Spirituality
Spirituality is something I think about often and is sort of a mystery to me in many ways, but I do believe that it is supposed to be mysterious.
Today I was watching this series on homelessness in LA, specifically Skid Row downtown. I have done a lot of volunteering for homeless causes, mainly PATH, because of how much I am affected by it through my job and just by living in LA.
One segment of the series was really interesting and frustrating for me; the one that dealt with God and spirituality.
Part of the reason I started volunteering was because I get so upset that so many service organizations are faith based or religion based. Sometimes it's hard for an atheist to convince people that we are still caring, compassionate people who like to do good. I don't pray, and sometimes people who are religious don't really seem to understand that they are excluding me when they talk about praying for this or praying for that. I don't pray for people, but that doesn't mean I don't wish the best for people, or have empathy, sympathy or compassion for someone when they need it. I don't think that my concern and hope for others is somehow less valuable because I'm not folding my hands, kneeling, and talking to a sky fairy.
It's also difficult for me to understand the role that faith plays in people's lives, especially people who have nothing. A lot of times, disadvantaged people, whether they are just poor or actually homeless, feel that they have nothing else besides God and Jesus, and who am I to take that away from them? I've never been so disadvantaged that I felt I needed a savior so I can't even imagine what that feels like. But it also makes my stomach churn to think that people are putting their trust and their very lives in the hands of something that I don't believe exists. If they are waiting to be saved by God I do believe they are going to be waiting forever. There seems to be a fine line between teaching people that they should do good in this world to please a higher power, and telling people that a magical sky fairy is going to make everything OK if they believe hard enough. I know some people credit a lot of things to God, prayer, and miracles but nothing has ever convinced me that any of those are real, and I don't even know how serious people are being when they say things like that. Often times it's just a figure of speech or a conversation device.
If I had chosen to make homelessness my main cause, I would probably want to go down to Skid Row and preach a new kind of gospel, one that inspires people to believe in themselves, to believe in and help themselves and each other, and to look at the good in the world and to enjoy what we have and what is possible. I would not discourage people's belief in God and Jesus but I would not encourage it, I would steer away from it and if asked I would try to articulate why I don't feel the need to believe in a higher power other than nature and the universe. But maybe that isn't what people need, I don't know. Religion seems to be popular on skid row, but then so does crack, so who's to say one is better than the other? To me they are both vices that can make people feel good one minute and horrible the next.
Then there is this word, "Spirituality." A lot of people who say they don't believe in God or religion do claim to be spiritual, as I have before, but what does that really mean? Most of the 'spiritual' things I believe, or believed in at one time, are just silly things that really just amount to superstitions. But the word 'spiritual' seems to fit a certain mindset that transcends the actual meaning of the word and just helps people relate to each other. Am I spiritual? Maybe not in the same way that a religious person is, but do I have my own system of beliefs that takes into account a broader realm that the things that touch my life on a daily basis? Of course. So, if I say to someone that I am spiritual, I guess I just mean that I believe in the zeitgeist and a collective consciousness that brings us all together as dwellers on this planet Earth. I think that is the best way to describe it for me.
I think "spirituality" refers to the 'spirit', the part of a person or idea that lingers on even when the rest of it is gone or has moved on. I definitely believe in these sort of spirits. As fun as it is to believe in ghosts, that's not really the same thing. There is definitely a spirit even if it's in a person's mind more than anyone else. When someone has died, you can feel their spirit. I feel my grandparents' and my uncle Al's all the time; I've even felt people's spirits who I never met in real life, like my Uncle Randy or Keith Strickland from the B-52's. I don't think it's necessarily literal like ghost movies, where a person has a spirit and it can be stuck roaming the earth or some other dimension, but there is definitely still a very real presence that a person can have after their soul has separated from their physical body and that presence can be touching, moving, reassuring, heartwarming, comforting... I guess I am spiritual in many ways. Really, how could you not be?
Today I was watching this series on homelessness in LA, specifically Skid Row downtown. I have done a lot of volunteering for homeless causes, mainly PATH, because of how much I am affected by it through my job and just by living in LA.
One segment of the series was really interesting and frustrating for me; the one that dealt with God and spirituality.
Part of the reason I started volunteering was because I get so upset that so many service organizations are faith based or religion based. Sometimes it's hard for an atheist to convince people that we are still caring, compassionate people who like to do good. I don't pray, and sometimes people who are religious don't really seem to understand that they are excluding me when they talk about praying for this or praying for that. I don't pray for people, but that doesn't mean I don't wish the best for people, or have empathy, sympathy or compassion for someone when they need it. I don't think that my concern and hope for others is somehow less valuable because I'm not folding my hands, kneeling, and talking to a sky fairy.
It's also difficult for me to understand the role that faith plays in people's lives, especially people who have nothing. A lot of times, disadvantaged people, whether they are just poor or actually homeless, feel that they have nothing else besides God and Jesus, and who am I to take that away from them? I've never been so disadvantaged that I felt I needed a savior so I can't even imagine what that feels like. But it also makes my stomach churn to think that people are putting their trust and their very lives in the hands of something that I don't believe exists. If they are waiting to be saved by God I do believe they are going to be waiting forever. There seems to be a fine line between teaching people that they should do good in this world to please a higher power, and telling people that a magical sky fairy is going to make everything OK if they believe hard enough. I know some people credit a lot of things to God, prayer, and miracles but nothing has ever convinced me that any of those are real, and I don't even know how serious people are being when they say things like that. Often times it's just a figure of speech or a conversation device.
If I had chosen to make homelessness my main cause, I would probably want to go down to Skid Row and preach a new kind of gospel, one that inspires people to believe in themselves, to believe in and help themselves and each other, and to look at the good in the world and to enjoy what we have and what is possible. I would not discourage people's belief in God and Jesus but I would not encourage it, I would steer away from it and if asked I would try to articulate why I don't feel the need to believe in a higher power other than nature and the universe. But maybe that isn't what people need, I don't know. Religion seems to be popular on skid row, but then so does crack, so who's to say one is better than the other? To me they are both vices that can make people feel good one minute and horrible the next.
Then there is this word, "Spirituality." A lot of people who say they don't believe in God or religion do claim to be spiritual, as I have before, but what does that really mean? Most of the 'spiritual' things I believe, or believed in at one time, are just silly things that really just amount to superstitions. But the word 'spiritual' seems to fit a certain mindset that transcends the actual meaning of the word and just helps people relate to each other. Am I spiritual? Maybe not in the same way that a religious person is, but do I have my own system of beliefs that takes into account a broader realm that the things that touch my life on a daily basis? Of course. So, if I say to someone that I am spiritual, I guess I just mean that I believe in the zeitgeist and a collective consciousness that brings us all together as dwellers on this planet Earth. I think that is the best way to describe it for me.
I think "spirituality" refers to the 'spirit', the part of a person or idea that lingers on even when the rest of it is gone or has moved on. I definitely believe in these sort of spirits. As fun as it is to believe in ghosts, that's not really the same thing. There is definitely a spirit even if it's in a person's mind more than anyone else. When someone has died, you can feel their spirit. I feel my grandparents' and my uncle Al's all the time; I've even felt people's spirits who I never met in real life, like my Uncle Randy or Keith Strickland from the B-52's. I don't think it's necessarily literal like ghost movies, where a person has a spirit and it can be stuck roaming the earth or some other dimension, but there is definitely still a very real presence that a person can have after their soul has separated from their physical body and that presence can be touching, moving, reassuring, heartwarming, comforting... I guess I am spiritual in many ways. Really, how could you not be?
Comments