NO ONE CAN SHARE MY SPIRITUALITY

I have found a quote from James Hollis (in Spirituality and Health -- July / August, p. 51-52) that helps explain why each person's spirituality is unique:

...the numinous is found wherever we are moved and touched...That's going to be different for different people.

The numinous has to produce a resonance within us, which I think is one of the clues of one's spirituality. You have to ask, what is it that really activates the spirit within me? For one person it will be working tieh their hands; for another person, it's a creative endeavor; for another, it's an intellectual activity. It's different for all of us.

That needs to be repeated:

IT'S DIFFERENT FOR ALL OF US.

PICK WHAT WORKS FOR YOU

Rabbi Rami Shapiro refers to people who are spiritually fluid as "spiritual Boundary Crossers."

In his book, When One Religion Isn't Enough, Duane Bidwell refers to people who consciously ignore boundaries between religious territories as 'spiritual nomads.' He states: "From my perspective, most people of faith are spiritually fluid to one degree or another; they commit to one religion in name but incorporate many religions in practice." [p. 33, op. cit.]

When we are honest, most of us admit that we decide for ourselves what we actually believe, regardless of what religion we belong to. I had a Presbyterian friend who repeated the Nicene Creed every Sunday in worship. But knowing some of his 'beliefs,' I asked him how he could say "I believe." He responded by saying that he just repeated the words but didn't pay any attention to them. From my experience over the years, my friend's practice is more the rule than the exception.

Truth be told, most of us pick and choose what we believe by what resonates with us. Unfortunately,
as Bidwell writes, "Most of the religiously multiple people in North America and Europe live in a spiritual closet...When they are visible, ordinary people with complex religious bonds are apt to be dismissed...they are accused of practicing 'cafeteria religion' -- picking and choosing from a spiritual buffet." [p.9, op. cit.]

I, myself, have heard various 'authorities' argue against 'syncretism' and insist that you must stay focused on  just one religion. Perhaps this is why so many nowadays claim to identify with the SBNR label and refuse to identify a religion.  I dabbled with that label myself when I no longer wanted to identify with any religion, and decided to pursue my own form of spirituality.

But I am not opposed to religion. In fact I agree with Rabbi Rami's idea , who recently suggested that we "Marie Kondo" our religion. Author of  The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up, Kondo urged folks to pick up an item in their house and ask, "Does it spark joy?" If it doesn't, she suggested that we throw it out. So Rami suggests we lift up each part of our religion and ask if it sparks joy in us. "If it does, keep it. If it doesn't let it go."

In their encyclopedia of spiritual practices, Spiritual Rx, Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat basically suggest  the same. As they observe: "Not all spiritual practices are for everyone. Know yourself and look for the ones that are right for you." [p.5]

As I see it, when we go to a buffet, we take what we want and leave the rest. So as you explore other faith traditions and practices, why not take what works for you and let the rest go. The great basketball coach Phil Jackson did just this, as he admits in his book, SACRED HOOPS. He writes:

     "I started exploring a variety of paths...I began taking yoga classes, reading books about Eastern religion, and attending lectures by ... spiritual teachers .. the more I studied other traditions, the more intrigued I became about taking another look at my spiritual roots." [p.45, op. cit.]

Eventually he came across William James' The Varieties of Religioous Experience and couldn't put it down. As he described how it helped,

     "It also gave me a deeper understanding of my Pentecostal roots and helped lift the curtain of guilt that had shrouded me most of my life. I no longer felt compelled to run from my past or cling to it our of fear. I could take from it what worked for me and let the rest go. I could also explore other traditions more fully with out feeling as if I was committing a major sacrilege against God and family." [p, 46, op. cit.]

Eventually,  Phil grew beyond his childhood Pentecostal religion, studied Zen and found a way to embrace parts of both, keeping what worked for him.
                                                      * * * * * * *
                                     PICK WHAT WORKS FOR YOU!

BECOMING ONE'S OWN AUTHORITY.

{Preface: Please see "More Words of Encouragement..." from March 17, 2019.}

Who really decides if a religious claim is true or not?

