There is no hiding the fact that spirituality has become an interesting subject and practice in America today. The fact is that people are searching for meaning and purpose in their lives. They often believe religious disciplines such as yoga or prayer can lead them to self-actualization or enlightenment. People in America today go about the business of life and try to make sure they are balanced and making sure they are getting spiritually filled. It is important to have balance in ones life. We seek after balanced finances, diet, exercise, work hours, family time, intellectual engagement, and spiritual engagement. We seek for a balance between mind, body, and soul. However, our lives are naturally out of balance due to our distinction between the physical and spiritual, separation of church and state.
The good old USA has given its people the ability to choose which religion and spiritual fulfillment best suits their needs. Since we were born we have been taught to be self sustaining individuals. We embrace our individuation, after all, who knows what’s best for us better than ourselves. The problem is that our individuation causes a distinction of planes between the physical and spiritual which gives the church control over the spiritual realm, but not the physical. Therefore the church has no physical body in which to stand politically. However, by partaking in the Eucharist these planes of distinction dissolve and the church can fight for people’s bodies.
William Cavanaugh critiques the French Catholic philosopher Jacques Maritain’s ecclesiology that becomes prominent with the rise of the nation state. According to Maritain, if the church is to survive and coexist with the nation state then there must be a distinction of planes. Maritain wanted the church to have control over the nation state by forming spiritual individuals who would be the moral conscience of the nation state. By distinguishing between spiritual and temporal the nation state and the church can co-exist because the spiritual is subservient to the temporal unless the temporal hinders or impedes upon the individual being spiritually connected to the church body. The church controls the spiritual realm. It is in the spiritual connections of individuals that form the church body. However, the temporal controls the physical bodies of the individuals. The problem with these distinctions is that the physical bodies of the church become subservient to the state because the church is seen only as something spiritual.
The distinction of planes individuates the body of Christ and places it subservient to the state. When the state begins to practice things that force Christians to perform and support non- Christian things, things that impede upon the spiritual, the church has no power to stop the state. The bodies are already formed and controlled by the state and when the Church chooses to stand in opposition to the state then it has no physical body to stand on. The goal of the distinction of planes is to provide the spiritual body of the church with a way to control the temporal, but the temporal always wins unless the church becomes united as a spiritual and physical body. Because the church has now became the spiritual and invisible body of Christ, the physical body of Christ in the world has naturally dissolved. The goal of the nation state is to create individuals because they are easier to control than social groups. By the individuation of Americans, the church has fallen subservient to the state because it no longer controls physical bodies.