What does evolving spirituality look like today?
In the context of COVID-19, we have been courting the advent of conscious evolution by our grand—albeit somewhat disorienting—entry into the Ecozoic Era, suddenly eclipsing the Anthropocene at the speed of light. The wider “We” has been not only encroaching on the notion of monolithic anthropocentrism, and obliterating our perceived dominance and “specialness” in an assumed hierarchy of being, it has been teaching us humility of perspective, inter-species collaboration and relanguaging in the process. The pandemic has redirected ordinary human communication primarily to the realm of virtual presencing, through a digitized exchange of image and sound, bereft of much of the nuance and contour of in-person human physical relationship. Our culturally-imbedded Gnostic preference for spirit (and now, virtual presence) over matter (and physical presence) has reached a zenith in the context of COVID-19. What it means to be human may encompass many things moving from the COVID-19 era forward, but it will also be forevermore intertwined with artificial intelligence (AI), which draws its way of knowing from a paradigm that eschews anthropocentric myopia. Humanity alone is no longer the star of the show, and we are completely dependent for survival upon technology. Our identity, health, communication and relating is irrevocably bound with the expediency and efficiency of technology, virtual presence and connection. In this evolving paradigm, life without a smart phone or internet connection is considered “digital inequality,” and access to the internet is considered an “essential” human right (Karl Bode, “The Case for Internet Access as a Human Right,” Motherboard, November 13, 2019). The post-human era has definitely been accelerated by the onset of COVID-19.
How is all this with our soul? Post-human spirituality is a way of understanding that the human journey can no longer be seen as the central drama of creation. Rather, the human drama is embedded in the holonic journey of the universe. Our communing with technology and our coming into awareness that we are embedded in a much bigger “We” both signify that humanity is at a crossroads of spiritual identity as well as physical identity, a crisis it experiences existentially.
“The self, as we know it, is being decimated. That may not be a bad thing. As identity moves online, as work is stripped from us, as our physical bodies are optimized like an OS, as love sheds its carnality, new opportunities will emerge. Humans will find meaning in new modes of self-expression, discover purpose beyond work (or reclassify what work means), reengineer physical limits as ‘biology eats the world‘ and find affection in new beings. We are undergoing a period of Schumpeterian ‘creative destruction,’ felt at the anthropological rather than industrial level. Great things may come of it.”
—Mario Gabriele, “The Coronavirus Has Hastened the Post-Human Era,” TechCrunch, June 1, 2020
Spirituality is adapting to the shift from the little “me” (human identity and agency as preeminent) to the great big “We” (our embeddedness in the emergent collective, as we realize we are co-extensive with not only the biosphere and the galaxy, but the universe, or multiverses). We are still flaring forth from the primordial Fire. All our efforts to gain entry, status, title, prestige and distinction in our fractured anthropocentric paradigm have been the subject of much ethical discourse and spiritual guidance over the centuries. How we should behave toward other human beings, or how we should treat our “neighbor” or our “enemy” has now evolved into who we are and how we should behave in the context of all creation, the unfolding cosmos. We are not alone. We are not at the center. We are not at the top of anything, only embedded in a vast, mysterious unfolding. How might we adapt spiritually to our evolving context and identity?
Communication and Identity: How can we expand our languaging to include not only new, more fluid and inclusive terms to better communicate perspectival knowledge, but also utilize diverse language forms that communicate truths not easily confined to zeroes and ones? Storytelling, poetry, myth and music, art, play and dance are emerging once again as apertures into wisdom. Language is perhaps the most powerful determiner of individual and collective identity. “In the beginning was the Word” is a mythologically potent way of expressing the efficacy of symbolic discourse—that is, the Word as foundational for, and generative of life itself. The “We” we’re becoming is predicated upon the distinctive, and sadly, exclusive categories to which we assign ourselves and others. Species, physical form and perceived intellectual capacity have long kept our “we” focused on humanity out of context with the wider “We.” Even among human beings, race, creed, place of origin, orientation, affiliation with those in power and dominant in-group/out-group dynamics have plagued us spiritually with self-centeredness and self-protection over radical egalitarianism and the expansive hospitality the universe itself exhibits. Renaming or reimagining ourselves and bowing to others’ self-expression moving forward will be key to our spiritual growth.
