Columnists
About Spiritual Laziness
Bill Wilson
Volume 28 Issue 10, 11 & 12 | Posted: December 29, 2014
In my last article I talked about our need to focus more on the God of the future than we have been doing? What would this mean?
First of all it would mean that we have to re-imagine how we view ourselves and how we view God. Chris Hedges in one of his books states we walk into a mall as consumers, not as citizens. If we tried, in a mall, to express what we thought about the way our country is being run, we would be asked to leave.
In this space (and others as well) we have surrendered our responsibility for the way our country is run. The same, it seems to me, is the same for our religious institutions. As B.L Strickling has stated, “There is a tendency that people have to be spiritually lazy in the sense that they allow institutionalized religious practice to substitute for their own experience.”
In my last article I talked about our need to focus more on the God of the future than we have been doing? What would this mean?
First of all it would mean that we have to re-imagine how we view ourselves and how we view God. Chris Hedges in one of his books states we walk into a mall as consumers, not as citizens. If we tried, in a mall, to express what we thought about the way our country is being run, we would be asked to leave.
In this space (and others as well) we have surrendered our responsibility for the way our country is run. The same, it seems to me, is the same for our religious institutions. As B.L Strickling has stated, “There is a tendency that people have to be spiritually lazy in the sense that they allow institutionalized religious practice to substitute for their own experience.”
If as our present day prophets state all our institutions are collapsing, then we need to start to take responsibility for our religious and spiritual future. We need to become more engaged in our own religious growth and development and in the religious development of our community.
This means that we need to see ourselves as members not only of the human community, but also of the earth community. This first of all means that I need to be aware of how I am experiencing the Divine. How is the Divine relating to me?
What contribution is the Divine asking me to offer to the world? What role is the Divine asking my religious (church or group) community to play in creating a caring community rather than a consumer one? This means I will need to spend time and effort in exploring these issues. I cannot simply leave it up to others.
The other day I saw a book – it was titled, The New Testament for Busy People. This disturbed me for I felt the implication was that God needed to fit into my world rather than me trying to be in God’s world.
My feelings reminded me of a quote from Abraham Lincoln, “My concern is not whether God is in our side, my greatest concern is to be on God’s side.”
So where do I find what God wants? For some they find it in scripture, but there can be a tendency to take those parts that fit in with my world view. As sociologists tell us we tend to read the magazines and papers, etc. that validate our positions. Jesus challenged people’s point of view and if I spend time with him he will challenge mine.
Thomas Berry states that the primary revelation is the universe. What is the universe telling me about God? What is the universe telling me about me? For me, one of the things it states is that I come from the universe, like everything else. I am one entity like other entities. We all came from the same source.
When the Scripture states, “do unto others as you would have them do to you” it now takes on a much wider meaning. Not only do other humans need to be honoured and respected but so do the other entities that make up our planet. They have as much right to be here as I do. We each have our function to perform to make the universe a more viable place. So how am I helping the more than human world and the human world create a more compassionate environment for all.
Bill Wilson