Monthly Rant, part 1.
What is spirituality?
Is it going to church? Is it reading a Bible? Is it praying 5x times a day while kneeling in front of a puppet Jesus (sounds like a cool song title)? Is it singing "I Have Decided to Follow Jesus" 16 times just to stay 'in the spirit?' Is it not watching Rated-R movies? Is it avoiding saying "F*** you" every time someone cuts you off in traffic? Is it making sure you distance yourself as far as you can from the 'heathen' of the world? Is it sitting in a circle of friends talking Jesus-talk? Is it listening to only Christian music (with all its words about God)?
Is it getting in touch with nature? Is it getting lost in music? Is it listening to only secular music (which paints a better picture of true 'seeking')? Is it in painting something like the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel? Is it building a Habitat for Humanity house? Is it selling all our possessions and moving to Tibet and living in a candlelit monastery atop a snowy mountain? Is it some kind of transcendental meditation?
Is it reading the latest books about ministry, theology, or church 'growth'? Is it attending conferences or retreats to 'better' your life...your marriage...your church?
Boxed spirituality. Legalism disguised as spirituality. Quick fixes. Life-long fixes (but still 'fixes'). But much worse, they become standards by which we measure our own spirituality and (worse) the spirituality of others.
I wish there were easy answers about this.
Sadly, some of the most 'spiritual' people I know are the most depressed people I know (myself included, at times). It's as if we've tried everything, and once we've exhausted the resources in the spiritual guru of the moment, we move on...ravenous for something else...or too bloated to want any more.
So...is there such a thing as real spirituality at all? Based on people's blind acceptance or blind rejection of so many spiritual things, it seems impossible to answer.
I've been in the mountains of Colorado, and felt so close to God I felt like I could almost touch him. I've been too sappy church retreats where I've felt so close to God I felt like you could leap out of your seat straight into heaven.
And I've been to mountains where I've felt nothing but loneliness. I've been to retreats where I've almost laughed out loud at the silliness of the emotional manipulation and feigned religiosity I see.
I look at people like my own mother who find incredible value and spiritual connection in traditional forms of church and worship (Sunday school and pipe organ worship), whereas I see others only find that connection away from any kind of church. But in the end, the spirituality of both seems genuine.
And it goes into extremes. I've seen so-called Christians visciously defend traditional forms of church and 'spirituality' to such a point that they deem anyone who doesn't agree with them to be an enemy of God and church...as if every one out there who doesn't walk their tightrope is 'lost' and hellbound.
On the other hand, I've seen so-called seekers visciously attack all traditional forms of worship and church, thinking they've got it all figured out and everyone who dares attend anything with a modicum of traditionality (from style to the fact that churches meet at all) is just a robot programmed to go through the motions of spirituality week after week.
Neither side gives the other enough credit. Both sides are right, but both sides are wrong. There is value in traditional things...church, bible study, prayer groups, even...cough...hymns. But there is value in meditation, independent thought, songwriting, free expression...informal means of connecting...
So why the battle? Why does spirituality get lost? Why is it inevitably 'boxed in' on both sides (and neither side sees that they are 'boxing it in' at all? Why is it mutually exclusive?
Are these even the right questions to ask?
Man, my thoughts about this are just beginning...
Thoughts developing about... "Spiritual" being redefined as something more you are than something you do. Abused freedom disguised as spirituality. Abused religion disguised as spirituality. None of the above...
Brain...overload...at the moment where you feel nearly enlightened, but not yet... still confused.
More later.
Is it going to church? Is it reading a Bible? Is it praying 5x times a day while kneeling in front of a puppet Jesus (sounds like a cool song title)? Is it singing "I Have Decided to Follow Jesus" 16 times just to stay 'in the spirit?' Is it not watching Rated-R movies? Is it avoiding saying "F*** you" every time someone cuts you off in traffic? Is it making sure you distance yourself as far as you can from the 'heathen' of the world? Is it sitting in a circle of friends talking Jesus-talk? Is it listening to only Christian music (with all its words about God)?
Is it getting in touch with nature? Is it getting lost in music? Is it listening to only secular music (which paints a better picture of true 'seeking')? Is it in painting something like the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel? Is it building a Habitat for Humanity house? Is it selling all our possessions and moving to Tibet and living in a candlelit monastery atop a snowy mountain? Is it some kind of transcendental meditation?
Is it reading the latest books about ministry, theology, or church 'growth'? Is it attending conferences or retreats to 'better' your life...your marriage...your church?
Boxed spirituality. Legalism disguised as spirituality. Quick fixes. Life-long fixes (but still 'fixes'). But much worse, they become standards by which we measure our own spirituality and (worse) the spirituality of others.
I wish there were easy answers about this.
Sadly, some of the most 'spiritual' people I know are the most depressed people I know (myself included, at times). It's as if we've tried everything, and once we've exhausted the resources in the spiritual guru of the moment, we move on...ravenous for something else...or too bloated to want any more.
So...is there such a thing as real spirituality at all? Based on people's blind acceptance or blind rejection of so many spiritual things, it seems impossible to answer.
I've been in the mountains of Colorado, and felt so close to God I felt like I could almost touch him. I've been too sappy church retreats where I've felt so close to God I felt like you could leap out of your seat straight into heaven.
And I've been to mountains where I've felt nothing but loneliness. I've been to retreats where I've almost laughed out loud at the silliness of the emotional manipulation and feigned religiosity I see.
