I consider this struggle to be one of the most intensely personal undertakings of ones life but it is also extremely social; impacting the way you relate to not only your family and friends, but also to your culture at large. In fact, much of what informs the choices I make today about the way I approach religion in my life is based, in large part, on my understanding of the interplay of culture and society in my personal life.
This perspective is not a conclusion. I believe that I will continue to adjust and change my ideas about religion and my relationship with God as long as I live. I believe that is a good thing; a necessary thing even. The changes I have made in this respect over the course of my life have often been at the influence of an event (getting married sparked a huge quest for answers) or a new perspective offered by a friend (or my mother who is one of my best friends) but never before have I been so moved to change my life by a single image.
I mean, that is f-ing priceless. I want all my children to grow up to be her.
3 comments:
It is interesting that you are writing about your spiritual journey, I have been thihnking about this topic quite a bit recently and will tell you more in person. My spirituality is in a great flux right now and something I am thinking about more than usual, perhaps because of school and my own life and situation changes.
:)Sydney
Oh, and I love this picture, it is really awesome.
Rachel,
Glad to hear your brain working. Thought I would offer a few recent lessons from a 48 year old.
So like here is my religious life story. I met your dad in college and we got loaded on Jesus and filled with mission, but he got your mom pregnant and I got religion big time. I preached the gospel at the UW and despite acne was popular for the first time in my life. I read the Biblical Prophets and took my mission to refugee camps. After this dogma became for me linked always to social justice. Next, I took my first wife to seminary so I could serve the poor and make her into a missionary. Needless to say this was not the best of circumstances for love and our marriage later ended. In seminary I found social work and BINGO, found my niche. I learned a few things about love, namely Betsy. I told her on the first dinner I cooked for her that if she wanted to get saved she had to find someone else to do it. She said “no thanks” and I think we are a good pair. Best of all, I got to help raise her kids. I ping-ponged between Mennonites and Unitarian Universalists and over the years have pretty much moved beyond any residual dogma.
Now, getting back to your picture of the girl with the sign. I remember my friend Stanley Lake telling me in college when he was rejecting Christ, “There is no cash-value in being a Christian.” Of course many in the faith today would dispute this, but I think it is true. Following a poor itinerant rabbi whose reward was capital punishment for suggesting that poor people have value other than their labor, is not the kind of guru that will get you rich.
Now, getting back to what I have to contribute here, a good question to ask in choosing a religion and a community to be a part of, “Is this a place I believe in order to make a contribution?” When deciding your spirituality, go with your heart. Spiritual belief is essentially an expression of feeling (e.g., Schleiermacher, et al) and the most interesting questions are the ones the lie between differing beliefs.
The deeper someone goes into his or her faith, the less inspiring certainty becomes.
Hope you and everyone have the Merriest of Christmases.
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