Welcome to the Wisdom of the World Part 2

September 27th, 2010   by   Andrew

Quotations

Joan Chittister uses over 25 little spiritual anecdotes in this book in order to light the journeys each of the world’s major religions have to offer. I won’t get into the stories now but I may use some of them later on as separate blog studies. Each of them deserves a separate meditation, really. Instead, I will highlight some of Joan Chittister’s own words and reflections to show her style and her wisdom on the subject.

In every culture, the essence of holiness, the ground of maturity, lies not so much in avoiding sin as it does in the cultivation of spiritual consciousness.

We have given our souls away to distraction, interruption, rapidity, and clutter. We have become the puppets on our own strings. We have abandoned the calm of reflection for the mirage of the instantaneous… The instantaneous is about satisfaction, not about quality.

Reflection is not about narcissistic leisure; it is about the concentrated activity of being fully human, of giving our gifts in ways that develop us rather than fragment us.

We must make room in the present for the things of the eternal.

It is not busyness that destroys us. It is simply being perpetually busy with things that only scatter rather than deepen us. This is what makes the difference between doing what we are meant to do and doing everything we can do.

On Aging:
Every stage of life is not the same as the one before it. Each of them has its own gifts, its special talents, its particular qualities, which, unless we are willing to age, to pass from one level of existence to another, can never come to fullness. Without them we stay eternal children, our souls do not age and wizen and ripen, our place in society stays static. We remain endlessly alive but endlessly useless to those who come after us.

On Religious Practice:
The truth is that we can go through the motions about something all our lives and never really become what the thing itself is meant to make us… Ritual will not, of itself, take you to the other side.

[Religion] leaves us in danger of being keepers of the law rather than seekers of the truth.

Spirituality is what takes us beyond the religious practice to the purpose of religion: the awareness of the sacred in the mundane.

What do we do when we simply cannot move on in life and, at the same time, simply cannot escape the pain that comes with not moving on?

On Following:
What is left for God to do in the soul when someone who stands between us and God has already decided how and where God will really be with us in life? The temptation, of course, is always to let someone else determine the nature of our spiritual life.

… every age lives with questions in progress.

Being a moral person and being a holy person – a fully developed spiritual person – are two different things.

There is no such thing, to the Buddhist, as eternal damnation.

Whatever we have been, we can change.

Idealism, of all the energies of the soul, may be one of its most vulnerable. Nothing else within us gives in so easily to failure, to rationalism, to doubt  — not love, not anger, not ambition. We lose a piece of idealism every time we choose to follow the rules of a society rather than its ideals. Every time we seek approval rather than understanding, rather than possibility, we close down another part of our souls.

… just because turkeys do not fly long distances does not make them failed birds.



Moshe Leib:
If someone comes to you and asks your help, you shall not turn him off with pious words, saying: ‘Have faith and take your troubles to God!’ You shall act as if there were no God, as if there were only one person in all the world who could help this person – only yourself.”

In the Far East, silence gives space. In the West, there is no silence and no space either.

We are being sorely tested in a society where we call medical insurance for babies and daycare for working mothers and food stamps for underpaid families “welfare for the poor” but then fail to call agricultural subsidies and corporate bailouts and tax breaks for the wealthy “welfare for the rich.”

We have no right to default on the price of being human.

Growing up in a Catholic school has a way of taking the grey out of life.

But when life gets divided into two realms – into the sacred and the secular – and when being in one is more religious than being in the other, then religion itself has gone astray. The danger of religious professionals lies only in the temptation to make such people substitutes for our own striving.

For the first time in history, happiness has become a commodity.

We can’t fill ourselves up with worthlessness and expect to find what is missing in us, or, even worse, to know in time how much we are really missing. We are restless for a reason.

The function of thought was not simply to preserve the past.

Religion, often the cause of worldwide division and danger, ironically is meant to be the glue that binds us together as a human race. But for that to happen, we must all come to know, understand, and respect the other as well to take from all the very best answers they have to offer to the questions in our own lives. (Note – see, she knows, she sees the current problem. But, I think she didn’t go far enough with this conclusion…)

God, according to the Mishna:
“Better that the Jews leave me and keep my ways than that they believe in me and stop fulfilling the commandments.” (Note – Jewish Atheism certainly has gained some ground.)

Recommendations and Final Thoughts

This book is a good demonstration of what the spiritual life can offer us, especially in our everyday lives. But there is a danger and a challenge that comes with it. Joan Chittister did not dare to escape her own comfort zone, which is well within the boundaries of the traditional and accepted religions of the world. The result is an inaccurate title and a tidy confirmation of the author’s core beliefs.

Religions are certainly more than sacred texts and this book is a good collection of illustrations beyond the usual trappings of set rules and beliefs. Religions are in some respects attempts to find, or maybe sometimes shape, the sacred within each individual. And this book does open that path to the reader. It is about how real people deal with the spiritual element of their lives.


