Skip to content

Tag: doubt

2

Published on 2 Comments on Too tired for the gods
Two puppies sleep in the grass by people's out-stretched legs. A third puppy stands over them, mid-yawn.
A fierce yawn from the last puppy still awake.

One of the challenges of a religion without a central authority and professional clergy is that we are all responsible for our own spiritual health.

Even when times are good or even just a regular level of stressful, that's a lot of responsibility to shoulder, but probably no more arduous than all the other responsibilities of adulthood: physical health, mental health, financial maintenance, work responsibilities, volunteering, home care, family care... adulting is a juggling act for almost everyone.

The problems come when the going gets harder than usual. When there are complications with the other responsibilities of life, spiritual maintenance easily drops down on the list of priorities.

The risk is that when we most need our spirituality is when we don't have the time or energy to do it for ourselves.

Here's where I'm supposed to have answers, but I don't really have any. I'm too tired for the gods and too tired to decide what to do about it. That'll be a problem for another day, when my health is better, when my job situation stabilizes, when my puppy is a little older...

Published on Leave a comment on On trust


A winding dirt road surrounded by scruffy bushes and with mountains in the distance.

A winding dirt road surrounded by scruffy bushes and with mountains in the distance. The road I'm on barely warrants the name; it is more of a trail, the width of a car, that winds through the forest. I'm in four wheel drive, bumping slowly downwards. At one point, the road turns upward sharply than drops away again immediately. I stop at the top. The nose of the vehicle is pointed up at the trees and I can't see the road at all. My friend in the passenger seat - a more experienced off-road driver - laughs at my nervousness: "The road is still there. You know it's there, so just go."

View from above of a pair of feet in sneakers walking on cement. "Don't look at the floor. It's not going anywhere," says my Tai Chi teacher. My partner and I laugh; he knows that right now I can't really feel my feet. That is combining with my lack of balance to make my animal instincts less sure that the floor is, indeed, still there from one step to the next.

I lean atheistic in no small part because I like to perceive instead of believe. I want to trust my senses, but they are sometimes failing me. My instincts can be tricked and can override my logic, so I must extend my trust to common sense and my memories.

I need to know that the ground is still there, still strong and supportive, even if I can't see or feel it.

Published on Leave a comment on Link roundup: uncertainty


Lighthouse in Bay of Fundy, Nova Scotia The Allergic Pagan - "The First Commandment of Paganism: "Thou Shalt Not Judge" (and why this is a problem)":

"I am entirely comfortable with criticizing other people's interpretations of their experiences, and I welcome people to do the same for me. That is not to say that I will necessarily always have an answer for them, but I appreciate the questioning. When done in a spirit of openness and humility, the process of question benefits both sides in the conversation, and the community as a whole."

"So long as we agree not to question or criticize one another's beliefs, we are bound to have an immature theology — one articulated in an echo chamber of our voices and those that agree with us."

Under the Ancient Oaks - "Hold Loosely But Practice Deeply":

"We start by rejecting the idea that holding the "right" belief is the most important part of religion. ... We hold our beliefs loosely. We are humans speculating about the Gods. We are mortals making guesses about immortals. We are creatures with a lifespan of perhaps 100 years trying to understand a universe that is 13,700,000,000 years old."

"Yet while we hold a belief, we explore it deeply. It is no virtue to hold our beliefs so lightly they make no difference in our lives. ... Religious certainty is for fundamentalists and fools. Hold your beliefs lightly, but while you hold them, treat them as though they were true and explore them as deeply as you can."

Shekhinah Calling - "13 Tips For Being the Best Witch You Can Be":

"Challenge all dogma, including (especially) that espoused by those whose practices look the most like yours. Explore heresies. What makes an idea threatening? Whom does it threaten? Whom does it empower? Break open the ideas that have become calcified; step into the places that others claim are forbidden. You don't have to love what you find. But how will you ever know what's there unless you take a peek?"

Numinous and Concrete - "Community Challengers":

"Challengers in our communities make us feel uncomfortable, annoyed, exposed, defensive, and sometimes even angry. That's a byproduct of their job. Their job is to point things out, to question, to bring a view that is just outside our own. ... We are not meant to remain forever comfortable in our communities. A community with no challengers is a community that has ceased to change and adapt. When we cease changing and adapting, we wither."

The House of Vines - "Just because an experience is real doesn't make it true":

"And if you're going to start meddling with your perceptions – poking and prodding and stretching reality into strange and uncomfortable shapes – the first thing you better learn is some discernment. ... Question everything, especially your perceptions, and don't rush to any conclusions based on your experiences. Just because an experience is real doesn't make it true. You think that state of oneness is the pinnacle, but what if it's actually the bottom, the most rudimentary of gates one can pass through?"

1

Published on 1 Comment on Skeptical, not cynical


Sunrise over the ocean

The flip side of the "so naive" story about believers is a story about non-believers: "so cynical".

Exclamations of awe and wonder often refer to deity and divinity:

Oh my god!
Jesus!
Heavens above!
Praise god!
Amen!
Thank god!

When we see beauty so great that we lose words...
When we receive a blessing so powerful that we can't express our gratitude...
When we are struck with ecstatic realization...

... we use the language of the divine and the supernatural, having no other words big enough.

But not using the words, or not believing in what is supposed to be behind the words, doesn't mean not feeling the awe and wonder. Being skeptical about whether or not there's a creator doesn't prevent your heart from beating faster when lightening forks across the sky, or when you spot a wild deer for a breathless moment before it bounds into the forest, or when watching the sun rise over the ocean. The hypnotizing beauty of a camp fire, the pull of a drum rhythm, and a video of the earth from space can move the spirit even of one who doubts the existence of a soul.

1

Published on 1 Comment on Paganism without faith


Rainbow in an industrial area "I wished I could believe like that. It must be so comforting..."

There are all kinds of Pagans. I hang out with a lot of humanists and skeptics, and fewer mystics and believers, so I hear the above phrase a lot. I've said it a few times myself.

There's something condescending in that, though, right? 'Ah, to be so naive again!' says the world-weary realist.

That's not to say that the envy isn't also real for some of us. We do want what (we think) faith will give us: feelings of being cared for and watched over, purpose and direction given to us from outside, and comfort that comes from Someone having a plan. We think it will be less work; we think it will be easier than always doubting, analyzing, thinking, creating, and then doubting and analyzing again.

I think we underestimate the work involved in believing, but this isn't about the faithful. This is about letting go of the story of "I wish to believe" - both the patronizing and the jealousy - and embracing our unique ways of being in this religion and what we can contribute to the larger conversation about spirituality's role in saving humanity. We can be a bridge. We can make religious offerings that are gifts to the world. We can offer community and connection. We can bring each other back into the earth and show what's worth saving. We can make thoughtful critiques, show that comfort is not the most important thing, and create something beautiful and true and powerful... then doubt and ask questions and create something even more beautiful and true and powerful. There's a lot of work to do; let's stop wasting time wishing we were different.



Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...

Animated Social Media Icons by Acurax Responsive Web Designing Company
Follow

Get every new post on this blog delivered to your Inbox.

Join other followers: