"There is nothing new under the sun.", Ecclesiastes 1:9-14. When it comes to religion there is a lot of truth in that statement. It would be hard to imagine some core principal or seminal idea that has not already been expressed in religious or metaphysical thought. Even within a single world religion there can be marked variations. So why a new religious framework? While it may be true that there are no new seminal thoughts, there are an enormous number of ways to put those thoughts and ideas together and choose what to emphasize. This is what the Divine Life Communion attempts to do. The core ideas in its theology are nothing new. However, what it chooses to emphasize and its systematic treatment of those ideas may be something fresh, viable and new.

Why a new framework? Several reasons. As mentioned before, traditional religions are having a harder and harder time reaching people, being relevant and being believable. Participation in a religious tradition today is discretionary more than any time before. In the past there were social, cultural, and even political reasons to be active in a religious tradition. Today there is very little or no stigma for non-church goers. People are free to make a choice if a religious affiliation is right for them. Many today are leaving their traditions. Most say the religion is not relevant for them. It doesn't provide them with something they are looking for or there is little or no return on the time and energy they expend. Others say that the old traditions just aren't believable anymore. However, this does not mean that people are any less spiritual. The percentage of people who believe in some higher power has stayed steady over the years. However, since the traditions are not meeting their needs, people are looking elsewhere. The problem is that compelling alternatives to the old traditions are just not available. Perhaps a new religious alternative is what is needed.

Another reason for a new framework is that the current traditions have elements in them that are counterproductive for both individuals and societies. Even very recently we have seen the damage that religious extremism can do to individuals and the world. Religious frameworks that can foster extreme positions must be replaced with those that are inclusive and affirming. Religious traditions that look to an eschaton or end times to resolve the issues of our world do not foster a strong sense of responsibility and seriousness about our world.

Religious frameworks matter. The focus of religion is on ultimates, those things that are most important. As a result the way religion frames a view of our world and the individual greatly affects the shape of society. Paul Tillich said that "Religion is the substance of culture and culture is the form of religion". He could say that because for him religion is about ultimate concerns. Those things that are of ultimate importance to us shape the way we think about ourselves and the way society is shaped. Traditional religions shape those views in ways that will not meet the needs of the 21st century.

The Divine Life Communion is an attempt to reformulate perennial thoughts and ideas in a way that is believable, relevant and culturally beneficial. Life is what humankind is about. It is life that we experience. Life can be grand and wonderful or terrifying and destructive. Life comes with its history and its promise for the future. It can be approached in a positive way or with negativity. However one feels about life, its prospects, its beauty and meaning or its problems, it is the focus of our being. The focus of the Divine Life Communion is life as well. Life is at its the very heart. It is the focal point of all DLC theology and practice. It is both affirmed and engaged in all its dimensions. Life is the starting point for DLC theology because it is our own personal point of experience and in the final analysis it is only our experience of life that can inform our spirituality.

The Divine Life Communion is a theistic framework, believing in a personal God. The belief is grounded in an informed intuition about life. The Divine Life Communion also intuits that there is only one reality and that reality is God. This is an important statement because it emphasizes the unity of all things. Many religions drive a wedge between the reality we experience and ultimate reality. The major world religions are all, at their core, world rejecting, looking for "salvation" from this reality in some other reality. The Divine Life Communion, however, affirms this reality in all its dimensions. It does this because the heart of DLC theology is that God is a Living God. Now, the idea of a living God is not new. Throughout the history of religion there have been many religious themes that depict God as living. This is done either as a god who is incarnated into this world or one that lives and dies in the sacred realm. While this theme of a living god was important for those religious systems, it is crucial for the Divine Life Communion.

