Thoughts While Listening To Paul Schwartz's "Miserere"
My spirituality is in flux again. Recent events have me reevaluating my beliefs and their meaning. This isn't a case of what I believe as much as how that belief impacts my day-to-day life. So many of my family and friends are firmly implanted in their dogmas, their religions. I'm not saying that is wrong; far from it. This is what works for them. For a long time, it worked for me as well.
The problem I have of late is one of balancing what I believe, what I understand and how the world operates. Many Christians (and members of other religions) tend to gravitate towards a literalists view of religion, that what is written and the manner in which it was written, is to be taken as literal (dare I say gospel?) truth.
That seems to me to be the wrong path to go down.
Much of what is written in the Bible has to be taken internally and evaluated from a deeply personal perspective. Many of the values that are written down in those hallowed pages hold as much truth today as they did the many centuries since they were first put to parchment. There are other aspects, though, that can be more problematic. Still, the value system is steady in its core principles.
One thing I take issue with are people who pick and choose passages to suit their purposes. Doing this you can justify anything. That is a dangerous course to take, yet it is one that many follow.
I also have difficulties with people who seem to lose their spirituality once they are away from their organized religions. Either you are spiritual or you aren't, it's that simple. And there is a difference between being religious and spiritual, a big difference in fact. Being spiritual is a deeply inner experience, yet one that has the potential to manifest itself in what we say and what we do. It is in how we act, how we behave towards ourselves, others and the world in general (Scientists tend to be dismissive, saying that this is just a trick of the brain and its complex chemistry. Perhaps the Spirit talks to us this way, after all, if there is a God that could have created an entire universe on a whim, then surely He could talk to us in anyway He chooses, even if it means the firing between synapses and neurons and brain chemistry itself. Surely, He has the ability to manifest himself in anyway He sees fit). Being religious, to me, is simply following the doctrine and the words of the hierarchy and not truly feeling them, to be simply followers.
And this is the main point that I am trying to get across in this essay. Spirituality is not something that can be taught but something that has to be experienced. It is that soft, quiet voice you hear that tells you if you're right or wrong. It's those little coincidences you experience that push you one way or another. It's looking around and seeing the works of a Creator or an Architect or a Designer in the world around us. It isn't dogma or doctrine or religion. It is an inner experience. It defies explanation to many. It seeks no explanation or asks much of us, except perhaps to simply believe and have faith and trust.
That is the point that I've arrived at. With this move, I have the opportunity to explore this more in surroundings that are both old and familiar to me, and yet new. This move brings clarity and, perhaps, some more resolution to my life. I know what I believe, deep in my heart and soul. What I need to do is to bring that again into my daily life.
Still, it manifests itself, in subtle ways, and sometimes, not so subtle. The Spirit chooses when and where and how. I simply have to pay more attention.
The problem I have of late is one of balancing what I believe, what I understand and how the world operates. Many Christians (and members of other religions) tend to gravitate towards a literalists view of religion, that what is written and the manner in which it was written, is to be taken as literal (dare I say gospel?) truth.
That seems to me to be the wrong path to go down.
Much of what is written in the Bible has to be taken internally and evaluated from a deeply personal perspective. Many of the values that are written down in those hallowed pages hold as much truth today as they did the many centuries since they were first put to parchment. There are other aspects, though, that can be more problematic. Still, the value system is steady in its core principles.
One thing I take issue with are people who pick and choose passages to suit their purposes. Doing this you can justify anything. That is a dangerous course to take, yet it is one that many follow.
I also have difficulties with people who seem to lose their spirituality once they are away from their organized religions. Either you are spiritual or you aren't, it's that simple. And there is a difference between being religious and spiritual, a big difference in fact. Being spiritual is a deeply inner experience, yet one that has the potential to manifest itself in what we say and what we do. It is in how we act, how we behave towards ourselves, others and the world in general (Scientists tend to be dismissive, saying that this is just a trick of the brain and its complex chemistry. Perhaps the Spirit talks to us this way, after all, if there is a God that could have created an entire universe on a whim, then surely He could talk to us in anyway He chooses, even if it means the firing between synapses and neurons and brain chemistry itself. Surely, He has the ability to manifest himself in anyway He sees fit). Being religious, to me, is simply following the doctrine and the words of the hierarchy and not truly feeling them, to be simply followers.
And this is the main point that I am trying to get across in this essay. Spirituality is not something that can be taught but something that has to be experienced. It is that soft, quiet voice you hear that tells you if you're right or wrong. It's those little coincidences you experience that push you one way or another. It's looking around and seeing the works of a Creator or an Architect or a Designer in the world around us. It isn't dogma or doctrine or religion. It is an inner experience. It defies explanation to many. It seeks no explanation or asks much of us, except perhaps to simply believe and have faith and trust.
That is the point that I've arrived at. With this move, I have the opportunity to explore this more in surroundings that are both old and familiar to me, and yet new. This move brings clarity and, perhaps, some more resolution to my life. I know what I believe, deep in my heart and soul. What I need to do is to bring that again into my daily life.
Still, it manifests itself, in subtle ways, and sometimes, not so subtle. The Spirit chooses when and where and how. I simply have to pay more attention.
posted by Robert at 5:44 AM
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