“Qualifying Disqualification"

A Sermon Preached by Rev.Bruce Sanguin
July 29, 2007

Colossians 2: 6-19

I haven’t preached on the Epistles in recent history, so I thought we’d take a look at the reading from Colossians this morning. The bit that jumped out at me when I read it in Bible study on Tuesday was the writer’s concern that his readers not allow themselves to be “disqualified”. It seems that there was a group telling the writer’s flock that they were not “real” believers. This group insisted on “self-abasement and worship of angels, dwelled on visions”. As well, they followed strict dietary regulations, and were involved in nature worship and the like. Those whom Paul is writing to are being pressured to participate in these activities or face “disqualification” as members of the community. The writer of the letter is telling them that this in bunk. Just stick to Christ, who is head over the entire cosmos, including human institutions. All these other practices, the writer tells them, were nailed to the cross with Christ. And when Christ was raised from the dead, so they were resurrected to a new way that liberated them from slavish obedience to lesser powers and practices.  

So what we’ve got her is one group disqualifying another group because of their beliefs and practices. And then the leader of that disqualified group responds by disqualifying the disqualifiers. The writer of the letter reminds them that their way is a better way:  “See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the universe, and not according to Christ (Colossians 2:8). Such is the game that religions have played with each other for a few thousand years.

Beverley showed up at Bible study last week, having returned from a Sun Dance festival with some of her indigenous friends. At the festival, the shamans and medicine men invoked those very “elemental spirits” that the writer of Colossians warns his Christian followers about. The leaders prayed to the four directions, invoking the spirit of the earth, the water, the fire, and air. It was a very powerful experience. Then Beverley, a dedicated Christian, read this letter from New Testament and wondered if she had done something wrong.

Well, if you listen to the Pope she certainly has done something wrong. He’s come out with a statement affirming that the only true path to salvation is the Christian path, summarily disqualifying all the world religions, not to mention Wiccan spirituality, indigenous spirituality, and a host of so-called New Age spiritualities in the process. In doing so, he has managed to set the interfaith and interspiritual dialogue back a few centuries. I don’t think he believes they should all be burned at the stake – at least he hasn’t come out and said so. This is outrageous. It has no place in the 21st century post-modern worldview.

Ah, but I can hear the smarty pants people out there saying: Well, didn’t you just disqualify the Pope and the Roman Catholic faith? To which I reply: it’s not Roman Catholics and it’s not their practices – it’s intolerance, ideological dogmatism, and willful ignorance wherever we find it that we cannot abide. The Catholics I know are  embarrassed and appalled by his recent statements.

How do we understand this disqualification game, and how do we get out of it as a species? I think we need to take an evolutionary or developmental approach to this. Dr. Claire Graves recognized, over 30 years ago, that the value systems and worldviews of humans evolve over time – and that this is healthy. Our worldview should become more expansive and more comprehensive. The universe itself is evolving with in the direction of increased complexity and compassion. It makes sense that our evolutionary arc, as humans, should follow the same path. He identified seven value systems that emerged historically in response to life conditions. Don Beck, a student of Graves, colour-coded them for our convenience.

Beige is the Survivalist – these are the clans that emerged onto the African Savannahs and what mattered were food, shelter, and security.

Red is the Warrior – out of these tight knit clans emerged individuals who simply used their power and domination to get what they want and they did so without guilt.

Blue is Authoritarian – Out of these life condition, the individualistic/egocentric thrust gave way to an authoritarian value system. The need here was for order, and for the individual to find some transcendent cause to which she could give her life. There was more to life than killing everybody that stood in your way.

Orange is Scientific/Achiever – The modern age, going back some 500 years saw the advent of the scientific age – no more myth and superstition was the rallying cry. The Industrial age gave birth once again to the ambitious, ingenious individual who by his could amass great fortunes and shape his future without reference or deference to a supreme authority.

Green is Pluralist/Egalitarian – In the 1960’s a new value system emerged in response to the self-centered thrust of the Scientific/Achiever worldview. The well being of the whole community, human and other-than-human takes precedence over corporate ambition and technological wizardry.

Claire Graves called these Tier One value systems. Each of these value systems emerged or evolved out of the preceding one. You can’t skip over one stage to get to the next. Every one of us needs to go through each stage. We all have each of these levels within us – we have a beige survivor, a red warrior, a blue authoritarian, an orange achiever, and most here this morning have a strong green egalitarian bias – or we wouldn’t likely be sitting in a United Church. Egalitarians by the way hate these developmental models – they think they are elitist. So, if you’re chafing at these descriptions, your center of gravity is likely at green.

