“Science is not only compatible with spirituality; it is a profound source of spirituality.”
Carl Sagan - The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark
Please note that the poem on the image below is my own, not the original Desiderata
Carl Sagan - The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark
Please note that the poem on the image below is my own, not the original Desiderata
Desiderata Redux
There's a lot of discussion - some of it angry and defensive - about religion these days. Evangelical and fundamentalist Christians go head to head with self-professed atheists, both bringing their arguments into the "body politic." Muslim fundamentalists, too, speak of non-believers as "the great Satan" and justify jihad on the basis of the Koran. In the name of God, too many are at war with one another these days and the world wobbles on its axis as the battles rage and conversations become confrontations full of vitriol.
I'm not here to advocate for or against any of those positions. After all, what good would it do...people hear and believe what they want to believe. Just take the recent debate between Bill Nye the "Science Guy" and Ken Ham of the Creation Museum of Kentucky. Who won? Well if you went in believing in creationism as what should be taught in schools in place of evolution, you came out believing Ken Ham won. Those on the other side thought Nye took Ham to the mat over and over.
Personally, in spite of my own Christian background and education, I think the solution is really very simple. Acknowledge that one does not need formal religious affiliation to share something we all have in common - that's spirituality. "Spirituality," says Dr. Brene Brown, "is recognizing and celebrating that we are all inextricably connected to each other by a power greater than all of us, and that our connection to that power and to one another is grounded in love and compassion. Practicing spirituality brings a sense of perspective, meaning, and purpose to our lives." Spirituality is the force behind our sense of empathy for another, the motive for our immediate practical and sympathetic response to a natural disaster anywhere in the world, the explanation for our sadness when a particularly good person dies, even our devotion and attachment to animals. When I read this passage from Dr. Brown, I was reminded of my own attempt to write a spiritual rather than a religious guide for a good and decent life. I called it "Desiderata Redux" - a revisitation to a well-known work by Max Ehrmann but now including a recognition of that sense of spiritual connection that is so much a part of what I personally believe.
I don't think this kind of universal spirituality - this sense of universal connectedness - could be the ground for any kind of hatred, violence or discrimination. I hope and believe that when we recognize this quality in everyone, we can let go of all that divides us and embrace that which binds us - our common humanity. Perhaps that is a bit "Pollyanna" but I've always been an idealist. As my beloved teacher, Pierre Teilhard de Chardin once wrote:
No comments:
Post a Comment