spirituality, religion and the government

[Ivo Banaco]

Great material Regina. Our discussing is evolving to something I think (by
the way I think the discussions should always lead to something, but as we
all know...mostly they don't...).
If I would make such a statement as (this is not mine originally...but I
don't know from who it is...if someone knows...): "We are not human beings
living spiritual lives, but spiritual lives living an human being
experience". If we were to assume that we are a universe being or a Cosmic
being (nothing special after all, as we are I think in the Universe/Cosmos),
may I ask how would you re-frame your latest post Regina (and others as
well)?

On Fri, Jan 9, 2009 at 3:38 PM, REGINA SEWELL <sewell.2 at osu.edu> wrote:

> After Cynthia's discussion of the youtube video
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pTb2kp9Y4Is
> I forced myself to watch it.  and I had to force myself to watch it. I know
> that place of what Cynthia dubbed spiritual hunger.  I know that place of
> resistance.  But we've reframed resistance in our psychodrama world, no?
> Haven't we decided perhaps that resistance is just lack of warm up.  and
> might there be valid reasons for lack of warm up?  Like we, or someone else,
> is pushing us into a role that we don't want or that we don't have adequate
> skills or tools to occupy, or we think we don't have adequate skills or
> tools, but we try to do it anyway because we think we "should" and then - to
> steal for Ellis - we end up "shoulding all over ourselves."
>
> So the political consequences of spirituality - or lack there of - I think
> are dependent on the tenets or myths or misunderstandings that one
> subscribes to.  Not just the leaders - though they certainly have incredible
> power to shape social rhetoric - but the peeps as well...  I personally lost
> at least $10,000 in a break-up because a majority of people in Ohio felt
> moved by their spiritual convictions to deny the rights of marriage to
> unmarried people and denied marriage to same sex couples.
>
> As Ivo notes - truth is a slippery thing.
>
> And yet, most if not all spiritual traditions, talk about love, compassion,
> cooperation and sharing, the significance of forgiveness and the importance
> of living and being in community - acknowleding one's connection to
> something greater than oneself, even though leaders, preachers, imams,
> rabbis, etc may use different vocabulary.  Even the ego that they talk about
> in the video - Eckart Tolle drones on about ego for pages - which is very
> similar to the idea that yogi gurus talk about and that the buddists talk
> about in terms of attachment and aversion and very similar to what Reinhold
> Neibuhr (a lutheran minister/existentialist philosopher) talked about when
> he talked about sin - of "missing the mark"
>
> So, perhaps, as Rebecca and Cynthia suggest - the catch is how do we help
> people feel connected to self and other - not just to the people who look
> like them and smell like them - but to others in a broader net?  and how do
> we provide and maintain a sense of community in a post industrial world
> where it's easier and easier to connect (I can log on to Facebook and tell
> people what I'm doing right now) but harder to connect in a deeper
> meaningful way (there is a limit to the number of words I can use, and most
> people lie or write something trite, goofy or something "wittty" - ie Regina
> is imaginig that she's sailing on the caspian sea).  Most of us are simply
> so busy coming and going that we don't have a chance to "be" where we are.
> If we mandate it, then is it real?  If I'm praying to a god that demands
> that I pray to when that government tells me to pray, am I really connecting
> to the divine?  And if I'm a true believer but live the lower ranks of the
> economic system in a capitalist country and my perceived need to earn a
> living precludes my desire to practice my spiritual ritual, how do I keep my
> practice going?
>
> peace,
>
> regina sewell, ph.d.
>
>
> regina sewell, Ph.D.
>
>
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