Monday, October 16, 2006

A Day Unlike Others

October 16

Yesterday was indeed an extraordinary one. It started with an extremely successful talk to a receptive audience about a person some of them had known and the others were genuinely interested in. Verda Horne was central to my talk to the Unitarian, and they were able, in the answer section, to enlighten me with information I hadn't included, such as her work in establishing fellowships along the Gulf Coast, including the now Katrina-torn towns of Gulfport and Biloxi. They told me of her extensive work with environmentalists in the state and across the South. They even mentioned the work of her gentle, retiring husband Rix, who was well-known among landscape architects. Some, my sister told me, were moved to tears by my talk about how much Verda had meant to me, and how very much she had done to change lives in her brief time on earth.

A comment to my post yesterday asked what could possibly have motivated her, having been raised by strict Mormons, to become a proselytizing Unitarian? I immediately thought of M. Scott Peck's book The Road Less Traveled, and looked up this passage in the chapter called "The Religion of Science" "...the learning of something new requires a giving up of the old self and a death of outworn knowledge. To develop a broader vision we must be able to forsake, to kill, our narrower vision. In the short run it is more comfortable not to do this -- to stay where we are, to keep using the microcosmic map, to avoid suffering the death of cherished notions. The road of spiritual growth, however, lies in the opposite direction. We begin by distrusting what we already believe, by actively seeking the threatening and unfamiliar, by deliberately challenging the validity of what we have previously been taught and hold dear. The path to holiness lies through questioning everything.

"In a very real sense, we begin with science. We begin by replacing the religion of our parents with the religion of science. We must rebel against and reject the religion of our parents, for inevitably their world view will be narrower than that of which we are capable if we take full advantage of our personal experience, including our adult experience and the experience of an additional generations of human history. There is no such thing as a good hand-me-down religion. To be vital, to be the best of which we are capable, our religion must be a wholly personal one, forged entirely through the fire of our own questioning and doubting in the crucible of our own experience of reality."

I once gave a copy of that book to a dear man, and very devout and spiritual practicing Baptist, who came from a long line of practicing Baptists. He was quite interested in the book until it came to that point, but when he read that he could go no further. However, there is little doubt in my mind that Verda Horne would have approved of Scott Peck's words about religion and science. I think it gives a fair assessment of what probably took place in her spiritual development.

Yesterday held more than the morning talk. Early in the evening a new project was launched at my house, a very exciting presentation that involves the work of Gertrude Stein, whom I mentioned in a previous post. You'll hear details of the project as the time grows nearer.

Just think for now about the questioning, doubting and tempering of self and how that figures into our own personal development. Would such wipe out all religions from the face of the earth? I don't think so. Maybe we'd just all become Unitarians.

6 comments:

Bert Bananas said...

In responding to my question about how a person raised by pious Mormon parents could become a Unitarian, Even-Handed Hope cited a passage from a book. Said passage contained this:

"I once gave a copy of that book to a dear man, and very devout and spiritual practicing Baptist, who came from a long line of practicing Baptists. He was quite interested in the book until it came to that point, but when he read that he could go no further."

What percentage of Humanity falls into this same category of behavior? And thus, how big an obstacle is Religion to possible improvement in Human Relations?

Mary Lois said...

By bringing up my friend who could not tolerate the idea of rejecting the religion he had been taught as a child, I was trying to answer your question posted yesterday, "I doubt that you mean that anyone with a bent towards asking questions and seeking answers automatically doubts the faith of his fathers. Were this the case how would organized religion exist?"

Organized religion exists precisely through this attitude of slavish adherence to the teachings of the previous generation, rather than through a process of self discovery and questioning.

What percentage does what I couldn't say, and the question seems beside the point. But obviously the indoctrination of organized religions has worked in keeping people in the fold, and will continue, whether or not it is improving human relations or throwing an obstacle in the path of progress.

A questioning soul might become a Laztheist before taking the plunge into doubt leading to growth and change.

Bert Bananas said...

Becoming a Laztheist is probably (IMHO) the best and final plunge into growth. Exchanging the religion of one's parents for a cleaner, neater looking religion may be change, but it's not necessarily growth.

Mary Lois said...

bananas, are you saying that your parents were Laztheists?

Bert Bananas said...

My dad was. My mom was a Methodist.

I can't vouch for this, but I think each person who elects to practice Laztheism writes his/her own rules. Going your own way is what it's all about.

You think it's easy?

Benedict S. said...

We all go our own way even when we go lock step with the past. Unconscious yeses are equally as affirmative as the conscious sort.