American Spirituality and Nameless Gods Who Never Make a Nuisance

I'm normally not a praying man, but if you're up there, please save me Superman. – Homer Simpson

(CS Lewis, regarding his past belief in Absolute Idealism): It would never come “here,” never (to be blunt) make a nuisance of itself….There was nothing to fear; better still, nothing to obey.  - “Surprised by Joy”

I think Lewis nails it here, when it comes to the defining nature of, not just Absolute Idealism, but also modern day “spirituality”: there is nothing – No One - to obey.

Now THAT is my kind of religion!

Think about it. If you have ever had a conversation with such a spiritual person, they’re quite, well, spiiiiiirrrrrritual … UNTIL you bring up, say, the god of Judaism or Christianity. Why: because in these religions there is a named god whose nature is revealed in his commands: a god who requires worshipful obedience. And the bugaboo for modern spirituality is that such a god obviously is all about meddling with your life.

Can’t have that!

Of course, American spirituality doesn’t have a problem with your worshiping Yahweh or God the Father, as revealed in Jesus Christ, as long as you don’t bring into the conversation the commandments of your god. Even here, however, if you see these commands as only applying to those within your spirituality-of-choice - your “spiritual tradition” - then you’re good to go. When, however, you assert that the Creator’s Ten Commandments are universally binding and applicable, you are a judgmental, close-minded, religious fanatic.  

I’m just not comfortable with such a god.

Or with people who worship such a god?

Correct!

So you want a spirituality that fits within your comfort zone … a god that allows you to feel good about yourself, while letting you figure out on your own what works for you, what feels right to you. You want a god who respects your uniqueness but doesn’t have you behaving in ways that causes your spiritual “individuality” to be at odds with your surrounding culture.

That would be a yes … only my description would be far more nuanced.*

BTW This applies, as well, to a “universal mind,” which, tellingly, always seems to reveal what the spiritual person had already wanted to be true. Especially when it comes to morality. Come on. How is it that the universal mind always mirrors the modern zeitgeist?

Nameless gods - gods who answer to any and all names (O great Fred who sprang from the bowels of my desires, preferences, and felt needs: I really like you!) - are easy going gods: gods who respect your feelings and privacy, and who allow you the right to define personal morality according to the prevailing spirit of the times. So, what you want is Homer Simpson’s Superman who saves you from any discomfort and then goes back to leaving you alone.

If there is One God who does have a Name, however, your so-called spirituality is nothing more than so much self-worship. Or worse. 

Just something to think about …
 

* I’m getting to where whenever I hear the word “nuanced,” I hear, “Warning: incoherent communication ahead, whereby the speaker rambles on and on, presenting his thoughts so as to sound ‘enlightened’ while defying the laws of logic and ignoring what was actually asked or asserted.”

Copyright, Monte E Wilson, 2017

Emersonians and the Problem of Evil

I ran across a quote of Emerson’s the other day where he wrote that he never could give much reality to evil and pain.  My first thought was, Yowzer: if you can’t face the indisputable reality of evil and pain, then why in the world did I ever read your books. And how was it that I missed this sentiment when I did? O. Right. I was in high school.  

If we juxtapose this quote by Emerson with that of the following words of Solzhenitsyn’s, then I think we can get a clear picture of one of the deepest issues dividing American society today.

If only it were all so simple! If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds, and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart?

On the one hand, we have Emersonians of various degrees who, if they even acknowledge the problem of evil, see it as primarily an institutional one. That is to say that societal progress depends upon reforming or overthrowing institutions. For others, however, evil “cuts through the heart of every human being,” which creates an entirely different mindset when seeking to deal with societal maladies.

If you believe that “evil” primarily exists in our nation’s institutions, then you will go about seeking to shape society accordingly. (You will also see society as living in a constant state of victimhood, but that’s a topic for another day.) For example, your solutions for societal cancers will be largely political in nature. If, however, you believe that these cancers are due to the evil that lies within each of us, your main focus will be upon how to deal with human nature.

And herein lies the divide: because we differ on the nature of the problem, our paradigms for remedying the situation are at odds.

Societal Progress Through Institutional Reform v. Individual Spiritual Transformation That Leads (to various degrees) to Societal Transformation

Political Problems v Spiritual Sickness

Tellingly, the former place little or no value on Religion, Church, and Faith – at least when it comes to dealing with the myriads of social problems that we are facing. On the contrary, these people often seek to marginalize churches, religion, and faith, if not negate them altogether. You can especially see this in action when people of faith begin speaking about the reality of evil, the necessity of the conversion of hearts and minds, and the application of The Faith to specific issues. This, of course, is when they do believe in human evil – it’s within the troublemakers who are publicly asserting such things.

Institutions do evil things because all of us, including those working in the institutions, have evil cutting through our hearts. We humans are the problem with society and any cure we wish to apply must begin with the spiritual curing of individual hearts. Anything else is only the application of Band-Aids covering over a cancer.

Copyright, Monte E Wilson, 2017