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Welcome to the Wisdom of the World by Joan Chittister

September 22nd, 2010   by   Andrew


Author

A writer once said in an interview, “if your theme survives the telling of the tale, then you effed up bad.”

He was talking about fiction and the importance of being ruthless even with yourself about your own cherished beliefs. Otherwise, the work’s truth won’t be able to grow out of that pain you feel in challenging your own assumptions.

Joan Chittister is a Benedictine sister and the inspirational drive behind Benetvision. She has a curious habit of making her book titles lengthy and intriguing. And even though she has put together a wonderful walkabout in world spirituality and she has gathered international, accessible meditations on the spiritual process, she hasn’t challenged her own assumptions or her own themes. And today, that’s bad.

Technical Bits

This is a book about the big questions in life, and the spiritual journey involved in both asking and thinking about those questions. Welcome to the Wisdom of the World is a short book (about 190 pages) that examines the spiritual contribution of five of the world’s religious traditions – Hindu Wisdom, Buddhist Enlightenment, Jewish Community, Christian Love and Islamic Submission (links are to my earlier summaries of world religions). Chittister strikes a point in staying away from the sacred texts of each tradition. Instead, this is about anecdotes, about little stories of people in each faith or tradition and how we can apply their insights today in our daily lives.

Each religion is given five chapters. For example, Chittister asks the question “How Can I Learn to Let Go of the Past?” in chapter 4. She compares two women she knows, a middle-aged professional that couldn’t get past a rough divorce and a retired woman unwilling to start up any new romances. Chittister then tells a Hindu story about the birth of Ganesh and how he got his elephant-head as a replacement for his original.

In chapter 7, “How Do I know the Right Thing to Do? ” there is a story of a Buddhist Monk named Shoun. Shoun never seems to be doing the right thing and never at the right time. But everything he did was in the loving service of some other. Chittister uses this illustration to distinguish between obeying the ‘laws‘ or ‘shoulds‘ in life,  and seeing the world as it is so as to serve the growth of spirituality.

The Jewish tradition is used to tackle such questions as “Where Did I Lose My Idealism?” and “Why was I born?” In this section, Chittister uses several stories about rabbis. Rarely do the rabbis agree on how to serve their communities but in each action or direction they see God’s will.

Little vignettes of abbeys and monks are the focal points for the section on Christian Love. The chapters in this section deal with questions such as “How Will I Know the Truth When I See It?” and “What is the Purpose of Life?”

Chittister stays pretty close to the Sufis to explore the Islamic contribution to world spirituality. “What is Happiness?” and “Why Do I Feel That Something Is Missing in My Life?” are examples of the questions put to the Islamic tradition.

Commentary

Welcome to the Wisdom of the World is a great little book for the spiritual student. Its focus is on people, real individuals curious about that elusive quest and willing to work on that task of being human. Through the use of these anecdotes, Chittister demonstrates how ancient stories can still be relevant as long as you are willing to engage the story on a literary level rather than a literal level.

But here’s the thing — each worldly tradition seems to confirm Chittister’s trust in and reliance on God. Behind each little tale she tells, no matter where it comes from, Chittister finds a place for God and puts God there. And as a result, Chittister does not seem to challenge her own assumptions or examine her own cherished beliefs. She has found all this inspiration from the accepted world religions, but it is not inspiration for dramatic change in herself. This book could be taken as  a call to take up only the institutional (or institutionalized) spirituality the world offers.

If Chittister wanted to really examine her own theme she could have immersed herself in the atheist perspective for at least one extra section of her book. There are resources available. There is a growing non-God-centered spirituality. Emmanuel Levinas has been quoted as saying, “Scientific knowledge can push the possessor toward a sense of responsibility. It is a signal of transcendence.” If Chittister had knuckled-down and taken on the hard task of learning some things so far outside of her realm of comfort, I would be singing the highest praises for her.

Also, she seems to have little time or little exposure to the marginalized spiritualities and traditions the world has offered us. There is wisdom in Dreamtime, in the Peacemaker and the Tree of Peace, and in the male-female Enkai, even if the underlying cultures were not empirically successful.

I will continue with Welcome to the Wisdom of the World later this week with some quotations, recommendations and a final wrap-up.

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Horizontal Transcendence

September 19th, 2010   by   Andrew

At the end of my last post I mentioned horizontal transcendence. In my attempts to better understand this phrase I have found two things I want to highlight.

One is an interview with biologist Ursula Goodenough, in which she discusses her views of spirituality, her meeting with the Dalai Lama, and her views on where theists, pantheists and non-theists can all come together.

The interview can be found here. She does not discuss horizontal transcendence in word so much, but the interview is a good primer all the same.  (The phrase itself seems to be earlier tied to Luce Irigaray, though I can confidently say very little about her at this point. Hence my focus on Goodenough, for now.)