     Rabbi Rami Shapiro's Roadside Assistance for the Spiritual Traveler responded to this question in the may/june 2018 issue of Spirituality and Health as follows:

"You do. If you agree with the claim, you say it's true; if you don't agree with it, you say it's false. Once you admit you are the arbiter of religious truth and falshood, and that you believe what you believe simply because you've been conditioned to believe it, you will start questioning all your beliefs, liberate yourself from the straitjacket of intellectual and religious conformity, and slip into the gentle and terrifying grace of living with not knowing."  [p. 21]
    
     This was my experience as I struggled in my adolescence with my childhood fundamentalist indoctrination that the Bible was the infallible "Word of God," which I eventually came to conclude was the Protestants' counter to the Catholic claim of papal infallibility.  Father Richard Rohr spoke to this same issue when he wrote the following in his daily meditation on March 18, 2020:

"Most of organized religion, without meaning to, has actually discouraged us from taking the mystical path by telling us almost exclusively to trust outer authority -- in the form of scripture, tradition, or various kinds of experts -- instead of telling us the value and importance of inner experience. (I call that trusting the 'containers' instead of the 'contents.')


In fact,  most of us were strongly warned against ever trusting ourselves, told that our personal experiences of the divine were unnecessary and possibly even dangerous...We were taught to mistrust our own souls--and thus the Holy Spirit within us."  [Bold my emphasis--Ty]

     Elizabeth Lesser, author of The New American Spiirituality: A Seeker's Guide, writing in Spirituality and Health, asked:

"So what is new about 21st-Century Spirituality?  Some of it is not new at all...The big difference between the older forms of spirituality and 21st-Century Spirituality is the movement away from an external authority figure and a movement toward an empowerment of each seeker. 21st-Century Spirituality is not about being told what to do...It's about becoming one's own authority."  {S&H, Spring 2000, p.48 [Bold emphasis mine--Ty]

     To me, this issue of authority is what separates spirituality from religion:

* Religion is an institution that was created by others; spirituality is something you create and develop within yourself. 
* Religion tells you the truth; spirituality encourages you to discover the truth for yourself.
* Religion sets the creed, dogma and/or doctrine on what you should believe; with spirituality you decide for yourself.
* Religion promotes a path; spirituality involves you setting your own path.

     I like the way Jack Kornfield sums it up [taken from Bringing Home the Dharma]:

     "The spiritual path does not present us with a prescribed, pat formula for everyone to follow. It is a matter of invitation.  We cannot be Mother Teresa or Gandhi or the Buddha. We have to be ourselves. We must discover and connect with our own unique expression of the truth. We must learn to listen to and trust ourselves."

   

WHEN RELIGION IS NOT ENOUGH

Since my last entry in March, I have been studying the subjects of religious authority, differences between religion and spirituality, and related issues.

Recently, I read Duane R. Bidwell's book, When One Religion Isn't Enough (c) 2018.
Professor Bidwell teaches at a California seminary and is an ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church, USA; he is also a practicing Buddhist. In the book, he discusses people who practice more than one religion -- what he calls "religious multiplicity."

I first became aware of this practice when I read The Jewel in the Lotus some years ago: Jewish folk who also practice and identify as Buddhists, known as "JuBu's" are discussed at length.

In his book, Bidwell doesn't make a sharp distinction between religion and spirituality;  He does provide the following contrast:

    " I think of religion as the formal structures and practices that shape a community's relationship to Mystery and to the world...Spirituality expresses a person's way of relating to Mystery through rituals, prayers, physical movements and postures, spiritual disciplines, beliefs, values...and other ways of connecting to the sacred...while figuring out the meaning of life." [p. 5]

What really grabbed my attention is found later in the book where he writes:

    " From my perspective, most people of faith are spiritually fluid to one degree or another; they commit to one religion in name but  incorporate many religions in practice."  [p.33, my emphasis]
Later on he refers to such people as "spiritual nomads, people who consciously ignore boundaries between religious territories to find shelter, nourishment and meaning in fertile landscapes, familiar or not."  [p. 38]

Bidwell seems to compare these "spiritual nomads" with what have come to be called SBNRs --those who claim to be "Spiritual But Not Religious." He writes:

"SBNRs reject religious exclusivism, dogmatism, judgment...(and) advocate internal spiritual authority." [p. 41]

After leaving the Southern Baptist Convention, I joined a congregational (UCC) church and some years later joined a Unitarian Universalist congregation. With increasing distaste for denominationalism, after a time, I began to see myself relating to the SBNR classification. However, this, too, was  a bad fit, as I don't like labels, and  never thought of myself as being very religious or spiritual. But I do have a keen interest in the development of my spirituality, and gladly acknowledge that I am, indeed, "spiritually fluid." And with this comes the acknowledgement that I am responsible for my own beliefs and admission that I am my own authority.

