Some authors are able to write in such a way that I find myself arrested when reading them. They can phrase something in a memorable way. Sometimes they have a facility with words that leave me amazed. I like reading people who come from different disciplines than I do, because they use words that I don’t normally employ. Additionally, they can use metaphors and figures of speech that make me understand things in fresh ways. One of these writers is the scientist-theologian, Ilia Delio.
Anyone who does a doctoral degree in science and one in theology gets my attention. I did one of the two and that was enough! What I very much like about Delio is she takes things from science, such as evolution, and work it into her theology. It makes her theology feel very up-to-date and relevant. I think this is important, because some theologies ask us to be two different people. On one hand, we are citizens of a modern world. Science appropriately plays a huge role in our lives---whether it be computers, vaccines and a host of other things. And yet, many of us feel drawn to a greater spirit we can call Spirit or God or something like that. Both seem true in our lives. Delio helps me embrace both science and theology.
This came true again to me when I selected a passage from her writing to make a point in a presentation I was making. She is talking about evolution. She begins that discussion by saying, “Evolution unveils a depth of integrated love that is open to more unity, centricity, and consciousness.” I normally think about evolution as creating or causing things to happen. While I am confident Delio would affirm this, she adds the interesting twist that evolution also unveils. To unveil is to make known or visible that which was hidden. In this case, evolution unveils integrated love.
Even this little phrase is fascinating. It means love was already there. It is present as evolution is doing its work. It does not take much to understand Delio has in mind the biblical claim that God is love. The God, who is love, is at work creatively in the evolution process. In a sense evolution is love unfolding---love becoming manifest in the myriad variety of our created world. That makes the world an enchanting, charming place. Of course, there are problems and issues like hurricanes. But overall, God is responsible and responsive to the world that is evolving. And we are part of that process.
One more detail is that Delio calls the love “integrated.” Integration implies a wholeness---the opposite of disintegration. She goes further to say this integrated love is open to more unity and more centricity and more consciousness. This integrated love is doing the work of unification of the disparate parts and pieces of our world. Scientists often are studying particular parts and pieces. Delio offers a way to see the whole at the same time.
Delio continues in her analysis and description of this love. She tells us that “Love is not sheer emotion or simply a dopaminergic surge in the limbic system; it is much more deeply embedded in the fabric of the universe.” This is the language of a scientist. I don’t use the word, dopaminergic, in my vocabulary. But I do know what it means. It signals dopamine, a chemical neurotransmitter, which means a connector of the body to the brain. It affects movement and also our emotional life.
Love is not solely dopamine---a chemical reaction. Love is embedded in the universe. Love exists before we do. In fact, love is the cause of our being---insofar as God is love. This is exciting. It is as if Delio is on a roll now. She writes on by telling us, “Love is the integrated energy field, the center of all centers, the whole of every whole, that makes each whole desire more wholeness.” This sounds a bit convoluted, so let’s unpack it and say Amen!
She sounds a bit like a physicist when she claims love is an integrated energy field. I like the idea of love as energy. It makes sense. Any time we are in love, we do feel energized. It also allows us to claim that God is energy, since God is love. In a way God is this energy field. She goes further in a more theological manner. Love is the center of all centers. Remember, love is an integrated thing. It is wholeness and leads those of us who are disintegrated into a more integrated life. From chaos comes order---cosmos, as the Greeks call it.
Love is also the whole of every whole. Furthermore, love is creative. It makes desire whole. It should be clear that Delio has a real sense of wholeness. This is what integration also means and brings. To be integrated means to become aware of and to participate in wholeness. Spiritually, it means we participate knowingly and willingly in God’s love-work of “whole-making.”
Practically speaking, it means we bring peace to conflict. We bring reconciliation to arguments and disagreements. We bring love in the place of hate. In biblical terms, we are bringing and building the kingdom. Amen!
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