My observation: A large number of folks in our society are spiritually undernourished. They spend little time or effort tending to their inner lives.
My theory: Many of these people ignore or reject spirituality because they associate it with God or religion, toward which they are either indifferent or hostile.
My judgement: Those of us who feel a concern for other people should be searching for ways to feel this spiritual hunger.
My prescription: One way to express our concern would be to help people recognize that they possess a miraculous gift of spirituality — a reality that they can confirm through their own experience, without reference to either God or religion.
How can we do this? I think we need only to point out three commonly-accepted ideas:
1) Considering that most of the universe is scattered atoms and inanimate objects, it is amazing and wonderful that you are able to experience the richness of human self-awareneess. It's an everyday miracle!
2) You did not cause yourself to be a human, rather than an ant or a dust cloud. It's a gift!
3) At the center of your self-awareness is free will, which may be influenced by outside forces but, by definition, is ultimately under your control. Spirituality is that part of your reality that exists in harmony with the physical world but is apart from the physical world, not pre-determined by physical law.
This miraculous gift of spirituality is validated by personal experience. You do not have to decide how it works or where it comes from in order to know that it is real. And, as with any special gift, you know that your life will be richer if you acknowledge and cultivate it.
Whether or not this approach fully expresses your own personal faith, it may offer an opportunity to feed the spiritual hunger of a significant part of the population who would not respond to traditional theology and established religion.
This short summary can't fully address all the dimensions and implications of this idea. Some of the key ideas are discussed briefly in the links listed near the top of this page under the heading "Digging Deeper." Some related topics are listed under "Implications." Either on one of those linked sites or here, I'm eager to receive your comments and questions about this idea.
Rodge Adams
2 comments:
I have believed in your desires my entire life.
I live every moment of the day trying to get people out of their bible is inerrant lives, and more importantly strive to connect with people who hate God or religion because their past experiences were so horrific.
Just as Jesus did not come to heal the well, I choose to do my evangelism at local bars, on the tennis court, on buses, anywhere I am.
One of the first questions I ask everyone I meet is what religion are they.
I often share my beliefs in salvation with them, using their own bible verses, because that is the only thing they can hear.
It has to be done lovingly and caringly. When I was younger this was more difficult, but such a sense of wisdom begins to overcome you around the age of 40 that it gets easier every day.
One of the most beautiful things I ever read, which is quite simple is that God loves me as much as he loves Hitler, Mother Teresa, Bill Gates, etc. . . .
Another verse that transformed my life, my works, and my beliefs is this. I read this quote somewhere but do not remember where:
When i see a murder on TV, I feel saddened by the lack of love they must have had in their lives to bring them to such hatred. People who kill and many others do so because they do not feel loved. It is mmy job to love everyone I can.
I do that be reaching out to them and sharing my own spiritual, loving views of God with them. I tell them that the Fundamentalists are wrong, but there is rightness and truth out there.
heaven4all,
I respect and honor your personal effort to reach people, but I'm concerned that one-on-one discussions, while often effective, aren't sufficient to address the general problem of spiritual hunger. That's partly because there aren't enough folks as dedicated and eager as you are, and partly because there needs to be some kind of organization to reach large numbers of people, and offer follow-up support. Personal testimonials are most effective when delivered during a two-way conversation where sinceriity and conviction can be conveyed. I think a different kind of message might be more effective with groups, so I am trying to find a more general, less personal, message.
Rodge
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