In order explain clearly the idea of a living God; please bear with a little detailed explanation. The Divine Life Communion is based on an ontology (study of being) it calls an Aspect Monism. DLC asserts that there is only one reality, one being and that reality is God. This is a monistic approach. However, there are aspects to God, this one reality. Obviously, in a monistic view, the reality we experience must be an aspect of God. We currently talk about this reality using terms like space and time. However, the very term God points to ultimacy, that God is Being-Itself, the ground of being from which all of reality derives its being. This means God cannot be thought of just in terms like space and time. Accordingly, there is an aspect of God that has been traditionally called a transcendent one that is beyond our direct knowledge and comprehension. We can only symbolize this aspect as the depth of God, the depth of reality. God in this aspect is eternal and infinite. It is God in the abyss of the unknowable. The first principal of Divine Life theology is that there is only one reality and that reality is God.

However, since our reality is part of God, it is also an aspect of God. It is a living aspect. We experience our reality as a living reality. What is life? It is constrained being. We currently describe these constraints using terms like space, time, matter and energy. At its fundament level life is the interaction and dynamics of both the stability and novelty that emerges within this constrained being. This also means that God has a constrained aspect that we call life. While there is a transcendent aspect to God, there is also a living aspect. God has a life, a divine life. That God is a living God is the second foundational principal of the Divine Life Communion.

To continue that train of thought, everything in this cosmos, including humans, is an aspect of God, an aspect of God's divine life. The life of the solar system, the galaxies, the cosmos and your life are part of the divine life, an aspect of it. Your life is not an independent life only to interact with the sacred, life's depth. Your life is part of the divine life. It is part of the communion of all life. It is an important part of God's life. The divine life is a communion of all living things. This is another foundational principal of Divine Life theology.

The final foundational principal is that the divine life is as it is suppose to be. It is not a mistake or a fallen creation. It is God's self creation, the structure and process of life as God wants it to be. It is a wondrous and beautiful thing. Life and our cosmos are to be affirmed, not rejected. The divine life is God's choice to live. It is a choice to engage in both the wonder and the struggle of life in all its beauty and challenge.

Since DLC affirms life as it is, it also affirms a naturalistic view. What this means is, however, a bit more complicated. This idea of naturalism will be dealt with in more detail later. What it means, in essence, however is that DLC affirms life as we experience it. This experience is both personal and empirical (scientific) experience. What this experience tells us is that life emerges in extraordinary ways but also with a stability and order. Accordingly what this means is that the commonplace notion of "supernaturalism" is not needed for DLC theology. The term "supernaturalism" drives a wedge between God and the reality we experience. This is not compatible with DLC monism. What is affirmed that is implied in the term is that God does act in life to bring about telos, meaning and purpose. That divine action, however, is not an intervention but an inherent part of the way the divine life works. See below for more detail. Therefore, Divine Life is naturalistic and affirms all that science can discover and tell us about our cosmos. This does not mean, however, that DLC theology affirms a mechanistic view of the cosmos as some in science do. To the contrary, a living God is an active God. The cosmos is not mechanistic but a living organism that finds both a stability and novelty in the freedom of God. Accordingly DLC is science friendly but not a slave to current scientific explanations. The idea of friendliness to science is a serious one. It is not a trivial issue to reject what science may claim about our world. However, when science attempts to speak outside its realm and make inferences about ultimate issues, it must be open to criticism.

While this may seem too minimal to form a foundation for a religious framework, it is not. From these simple principals an adequate theological basis can be formed. Also DLC theology is intended to be minimalistic. DLC believes that foundational metaphysical assertions should be kept to a minimum, allowing latitude for personal choices and avoiding excessive speculation. The DLC foundations only assert enough to create a framework that is believable, relevant and beneficial.

These principals point to a communion, a unity of all things. The world communion is defined as a "mutual participation". Many religious systems try to strike a separation between what might be call the sacred and the mundane. Usually the mundane is viewed as fallen or evil whereas the sacred is perfect and good. This type of distinction is not possible within an aspect monism. Our reality is an integral part of God. There is no separation or distinction that drives a wedge between the reality we experience and the sacred. There is but one reality and the universe is as it is supposed to be. All things in the cosmos are part of the divine life and, as such, commune with one another. That is why it is called a communion, not a church. The word "church" is too limited in scope. People may go to a church, temple, mosque, synagogue, etc. but in their deepest selves they are part of the communion of the divine life. The idea of communion has far reaching implications. While all living things are individuals, they are also a part of the whole. Not only that but the divine life is meant to be a communion. A communion is like a living organism. Each part is important to the whole. Each part contributes to the divine life, affecting all other parts. Each individual has certain abilities and limitations. Those abilities contribute both to the individual and the whole. The limitations are offset by the talents of others in the communion. As a result communion members should look to each other as partners and co-creators of the divine life. The process of life is not for only a few, but all. The creation of love, beauty, and meaning is for the entire communion.

