I have noticed in conversations about Eastern spirituality, that many people perceive that Easterners are inherently more spiritual than Westerners and therefore Eastern religions are more spiritual. I am not exactly sure how to measure this, but people commonly don't perceive Christians as "spiritual."
Does practicing Eastern meditation make one more spiritual than meditating on the Psalms? Do we equate mysticism with spirituality? Is it spiritual to use that soft "spiritual" voice and follow deep thoughts by closing their eyes and offering a nice airy "mmmmmmm." I've done that before when I've been appreciating a good thought. (In fact, I'm closing my eyes right now, "Yes, mmmmmm." Airy breath. "Ahhhhh.") Does saying "namaste" make me more spiritual than saying, "peace be with you?"
It is true that many Western Christians tend to be more "heady" and lack emotional expression during worship. We can blame this on those pesky Puritans and the Enlightenment. In our culture, we tend to make fun of Charismatics rather than seeing them as "spiritual." How is yoga more spiritual than speaking in tongues?
Eastern spirituality is exotic and new for much of the West. It's exciting and refreshing for many people.
People often complained that Catholicism and Christianity have been used to oppress people. That is true, it has. Humans have gotten in positions of power and perverted theology for their own gain. There is a special place in hell for those people. To quote a wise friend, "Just because our government is corrupt, doesn't mean that democracy is a bad idea."
Jesus said, "Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth.” It doesn't get more spiritual than that, if you ask me.
Thursday, July 24, 2008
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4 comments:
One reason many people may find Christians "less spiritual" is because, well, WAR being fought in the name of a Christian God. I never heard of anybody killing for Buddha. It's a matter of hypocrisy.
Obviously I know that not all Christians are violent people, but so many big-named, right-wing Christians have such an uninviting, holier-than-thou attitude.
I see very few people called Christians actually living and walking the way of Christ. Those are the people I truly admire!! The way of Christ is truly revolutionary and would drastically change our world!
As for corrupt Buddhists? Perhaps there are, but mostly what we see are Buddhist monks, the Dali Lama, and others who appear to be joyful, peaceful and full of loving kindness.
That's my 2 cents. :)
For reference, Tibetan buddhism more or less enslaved all Tibetans except for the priests, and unwanted visitors were "welcomed" with an automatic death sentence. In the same way, there have been numerous bloody wars among the Buddhist kingdoms/nations of Southeast Asia. The Mongols, who ravaged from Europe to the Pacific and threatened the Japanese, were also Buddhist.
Moreover, kung fu and other martial arts have their roots at...Buddhist temples like Shaolin, and some of the bloodiest, most lethal martial arts are practiced by Thai buddhists.
In other words, the idea that Buddhism is inherently peaceful is, to put it very politely, a myth.
I think because we have many miles between the East and West, we only see pieces of it. We have proximity to American Christianity and can see the ugliness in it. Truly the Religious Right isn't doing us any favors. Most of the time people don't "see" Christians who are actually being Christian because they are meek and humble.
A wonderful post and you raise questions that have been on the minds of many.
When this comes up in my brain, I just cut through the mind chatter and get the the spirit of it all. I'm not sure who said it, but maybe it's along the lines of 'all roads lead to Rome'.
I love the fact that east and west are crossing 'spiritual borders' to learn more about the other. Hopefully through understanding comes acceptance, tolerance, love.'
But I'm old enough to still follow the KISS principle. I simply know that Spirit is here and in all of us. How we get there is our own adventure!
If you don't mind, I'd like to offer you (all) a free gift (pdf) copy of my book. No strings, no spam attached, really. (I know, hard to believe these days :-) Just
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Thanks again for a great post!
take care,
Louise Lewis, author
www.noexpertneeded.com
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