What he noticed about Tier One value systems is that they were always at war with one another. To return to the theme of this sermon, they are forever disqualifying the other levels. At the lower levels, beige and red, this disqualification results in actual physical wars.  From blue to green, the conflict takes the form of culture wars. The war on terror is a classic clash between the red of religious warlords – the Taliban and Al Quaeda against the red and blue neo-imperialist impulses of the U.S. administration. The Red level worldview fears that the modern world – primarily orange  - has no room in it for them. Blue authoritarians find the egalitarian and pluralistic values of green wishy-washy and relativistic. Orange rationalists despise the mythic literalism of blue and red, and orange achievers can’t stand the tree-hugging, bleeding heart liberalism of the greens. Greens think that capitalism and scientism has destroyed the earth and is cold and spiritless. They also trash authoritarian blues for maintaining a moral order that is oppressive.

By the way, each of these value systems espouses a different Christ. Red is the warrior Christ of the crusades. Blue is Christ is Scapegoat, who died for the sins of the world. Orange is Christ as CEO and the Demythologized Christ. Green is the Postmodern Christ of multiculturalism. Same symbol, radically different meanings. Congregations understand their mission and vision differently according to the colour of their Christ .I go into this in my next book, but suffice it to say that the Christ of red, blue, orange and green are not on speaking terms. The point is that each of these value systems has been involved in a deadly game of disqualification.

Then Graves interviewed others who answered questions and responded to ethical dilemmas from such a completely different perspective that he developed what he called Tier 2 value systems or worldviews.

Yellow is Integralist – Out of the egalitarian, groupthink tendencies of green, the individual emerges who is very pragmatic and flexible. She realizes that she is not going to be able to enjoy the wonder and beauty of life if everybody is fighting with each other. So, for the first time in history, she genuinely notices the necessity of all these levels. There are times when we need the warrior to stand up for ourselves, the authoritarian to keep moral order and have a transcendent cause, the rationalist to help us transcend the mythic/literalism of previous levels, and the egalitarian, pluralistic impulse of green to take a stand for the marginalized. So, let’s work to make sure that whatever level one is functioning from, that it’s the healthiest expression of that level. This level doesn’t see the need to disqualify other levels, and the person functioning at this level finds it possible to connect meaningfully with all levels. They are hard to pigeonhole. You’ll find that on certain issues they are almost socialist. On others they seem way more conservative. They focus on what works – not on ideologies.

Turquoise is Mystic – this person experiences the Cosmos and all beings as radically interconnected. Every thing is an expression or manifestation of the Holy One. This realization is accompanied by a deep compassion for all beings – even the ones that we might call the enemy. When Jesus speaks, in John’s gospel, about the unity between the Father, himself, and the disciples, he is functioning out of this mystical worldview. When Julian of Norwich makes a statement like “and all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well”, it is not because she is in denial. It is because she experiences that all the beauty and brokenness of the Cosmos is held within the loving embrace of the One. At this level, violence becomes impossibility. Like Christ, you would choose to suffer it, rather than return it.

Ken Wilber, an American philosopher, suggests that the role of religion in the 21st century is to act as a “conveyer belt” – to help move their people intentionally through the levels of development. The sad truth is that until we move into Tier 2, we will continue to disqualify others in order to justify our own worldview. Which means that we will continue killing each other, physically or spiritually. There is an urgency about this, friends. To be in Christ, in the 21st century, is to embrace our evolutionary development consciously for the sake of future generations. We may not be able to change others, but we can be responsible for our own spiritual growth.

The loftiest writings of Paul affirm that Christ is the supreme power of the universe – he is the “pattern that connects” (Gregory Bateson), the “hidden wholeness” (David Bohm), the organizing principle (St. Paul). Christ is the whole that is greater than the sum of the parts. But here’s the thing that Paul knew so well. Our understanding of the Christ is always partial. “For now”, write Paul, “I see in part, but when the perfect comes, I shall see perfectly”. Nobody will ever have the whole picture; nobody will ever have the capacity to comprehend what is the breadth and depth and scope of God’s love and God’s Being. In an evolutionary paradigm, it’s impossible. My sermon just contributed in a modest way to a new and larger whole, and this sermon itself will be transcended the minute I’m finished by a more perfect presentation of reality.

Why would we disqualify those who commune with the “elemental spirits”? In truth, the church would do well to revisit, with Beverley the elemental spirits because we’ve totally lost touch in the church and in society at large with nature as a living, sacred presence. We need to include that expression of Holy Mystery within what it means to be Christian, not disqualify it. The greatest form of love is the willingness to open us to perspectives and worldviews other than our own. It is to consciously align ourselves with the Spirit of this evolutionary universe so that we never stop growing into the image of the Christ that will always be more elegant and perfect than we are capable of imagining.