Life has a depth to it that may be difficult to analytically describe but humans intuitively recognize it. Paul Tillich called this "the dimension of depth". Karen Armstrong, "the deeper currents of life". This depth metaphor tries to capture a distinction in life, a distinction where there is an epiphany of the sacred in the mundane. The purpose of life can be found in the emergence of this sacred depth. It can also be described as the depth of both the moral and the aesthetic. Love is the dimension of depth of the moral. Beauty and meaning are the dimensions of depth of the aesthetic. The purpose of life is the expression of its depth in the creation of love, beauty and meaning.

Love is a complex term that points to many things. It includes community, caring, justice, equity, love of self, love of others, sacrifice, etc. It runs the full range of the Greek definitions from philos (brotherly love), Eros (sexual love) and agape (unselfish love). Love is found wherever life touches the moral depth of life. Beauty is also a complex term that is often narrowly defined as artistic beauty. This is true, but it also includes the beauty of rational thought and scientific achievement. Beauty is found wherever life touches the aesthetic depth of life.

Clearly love and beauty require work and struggle to achieve. Life naturally contains the potential for evil and disharmony. The purpose of life is the creation of love, beauty and meaning even in the midst of struggle against destructive forces. When that is done, progress is made. Progress, however, is not toward some final goal. The life process is not something to culminate. The life process is eternal just as the divine life is eternal. What we call progress is the eternal infinite evolution of love, beauty and meaning. Progress is made when the heritage of love, beauty, and meaning of the past is built upon for the present and the future.

Most world religions are, at their core, world rejecting. This came about, I believe, because of the idea of perfection that arose during the Axial Age, the time a few centuries before and after 0 BCE. The idea of perfection then meant something unchangeable and pristine. A God who is perfect would not directly be a part of this mundane world which was in some way illusionary, corrupt, or fallen. This position drove a wedge between God and this reality. The Divine Life Communion, however, does not recognize any separation between what has been called the sacred and the mundane. The idea that perfection means immutability is a symbol that is not only logically unsound but practically untenable. The idea that God cannot change creates a static, dead God. DLC, however, says that God does change. God as a living God is part of the process of change that is life. Because there is no separation in God, this reality is to be affirmed not rejected. The cosmos, this life, is good and is in its structure and dynamic as it should be. This life is not a mistake but a wondrous gift. DLC affirms the dynamics of life just as it is. This does not, however, mean that the evils in life are ignored. To the contrary, God's life, the divine life, is about the struggle of love and beauty against evil and corruption. This does not mean that what we call evil is something separate from God or the divine life. The potential for evil is an inherent consequence of life. While there is no necessity that a particular evil arise, the potential means that evil is a continuous threat in life for eternity. However, the creation of love and beauty over against evil is the triumph of life for eternity as well.

There are several consequences to affirming life as it is. First, the general cosmic and particular personal goal is not escape to a new reality, but rather to embrace the struggle of life as it is. Also there is no appeal to re-creation of this reality. Life is as it should be in its inherent goodness. The goal instead is the eternal creation of love, beauty and meaning in the midst of the life struggle. To do this life should be celebrated where this creative good emerges and engaged where it does not. Engaging in a positive attitude towards life and the cosmos means both celebration and action. The beauty and love we find are celebrated and the evil is confronted.

