Tag Archives: Religion and Spirituality

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.

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.

Ram Dass

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I keep running across Ram Dass in my readings.  And I still have not read him and his name still rings slightly dissonant in my heart.  But I recognize that this dissonance speaks volumes about me and my conservatism in the 1970’s (when he first surfaced on the cultural scene) and nothing about him.  Though I have not read any of his books, I have discovered numerous quotes all of which speak to his insight and courage.  For example:

In most of our human relationships, we spend much of our time reassuring one another that our costumes of identity are on straight.

 Everything changes once we identify with being the witness to the story, instead of the actor in it.

 Religion is the product of the conceptual mind attempting to describe the mystery.

 Ego is an exquisite instrument. Enjoy it, use it–just don’t get lost in it.

 I recognize why I was so averse to him in my youth and why conservative spirituality still is averse to him and all Eastern religions—he recognized a spiritual reality that is not reduced to the conceptual and which, consequently, cannot be owned and controlled.  That posed a threat for me as it brought into question everything I assumed about spirituality…and I have discoursed here several times re the “tyranny of assumptions.”

One task I have before me is to start reading Ram Dass, probably starting with his book, Be Here Now

self soothing strategies

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In my practice as a therapist, “self-soothing” strategies were a basic intervention that I offered.  This refers to behaviors and patterns of thought which would help the client cope more adaptively with “the thousand natural shocks which flesh is heir to.”  (Shakespeare, “Hamlet”)   These could be something as simple as saying a brief mantra from time to time, planting a flower, taking a walk, watching a favorite tv show, or preparing a special meal.

I was made aware last week how this same notion of “self-soothing” can apply to spirituality/religion.  I was at a thrift shop and encountered a person who frustrated and angered me, inducing…shall we say…unsavory thoughts.  I immediately trotted out a little contrivance that I’ve borrowed from the Buddhists—“mindfulness”—and was able to then step back from moment and recognize this evocation of feelings in my heart.  I recognized that this immediately made me feel better about myself and spared me from the orgy of shame and guilt which once would have beset me.

Now some would respond to an experience like this with a trip to the confessional or would silently (or openly) castigate himself/herself for being such a sinner.  But each of these three maneuvers is merely a “self-soothing” activity and each has its place….though I much prefer mine!  It is important to have strategies to make us feel better about ourselves, to assuage our guilt/shame over the misdeeds or errant thoughts that come daily.

 

“Getting saved” in terms of culture

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I was born and raised in a religious world where “getting saved” was a mandate.  And, I might add that I still see it as a valid cultural initiation to spirituality but I fear it is often misused.  Too many times the concept is introduced and promulgated in a culture of manipulation and fear…terror even…and young children are “saved” before they have any idea of what they are doing.  And when they are introduced to religion in that atmosphere and if they continue to live there, they often to do not allow their spirituality to deepen and mature.

We must not fail to recognize the socio-cultural dimension of spirituality/religion.  That is one fundamental dimension that is often overlooked.  When spirituality/religion is not allowed to mature, when it continues to be only a socio-cultural phenomena, the deeper meaning is not allowed to develop.

Purity and Danger

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Mary Douglas, a noted anthropologist, wrote a very provocative book in 1966 entitled, Purity and Danger.  In this book she explains the origin of a need for purity in primitive tribes and the perceived “danger” of impurity.  (And though I hear described this as a “perceived” danger, that is not to dismiss the very real danger of impurity run amok.  Boundaries are necessary.)

I was raised in a sectarian, fundamentalist church which also emphasized purity and did so to excess.  It emphasized rules and regulations to a fault, believing that the essential dimension of Christian piety was combating the forces of darkness, inside and outside.  And to those who failed to live up to those standards there was always a hefty dollop of shame and guilt that was heaped upon them.  In retrospect, I now see that shame and guilt was the essence of their belief system.

We have modern-day examples of purity run amok.  The best one is the Taliban.  It was interesting, though horrifying, to watch them rise to power as they emphasized purity morally, politically, and socially.  But purity when it is running amok always runs out of grist for its mill when its primary focus is within its own ranks.  At some point the machinery of purity has done all it can do within its own ranks and has to turn its focus outside, seeking to purify the world.  Unfortunately for groups like this, the outside world always has a mind of its own and fights back.

Now there is nothing wrong with purity.  It is an essential dimension of human experience.  But mature purity will recognize that the impurity that it resists cannot be obliterated and that the very effort to obliterate it will result in a catastrophe if balance is not found.  As Jung noted, “What we resists, persists.”  The goal is to acknowledge the presence of impurity in our hearts and actions but to consciously pursue the pure instead.  And I think that the Christian obligation to “confess ours sins, one to another” (James 5:16) is a ritual that facilitates this recognition of impurity and provides an opportunity for catharsis.

story telling

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When I was a child, “story-telling” was just another expression for lying.  If someone said something that we saw as false, we would immediately declare with great passion, “That is not so!   That is a story!”  If someone had a history of telling falsehood, he/she was labeled with heavy opprobrium, “He/she is a story-teller.”  Even a benign “story”…such as a fairy tale…was a “story” because it was clearly made up.  The implicit assumption of that cultural verbal contrivance was that there was an objective reality and anything that differed was “a story.”

