us. Compassion is claiming the same good for others that we accept for ourselves. Forgiveness is a significant way to practice compassion.
In this Science, we believe that man’s life is a drama which takes place on three planes: the physical, the mental and the spiritual (SOM). Transcendence involves rising above the physical levels of experience and existence; a rising beyond conditions and the world of effects into the realm of Spirit. Spiritual existence is a fact and spirituality may be defined as an atmosphere of good, the realization of God (SOM 1938).
An atmosphere of goodness, truth, beauty, harmony, and reality. Such an atmosphere comes in such degree as one comes to believe, understand, and make use of the invisible Presence. To be spiritually- minded is to be whole- minded. To be whole-minded is to be holy. It means we realize the complete unity of God and Its creation. It means that we understand the complete unity and close relationship of all life and individually responsive alike to everyone (SOM Magazine Aug 1962).
We are comingled like water in the ocean; impossible to determine where one drop begins or ends, because there is no separation of individualized expressions of the One.
1. The highest concept of true religion is the unity of good; God as one, God as universal and individualized, instantly responsive alike to everyone. God is within man; man will discover God in his own nature (SOM Magazine, August 1962).
Religion is a life—a feeling we have to the Universe. It is a way of thinking and acting. It is a secret we have with each other. It is something that reveals us to each other in love and in purity. (This is the Way, pg. 89.2)
2. Forgiveness
Transcending our differences enables us to live in integrity. Forgiveness is a path to personal integrity--healing and wholeness.
a. We are told that God will forgive us after we have forgiven others. This is a direct statement and one that we should ponder deeply. Can God forgive until we have forgiven? If God can work for us only by working through us, then this statement of Jesus stands true, and is really a statement of the law of cause and effect. We cannot afford to hold personal animosities or enmities against the world or individual members of society. (SOM, 1938)
b. Forgiveness means reconciliation in spite of estrangement; it means reunion despite hostility; it means acceptance of those who have been unacceptable; it
means reception of those who are rejected. FORGIVENESS IS UNCONDITIONAL OR IT IS NOT FORGIVENESS AT ALL! (Help for Today,1958, pg. 98.5-6)
3. Our inclusion of more and different cultures, points of view and individualized expressions of humanity, create expanded, stronger, and more inclusive atmospheres within our centers and our movement. Transcending ourselves with the recognition that we are all intertwined like a garment of destiny, advances us toward the vision of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “Beloved Community.” King’s vision of the “Beloved Community is best explained by this quote; “We are tied together in the single garment of destiny, caught in an inescapable network of mutuality.” This statement lays his assumption that human existence is social in nature and the solidarity of the human family is essential.
To live our espoused values and the principle of Oneness, we must transcend any illusions of separateness. Our ability to transcend, enhances our ability to be more inclusive.
Help to bring the “Beloved Community” into existence in our centers, communities, society, and the world. It is through the critical mass of individuals who have transcended the world of conditions and effects through their individualized consciousness that the “Beloved Community” can be actualized. This requires Spiritual Transcendence where one can experience the sacred where these experiences affect one’s self-perception, feelings, and the ability to transcend one’s difficulties, and increases one’s capacity to express compassion and forgiveness to others.
