Category Archives: religion

Ostentatious displays of faith

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I’m afraid the world has not heard me! I discoursed several weeks ago about the “Tebowing” phenomena and, low and behold, it continues! Can’t ya’ll listen to me????? I mean, am I a mere voice “crying in the wilderness?”

Tim Tebow is making a show of his faith. He is not doing this because he is a bad guy. He is not a bad guy. He has faith and I commend him for that. But he is doing “Tim Tebow” because that is all he knows and that is what he was rewarded for when he was a child. Faith, as it was presented to him, is about showmanship. If you will indulge me a bit of a leap, I quote Shakespeare who once noted, “When love (i.e., “faith”) begins to sicken and decay, it useth an enforced ceremony.”

Tim needs to learn that faith is first and foremost a private matter and does not need ostentatious displays before screaming throngs…and a national tv audience…whose concern at the moment is not religion. Sure, a public affirmation of faith has its place. Yes, he can affirm his “faith in Jesus Christ as his personal savior” in public venues, when appropriate. But to do so during a sporting cheapens his faith and does it great disservice.

Beauty is always present!

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Life is filled with suffering, but it is also filled with many wonders, like the blue sky, the sunshine, the eyes of a baby.  To suffer is not enough.  We must also be in touch with the wonders of life.  They are within us and all around us, everywhere, anytime.  Thich  Nhat Hanh (Being Peace).

Do you ever get caught up in your sorrows and disappointments so that you lose perspective?  I sure do.  But it helps me when I catch myself doing this to stop for a moment, to pause, to exercise “mindfulness”, and appreciate the beauty that is around me.  And, if this beauty is not immediately present, I can recall the beauty that I have seen and will see again.

I have here just one glimpse of beauty that was caught by my mother-in-law’s eye several years ago.  It is stunning.  And deer, and birds, and squirrels, and the rest of god’s critters are just marvelous.  And I didn’t even mention dachshund puppies who just totally slay me, especially the two that I own.

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Damn those human limitations!

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I really love e e cummings. He was just so damned contrary and here I am stuck in my plain-vanilla, humdrum life! It ain’t fair!  He didn’t even obey punctuation! How in the hell did he get by with that? His teachers must have wanted to beat his butt.

Here is one of my favorite of his poems:

WHEN GOD DECIDED TO INVENT

when god decided to invent
everything he took one
breath bigger than a circus tent
and everything began

when man determined to destroy
himself he picked the was
of shall and finding only why
smashed it into because

I really do not understand this poem. But it grabs me. The key to the poem is the limitation of the cause-and-effect world that we live in, a relic of that damned time-space continuum. And, I don’t understand that “continuum” either! Not consciously, anyway. But, I know that cummings realized the limitations that we live in and I know he must have found them very frustrating.

Ultimately, the only thing we have is “why” and that brings us face to face with the profound mystery of life. I’m made to think of Einstein’s observation that he had found that at the heart of everything was an “impenetrable mystery”, noting that this experience is what brought to his heart “religious sentiment.” I choose the term “God” but “my god”, how that term is abused.

Marilynne Robinson and the Transitoriness of life

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I have written before about one of my favorite contemporary American novelists, Marilynne Robinson. Two of her books are Housekeeping (my favorite) and Gilead for which she won a Pulitzer Prize in 2005. But she recently posted an article in The Nation entitled “Night Thoughts of a Baffled Humanist” and there demonstrated an ability to astutely address our world’s political and economic issues.

She brings what I call as cosmic perspective to the messes we are in:

Say that we are a puff of warm breath in a very cold universe. By this kind of reckoning we are either immeasurably insignificant, or we are incalculably precious and interesting. I tend toward the second view.

She sees our species as a very vulnerable creature at a very precarious point in our history. She brings to mind W. H. Auden’s description of us as creatures, “clinging to the granite skirts of our sensible old planet.” From this “cosmic perspective”, we are all “humans” and our primary identity with various and sundry nation-states is specious at best. The only way to successfully address our collective issues is to realize that we are all in the “mess” together and even more so, to borrow on old bromide, “none of us are gonna get out alive.” Therefore, our best efforts should be to work toward making this a more hospitable home for our children and for their children so that they can have even more fun in the brief moment they are allowed to cavort about on “this sensible old planet.”

Musings re “The Secret”

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As indicated yesterday, Rhonda Byrne‘s book, The Secret, has been helpful to me.   But, I do have reservations.

For example, I do wander about using the “Law of attraction” to obtain a parking spot or
fabulous wealth. Though, true enough, perhaps if I felt differently I would be
wealthy and would readily find a parking spot each time I needed!  Oh me of
little faith!