I look at people like my own mother who find incredible value and spiritual connection in traditional forms of church and worship (Sunday school and pipe organ worship), whereas I see others only find that connection away from any kind of church. But in the end, the spirituality of both seems genuine.
And it goes into extremes. I've seen so-called Christians visciously defend traditional forms of church and 'spirituality' to such a point that they deem anyone who doesn't agree with them to be an enemy of God and church...as if every one out there who doesn't walk their tightrope is 'lost' and hellbound.
On the other hand, I've seen so-called seekers visciously attack all traditional forms of worship and church, thinking they've got it all figured out and everyone who dares attend anything with a modicum of traditionality (from style to the fact that churches meet at all) is just a robot programmed to go through the motions of spirituality week after week.
Neither side gives the other enough credit. Both sides are right, but both sides are wrong. There is value in traditional things...church, bible study, prayer groups, even...cough...hymns. But there is value in meditation, independent thought, songwriting, free expression...informal means of connecting...
So why the battle? Why does spirituality get lost? Why is it inevitably 'boxed in' on both sides (and neither side sees that they are 'boxing it in' at all? Why is it mutually exclusive?
Are these even the right questions to ask?
Man, my thoughts about this are just beginning...
Thoughts developing about... "Spiritual" being redefined as something more you are than something you do. Abused freedom disguised as spirituality. Abused religion disguised as spirituality. None of the above...
Brain...overload...at the moment where you feel nearly enlightened, but not yet... still confused.
More later.
2 Comments:
i like you kev
i miss seein ya.
just thought i'd share.
....i'm sure i'm the one "boxed in" on the far left side.... but, i think that churches hold great truthes and are great things..... i think that traditional things are probably traditional because they work.... i think that churches wanting to do new things just makes sense for every generation, i can only imagine when i'm 50 what culture will be like.... i don't have a problem with either side.
and spirituality, i think, is completely personal....i think that religion is a set of rules, that actually isn't a bad thing at all.... and i think spirituality is the relationship that sometimes occurs underneath the religion, and sometimes occurs outside of the religion. either way, spirituality, or a relationship with the spirit of god, is the key. sometimes i feel connected. sometimes i feel alone. that's what that song was about. wes hit it on the head.... but, even though i am sure you were referring to me, i actually agree with what you said. i hate boxing stuff up. that's why, although i rant about my personal tastes and the things that bug me sometimes about religion, in actual pure forms - i love them. there is nothing like someone singing "turn your eyes upon jesus" and meaning it. it's beautiful if it's an old man in the park, or a young kid in church, or wherever. simplicity is most certainly beautiful. and it sucks when people can't embrace everything. but, then again, it's life. but, it seems to me, at the most pure stage.... i've gotten good responses from christians. sometimes you can tell. sometimes they just love. and you know it. they don't care where you go to church, if you go to church, what denomination, they just have the love of jesus overflowing and want to pour it out on you. and that, is the most beautiful thing on this earth.
i'm .....well..... getting stupidly sappy. so, i'm going..... it's too bad that i don't see more of that love though, and it's even worse that i know i don't exhibit it like i should.
What...are you an egomaniac? Is every reference to someone on the left about you? Heh... Well, maybe...sometimes...but not necessarily now.
For me, this whole spirituality thing is no longer an issue of left and right, but it's still easy to use those 'labels' to clarify differing perspectives. I've got friends (most of which who don't live in Decatur) who are boxed in on the left now (they used to be on the right)...who aren't willing to explore any intrinsic value to forms of spirituality other than their own. Their opposition to a lot of things is downright bitterness. And in the meantime, they've gone out and done some very stupid things in their lives (all the while scoffing 'spirituality' as they supposedly sought God on their own...maybe it's all part of the journey, in a sense, but it's hard for me to believe anyone can go out, throw their lives away (just believe me when I say that), destroy friendships, call their path 'spiritual.' If anything, it's fleeing the spiritual. I may discose more details about some of this in another entry to clarify and validate this...
Spirituality is and should be personal. You can't always 'adopt' others' habits and expect it to work for you. Likewise, if it is personal, it matters to us. If it doesn't matter, what difference does it make?
Sometimes I feel connected, sometimes I don't, too.
And it's like we can't admit that. Instead, a lot of us just pour into another spiritual 'fix' of the moment and hope that fixes it, lest others find out that we're not as steadfast as we'd like them to think. Too many of us want to be Apostle Pauls...never wavering. Too many of us won't admit there's a lot of Job in us...a hurting, disconnected person who lost a lot (but capable of recovering something awesome in the end that trascends what we 'expect').
To me, spirituality is becoming less and less of how I feel or something I 'do', and more and more of who I am as a person. It's been a great mistake of mine to base my 'spirituality' on my emotions. Makes it real easy to get pi$$ed and frustrated when things go downhill. Makes it real easy to get cynical about things...even to the point that I look at others' spiritual activity and scoff at it sometimes...
Maybe that's why I hate seeing 'boxed in' habits from a lot of people. Maybe that's why I'm so hard on critics on both sides of the in-church/out-of-church equation. In the end, true spirituality unites...it does not divide. If Johnny Churchgoer is connecting with God in a big way and Johnny 'Wanderer' is also connecting with God in a big way, then the two of them ought to be able to sit down and celebrate TOGETHER the things happening instead of bickering over who's got it and who doesn't.
I guess the litmus test for our spiritual life in the end is...Are we 'spiritual' enough that it's making a difference? Are we better people?
If we say 'no,' people - regardless of their stance on some things - have to admit something's lacking spiritually.
Crap, I wish my thoughts were better organized about this.
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