The other is the poem by Robert Charles Howard below. He hails from Belleville, IL. Now, I only mention this because I live about 5 minutes outside Belleville, ON. I don’t know if it is a small world, but it can be a fun, connected world all the same. And I think it’s important that as many eyes see and read this as possible.


Horizontal Transcendence

by Robert Charles Howard
for Dr. Ursula Goodenough

To better view the fairest stars of
Genesis, Keats or Kepler,
learned priests and lectors
of vertical transcendence
built towers over clouds
beyond the touch of worldly toil.

Standing below in soiled boots,
newer prophets citing
the universal brotherhood of
mitosis, chromosomes and DNA
urge a new transcendence
spread on a horizontal plane
where bridges are preferred to ladders.

Muffled distant drums,
beating somber warnings
of poisoned waters and global heat,
summon us down
from our lofty towers of denial.

Murmuring rhythms of forests and streams
and all species of flora and fauna
line out the same life beats
as the engines in our chests.
The God without is the God within -
nested in our nuclei.

With global death within the grasp
of our reckless finger tips,
and bullet fever
infesting our earthly villages,
are we ready yet
to yield a measure of our trust
to the healing power
of horizontal transcendence?

May, 2007



What do you think?

Is there a place for horizontal transcendence in your spirituality?


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How Do Atheists Work on Their Humility?

September 7th, 2010   by   Andrew




How do atheists work on their humility?


I am more convinced than ever that values and virtues are skills that need practice, that need development. You may be born with an exceptional talent but what comes of that talent if you do not put in the time and explore that talent?

If you are born a good person, live a somewhat conscious and conscientious life, then you may very well have some humility in you. Go ahead and be proud of that if it makes you feel all right.


But how do you work on that skill?

Most of the world religions have worked on humility, in some form or ritual or practice. Unfortunately, too often the virtue of humility is over-saturated with things like shame or servitude. Shame is a strange thing. It’s not the best tool in shaping healthy humans, but it can be an effective motivator. And servitude has a way of stifling of individual growth, despite our historical reliance upon it.

Is there a cleaner, more transparent form of humility for the world?

Phil Plait has an interesting talk about questioning your goals and keeping your goals in mind when expressing your ideas. His talk sparked a lot of conversation regarding just how careful we must be with vague language, condescending accusations or overly-general statements. Carefully taking the time to be sure your claims can be properly supported is a practice in humility itself. It may make the difference between sharing an understanding with someone and polarizing any viewpoints so that no common ground can be shared.

Scott Young has a great post on how being deliberately wrong can keep your own biases in check. It’s a bit like role-playing, and it is effective. How can you know what it is like to be wrong unless you practice it? And how can you be gracious when you are right if you are not gracious when you are wrong?

Daniel Fincke does a beautiful job of channeling, or maybe just transposing, Aristotle into the modern day with his article on the harmony between pride and humility. He describes humility as the recognition of one’s limitations and dependencies. By admitting to the limits and the contexts of our beliefs, and then in turn listening to information offered from the world, we can better understand the obligations and debts we carry.


All three of these suggestions on how to work on your humility are certainly not exclusive to any particular worldview. Maybe that is what could make this so important, and potentially so powerful.

For me, the most intriguing idea in this list is Scott Young’s challenge — practice being wrong once in a while. But that’s just me. I’m working on all three approaches, just to be on the safe side.

How about you?

How do you work on your humility?


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Resources for Parents: The Ritual of Doubt

September 1st, 2010   by   Andrew


When I was in Teacher’s College, one special guest speaker left a lasting impression on me. She believed the most important skill we could develop in our students was crap-detection.

The Foundation for a Better Life has a list of inspirational values that make a difference in communities. The Foundation was initiated by funding from Philip Anschutz, a man with his own history of values. The list of values is a fairly good idea. The values aren’t especially owned by any particular belief, worldview, or anything like that. However, I am very disappointed that doubt is not part of their list. You can suggest a value for consideration on their home page.  Please join me in this small campaign by going to the site and submitting doubt for their list.

Doubt is a vibrant, powerful force in our world’s history. It cannot be owned by any specific worldview or belief (unless the government maybe sets up a special committee for the regulation of doubt, or something…). And it challenges both the person that doubts and the idea under examination. Once there is doubt, there is a call to seek out more information, to find that place of challenge, understanding or resolution. Of what use is an authority if it can’t face a challenge or two with some grace? For many Christians, doubt is a very important element of their faith. For many skeptics, doubt helps them make sense of the world.

Earlier this week I talked about how few community rituals there were for atheists, agnostics or skeptics. Doubt is, I think, almost a community ritual for them. It hasn’t necessarily taken a specific form or structure of religion, but it is shared through events like debates, through internet vids and through the general processes of inquiry used in education.

