Grace – Da Bomb!

I spoke to a friend a few days ago and the subject of grace came up. I asked him how grace was presently effecting his life. His response was a gleeful, “Grace – it’s da bomb!” He went on to eagerly tell me all the great things he was attributing to living in the grace of God. I was happy for his exuberance to life, yet, I could see that he didn’t fully understand the significance of identifying grace as “da bomb.” Sure, the term is a cultural euphemism meaning something great, grand, and incomparable. However, the truth is, grace is A BOMB! An explosive device that destroys all things which were formally known and experienced. Let me explain using some terms and concepts from the writings of Ken Wilber.

Over the last 150+ years the evolution of the science of human development has produced many experts who have clarified the nature of human consciousness. Today, these experts claim that each of us goes through four distinct transformations. Consciousness, our ability to perceive and be aware of our reality, starts at birth, obviously. We are from the get go only aware of ourselves, or egocentric. Me, myself, and I are the only concerns we have. This consciousness dominates our entire life cycle, it is our survival mode in threatening situations; it is our first line of defense in any new environment. Narcissism is the result of not developing into the next level of consciousness, ethno-centric.

Ethno-centric consciousness means that we have recognized and are aware of another person in our lives. As young children begin to interact with others we witness the progression through this stage by a) recognition – there is someone in my space; b) acceptance – this person does not appear as a threat; c) integration – we can play together. “My four, and no more,” is the fundamental campaign maxim for us in this mode. We form very tight-knit communities in this stage accepting only those who like what we like, who dress like we do, like the same musicians as us, watch the same movies, eat at the same restaurants, worship the same god. Yup, it is that prevalent. Tribal cultures form at this level of consciousness. Whether it be nations, churches or sporting clubs, ethno-centric consciousness feeds and binds our ego to someone like us.

Numerous studies have been conducted over the years and one of the primary areas of agreement they all share is that up to 75% of the entire world population operates daily from these first two forms of consciousness. I can assure you, even as you read that statistic, you are not in the remaining 25%, yet. Even to think that you are, would demonstrate how much you’re still in the first mode, simply because you haven’t heard what the remaining two modes are.

World-centric becomes our third level of consciousness. Here we begin to look at our place with the world which is different than the previous level which was very narrowly focused. This viewpoint takes into consideration large people groups of differing cultures, beliefs and values. It is the inclusiveness of others in this mode that enables us to think through and solve problems from many vantage points. The tests show that maybe only 20% of the entire world population is even close to fully functioning in this arena. Again, read that stat in relation to the world, not the church.

Kosmos-centric is the last level of consciousness. People at this level function with the scope of the entire universe in their field of vision. This is the realm of Christ consciousness that Paul exhorts us to be at when he says, “…let this mind be in you…” and, “…it’s not I that lives…” or, when Jesus claims, “… in that day you will know that I am in you and you are in the me…” This is a level which must be sought after since it does not just manifest on its own.

So now knowing these various levels or modes of consciousness how does grace fit into them. I said that grace is a bomb simply because if you’re in the first two levels and you suddenly see the depth of grace and what it impacts, your entire life is about to be blown up and not many want to live in a blast zone, yourself included.
Grace enters at the world-centric level. This doesn’t mean it’s not always around, which it is, it just happens that now you have become conscious of it, enabling you to see it at this level. Your “…four and no more” slogan suddenly changes to, “What! No more?”

How could I tell that my friend hadn’t fully developed into grace? His blessing, his favorable position, his prayers, his church…you get the point (I hope). Had he got the point, it would have not been about him at all. He would have talked about how his family is dealing with the diminishing number of friends who want to be associated with them; he would have told of how complete strangers come to him and ask for help knowing he won’t preach to them; he would have held back the tears of a lover longing to be in the presence of his greatest friend; he would have been true to himself and not feared telling me his doubts and apprehensions about living the grace-filled life in a world so totally clueless.

As I stated, grace is always around, however, until it has blown up your world, affected you and your loved ones, decapitated the false gods you’ve crafted in prayer and worship, paralyzed the fear towards those lords you’ve manufactured, and burned up the hope in your ability to be the redeemer in all things, you don’t know the power of the grace you’re juggling in your hands. Yeah, grace. It’s a bomb, working all the time.