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Feb 21, 2015chaliser rated this title 4 out of 5 stars
I Have been reading the books, "Gnostic Gospels," "Revelations," and "Beyond Belief" by Elaine Pagels (https://www.facebook.com/pages/Elaine-Pagels/109922469025724) Why? Through various sources, including other references and citations for Pagels, but also via Ken Wiber (the mystic, psychologist, genius, etc) I came to know that the *Structure* of "the Church" was determined in the 1st 350 years after the birth of Jesus, a time of great spiritual search for direction and intense philosophical conflict among the followers. And this was essentially between the more left-brained focused followers of Jesus, and the more right-brained. The result, much to do with Emperor Constantine, initiated events that led to the structure, not only of the Church -- and the many events we know about from history, including the crusades and critical interactions in the Middle-East -- but of the formation of Europe as a nation. I took up "The Gnostic Gospels" to find out more about that, have been intrigued with it -- in spite of Pagels' multiple ways to tell about each aspect, which do, in the end, put things in a most complete context! I became curious to see if and how she also addressed those noted 4th century aspects, and was gratified to find that "Revelations" has a chapter, "Constantine's Conversion"; "Beyond Belief" has "Constantine and the Catholic Church". The later has been hard to put down at times. Ok, so... What have these to do with anything of current relevance? In a word... no make it three: *Structure,* *Balance,* and *Extremism* -- not just as far as religion, but critical events that involve the political powers that be. Because while Constantine's facilitation -- in forming the those structures as noted above -- may have been the most and best that could have been managed AT THE TIME, all things considered... As it turns out, we are now in big trouble, because like any COPING MECHANISM, it eventually gets in the way - especially as we try to mature in relationship with others. And that's what I go into at the Chalice Art page (http://www.chalicebridge.com/Chalice-Integration-Index.html#PragmaticBalance).