October 30, 2009
The Arrogation of Spirituality
George H.W. Bush, as presidential nominee for the Republican Party; 1987-AUG-27: "No, I don't know that Atheists should be considered as citizens, nor should they be considered as patriots. This is one nation under God."
Dan Barker, Author of "Losing Faith in Faith:" "I have something to say to the religionist who feels atheists never say anything positive: You are an intelligent human being. Your life is valuable for its own sake. You are not second-class in the universe, deriving meaning and purpose from some other mind. You are not inherently evil -- you are inherently human, possessing the positive rational potential to help make this a world of morality, peace and joy. Trust yourself."
I’d wish I could say that most Nichiren Buddhists are closer to a humanistic and rational belief system but I can’t. I know just as many who practice like a Born-Again-Buddhist-Bush, who literally “ask the Gohonzon”, as those who practice with themselves as the center of responsibility. I could be wrong, I have been many times before and I look forward to learning the error of my ways in the future, but at this juncture in my life I think one of the big conundrums I see that leads to suffering in mankind is the very human condition of spirituality.
There may be as many books, web sites, seminars, and “guides” to find what could be termed “one’s spiritual self” as there are people looking. Spiritualityandpractice.com lists 37 practices for a specific spiritual fulfillment. Uncannymind.com lists "140 Amazing Mantras And Chants That Can Fulfill Your Fondest Wishes!" Whereas spirituality.com is the Christian Science web site and lists many ways to understand one spiritual exercise, which like most organized religions, is the ownership of the path to happiness.
As a species we are very attached to the manifestations of our spirituality whether they be mudras or attitudes. There are hundreds of gestures from Brahmanism, Hinduism, and Buddhism. The American evangelicals raising either one or both hands with head up and eyes closed to accept the gift of grace from God is very similar to the American Indian, with hands lowered and head up in the appeal to the Great Spirit. Christians and Buddhists pray with palms together. Every culture shows respect by bowing, kneeling, or lowering oneself to a greater authority, perhaps an imitation from nature which evolved into culture.
Attitudes about spirituality are something unique to our species:
“I got’ure Merry Christmas, right here pal!”
I’m going to give a couple of examples from recent experience, but I want to preface it with the statement that I believe the attitude could be from any religion, Judaic, Islamic, Christian, Hindu, Brahman, Buddhist, Shamanism, Odinism, etc. I was at an SGI discussion meeting and an individual spoke up and said that she’d like to share something with the group. She produced a photograph that she had taken, reproduced, and handed out to everyone. She qualified her story which followed the pictures with the statement, “I’m a very spiritual person,…”. Two things immediately popped into my mind: One, she felt that people might think her behavior odd, so she needed to mollify everyone’s skepticism by invoking that sacred and subjective untouchable, spirituality; two, she felt that she was more spiritual than everyone else. What she ended up sharing was a picture of sunlight on her bathroom shower curtain in a form that she interpreted to be a fairy who came to visit her. The fairy came every day for a week. Her reaction isn't spiritually different from someone who looks at a sunset and believes there is an omniscient omnipotent being that created it or someone who sees the Virgin Mary in a grilled cheese sandwich. I feel very spiritual after watching The Incredibles. Tearfully so.
The second example is a simple statement: “That wasn’t very Buddhist-like of me.” The meaning is that there is an indicative way to behave, an attitudinal mudra, that is Buddhist, separate from the rest of daily life and humanity. To my mind this defeats the whole purpose of practicing Buddhism, and is an endemic problem contained within the concept of the spirituality evoked by all religions.
Me at a World Peace gathering.