Religion, Belief, Spirituality —by Elliott
For my blog, and for the lack of my creativity, I will be
writing on some “conclusions” on religion that I have come to from my time in
India. Now, I put conclusions in parentheses because they aren’t so much
conclusions as they are thoughts that have popped into my head and stuck around
until now. As fair warning, most of them, if not all, will be woefully inaccurate,
but hopefully they are somewhat interesting. The first week of this trip,
traveling around visiting Mosques, Temples, Shrines, etc. was where my
speculation began. As we traveled from place to place, I could not help but
notice that at some of them, as breathtaking as they were, had lost their original
aura, the real sense that you were in a truly sacred space. I say some of them
because there were still so many that absolutely astounded me and I could truly
feel that sense of awe that, to many people, their lives were centered around
the belief of whatever place we were visiting. However, when we visited places
like the Taj Mahal and Akshardham and various other places of worship, they
felt corrupted, and almost broken. Some of these once truly sacred places, in
my eyes, had turned into tourist traps and places to collect money. Luckily, occasions where I felt those
feelings were much rarer then the times that I was blown away with the
information and dedication of people to the religions and places of religion
that we visited.
Ok, really poor transition but I want to talk a little about
spirituality and religion in a different sense/ something that I am very glad I
realized while on this trip and then I’ll be done. I have often felt like
religion is so fixed and that it can never be what you truly want it to be.
Turns out, that’s not true. The place I felt the most “spiritual” the most “connected
with some greater power” I suppose you could say, wasn’t in any temple and it wasn’t
connected to any particular religion. It was sitting on a rock at the top of a
hike overlooking the Himalayas. This might not be the same for any other person
on the trip but for me it was a profound realization that religion or belief or
whatever you would like to refer to it as, can be whatever you want it to be. It’s
a pretty hippie dippie thing to say but it’s what I found to be true. Anyway,
thanks for tuning in. —Elliott
Elliott- it can be a real turn off when one encounters opportunistic promotions and gimmicks at places that are meant to symbolize the profound. I am glad you found a place where you did not have to peel back layers of tacky and insincere pitches to appreciate beauty and significance.
ReplyDeleteElliott- I understand what you are saying and I feel the same. Sitting atop a rock and watching the magnificant Himalayas does wonders to your soul.
ReplyDeleteElliot,
ReplyDeleteYou are a creative writer ... nothing to worry on that count.
The ambivalence you express about organized religion of any sort is shared by many of us. The Taj Mahal and Akshardam are just tourist spots not spaces for spirituality.
You capture the essence the spirituality with your experience on the banks of the Ganges in Rishikesh.
You will benefit greatly from this experience. Thanks for sharing.
Elliott,
ReplyDeleteYour comments really got me thinking about my own beliefs and how they have metabolized over my life. Thanks a lot for being willing to talk about your own developing spirituality, and for being brave enough to pose humble questions about other faiths. We never really truly understand experiences that aren't our own, but I think it's still important to critique and wonder about belief systems that you observe and experience, even tangentially, even if you aren’t an ‘expert.’
One thing I’ve always resented is the feeling that spirituality, belief itself, the divine, is all owned by religions, their names, their buildings, their histories, their wars, their love, their hate, their wide continuums of interpretations, and all their never-ending imperfect attempts to explain the universalities of human existence. We are born, we eat, we fight, we cry, we sleep, we love, and we die. No one owns the wonders of life. Far as I can discern, no one knows jack about these wonders, but some have become convincing story-tellers. My resentment grows exponentially when I see religious beliefs proselytized to others. Grrrr…
Not being raised with any specific religious belief foisted upon me by virtue of my birth (which I think is a weird thing to do anyway... It's like being told from birth you are a Denver Broncos fan just because you were born in Colorado… shared mythologies are so strange to me), I've grown up with the freedom to analyze other systems of belief, learn about them, question them, and wonder if my life is any more or less rich because I don’t have a ‘birth-belief.’
Like you, I have found my most spiritual moments in nature, pondering the immensity of rock, time, earth, the universe. What makes most sense to me is that carrots rot in the dirt, and so do we eventually. Our molecules are broken down by living, organic bacteria, converted to dirt via worm intestine. Where do those molecules go? My eyes see that they reform and regrow into other things, or perhaps sit unused, trapped, for millions of years. Hippie trippy, or hyper-scientific, we are all star dust, reorganized molecules and atoms that were once a part of many other compounds before they came together and created the electricity-firing entities that we call ourselves. This spirituality is the greatest truth for me. It explains, calms, brings out my best, and makes me realize that I am so very, very small, in the scope of things.
The ‘brokenness’ of religion, as you describe it, has been personally infuriating. When religions endeavor to teach morality, dichotomize good and evil, justify war, explain existence of plants or humans, I can’t separate it from any other shared mythology. It’s so vain and short-sighted. It’s so proprietary. It’s like the ultimate marketing manipulation realized. You’ve become a die-hard believer in a brand, a race, a musician, a color, a school, a country, a government, a car company, a certain type of beard. I just don’t totally understand it.
What I do understand, and tremendously respect, is that faith in a religion is very powerful for some people.
Thanks again, Elliott, for getting me to tap out some thoughts.