Which brings me to the subject of religious/spiritual authority. (To be continued...)

      

More Words of Encouragement for Developing Your Own Patchwork Quilt Spirituality

From Shel Silverstein:

There is a voice inside of you
     That whispers all day long.

"I feel that this is right for me,
      I know that this is wrong."

No teacher, preacher, parent, friend, 
     Or wise man can decide
     What's right for you -- just listen to
     The Voice that speaks inside.
                           * * *

From Wolf Walker:

There is nobody external who can heal you,
     change who you are or the things you've experienced.
It has to come from you..
     You have to make that choice.
                          * * *


From Letty Cottin Pogrebin (in Getting Over Getting Older:)

We read books and consult experts, looking for answers 'out there,' …
     before we discover … that meaning is made, not found, 
     in the CRUCIBLE OF ONE'S OWN WONDERING SOUL.

                                             * * *


From JUNG:

You are your own best authority.
                     * * * 


And a TOUCHSTONE developed from by Baptist heritage:

LEND A DEAF EAR 
                                      TO ANY PROFESSIONAL RELIGIOUS GURU 
WHO TELLS YOU 
                                    WHAT YOU MUST BELIEVE.
                          

WHAT HELPS YOU MAKE IT THROUGH THE NIGHT?

What helps you make it through a very cold night?

Chances are, a very nice, warm comforter or QUILT!

But I am thinking about those times when we are caught up in the recognition that life is difficult and can be scary hard; what about those times when our demons are attacking us in the middle of the night with all those "what if" questions, trying to provoke an anxiety attack? Where do we turn for help?

For me, it is prayer … my spirituality, and that is why I refer to my spirituality as a "patchwork quilt."

My beliefs have changed over the years, and continue to do so; that is why the image of a patchwork quilt works for me. As parts of my spirituality become worn or no longer meaningful, I remove and add new patches as necessary according to what works for me.

A recent weekly e-mail from the Christian Century [3/07/19] contained a post from Barbara Brown Taylor taken from her new book, My Holy Envy of Other Faith Traditions. In teaching Religion 101 and researching world religions, she realized that the various teachings caught her attention (but) "finding these things attractive did not mean it was time...to start making a quilt of spiritual bits and pieces with  no strong center."

Despite my high regard for Dr. Taylor, that is exactly what I have done, and will continue to do.

As she notes in this excerpt from her new book, "God created humans exactly the way we are, with freedom to choose good or evil." And then she adds, "No one can do our choosing for us."

No one can be responsible for my spirituality but me. I must decide what is true for me: what is BS and what resonates...what is true for me. That is the only reason that I remained associated with the Baptist tradition for so long, as the early Baptists insisted in the right of each individual to interpret their own conscience under God. Each of us has the RIGHT, and yes, the RESPONSIBILITY, to decide for ourselves in matters of faith and spirituality. Existentially, we actually have no other option for we must live our own life.

And for those religious professionals who insist that we cannot just pick and choose what we would believe, I would observe that in my experience with people, that is exactly what every one actually does.

RECENT FOOD FOR THOUGHT

In doing research for a work in progress on  aging, I discovered an interesting article on PBS.org entitled "Faith, Spirituality & Aging" - An Interview with Rev. Jennifer L. Brower. She is quoted as saying,

Some theological thinkers believe that God, called by so many different names, is found or created in the connection formed between two people who are engaged in the mutual enterprise of sharing from their deepest self and being open to the other person's deepest self -- what Martin Buber called an "I-Thou" relationship, or what is referred to in the term namaste, meaning "I bow to the divine within you." There, in that space, the holy is brought to life, and through that experience both people will be  transformed.

In Unitarian Universalism, we believe that the holy is continually being revealed; that "revelation is not sealed." So until our very end, and maybe after, there is always the possibility of discerning something new about the transcendent and our connection to the Most High.
                                              
                                                             * * *
I found this to be a good reminder that when I am being congruent and conversing in an authentic manner with another, I am on "holy ground." And a good reason why my patchwork quilt spirituality will always be a work in progress.