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!
Tuesday, July 14, 2020
Wednesday, July 1, 2020
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."
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."
Tuesday, June 30, 2020
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...)
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...)
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