spirituality, religion and the government

[Bud Weiss]

On Fri, Jan 9, 2009 at 11:38 AM, Ivo Banaco <ibanaco at gmail.com> wrote:

> 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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