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Tuesday, 01 May 2007 17:52 |
 | | Marc Mullinax |
ìPersonal answers to ultimate questions. That is what we seek.î
ó Alexander Eliot
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MARS HILL ó I got a book recently from a church in upstate South Carolina. The thesis of this book:
This nation is going to its designer hell in an embroidered handbasket. I also look most weeks at the religious and spiritual opportunities for the region in our local newspapers. Literally hundreds of spiritual connections await. This week, The SoulGarage caught my attention.
Between these two examples lies a spiritual feast in the Asheville area.
Spirituality is the human birthright. Whether one feels itís divinely
given or inspired, something achieved from a human endeavor, or
something in between, spirituality is the way we come to life ...
feeling alive beyond the cellular or organism level. If youíve
experienced a connection to the larger world, to its environments and
peoples, then you are spiritual.
What the church in South Carolina and places like SoulGarage have in
common is they need to make sense of the world. (And our world is
pretty darn senseless lately.) The seams of our world are rending, held
together as they are by unraveling lies, violence and randomness.
Spirituality is the human art of building ó and holding together ó
meaningful worlds.
If one has a means for removing meaning from people, one has a weapon
of mass destruction. On the other hand, provide means for people to
achieve meaning both individually and communally (hopefully,
simultaneously), where this meaning is life-giving and affirming, and
you give people reasons to get up in the morning.
These days, with death on college campuses, in Iraq, Sudan and 25 other
war sites, it seems incumbent to anchor oneís need for meaning. Sure,
we can feed and house bodies, and get our five senses over-loaded, but
until the spiritual is satisfied, we shall be incomplete.
The world just wonít feel right or make sense until these connections
are made. Until the spiritual gets translated into time and space, then
time and space will convey only temporary meaning.
What is human history but millennia of explorations of the riddle of
death and how to live a life most full in full face of death? Some
people discover mathematical infinity and electromagnetic waves, some
write symphonies, and others bring justice to chaotic situations. One
cannot advance in such directions without faith, without spiritual
equipment. The basic elements of this equipment include love of the
larger world, including the neighbor, and appropriate self-love.
However, these spiritual forms manifest themselves in multitudinous
ways. Some are more intellectual, some more emotional, and some more
religious. They are all spiritual, necessary technologies to connect
with lifeís largeness and largesse. Absent these connections, how can
we say we are human?
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To help us figure these spiritual paths out, we have a recommended
opportunity this Saturday. Dr. Bill Leonard will present the 2007
Zabriskie Lectures at The Cathedral of All Souls in Biltmore Village.
Leonard is the Dean of the Divinity School at Wake Forest University.
Heíll give two lectures under the rubric, ìThe Changing Face of
Spirituality in America.î These lectures will include one that
addresses how the largest and fastest-growing church in America works,
and one enticingly titled, ìSigns of the Times: Catholics,
Charismatics, Buddhists and Snake-Handlers.î
More information can be had by emailing Brian Cole at brian-at-allsoulscathedral.org.
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Whether we have a spiritual home, or are spiritually hitchhiking, we
have need of the spiritual. Your spirituality may be as simple as
ìWeíre going to hell without Jesusî or as complicated as exploring
oneís soulís garage.
Consider learning, however, as much as possible
how those hells and garages appear to others. Peace in our world hangs
upon such work, which is itself spiritual.
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Dr. Marc S. Mullinax, chairman of the philosophy and religion
departments at Mars Hill College, can be reached at mmullinax-at-mhc.edu.
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