Ok. So how do we practice doubt then? I suggest we look at it as a ritual. A ritual is a practiced behaviour used to elevate the mundane to the sacred. The sacred does not have to be mystical or abstract necessarily. What is sacred is worthy of spiritual respect and importance. And in this day and age,  doubt must be a spiritual pursuit.

Let’s not get too deep with it yet. Let’s not doubt six impossible things before the morning coffee. Wake-up time is for gathering your head, not for losing  it.

Some of you may very well be ready for a half-hour each day,  but I am not. My suggestion is once a week. Reflect on the news you heard, or the gossip given to you. Find something that doesn’t sit right with your soul. And then share it. Discuss it. Kids can take part in this too. Leah mentioned in a comment on the last post how important it is to parent by example. Don’t get bent out of shape over it. Just air your doubts. Maybe your child will even be thankful for it.

What did you hear this week that caused you to doubt?

I’ll get this started:

All blessings.


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Resources for Parents: A Prayer to Self

August 30th, 2010   by   Andrew


One of the things that bothers me most about atheists, agnostics, skeptics and general-non-believers is their lack of (serious) community ritual. De-baptism by blow-dryer may have a role in promoting awareness, but it doesn’t seem spiritually uplifting…

I mean, they may very well have a workable and very plausible worldview, (I wore the agnostic badge for quite a while until recently converting to anti-label-ism) but what practices are in place to bind communities together and assist individuals in become morally better people? And let’s be fair — blogging doesn’t necessarily count!

Do these same skeptics trust a government-run public education system to guide their children into being well-socialized, ethically aware members of the community? Is the community social club or the kids’ little league enough?

P.Z. Meyers put together an atheist creed a few years ago which is beautiful in its thoughtfulness, humility and simplicity. I especially appreciate that it is AN atheist creed, and not the atheist creed. However, the irony produced from atheists dipping into the creed-business while churches are questioning, editing, abandoning and repenting over their own does need to be examined.

I believe in time,
matter, and energy,
which make up the whole of the world.

I believe in reason, evidence and the human mind,
the only tools we have;
they are the product of natural forces
in a majestic but impersonal universe,
grander and richer than we can imagine,
a source of endless opportunities for discovery.

I believe in the power of doubt;
I do not seek out reassurances,
but embrace the question,
and strive to challenge my own beliefs.

I accept human mortality.
We have but one life,
brief and full of struggle,
leavened with love and community,
learning and exploration,
beauty and the creation of
new life, new art, and new ideas.

I rejoice in this life that I have,
and in the grandeur of a world that preceded me,
and an earth that will abide without me.

My only real criticism of this statement is about the arrangement of word-choice  — it starts with “I” and ends with  “me”. “Community” appears only once.  We all go through stages of being self-obsessed and even self-possessed, but how about we try to grow a little beyond this if we are to come to some better ends? If there is change to be made, let it only begin with “me”.

Some non-believers are offended by prayer. They liken it to talking to imaginary friends or to using exclusive language that perpetuates the ingroup/outgroup barriers.

But ritual is important. If you don’t consciously choose your rituals, and the language of your rituals, they get chosen for you. The morning coffee is a clear example. Television and advertising is a way-too dominant example.

Prayer is as much talking to yourself, giving yourself guidance, as it is any sort of  call out to the unknown. Sometimes your own voice, your own thoughts, can help you be conscious of the moment and conscious of the choices you have when it comes to behaviour.

A common mantra on faithless blogs is the idea of being “good without gods”. I want to help with part of this. I don’t really care if you use a god or not, if you need a god or not. This is about being good, and getting better.

Here is an offering, something I believe could be universal. Months ago I wrote a review of a book by Gretta Vosper, “With or Without God.” This is a prayer from the book,  cleared of all supernatural elements but still designed to inspire change within the individual.

As I live every day,
I want to be a channel for peace.
May I bring love where there is hatred
and healing where there is hurt;
joy where there is sadness
and hope where there is fear.
I pray that I may always try
to understand and comfort other people
as well as seeking comfort and understanding
from them.
Wherever possible, may I choose to be
a light in the darkness,
a help in times of need,
and a caring, honest friend.
and may justice, kindness, and peace
flow from my heart forever,
Amen.

If a child said this each day and understood what the words meant, what would be the effect? Is there anything in this prayer that would offend a non-believer? Is there anything in this prayer that would offend a believer? Can this still be called a prayer?

Maybe that last word,  “Amen” is still too strong. We can edit that out. In fact, we can edit lots of things. That’s one of the rewards of challenging your own beliefs (I think Meyers might even agree with that).

What rituals do you have that help you move from being good to being better?


Take care. I won’t say my prayers are with you, but my thoughts are of you. All ways.


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