What is our True Nature?

When I was growing up I was taught that human nature was depraved and if left in its natural state would degenerate into total depravity. The only thing holding us from total chaos was the moral teachings of Christianity, going to church, accepting Jesus as my savior and the worship of the one true God in the form of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

As a child this created a fear in me of people who weren't Christians because supposedly they didn't have the restraints we Christians had and they could just degenerate into absolute evil at any moment. And even if they were Christians but didn't hold the specific beliefs of my particular denomination, they only had a tenuous hold on moral restraint at best.

This was explained in the doctrine of original sin. This doctrine solved the problem of why everyone on the planet needed salvation. Today some have even put a scientific spin on it and believe that original sin is within our DNA. Or you can take Eddie Izzard's approach when he talks about Original sin.

"Original sin! What a hellish idea that is. People have to go,

“Father, bless me for I have sinned, I – I did an original sin – I – I poked a badger with a spoon.”

“I’ve never heard of that one before! Five Hail Mary’s and two Hello, Dolly's.”

“Oh, all right…”

“Bless me, Father, for I have slept with my next door neighbor’s wife.”

“Heard it. I want an original sin.”

“Oh, I’m terribly sorry.”

In my observations of humanity I have suspected that the opposite is true. I find most people really want to be thought of as good people. In this short presentation by Daniel Goleman the author of Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More Than IQ, he presents evidence that we are hardwired to be helpful. We have this ability to empathize with other people through some type of common emotional connection. This is activated when we give our attention to the other person. Take a look at this presentation from him at TED.



There are a number of indications that we gain a lot of benefit from doing good deeds. This particular article called The Science of Good Deeds talks about 50 studies going on right now by The Institute for Research on Unlimited Love, headed by Stephen G. Post, PhD, a professor of bioethics at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine.

I think I prefer to see humanity as having great potential that is built in rather than see us set up to fail. There certainly is more and more evidence that we have some pretty wonderful things built in simply waiting to be awakened.

One example of this is the professional percussionist Evelyn Glennie. She is able to hear with her body. In fact she has to because she is deaf. I will close with this video of her presenting her motivational view of life to a very appreciative audience.

Spirituality in the face of suffering

I had a conversation with an up and coming writer this weekend named Morgan Chinnock. She told me about a movie called Water by director Deepa Mehta. It is the last made of her trilogy of movies based on "Elements" that celebrates the lives of women who resist marginalization in Indian society. The movie tells the stories of women who become widows in Indian society in the 1930s. One is an 8 year old girl and the other is a beautiful widow who falls for a Gandhian idealist.

What this movie revealed to Morgan was that these women are marginalized in their society by their religious beliefs. It is estimated that there are over 33 million of these women, almost 10% of the women living in India. Over 50% of them are over 50. And this does not include women who have been raped. Their plight is on a scale of suffering that brings feelings of powerlessness to many people. Many other Hindi movies link a woman's personhood to their sexual purity. Often beautiful widows are "hired out" by the older widows to pay for the survival of the group. It is also common to believe that the death of their husband was their fault. While men are free from these social stigmas and tend to support the status quo, women have been exposed to a life time of these movies that promote a popular culture that teaches them that "rape is, in addition to an assault, a matter of everlasting shame in the eyes of society and the woman herself."

The idea in this country is that if only we could bring them Christian values, then all these problems would go away. It is true that ideas and beliefs form the core block to changing Indian culture. And similar core beliefs formed the poor treatment of women in the Western world for many years. One simply has to look at the various witch trials in Europe and this country to see the power of belief in action.

In my spiritual journey I have had to shift many of the beliefs that my culture at large and my religious culture has taught me. These shifts are difficult at times and when combined with shame are almost too fearful to face. So, in some ways, I can understand the difficulties for Indian culture. The belief that they are of little value and that they are to blame is very strong in the suffering women themselves. Imagine the power of 33 million women, if their beliefs could change all at once.

There have been significant individuals in history that seemed to have the ability to transform the beliefs of large groups of people, all at once. In my country Martin Luther King was one such individual and he was killed for it. In India Gandhi was one such individual and he was eventually killed for his influence. In my tradition Jesus was one such individual and he also was killed for his ability to influence large groups of people.

