Thursday, April 27, 2006
"REACHING TOWARD SYNTHESIS"
is the title of an article appearing on the "What Is Enlightenment Magazine" website, written by Craig Hamilton. The article is not dated, but since he refers to Castelgandolfo, it must be Dialogues III that he is reviewing.
Hamilton gives a first-person account of attending the Synthesis Dialogues. Some of his comments are significant:
The brainchild of conversations between the Dalai Lama, his longtime friend Brother Wayne Teasdale, and AGNT executive director Barbara Bernstein, the gathering, known as "The Synthesis Dialogues," was first convened in 1999 as an attempt to cultivate a group of "visionary-activists" who "can help restore global sanity by reuniting the inner and outer, heaven and earth, in an earnest endeavor toward synthesis." Aiming far beyond conventional modes of discourse, the Dialogues' stated goal is nothing less than the establishment of a "meta-mind," or group intelligence, from which to tackle the challenges facing our planet.
How does a Catholic help to establish a "meta-mind group intelligence"? Where does Jesus Christ fit in that concept?
The conference leadership did not come from Focolare. This was not a Catholic-led conference according to Hamilton who says:
...under the facilitation of the AGNT leadership team. Each session was carefully orchestrated, beginning with a serenade or singalong led by New Thought Gospel diva Rickie Byars Beckwith, a period of prayer or meditation, and a seed question or dialogical exercise to guide our inquiry.
So it would appear that Focolare turned over their conference center to a group of spirit channelers who wanted to have a conference.
The Synthesis Dialogues were not a moment-in-time event. There are plans to continue this thinking through various collaborative projects:
Bernstein also wanted to foster a commitment to working together over the months and years ahead. So it was no surprise when, at her prompting, a host of ideas for potential ongoing collaborative projects began to emerge in our closing sessions—among them an internationally publicized interfaith Middle-East pilgrimage, uniting thousands of Muslims, Christians, and Jews in retracing "The Footsteps of Abraham." In the midst of this brainstorm, the recognition dawned in the group that if we were all to unite behind a single cause, with our combined spheres of influence we could reach tens if not hundreds of millions of people worldwide with one message. And in this light, the true significance of the bond that had formed between us began to reveal itself.
What message? That Jesus Christ is Lord? Apparently not. Hamilton says:
Real love comes from differentiation, profound engagement with ideas, even conflict, and then the transcending of conflict to realize our deep, common, profound oneness.
There is a word for that profound oneness--"monism." Monism is the philosophy of the New Age. Everything is one. Including whatever gods there might be. All is one single whole. It's a heresy. The Vatican Document on the New Age addresses it:
However, the greater emphasis in New Age on monism and even pantheism or panentheism encourages some to use the term neo-gnosticism to distinguish New Age gnosis from ancient gnosticism.
Apparently, however, Focolare has no problem with this. And since they were able to turn part of the Pope's summer residence over to the people promoting it, I presume that John Paul II had no problem with it either, contrary to what he wanted us to believe. And where does Benedict stand on this outrageous conference?
When Christ returns will there be any faith on the Earth?