Sense of Home: Where are we oriented on a spiritual journey? Where do we finally, completely belong? Where is the sacred space where every living being is free to be its fullest iteration of self, in relationship with others and all creation? Often, spiritual paradigms espoused heroic journey mythologies, where human “heroes” escape the throes of trial through triumph, sometimes characterized as “going home,” whether in this life, or continuing on to another life, possibly through reincarnation or an afterlife. Where is our final and lasting home, if not a heaven of sorts that perfects decaying bodies and decrepit minds, that rewards heroes for a faithful, courageous journey by transformation in a spiritual realm? Here in the Ecozoic Era, where all of creation is our common home in the thick present, we must learn from our creature-kin how to dwell peaceably, with interdependence and adaptability as our marks, in the web of life. Our sense of sacred place, our origin and destiny, our common home and our rooting place moving forward will be essential to our spiritual growth.
Relationships: Who do we mean by our wider “We?” Across socio-cultural, political and religious discourse, “we” has been expanding—painfully and at great cost—to be more inclusive, more accepting of fluidity, more reflective of complexity and nuance in respect to our human-kin. Much of our spiritual awareness and active hope in the age of COVID restrictions, “Me Too” and “Black Lives Matter” movements has been to give voice to the perennially marginalized. Our awareness of who is not in our “We” is catapulting us once again into the cauldron of deep-seated division and fragile new alliances, distilling centuries of prejudice and fears and learning to live into relationships of trust. The fight to maintain exclusive, hierarchical and cabal-fostering “we” categories is again appearing as brutality and bullying, institutionalized exclusion, and it is often taking the form of hateful violence. We are only just beginning to address our own xenophobic and misanthropic maladies. How can there be room to address our myopia in respect to the whole of creation? Our posture of reaching out, communicating with, learning from and building relationships with all life in the biosphere moving forward will be another key component of our spiritual health and well-being.
Source of Our Being: Who or what gets us out of bed each morning? Family? Friends? Our own sense of purpose, mission or vocation? God? Spiritual seekers will often refer to their Higher Power, Source, Energy, Love, Being, One, Good, God, Peace, All-in-all, Creator, etc. to talk about the whyfors of their existence, of all existence, perhaps. God-language, as mysterious, offensive, repulsive, irrelevant, absurd or linguistically nonsensical as it may be to some, is still a consideration for post-human spirituality. Mythological discourse, of which the scientific narrative is also constituted, is derivative of language-bound, symbol-infused logic, and it depends upon imaginal capacity, the possibility of Other, the dance of the unknown. Mystery. It is the internet of potentiality. Without some sense of transcendence or Mystery, the world is two-dimensional, dulled into submission by our lack of imagination and receptivity to anything outside our neuro-biological constraints. Humility, openness and genuine reverence for what is Other will be crucial for our spiritual aptitude moving forward, “leaving a little room for the Holy Spirit,” as it were.
Our Prairiewoods Mission speaks to these earmarks of post-human spirituality:
Prairiewoods Franciscan Spirituality Center is a sacred space where people of all faiths and cultures are invited to explore and nurture their relationships with the Source of all Being, Earth, Self and Others, with an increasing awareness of the story of the Universe. Prairiewoods is sponsored by the Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration, a Catholic community. The vision of Prairiewoods is of people everywhere, awakened in consciousness and energized by the loving, creative Spirit of the Universe into a community, moving together into wisdom, compassion and the fullness of life.
How will we welcome the era of the wider “We” with humility, wisdom and compassion? How will we journey together into fuller life?
—Laura Weber, Prairiewoods associate director and retreats coordinator