Jesus is often presented as a solution or salvation if we only accept him as our Saviour and because of this emphasis I think we often miss what he actually was teaching. Maybe we are afraid to look at what he was teaching because it might transform us as a culture. Jesus addressed suffering and injustice in some unique ways. I think injustice and suffering are only the symptoms of something much deeper.

In my journey I was taught that I was born a sinner and that my instinct and desire was naturally drawn toward evil. This created an internal environment where I was taught to never trust my own feelings or thoughts. Because these thoughts came from a sinful nature and would always be tainted with sin, they could never be trusted. I was to look toward Jesus and the Bible for my answers. I never stopped to think that when reading the Bible and looking toward Jesus these interactions went through the same sin tainted mind and emotional filter. This, obviously created an impossible situation, for in reality there was nothing to trust or have faith in. The side effects of this created a lot of suffering for me growing up.

One of the brilliant aspects of the ethical guides that Jesus taught was that they drew upon an appeal to our own suffering. In the saying, "Do to others as you would have them do to you." Luke 6:31. Jesus draws on our own ideals of treatment. If our ideal of treatment is that we should be punished then our belief would cause us to punish others. If we believe that we don't deserve to be treated well then we would not believe that others should be treated well. But if my instinct for a life free from suffering is not evil then may I not give in a way that relieves the suffering of others?

Later in that same chapter Jesus states, "Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you."

If these ideas were taken in and lived out in our culture, I believe there would be a transformation. I also believe there would be far less suffering. In this context, suffering on a scale that we see in India, I believe, is a symptom of blocks to individual transformation. Ideas that are based on shame and condemnation. Ideas that are based on fear and hording. And ideas that judge some as less worthy. Maybe these are the true causes of suffering.

One of the lines heard in the movie trailer for Water is, "Do not lose your faith." If this world is going to change, maybe its not our faith in God, but maybe our faith in the ability and the possiblity for humans to love each other. Maybe its our faith that when confronted with the great suffering in the world, we might find our compassion for ourselves and others. Maybe we can have the courage to feel those connections and stop being afraid to love one another.

The Aesetic life: One definition of spiritual?

aesetic - an attempt to extricate oneself from any worldly ties

Does spirituality dwell in some other realm or is it tied to everyday life. Does one have to go to the mountain top to find out about spirituality or does one go within or does one have to go anywhere?

Bhudda, after being born into a royal family, decided to live the life of the aesetic for a number of years. You can see representations of Bhudda, during this period, as a thin and gaunt. Bhudda then came up with the middle way as described in this quote...

"One should not pursue sensual pleasure, which is low, vulgar, coarse, ignoble, and unbeneficial; and one should not pursue self-mortification, which is painful, ignoble, and unbeneficial. The Middle Way...avoids both extremes; giving vision, giving knowledge, it leads to peace, to direct knowledge, to enlightenment, to Nibbana."
Gautama Buddha from the Aranavibhanga Sutta

In early Christianity (370 AD) Saint Jerome began to endorse the aesetic life with an emphasis on female virginity. Jerome was educated in Rome and participated, as a young man, in a Roman hedonistic life style before becoming a monk. He is most known for his translation of the Old Testament into Latin from the Hebrew rather than from the Greek as was common at the time. He became the main contributor to what was called the Vulgate.

His letters reveal his ideas of what the aesetic life meant. Here is one example of his views when he wrote, years afterwards, to his friend Eustochium about his struggle to maintain his purity...

"In the remotest part of a wild and stony desert, burnt up with the heat of the sun, so scorching that it frightens even the monks who live there, I seemed to myself to be in the midst of the delights and crowds of Rome.... In this exile and prison to which through fear of Hell I had voluntarily condemned myself, with no other company but scorpions and wild beasts, I many times imagined myself watching the dancing of Roman maidens as if I had been in the midst of them. My face was pallid with fasting, yet my will felt the assaults of desire. In my cold body and my parched flesh, which seemed dead before its death, passion was still able to live. Alone with the enemy, I threw myself in spirit at the feet of Jesus, watering them with my tears, and tamed my flesh by fasting whole weeks. I am not ashamed to disclose my temptations, though I grieve that I am not now what I then was."

