| | "Spiritual, but not Religious."
Oprah & Jesus:VIDEO
Spirituality Poll in last month's Newsweek.
This week class made more sense to me. It spoke of the world that I live in. I rarely meet an angry atheist who thinks I'm an idiot for participating in "organized religion." But I meet people (daily?) that carry a mixed bag of spirituality. I have a high school reunion coming up in a few weeks, and many of the Bible-bangin' kids I went to school with, now find spirituality to be much broader than Jesus of Nazareth. They have turned in their cheap Christianity for a rich sense of God's presence in all religions. What am I supposed to say to the girl that led Wednesday morning prayer groups in our Biology classroom, as she is now a Buddhist who embraces her Christian roots? I found this list (part Robert Fuller/part Monte Cox) helpful:
Common spiritual themes of “convergent spirituality”:
1. There is an experiential core common in all religions.
2. That core is spiritual energy, described in personal terms by some (as God or Allah or Brahman) and impersonal terms by others (as “vital force” or “chi” or “animal magnetism” or “atman”).
3. Human beings have unlimited spiritual potential which must be actualized to achieve success in life.
4. Individuals have a duty to establish their own criteria for believing.
5. Experience, not truthfulness, is the proper test of any worldview.
6. Spirituality has more to do with a general “openness” to multiple spiritual realities than a commitment to a particular set of creeds.
7. Those who are “spiritual but not religious” are very suspicious about institutional religion.
8. A more holistic view of the universe repairs the rift between the physical and the metaphysical.
9. Jesus, if he is included at all, is seen as a highly evolved spiritual being who can aid us in our own spiritual evolution. He may be called master, guru, yogi, etc., but he makes no exclusive claims.
--Kabob |
| | Posted 9/26/2005 8:05 AM - 35 Views - 4 eProps - 2 comments
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