Spirituality
I finally got back to check out the Universist Forum for the first time in a couple weeks. It is hard to describe exactly what the community is about but it seems to embrace free-thinkers from various spiritual disciplines and there is always some thought-provoking discussion going on.
I guess my brother is the President of the Community now. A spiritual leader of sorts. Ironically, this seems to be the perfect outlet for his talents. It is as if his whole life pointed him in that direction and prepared him for the role. It should be interesting to see what comes of it--I surely do wish him and his colleagues well.
I have to speak, however, from a point of ignorance--there are so many posts in the various forums I haven't gotten around to reading yet, but it is gratifying to see such a healthy exchange of ideas. I am still not fully sure what it is all about. Sometimes it seems that the thrust is to do away with all spirituality and replace it with reason. Like we were Vulcans, not human beings. I can't say that's for me. I can't abandoned the experience of insight. It took me too many years to learn to listen to and trust my intuition that I can't discount it. Our skulls contain both the right brain and the left and each has a unique way of looking at the world. If atrocities have been committed in the name of faith, remember as well that cold logic that drove the scientific experiments at concentration camps. I distrust any dichotomy because it is too easy a jump from reason/emotion, logic/intuition to good/bad... I prefer a more holistic view and try to embrace both science and mysticism in my spirituality.
After all, some of my more profound thoughts have come from watching science programs on light and energy and life in the universe and realizing how thin the line between physics and metaphysics can be. So I am happy and at peace celebrating Nature and the cycle of the year, trusting in the pulse of life that I cannot comprehend. Maybe that is "faith" or maybe it is just being realistic.
Sometimes it is hard to know the difference. What I do know is that any "answers" I may stumble across are individual and personal--often to such an extent that they are inexpressible to others. My spirituality has no dogma.
Which reminds me--some months back, one of my blog-readers took loud exception to my response to our government's handling of Hurricane Katrina and posted some condescending comments generally suggesting I was a somewhat stupid, fuzzy-thinking liberal (don't both looking, they are gone) and ending with a jab at my spiritual beliefs. That rather stunned me, because I think I am one of the more laid-back, non-confrontational people you are likely to encounter on the road to enlightenment. You will never get an email from me urging you to boycott some movie or book or to write to your Congressman to urge him to curtail someone else's rights. I try to live and let live. I have taken exception to some Christians who use their faith as a weapon against others, but some people that I dearly love are Christians and I respect them and the sincerity of their beliefs. After all, "diversity anywhere must support diversity every where," and "as long as you harm none, do as you please" are precepts that aren't given to strident confrontation. So that this woman, who only knew me from my blog, thought she should take a pot-shot at me by mocking my spirituality stung. I can sort of laugh at it now, but I have to wonder...
I guess my brother is the President of the Community now. A spiritual leader of sorts. Ironically, this seems to be the perfect outlet for his talents. It is as if his whole life pointed him in that direction and prepared him for the role. It should be interesting to see what comes of it--I surely do wish him and his colleagues well.
I have to speak, however, from a point of ignorance--there are so many posts in the various forums I haven't gotten around to reading yet, but it is gratifying to see such a healthy exchange of ideas. I am still not fully sure what it is all about. Sometimes it seems that the thrust is to do away with all spirituality and replace it with reason. Like we were Vulcans, not human beings. I can't say that's for me. I can't abandoned the experience of insight. It took me too many years to learn to listen to and trust my intuition that I can't discount it. Our skulls contain both the right brain and the left and each has a unique way of looking at the world. If atrocities have been committed in the name of faith, remember as well that cold logic that drove the scientific experiments at concentration camps. I distrust any dichotomy because it is too easy a jump from reason/emotion, logic/intuition to good/bad... I prefer a more holistic view and try to embrace both science and mysticism in my spirituality.
After all, some of my more profound thoughts have come from watching science programs on light and energy and life in the universe and realizing how thin the line between physics and metaphysics can be. So I am happy and at peace celebrating Nature and the cycle of the year, trusting in the pulse of life that I cannot comprehend. Maybe that is "faith" or maybe it is just being realistic.
Sometimes it is hard to know the difference. What I do know is that any "answers" I may stumble across are individual and personal--often to such an extent that they are inexpressible to others. My spirituality has no dogma.
Which reminds me--some months back, one of my blog-readers took loud exception to my response to our government's handling of Hurricane Katrina and posted some condescending comments generally suggesting I was a somewhat stupid, fuzzy-thinking liberal (don't both looking, they are gone) and ending with a jab at my spiritual beliefs. That rather stunned me, because I think I am one of the more laid-back, non-confrontational people you are likely to encounter on the road to enlightenment. You will never get an email from me urging you to boycott some movie or book or to write to your Congressman to urge him to curtail someone else's rights. I try to live and let live. I have taken exception to some Christians who use their faith as a weapon against others, but some people that I dearly love are Christians and I respect them and the sincerity of their beliefs. After all, "diversity anywhere must support diversity every where," and "as long as you harm none, do as you please" are precepts that aren't given to strident confrontation. So that this woman, who only knew me from my blog, thought she should take a pot-shot at me by mocking my spirituality stung. I can sort of laugh at it now, but I have to wonder...
