For the
sake of this article we will define spirituality to clear up any
misunderstanding. Spirituality will be the act of connecting to
a higher understanding, above self, humanity, and religion. Religion
is a framework for spirituality, which is why so many have evolved.
If there was only one type of connection there would be only one
religion (which I’m sure some people would be thrilled with).
I stand to argue that it can only be an unconscious connection and
the culture of America appears to be hacking away with sheer determination
to slay this beast.
America preaches values, integrity, pride and respect. To be hard-working
and do for your country, try and get ahead and live the American
dream. That’s a lot to ask 280 million people. But where in
our lifestyle does spirituality fit. Why is there a full on attack
of new ageism and pseudo-ethno-spirituality. Yoga, reiki, shamanic
rituals are all becoming part of the regular vocabulary. We have
the highest murder rate of developed countries, the weakest social
system and the biggest military. Is this the system of enlightened
peoples?
It is hard to quantify spirituality, it is more of a feeling,
but first some points can be brought up to demonstrate how we have
come to this point. This is a quick list of subjects to be covered:
- Religion getting in the way
- The need for personal definition
- The lack of community, Individualism gone mad
- Elders not respected, Wisdom not collected
- Disconnect with nature, stars, other worlds
- Lack of immediate experience
- People’s creativity not fostered
- The lack of rituals, dance and music as part of society
- Love not being the pervasive value
Religion, in the way:
Sorry to all the people who this does not apply to, you are not
to be glossed over. But saying that I see a huge problem with religion
today in America. Somehow people have the feeling that if they join
the club they get a free pass. In my book this is not true and is
a bit sad. I think people truly want to believe in something above
them and humanity. If it is a physicist, thinking of other dimensions
or a Hindu thinking of the afterlife. I grew up with a lot of people
going to church or temple and sitting wait for the time to leave
and going right back to it the next week. There are also plenty
of people caught up in the detail of a religion, the liturgy and
history, the big books and rules to follow. If one follows the rules
and understand the stories then they are spiritual, right? I think
that spirituality lies solely in each persons hand, we are the only
ones we can rely on, and everything we ever need to know is inside
the melon on top of our shoulders. We know everything, but why can’t
we remember it all? Well, it just may be that we need people and
events in our life to spur this information out of our memory. But
all this crap about guru’s and spiritual teachers, they can
only teach you their way, what if that is not right for you, what
if it is? Cults are just religions that haven’t caught on
enough, they have someone with some idea of spirituality and they
talk to others and get them on the team, next thing you know there
all screwing the leader (he always has all the fun for some reason)
and then isolating from society and possibly killing themselves.
This is only a scenario but you know what I mean. For some people
having a framework is good and it helps spur on their own knowledge,
but far to often it leaves people in another void of confusion,
that this system does not mesh with their experience of life, and
what’s left is a corny person who wouldn’t know spirituality
if it kicked them in the head. (if offended see top of paragraph)
The need for definition:
Who are you? A spouse, friend, lover, worker? Or are you a person
who has the traits of being a spouse, friend, lover, and worker?
To me this is a serious delineation. People are all too comfortable
with defining themselves for the sake of comfort, to know where
they stand and who they are. I believe that the key to our culture
is to erase this mindset and all be defined as people, with characteristics.
This will do a couple things, first off it makes everyone equal.
To say you are a person leaves no room for judgment. If I say I
have a friend who is a person, there is no preconception. I would
look onto that person as another entity of equal big picture significance.
How can anyone be more spiritually significant than another? Another
thing this lack of definition would do is to let people know that
they might need to be defined in the societal sense but they do
not in the spiritual sense, it will liberate from all of your waking
life and responsibilities. People might not ever see a way out of
their waking life, but the spirit world is always strong outside
our constructs.
This stuff is way too serious, I’m only this serious about
twice a day for 30 minutes… so I’ll leave us with a
nice wind swept fossil of a tree standing next to a beautiful woman |