| Spirituality
vs. Religion In our Spirit of Unity | by Audrey Peterson About 12 years ago, I was part of a large audience at a New Thought convention, listening with rapt attention to author Sam Keen. He was the most captivating and irreverent speaker I had ever heard. The symbol he wore around his neck glinted in the stage lights whenever he moved. Finally, someone asked what the symbol was and he explained that during his youth, he had kept the cross before his eyes to remind him to keep his Christian faith strong. But when he changed from a believer to a searcher, he found himself with no symbol. One day he wandered into a jewelry shop on a small Greek island and found a silver question mark on a chain. He said he wore it next to his heart so that it would remind him daily of the need to allow and to ask questions. Well, now, I couldn't wait to locate a question mark for myself. Like Sam, I had taken the symbol of the cross in my youth but had discarded it when I lost my lost my faith. I wanted a symbol that I could wear next to my heart to remind me of the importance of the quest that I was on. I was raised in a Christian home. We went to church every Sunday -- it was expected. We learned things in Sunday School that seemed to have no correlation to everyday life. We were taught to believe that the Bible stories were true, exactly as written. We were expected to believe in, and love, a God that I saw as unjust and even cruel. God's behavior was justified, because it was needed for those who disobeyed. Very few questions were allowed; obedience to and acceptance of the faith were the rules. Throughout all my growing up years and into my 30s, religion and God were kept in a very small box. When Sunday came, I and those who attended the same church took out our little boxes, opened them, looked inside for an hour and then put them back on the shelf until the next Sunday. Or so it seemed to me. We all had God in a box. My hour with religion did very little to soothe my spirit. It did very little to answer the questions that kept growing inside my mind. Who was I? For what reason was I born? Who or what is God? I suddenly realized I had no sense of the sacred in my everyday life. I yearned for something more than just paying lip service to someone else's idea of God. I was full of emptiness, a human being wanting so much to be inspired, to have an experience that would bring me to life. One Sunday, as we began to recite the Nicene Creed, I stared at the page. How long had I been saying those words? Sinful and unclean! Something within me rebelled -- those words were untrue, for me and for everyone. As I walked out of the service that day, I felt a lightness I had never known. I was free! Gradually, I discovered a way to begin again. I felt like an explorer, setting out on a great adventure. I would ask myself questions to find out what it was I truly believed. I loved the questions for they sent me searching, reading spiritual books of all kinds. This was exciting rather than the grim duty of religion that I was used to. I felt myself begin to awaken. At first, I thought the spiritual quest would lead me to definitive answers and, of course, the Truth. Now I believe it's not necessary to have certainty. Some of the questions are unanswerable. But in our talking to one another, we can keep ourselves open to the wonder and mystery that the questions provide. Henry Louis Gates, Jr., a professor and author, said, "I think that an ideal system of belief builds skepticism into it. The system only works if you can ask any question that can possibly arise and if you can disagree about the answer, or, even, ultimately, say there is no answer." The quest many of us are on is one of looking underneath the answers that religion has given us. It's as if we must go beneath the surface to find the beauty and riches that lie hidden there. The search is exciting and is its own reward. You may by now have the impression that spirituality gets the good points while religion gets the bad marks. In the public mind, this seems to be true, according to a survey done by Spirituality and Health magazine in the Spring of 2001. But I do not wish to denigrate religion. I could not go back to it for many reasons -- one of them being that it provides an opportunity for many to avoid responsibility for what goes on in their own lives. It also tends to separate humans from the Power and Presence that we call God. The word "religion" means to bind us back or return us to the Source. If it does that, it has served its purpose. The problem is not with religion, but with the institution that fills it with rules, creeds and dogma. If we take away those chains that bind, that make our religion right and everyone else's wrong, we will find the Golden Thread that binds us to our God, to each other and to all creation. Spirituality is to make of one's life a sacred adventure. It asks only one thing of the seeker: to take responsibility for one's own reverence and virtue. It demands that we learn to act out of love, not because we have been told to do so by an authority figure but because we have faced within ourselves that which has stood in the way of love. We must learn to remove the obstacles so that we can be the love we were created to be, the Love that we are. Being on the spiritual path means that everything counts -- every thought, word and action. Everything matters -- even my interaction with strangers on the street or on the freeway. My relationships with family, friends and co-workers are part of my learning experience and thus sacred. Whether I am participating in the ritual of lighting our supper candles or preparing my talk for Sunday, the understanding is the same. I am honoring a sense of connectedness -- that there is something beyond our everyday lives that connects us all. To sum up my thoughts, I give you some words from a favorite song written by Peter Mayer called "Holy Now": "When I was a boy, each week, on Sunday we would go to church. Pay attention to the priest; he would read the holy word and consecrate the holy bread. Everyone would kneel and bow. Today the only difference is: Everything is holy now. "When I was in Sunday School, we would learn about the time Moses split the sea in two and Jesus made the water wine. I remember feeling sad. Miracles don't happen still. But now I can't keep track, 'cause everything's a miracle. "Holy water was rare at best, barely wet my fingertips. Now I have to hold my breath, I'm swimming in a sea of it. "This morning, outside I stood. Saw a little redwing bird, shining like a burning bush, singing like a scripture verse. Made me want to bow my head...'cause everything is holy now. Everything, everything is holy now!" To subscribe to Daily Word or to learn more about one of the Unity Churches/Centers in or near the Twin Cities: Unity Christ Church, Golden Valley (763) 521-4793; Unity South, Bloomington (952) 884-6656; Unity of the Valley, Burnsville/Savage (952) 895-0745, Unity East, Newport/Woodbury (651) 731-5330; Unity North, Coon Rapids (763) 554-6489; Unity, Sanctuary of the Heart, St. Paul (952) 848-2346; Unity Spiritual Seekers, Chisago City (651) 257-7067; Unity Christ Center, Eau Claire, WI (715) 836-0010, or other Unity Churches, visit www.unityminnesota.org. Audrey Peterson is the founding minister of Unity of the Valley Spiritual Center in Savage, Minn., a spiritual community that provides the freedom to acknowledge and express the indwelling Christ Spirit. The community is dedicated to the Universal Principles of Love, Peace, and Oneness. For information on classes and workshops offered at the Center visit www.unityvalley.org or call the office at (952) 895-0745. Copyright © 2004 Audrey Peterson |
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Sept 2004 |
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