S p i r i t ua l i t y S t u d i e s 8 - 2 Fa l l 2 0 2 2 4 5 Samuel Bendeck Sotillos transcend the mundane order: “A right view of created things depends upon a truly spiritual knowledge of visible and invisible realities. Visible realities are objects perceived by the senses, while invisible realities are noetic, intelligent, intelligible, and divine” (1998, 217). This idea is expounded in the Heart Sūtra (in Sanskrit Prajnāpāramitā-hridaya-sūtra): “form is emptiness… emptiness is form” (quoted in Conze 1959, 162). The mystery and theophany of the created order is disclosed in the familiar hadīth qudsī: “I was a hidden treasure and I desired to be known; therefore I created the creation in order that I might be known” (quoted in Nicholson 1914, 80). Yet such insights demand that we restore our sapiential wisdom as conferred through the “eye of the heart”. St. Maximus the Confessor (c. 580–662) speaks about the logoi of creation which pre-exist in the divine Logos. Although there is only one Logos, there are many logoi. The created order arises from the Logos and is mirrored and expressed in all things through the logoi. While it transcends creation, the Logos also abides in all things through its immanent logoi. Maximus addresses this interplay between the uncreated and the created via their unification in God (quoted in Chryssavgis 2019, 102): He is mysteriously concealed in the interior causes [note: logoi] of created beings… present in each totally and in all plenitude… In all diversity is concealed that which is one and eternally identical; in composite things, that which is simple and without parts; in those which had one day to begin that which has no beginning; in the visible that which is invisible; and in the tangible that which is intangible. Although it seems an elusive quest in our currently degraded conditions, it is still possible to discover the Sacred in our surroundings. This is because the transpersonal dimension both embraces (as manifestation) and surpasses (as source) all phenomena. By a noetic discernment of the logoi in the created order, we are always reminded of the spiritual signs and symbols that have their origin in the Divine. 7 The Unity of the Created Order Having sundered its metaphysical roots, modern psychology simply cannot fathom the sacred foundations of phenomenal reality. A divine unity pervades the multiplicity of our everyday world: “We are [note: all] members one of another” (Ephesians 4:25), or as a Lakota saying reveals: “We are all related” (Mitakuye oyasin). Brown (2007, 39) brings to light the metaphysical dimension of this relationship: This sense of relationship pertains not only to members of a nuclear family, band, or clan. It also extends outward to include all beings of the specific environment, the elements, and the winds, whether these beings, forms, or powers are what we would call animate or inanimate. In native… thought no such hard dichotomies exist. All such forms under creation are understood to be mysteriously interrelated. Everything is relative to every other being or thing; thus, nothing exists in isolation. The intricately interrelated threads of the spider’s web are used as a metaphor for the world…This is a profound symbol when it is understood. The people observed that the threads of the web were drawn out from within the spider’s very being. Black Elk affirms our integral relationship with one another and all sentient beings, including the environment and the Great Spirit: “It is the story of all life that is holy and is good to tell, and of us two-leggeds sharing in it with the four-leggeds and the wings of the air and all green things; for these are children of one mother and their father is one Spirit” (quoted in Neihardt 1988, 1). Within the Hindu tradition, it is recognized that the Spirit pervades the entirety of the cosmos: “The whole universe is filled by the Purusha” (Svetasvatara Upanishad 3:9). For “[i]t is not for the love of creatures that creatures are dear; but for the love of the Soul in creatures that creatures are dear” (Brhadāranyaka Upanisad 2:4:5). Through a transpersonal vision, we can see the sacredness of all sentient beings: “In a Brāhmana endued with wisdom and humility, in a cow, in an elephant, as also in a dog and in a dog eater, the wise see the same” (Bhagavad Gītā 5:18). We recall the oneness of all existence that is contained in the Sanskrit verse vasudhaiva kutumbakam translated as “the world is one family”, originally found in the Maha Upanishad (6:72) and which also appears later in the Panchatantra (third century) and the Hitopadesha (twelfth century). According to the sutras of Mahāyāna Buddhism: “Grasses, trees, and land without exception attain Buddhahood: Moun-
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