spirituality...

[REGINA SEWELL]

I agree with the construction of reality that we are all part of divine consciousness or whatever - even if we take any mystical sentiment out of it, we are all the stuff of stars, of carbon, of cosmic dust...  we may (or at least some of us at certain times) be more sentient than a rock, but we are still connected to that rock.  Interbeing - as Thich Nhat Hanh calls it with twist of Carl Sagan.  And for me, the answer is still the same.  I think its great if we all strive for some sort of spiritual attainment and I think the core values should be taught - love, compassion, etc, but I am frightened of the thought of government dabbling in religion.  It only works well for the people who happen to be in the same group as the people in power...  and only if they don't evolve in their beliefs or evolve their beliefs with the people in power.  Ann and I are in agreement here. 
 And yet...  A friend of mine who ran a Marxist press in Detroit in the 60's and was active in a lot of the 60's protests points out that what was missing with the revolution - other than sobriety - was spirituality - there wasn't that sense of connection to something greater...  

And perhaps Rebecca's earlier question - how do we create and maintain community - a community that sees each other, has compassion and respect for each other - perhaps that's the place to start.  I once heard a sermon based on on old joke about a guy in a flood plane and it was raining... and he prayed to God to save him..  some folks came by to help him leave... he refused, was waiting for God... the water rose, and some folks came by in a boat... he refused them, waiting for God... Then finally, he was on the roof of his house and a helicopter came by and he refused... and drowned... and then asks God, "Why didn't you save me?" God's response - I sent 3 groups of people to save you and you refuse, what more did you want?   The point being that connection to the divine (vertical connection if you will) usually comes from horizontal connection with other people... with community.
 
I think Ann's notion of using the cannon of creativity is necessary.  It's something Joseph Campbell was - I'm projecting here - asking for when he argued that our "myths" need to stay current with our current social world..  but goes much deeper than that.  

And like Adam and Anath, I had an aversion to both Cohen and Wilber.  They seem so smug.  I kind of have this idea that if you've reached enlightenment and then think about the fact that you've reached it, then you've lost it and if you're telling other people about it...  I don't know... it just seems phoney to me.  I think Ram Dass - as Adam mentioned, and Pema Chodron, and the Dali Lama seem more genuine to me - or at least more present when I've seen or heard them speak.  Or maybe I'm just a sucker for self mocking humility.  

regina sewell, Ph.D.


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