He appears to be obsessed with female virgins when he writes rather erotic explanations of what it means to be with God by quoting from the erotic poetry of the Song of Songs contained in the Old Testament.

“But do you, having once for all cast away the burden of the world, sit at the Lord’s feet and say: “I have found him whom my soul loves; I will hold him, I will not let him go.” Song of Songs 3:4 And He will answer: “My dove, my undefiled is but one; she is the only one of her mother, she is the choice one of her that bare her.” Song of Songs 6:9 Now the mother of whom this is said is the heavenly Jerusalem. Galatians 4:26

Ever let the privacy of your chamber guard you; ever let the Bridegroom sport with you within. Genesis 26:8 Do you pray? You speak to the Bridegroom. Do you read? He speaks to you. When sleep overtakes you He will come behind and put His hand through the hole of the door, and your heart shall be moved for Him; and you will awake and rise up and say: “I am sick of love.” Then He will reply: “A garden inclosed is my sister, my spouse; a spring shut up, a fountain sealed.” Song of Songs 4:12”

He complains in this letter to the Virgins of Æmona that they are not returning his letters...

"Pardon, I beseech you, an aggrieved man: if I speak in tears and in anger it is because I have been injured. For in return for my regular letters you have not sent me a single syllable. Light, I know, has no communion with darkness, 2 Corinthians 6:14 and God's handmaidens no fellowship with a sinner, yet a harlot was allowed to wash the Lord's feet with her tears, and dogs are permitted to eat of their masters' crumbs. Matthew 15:27"

This aesetic teaching of Jerome led to a young girl dying from anorexia and Jerome taking her mother and her sister off to live a life of resisting sexual pleasures and denying anything that may suggest they have any pleasure or self beautification.

So the aesetic life didn't work for Bhudda and it appears to have created quite the opposite of the intended effect in Jerome. The aesetic life doesn't appear to bring one closer to the spiritual life and may, at times, bring about death and obsession.

Sexuality has been part of the practice of spirituality in the form of the sacred union in many cultural and religious practices and in the case of Jerome, avoiding sexuality, food, or any other sensation based life experience was thought to be the highest form of spirituality.

All of this teaching seems a little too self conscious for me. I don't know if spirituality is a primary practice. Maybe its a byproduct of something else?

What is Christian spirituality?

Being in a post Christian world doesn't mean that the influence of Christian thought has gone away. In some ways Christianity has become viewed as a religion presenting the two main messages of anti-abortion and anti-homosexuality. I have gotten letters in the mail asking for money to stop the evil liberal agenda from degrading the morals of our young people with quotes from various educators, lawmakers, politicians, and women's rights advocates placed out of context followed by exaggerated commentary. It has all the earmarks of a scam. I have long suspected that as long as these various organizations keep inflaming polarizing issues, they will continue to have the means to raise a lot of money.

I have observed rallies to save the unborn by groups of Christian youth standing sheepishly at a major intersection weakly waving signs that seem rather more vitriolic than their posture. It reminds me of when I was "encouraged" to go door to door handing out tracks warning that Jesus was coming soon, come to these meetings, and you will avoid God's wrath in the form of the Mark of the Beast. It was not uncommon to get angry stares from people while walking through the neighborhood. We were informed that this was persecution and God was well pleased with our dedication to his cause. We would sing songs like, "Onward Christian Soldiers," or "Bringing in the Sheaves." It was very hard to feel spiritual. I felt more embarrassed and afraid. And yet we were told that this was the highest form of spirituality and a true Christian would not be afraid.

There was something painful about watching these Christian youth hanging out there. Even though I didn't really agree with the method, I could empathize with their predicament. Every once in a while someone would yell out something after which the adult member of the group would yell back some catch phrase. When a car had to stop and wait for a right turn, right in front of them, there was this awkward moment where the group sensed that big sign waving was a little too theatrical for someone 2 feet away.

I wondered if they felt more spiritual or more connected to God after waving angry signs.

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.