The issue is the unconscious dimension of our experience. The real, the
essential negative self-talk takes place beneath the surface in the form of old
recordings buried deep in our neurological structure. And, yes, since they are
“unconscious” we can’t see them because then they would be conscious! BUT, we
can be self-aware and be honest about the images that flutter through our
conscious mind and about the poor choices that we make. Then, we can ferret out
what these old recordings are.  Or at least some of them.

I’m casting doubt on just how much impact “the power of positive thinking” can
play when our wounds are buried deeply in our subterranean depths. But, it
can’t do any harm to become conscious of “stinkin thinkin” and practice new
refrains or mantras. In other words, it can’t do any harm to attempt to
re-program our brain. It won’t do any harm to attempt to “brain-wash” ourselves
anew with positive and affirming thoughts. For, “brain-washing” is what
happened in the first place.

Let me share something that has been personally useful. I think it was Rumi who
noted once, “The only antidote to depression is praise.” Here, I’m going to
exercise literary license and replace “praise” with “offering thanks.”  Then I
can apply a couple of admonishments from the Bible, such as, “Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.”

What Rumi had in mind was that when life gets grim, we can still exercise choice
and focus on the many good things that are present in our life, even if it is
nothing but the blessing of the very breath of life itself. It has helped me,
when despair beckons, to “pray the alphabet” which Mary Karr taught me in her
memoir, Lit. “Praying the alphabet”, in this context, means going down the
alphabet and making yourself find something or someone starting with each letter
of the alphabet for which you can give thanks. This gets interesting with X, Z,
and Q; but I manage! The beauty of this strategy is that it is on some level a
simple cognitive behavioral therapy strategy. You can’t whole-heartedly focus
on more than one thing at a time. So, focusing on the wonderful things in your
life can pre-occupy you for a moment and take your attention away from that
gnawing despair.

The Law of Attraction

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I was channel-surfing last night and I happened by Joel Osteen. He always gets my attention as he is so unusual looking. On this particular “drive-by” he was discoursing re the power of the words, “I am.” He developed the point that whatever you complete the sentence, “I am….” with is what you get. He developed this point very well, noting for example that if you say, “I am a louse” then probably you are going to be a louse. If you say,“I am stupid”, then probably you are going to be stupid. Now in the time I was there he did not reference Rhonda Byrne’s book, The Secret, which described this truth as “The Law of Attraction”—whatever you put out there with your words is what you will attract. And this “Law of Attraction” is being popularized by many of our contemporary self-help, New Age, spokespersons.

This “Law” can be described as simplistic but I don’t totally dismiss it. I too believe that it is with our words that we create our world and with obsessive self-talk perpetuate it. And I’m very pleased to see someone in Osteen’s position promulgating a message like this. I just hope it is taught to the kiddies in Sunday School as that is when it needs to be learned.

Osteen’s sermon was a simple self-help spiel and I was impressed with what I heard. I’m pleased to see an evangelical preacher preaching a message of self-empowerment. And he didn’t trot out that “hell fire and damnation” stuff either.

Anti-intellectualism and anti-science: Keep ’em on the reservation.

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Karl Gilberson has another post in the Huffington Post in which he, an evangelical himself, addresses the issue of anti-intellectual, anti-science stances taken by the evangelical movement. He attributes this issue to driving away the youth from evangelical churches and cites statistics to prove his point. And his position brings to my mind the work of Richard Hofstadtner on anti-intellectualism in American history (Anti-intellectualism in American Life), a tendency which Hofstadtner links with religious and political conservatism.

Some Christians feel that God wants them to turn their brains off and not think critically. Their stance reveals a perception of God who wants to be merely adored and worshipped, who will, after “the end of the world “comes will get his jollies from having all his believers fawn over him for eternity. And “eternity” in this mind set is a quantitative term, not qualitative. In other words, it will go on and on and on forever! AND, of course, meanwhile those “non-believers” will be roasting in hell for the same “eternity.” Why is it so important for Christians to have and to maintain this perspective? (There are some revisionist interpretations of hell in evangelical circles and they are not appreciated. That is putting it mildly.)

A key issue here is the very nature of identity. People who subscribe to this world view reflect a very rigid view of themselves; for, as we see God so do we see ourselves and the rest of the world. This is just another variation of my oft-used bromide, “What we see is what we are.” This static view of the world was reality at one point in the past and still is in many cultures. And that “static world” created static identities. But reality has evolved so far beyond that limited grasp of the world.

Identity…and the rest of the world we perceive…is ephemeral. When this understanding comes to an individual whose grasp of the world is otherwise, it is admittedly disturbing and potentially catastrophic. That is why conservative believers cling so desperately to their static world-view, their static identity, and amuse themselves with mindless repetition of dogma. I must insist, however, they could “let go” of their dogma and discover that their “dogma” would still be valid, though in a radically different way. The “letter of the law” would then give way to “the spirit of the law”. When identity has been transformed, worship of “god” becomes worship of “God.”

