Sophia's
Web : Understanding the Unity and Diversity of Religion,
Science, and Ourselves by Burl
B. Hall
The universe is akin to a multi-dimensional cube. Each
point in this cube mirrors and reveals itself as every other point. In
the language of chaos theory, Nature repeats Herself. It is in capturing
this mirroring function of Nature that I wrote "Sophia's Web."
As the book will show, when we listen to a favorite myth, the story
being told tells us something about ourselves. It mirrors our lives.
Furthermore, the book shows that the various religions, in all their
wonderful diversities, mirror one another.
This repeating, or mirroring, action of Nature is also
evident in our metaphors. For example, it is often common for us to say,
"I conceived this idea," or "This idea is my baby,"
in linking the creative process of mind to the feminine function of
giving birth. In other words, the power and beauty of metaphor is to
capture the repeating functions of Nature. What happens in the mind
happens in our bodies and in our love lives. Nature repeats Herself.
In reading "Sophia's Web," it is hoped the
reader will begin to link her, or his, self to the cosmos as a whole.
Towards this end, the book is aligned with the verb definition of
"religion," "to connect again." In other words, the
book is designed to help the reader obtain a sense of his or her
wholeness.
From the Author
The universe is akin to a multi-dimensional cube. Each point in this
cube mirrors every other point. Enveloped within this mind-set, I wrote
my book; Sophia's Web: Understanding the Unity and Diversity of
Religion, Science and Ourselves.
This is a book where science, Christianity, Judaism,
Atheism, Buddhism, Hinduism, and Native Spirituality become various
faces of one Divinity. "Sophia (Wisdom) is multi-faced," the
Bible's Book of Wisdom (Hagia Sophia) says. There is unity in diversity
and diversity in unity.
This "multi-dimensional cube" model of the
world reflects more than the unity of all the diverse religions. It
encompasses all. This includes us. We are mirrors of the universe. Our
sexuality, in turn, mirrors universal processes. Who we are as women and
men reflect the female and male powers of the Godhead. For example, when
we make a metaphorical statement such as "your words are food for
thought," we are saying your words serve a fertilizing function to
the Psyche. Words are seminal to the generation of new ideas. What is
above mirrors what is below. Our sexuality mirrors our cognition and, in
turn, mirrors Nature as a whole.
The beauty of all this is that we are the process. Our
individual lives are a facet of the multi-dimensional cube that is a
unity. To illustrate this, I will use personal experiences to show how
my life fits into ancient spirituality and modern day quantum physics.
In reading my book, I hope you will re-awaken to what
you have known all along. You do not live in a cold universe where your
human characteristics exit as aliens. As a child looks like his mommy
and daddy, you mirror the Godhead.
There is a beautiful Pagan myth where the Goddess sees
Herself in a mirror and falls in love with Herself. She then waltzes
over to the mirror and kisses Her mirror image. The image then bats Her
eyelids, and flutters away from the great Goddess. Eventually the mirror
image becomes the created world and forgets Her true Nature. She forgets
who She is.
This is not a story about a strange Goddess who falls
in love with Herself. This same idea is illustrated by Christian mystic,
Meister Eckhart, who once quirked, "God loves creatures not as
creatures but as God." This means the mirror image is each one of
us.
I sincerely hope that in reading my book, you will
re-discover the original kiss given by your Mother. As I will show, it
happens always and now. Who else could the mirror image be other than
you. This is the message to my book. Read and discover how.
About the Author
Burl Hall is a master's level counselor working with clients diagnosed
with a mental illness in Virginia. His interest in Goddess mythology
goes back to when he was five years old, and had multiple visions of an
awe inspiring woman whose silent presence set him on fire. This love was
reinforced in the fourth grade, when he first heard of the Greek Goddess
of Wisdom, Athena, and fell in love with Her. In 1992, when the author
was 37 years of age, the woman who appeared to him as a child began to
reappear in dreams. It was at that time that Burl realized what he was
tapping into as a child was a manifestation of a power that transcended
cultures and weaves them together as a woman weaves a rug. In other
words, he began to see how he connected to the greater whole.
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