Since DLC is based on a monistic view of reality, it strongly affirms our experience of that reality. This experience is often characterized as naturalism. The experience of life is one of both stability and change. The order that we and science finds in the universe allows for life. It provides a stable environment where complexity can evolve into living things. DLC affirms this order in the universe as a positive thing. This order is, however, not the result of blind mechanistic forces but the result of an active, eternal intentional activity.

What does this mean then concerning the activity of God in the world? Can God act? Yes. Life is constituted by both stability and change. The advent of modern physics in the 20th century has given indications that the universe unfolds both with stability and novelty. Although there are still deep mysteries at the most fundament levels of the cosmos, what is clear is that there is openness to novelty in the universe. That implies that the universe is unfolding through both its created stability and novelty. DLC says that both these are the work of God and that it is with both that God acts to create the divine life. Natural order is not something distinct from God with its own intrinsic properties. Natural order is part of the life of God. The stability of the cosmos is not due to an independent reality from God. It is instead the creative process of God in both the stability and change of the universe. The consequence of this is that the purposes of life unfold primarily within the small changes that occur. Small novel changes within the fabric of life allow for stability to remain while change occurs. As such DLC affirms the general notion that life evolves. However, it evolves according to the meaning and purpose of God, the meaning and purpose of the divine life.

Clearly there is much that science does not understand about the cosmos. It may, in fact, never understand it fully. However, what science does discover is fully embraced by DLC with one caveat. Any religious system that embraces science must also have an element of skepticism about scientific claims just as it must be self critical about its own metaphysical claims. DLC's criterion for evaluating scientific theories is found in both the head and the heart. The head affirms the logical nature of reality. It relies on reason and the scientific method for its criterion. The heart affirms the intuitive sense we have about life. The heart takes in the gestalt (holistic) view of life and "senses" a certain way about it. In some cases this intuitive sense may conflict with what science or the head tells us. It is the eternal process of finding concilience between the heart and the head that creates the theology of DLC.

In the final analysis the import of the theological foundations is found in the practice of life. Otherwise the speculation and systematic rigor are no more than, perhaps, an interesting exercise. However, the theological basis for DLC has far reaching practical consequences. These consequences are what, in many ways, distinguishes the Divine Life Communion from other religions.

Since DLC affirms life as it is, there is no effort to escape this reality or long for a re-created reality in the future. This life is structured as it should be and even with the potential for evil, it is a wondrous gift. However, affirming life as it is does not mean passively accepting the emergence of evil. To the contrary. Life is about the struggle to create love, beauty, and meaning even in the midst of this potential for evil. In fact, since this is the only reality we and our descendents will have, we must dedicate ourselves to making life more loving and beautiful. Progress in life is building on past efforts, not toward some ultimate goal but toward the infinite possibilities for love and beauty.

Since DLC is naturalistic, the emergence of telos (ultimate meaning and purpose) occurs within the constraints of being, it is within this created order of stability and change that God lives the divine life and telos (love, beauty and meaning) emerges. This has a profound effect on personal piety. Prayer is not an appeal to a heavy handed brute forcing of the natural world. It is, instead, an appeal to the created power and goodness already present. The power of prayer comes not from obverting natural order but through the inner dialog of the divine life where the power of the entire communion and the process of life is brought to bear on life's deepest issues.

The divine life is a communion of all living things. Each individual life is very important to the divine life, whether it be a virus, a plant or a human. All contribute to the life of God and in the divine life find their meaning and purpose. For sentient beings like humans a sense of self and the communion can bring about a profound feeling of connectedness. The communion does not overemphasize either the separateness or the togetherness of individual lives. It is within both individuality and community that the divine life creates. For humans this means that we are both individual creative life forces and part of a community of living beings. We can celebrate our gifts and look to the communion for support in our deficits. The divine life communion is a community that celebrates both the individual and the community.

In affirming life, DLC celebrates both the beauty and love in life while at the same time engages in the struggle against life's destructive forces. This life is what we have and it is our legacy to build on the past for a better future for the continued communion. The life of God is the process of creating love, beauty, and meaning even in the midst of the potential of evil. Accordingly the charter of DLC is to both celebrate life and engage life concerns.