Monday, December 4, 2006

What is Spiritual?

In my own exploration of what it means to be here on this planet I came through life with Christian absolutes. Most of these were based on the assumption that the Bible was the inerrant word of God. This has many meanings to different people. For me it basically meant that if something in the Bible didn't make sense then I needed to have faith that it made sense to God and was above my understanding. As I have read about how the Bible was put together, the history of the Christian church, and explored other belief systems, there was been a growing sense of a great unknown. At least unknown in an intellectual thinking realm versus an emotional intuitive sense.

I have gone through great disappointments as my old beliefs became uncertain and that which I thought was unmovable proved to be less than absolute truth. I responded to this with anger at times, sadness at others, and even apathy. Along with these 'negative" emotions there have been moments of profound wonder, freedom, and joy.

Some have termed the current age as the post Christian age. I'm not sure what this means exactly, but it means to me that the assumptions that orthodox Christianity brought to the world don't hold the same authority that they used to. Some say that these assumptions are still there but they have been radically redefined by liberal theologians to the point where they have lost their meaning.

So, in this backdrop, I would like to explore with humor, insight, and curiosity what is considered to be spiritual today.

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