Recently I had a phone call from a neighbor, inviting me out
for a golf date. I don't really play golf, so I had to decline, but we
had not spoken for a while, so I extended the conversation to ask about his
summer plans and what his kids would be doing in the fall. Then, I
suggested that he and his wife might find some interest in some of the
things we are doing at Central Presbyterian Church. I offered to take
them to one of our church services and to introduce them to our Senior Pastor.
"Jim, thanks," said my neighbor, "but you
have to understand that I am spiritual, but not religious, and my wife feels
the same way. But, thanks for asking."
Later, I wondered about my neighbor's response. What
does it mean to be "spiritual, but not religious"? Does it just
mean not being denominational?
I remembered that my neighbor once told me that he finds God
in the sunsets, in walks on the beach, in vistas from mountain tops.
Clearly, for him, God is in nature. But does that mean that people who do
go to church ---- the people who are "religious", like me, are sort
of like monastic hermits who never see beyond their church building? Does
he think we don't see God in the sunset. Perhaps that he does not think
we recognize God is in nature when we read the Bible's Psalms and Creation
stories.
Being privately spiritual but not religious just seems like
eating only snack food. There is nothing very challenging about having
deep feelings of inspiration from viewing a beautiful sunset or viewing the
countryside from a mountain top. For some folks, spirituality also can
arise from gratifying relationships with other people, perhaps just from
helping them!
These experiences are wonderful and satisfying, but do they
feed our rational side? I think that life with God becomes rich and
profound when we dig deeply into a religious tradition that we did not invent
emotionally ourselves, merely for our own delight.
Could one say that being only privately spiritual is
to be a bit self-centered? Such people may find ancient religious
doctrine dull, but find their own emotional lives uniquely fascinating.
So, what difference would it have made if my neighbor had
said that he is religious. not merely spiritual? In my view
he would be saying he had been shaped by "a mighty cloud of
witnesses," sharing the wisdom and faith of many generations. That
he is someone brave enough to also encounter God in a real, human
community.
Aware that when we least expect it, any of us can suddenly
wonder why we are here and where we are going. Church can
give us a way to work that out. And when life gets scary, my neighbor
might want the company of someone "religious" holding his hand,
saying a prayer and simply putting up with him, just as many church people try
to do.
I know that some people are not going to be comfortable
entering traditional church buildings or theological traditions. To
understand the ritual of worship in a traditional church setting requires some
prior learning ---- some familiarity with Scripture and basic theological
concepts. But, perhaps one of the benefits of adding some
"religion" to one's "spirituality", is that we move
closer to discovering God's purpose for us ---- not just being a spectator of
beautiful sunsets.
Nearly 30% of Americans say they have no religious
affiliation, according to a Gallup survey. But, more than 90% of
Americans still believe in God, or in a universal spirit, according to Gallup
research, even as fewer claim a particular religious "brand" or
denominational identity. While more people seem to be opting not
to align themselves with a particular religious denomination or tradition,
their interest in faith of some kind remains keen. Some folks just don't
like the aura of past-founded religious denominations, where the church appears
to outsiders to be like a private club.
This growing disinterest in theological dogma and abstract
tradition, reminds one of earlier cycles in American religious practice.
For example, consider the 19th century Transcendentalist Movement, which some
of us remember puzzling over in college literature courses.
"Transcendentalism" is a cluster of ideas in
literature and philosophy that developed in the 1830's and 1840's. The
Enlightenment had come to new rational conclusions about the natural world,
mostly based on experimentation and logical thinking. However, the
pendulum began swinging to a less rational, more intuitive,
more-in-touch-with-the-senses, way of thinking. As one of the
thought-leaders of the day said, "God gave humankind the gift of
intuition, the gift of insight, the gift of inspiration ---- why waste such
gifts?"
Among the core beliefs of the Transcendentalists was an
"ideal spirituality" that transcends the physical and empirical and
is realized only through the individual's intuition, rather than
through the doctrines of established religions. Transcendentalists longed
for a more intense spiritual experience. Some of the major figures in the
movement were Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, Walt Whitman and Emily
Dickinson. They were strong believers in the power of the individual ----
they were champions of individualism. They believed in the ability of
mankind unassisted to realize almost anything.
Transcendentalism, in fact, is said to really have begun as
a religious movement, an attempt to promote the idea that humankind is capable
of direct experience of the holy. It was a reaction to the Unitarian
rationalist view that the truths of religion are arrived at only by a process
of empirical study and by rational inference from historical and natural
evidence. William Henry Channing (1810 - 1844) viewed Transcendentalism
as a pilgrimage from the "idolatrous worlds of creeds and rituals to the
Temple of the Living God in the soul."
However, Orestes Brownson, a contemporary of Emerson thought
he saw "transcendental selfishness" in such views. "Are
all things in the universe to be held subordinate to the individual soul?
Shall a man take himself as the center of the universe, and say all things are
for his use, and count them of value only as they contribute something to his
growth or well-being? According to this system, 'I am everything;
all else is nothing, at least nothing except what it derives from the fact that
it is something to me."
In the end, don't we need to be both spiritual and
religious? I find that each strengthens the other. But they both
take some work. Some people may think the heavy lifting is just in the
theology of church participation. However, being "spiritual"
isn't always easy. Sometimes finding God in Nature is a struggle.
Do you remember Hurricane Sandy?!! Did you find God in that event?
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These thoughts are brought to you by CPC's Adult
Spiritual Development Team, hoping to encourage you to pursue some personal
growth this summer at CPC.
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