But story-telling was being maligned.  Story-telling is a wonderful way of conveying information; one could even say, “truth.”  And, technically the best we can every do is to tell stories and even history itself is a story that has evolved over the millennia.  Let’s take U.S. history, for example.  When I was taught this subject in the mid-sixties I found the subject fascinating and didn’t have to worry about critical reading or anything like that.  The story of U.S. history was merely a factual account of what had happened and I found it very interesting.  It was only in college that I learned to approach history…and the rest of our knowledge-base…with a critical mind.

Another powerful story in my youth was the Christian tradition.  But it was not presented as a “story”; it was presented as a factual account of what had happened two thousand years earlier with the life of Jesus.  I now see that too as a “story” but with that approach I have been able to glean great meaning which would have eluded me otherwise.  I see Jesus as an historical character who was an extraordinary spiritual presence.  The early Christians were captivated by the story of his life and death.  And they had little difficulty in believing that, yes, he had been raised from the dead.  These early believers perpetuated this story and contributed significantly to it.  Christian history has from that point been an unfolding of this original story, an unfolding that continues even today.

Let me close with an observation made by Harry Crews in the story of his own life:  Nothing is allowed to die in a society of a storytelling people.  It is all—the good and the bad—carted up and brought along from one generation to the next.  And everything that is brought along is colored and shaped by those who bring it..

It is important that we formulate and tell our stories.

Internal differences where the meanings are

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“The man who can articulate the movements of his inner life need no longer be a victim of himself, but is able slowly and consistently to remove the obstacles that prevent the spirit from entering.”  Henri Nouwen recognized that the Spirit of God is a Presence that makes one aware of his/her inner life which, of course, parallels an awakening awareness to the outer world.  Some see this “Presence” as “coming down from on high” and intruding or violating.  They see it in terms of time and space.  I see it as interior process beginning to unfold and making one aware of his/her heart’s machinations and subtleties.  There is a verse from the New Testament (Hebrews 4:12) which recognizes this discriminating work of the Spirit, “For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.”

 To be “mindful” of “the thoughts and intents of the heart” is simple awareness.  It is to pay attention.  It is to turn off the “automatic pilot” that we’re accustomed to operating by.

Emily Dickinson put it this way:

There’s a certain slant of light,
On winter afternoons,
That oppresses, like the heft
Of cathedral tunes.

Heavenly hurt it gives us;
We can find no scar,
But internal difference
Where the meanings are

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Difficulties

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Everyday wisdom carries a lot of truth. For example, “a stitch in time saves nine” or “too little too late” or “a rolling stone gathers no moss”. These pithy little quips are rich, even though they become so banalized by common usage that they lose some of their meaning. One of the most banal, most hackneyed is, “If life gives you lemons, you gotta make lemonade.” Here is conveyed the truth that life’s difficulties give us an opportunity to grow. The human spirit seems to thrive…often…with adversity. John Masefield in one of his sonnets describes this adversity as “the spirit’s straitened possibility.” A “strait” is a tight place, as in the “Straits of Gibralter”. These “tight places”, though painful, can produce spiritual strength. Here is the whole of that Masefield sonnet in which he beautifully elaborates on this wisdom:

Man has his unseen friend, his unseen twin,
His straitened spirit’s possibility,
The palace unexplored he thinks an inn,
The glorious garden which he wanders by.
It is beside us while we clutch at clay
To daub ourselves that we may never see.
Like the lame donkey lured by moving hay
We chase the shade but let the real be.
Yet, when confusion in our heaven brings stress,
We thrust on that unseen, get stature from it,
Cast to the devil’s challenge the man’s yes,
And stream our fiery hour like a comet,
And know for that fierce hour a friend behind

Truth and the NAR

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Truth is a dangerous commodity. I think it visits us on occasion as a momentary experience of Grace. But the experience is so profound, so intoxicating, so compelling that we have to own it and so we reduce it to the conceptual. And at that moment, it has become a true commodity and is immediately on the market.

Then there comes the human tendency to feel that he/she owns this “truth” and must convince others to see it and experience it the very same way. Thus comes the advent of conversion-oriented religions and non-sense like the New Apostolic Reformation movement of present-day. Movements like this consist of leaders who feel they have really seen the truth, not in the limited way that others have, and that they must bludgeon the world with it. And there are always millions of mindless lemmings who are willing to subscribe to ideology of this sort

I feel that truth is a process. It is something that we intuitive experience on occasion but it is never anything we own. At best, “we see through a glass darkly.”

And here is an interesting thought I just ran across on the net.  This is so important:

There is no truth that cannot be turned into a lie if you just take it seriously enough.  Anitra l. freeman