But I must offer a caveat to any True Believer (see Eric Hoffer) who might have stumbled upon my musings— “You had better keep your kids on the reservation! Yes, home-school ‘em and try to keep them out of college. And if you let them go to college, make sure it is some diploma-mill where their belief system will not be challenged.”

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Atheists often have the same enthusiasm and arrogance that hyper-conservative Christians do.  They appear to become very smug with their belief-system and view “non-believers” with disdain.  It is really kind of comical.  This is best seen in Carolyn Brigg’s description of her visit to an atheist convention in Iowa several months ago.  I provide the link here:

http://www.religiondispatches.org/archive/culture/5283/waiting_for_lightning_to_strike%3A_a_wobbly_agnostic_among_the_atheists/

(You will probably have to copy-and-paste this to your address bar.  I haven’t learned yet how to import a link!)

Persons of faith can learn from reading Briggs’ report.  Her report illustrates how any belief system can become an end in itself, how that it can be used to make persons feel really good about themselves, so much so that they become smug.  I believe in feeling good about ourselves but we should not need a crutch to accomplish this.

One of the most prominent atheists of our day is Bill Maher.  And, I love Bill Maher!  But at times he is just too disdainful toward those who choose to believe.  And Christopher Hitches can be outright arrogant.  He was brutal in his treatment of Mother Teresa who honestly acknowledged the profound doubt that haunted her deep faith.

Obnoxious atheists, just like obnoxious Christians, need to get a life.  They need to follow the advice, “Get over yourself.”

Communication Perils and “Penetrable” hearts.

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“Let go of your mind and come to your senses.”  This 70’s era bromide, from Fritz Perls I think, is very astute.  Perls was encouraging us to discover our ability to forego our comfort zone—that safe cognitive haven we have created—and enter the world of sensual experience, the world of feeling.  That “cognitive haven” is the egoic consciousness that Eckhart Tolle has popularized.

And, I admit that this is easier said than done, especially for us who are so firmly ensconced in the cognitive domain.  I practice meditation but it is very hard to quiten that “monkey mind” that the Buddhists speak of—that mind that is always shrieking, chattering, and cavorting about, absolutely unable to embrace the present moment, Tolle’s “Now”.

Shakespeare recognized the need of feeling and its primacy over cognition.  In the famous scene in which his mother is compulsively wringing her hands, he admonished her to “cease wringing your hands and I will wring your heart.  And so I will if it be made of penetrable stuff, if damn custom hath not bronzed it o’er so that it be proof and bulwark against sense” (sense-experience, or feeling).  Here Shakespeare is noting how cognition, one dimension of that “damn custom”, tends to “bronze o’er” the heart and make it “impenetrable.”  When the heart is open to the feeling mode, it is full of “penetrable stuff” and communication can take place.  But when this “damn custom” or cognition predominates, there is only a robot-like exchange of data.  It makes me think of the scene in the movie Rain Man where two autistic men are engaging in a conversation.  But the “conversation” consisted of each man delivering a spiel to the other only to have the other respond with a spiel of his own, a spiel having nothing to do with the other spiel.  I’m reminded from a line from one of T. S. Eliot‘s plays, in which he describes people locked in formulaic, rote conversations as “people too strange to one another for misunderstanding.”

And note the lyrics from the beautiful Simon and Garfunkel song,  “Sounds of Silence”:

And in the naked light I saw

Ten thousand people maybe more

People talking without speaking

People hearing without listening.

And I close with the words of the Psalmist (Psalms 115:4)

They have mouths but they speak not:

Eyes have they, but they see not;

They have ears but they hear not.

 

 

Richard Rohr and the church

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Richard Rohr was recently on a PBS program on religion and ethics.  I provide here a link to his 10-minute presentation and high recommend it.   Some of my regular readers are evangelical and I really think that Rohr’s spirituality and teachings is relevant to evangelicism although he is a Franciscan monk.

In this presentation, Rohr takes to task the church for opting for a “religious comfort zone” rather than meaningful spiritual development.  He also noted the need of “shadow boxing” to address the dark side that is with us all, even Christians.  “We need to clean the lens,” he said, pointing to his glasses.  He was here referring to the fact that we “see through a glass darkly” and our “glasses” are always being “dirtied” by this dark side, this ever-present shadow.

He emphasized the need of prayer and not hollow, empty, formulaic, meaningless prayer.  Instead he recommends meditative prayer in which one clears his/her mind of the clutter, engages in primordial silence, and follows the biblical mandate, “Be still and know that I am God.”  He declares that prayer helps us to let go of our self, to let go of “repetitive compulsive thoughts.”

(You will have to copy-and-paste the following link to your address bar)

<http://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/episodes/november-11-2011/richard-rohr/9902/&gt;