Great analysis. Unfortunately, religion can be - and often is - the locus of enormous hypocrisy and dysfunctional relationships. Cults are the best examples of that.
The problem is that people look for purpose and meaning in their lives, and plausible or charismatic religious teachers prey on that. Typically, they are pushing against an open door when they set out to use and manipulate people,.
This ex-Pentecostal, ex-atheist, is finding a home in an Anglican church, an old building in the most poverty-stricken part of our city, with NO SCREENS in it, only a very old-school choir. The woman who leads with the title "Mother" (so foreign to me) is humble. That's the first and most resonant piece I feel emanating from her. Also, incredibly hard-working, as are all the folks in this place. I'm appreciating the ritual and ceremony. I grew up hearing "ritual" routinely denounced. But am re-viewing this, and seeing the value in the reverence that goes into real ritual, the kind of discipline/disciple-ship that comes of this, and also--more--the kind of staying-power and resilience that comes of this.
Alison, yours sounds like a wonderful church, pastor, and congregation. No screens is the beginning of wisdom, (if I can be allowed to wildly misquote Paul). And yes -- ritual. We NEED it. It gets us out of our heads and into our emotions, our subconscious, and our bodies. Ritual communicates with the many layers of our being that are routinely ignored and disregarded in our day-to-day life, as well as in hyper-literal approaches to spirituality.
Just ‘Grok’ them… 🧐
Great analysis. Unfortunately, religion can be - and often is - the locus of enormous hypocrisy and dysfunctional relationships. Cults are the best examples of that.
The problem is that people look for purpose and meaning in their lives, and plausible or charismatic religious teachers prey on that. Typically, they are pushing against an open door when they set out to use and manipulate people,.
This ex-Pentecostal, ex-atheist, is finding a home in an Anglican church, an old building in the most poverty-stricken part of our city, with NO SCREENS in it, only a very old-school choir. The woman who leads with the title "Mother" (so foreign to me) is humble. That's the first and most resonant piece I feel emanating from her. Also, incredibly hard-working, as are all the folks in this place. I'm appreciating the ritual and ceremony. I grew up hearing "ritual" routinely denounced. But am re-viewing this, and seeing the value in the reverence that goes into real ritual, the kind of discipline/disciple-ship that comes of this, and also--more--the kind of staying-power and resilience that comes of this.
Alison, yours sounds like a wonderful church, pastor, and congregation. No screens is the beginning of wisdom, (if I can be allowed to wildly misquote Paul). And yes -- ritual. We NEED it. It gets us out of our heads and into our emotions, our subconscious, and our bodies. Ritual communicates with the many layers of our being that are routinely ignored and disregarded in our day-to-day life, as well as in hyper-literal approaches to spirituality.