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These are great points, Gordon, thank you for sharing your thoughts on this.

I personally think the word “ultimate” is used very confusingly in interreligious dialogue. From my perspective, there can only be one Ultimate Reality. And all of the elements listed as religious “ultimates” must then be only facets of that one Reality that each religion emphasizes. That Reality is actually unknowable, and so our human attempts to describe it are necessarily limited and speculative. But the cosmos is an objective reality that must work the same way for everyone.

Each religion might resonate more with a particular facet of Reality, and that facet then becomes their own matter of “ultimate concern,” as Paul Tillich might say.

Just my thoughts.

Yes, Jennifer, I think that is a good observation.
I happened also to just find this blog on Open Horizons featuring the work of the author of a book called Earth: Our Original Monastery. https://www.openhorizons.org/earth-as-original-monastery.html

Those of us who are rooted in Christianity might find resonance here as well, and in the Celtic approach to Christianity which seems much more rooted in the natural world.

Kyle, what a beautiful reflection. You really put me right in the scene with you, as do all good storytellers. I’m happy to hear that Chris’s teaching touched you.

I agree John! And thank you Gordon for this very rich and thoughtful post.

Thanks Ben!

I agree with that John! Jungians would say that though it is helpful to be able to project the energies of the Self archetype onto Jesus, the task is to ultimately withdraw those projections and internalize the energies in ourselves. We should seek to live our own lives as fully as he did, and be transformed as he was.

I love this, Bill. Thank you.
You might be interested in this paper that I wrote about my process hymn “We All Are Related,” https://www.academia.edu/43036961/_We_All_are_Related_A_Contemporary_Eco_Process_Hymn

And here’s a video of me singing it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QjCa8RCz4Gw

Ben, thanks for sharing these thoughts. Yes, it is difficult for those of us steeped in Western dualism, mechanism, and sensate materialism to wrap our minds around indigenous ways of knowing. I posted a thread in this session with links to several posts about Whitehead’s views on perception, and it is his idea of our prehension of the entire past world by internalizing it physically that would be of most help to your first conundrum.

Another text, done in narrative form, is Neither Wolf nor Dog. I forget the author’s name. Thanks for these recommendations!

You raise some good points, Kent! Thank you for this contribution.
I love your referring to the initial aim as “God’s beautiful option.”

I too love the Maori greeting and the practice of hui to help the students. A beautiful example.

Thanks Elizabeth!
Yes, sorry to say goodbye!

I’ve really enjoyed being able to reference this resource!

Thank you Jennifer! As I read the poem, it seemed as if it was the beautiful north Georgia mountains that were speaking it to me. I do hope to return there someday.

Thanks Rolla!