Plague Journal, Prayer
I am the last person to have anything to say about prayer. It is rare for me to “pray.” I have become a Christian-agnostic. That sounds like an oxymoron, an impossible contradiction. It is not that I decided impiety is a reasonable response to life. Reason has nothing to do with it, nor does choice. At some past point in time I put aside the practice of scripture reading, of a daily quiet time/prayer session. It’s just that life went on unperturbed, whether I petitioned the deity or not. Life is short, precious. It felt impious to waste time and intention…
What does the word “prayer” mean anyway? Is there a formal meaning? Is there a defined form, stopping for a moment before a neighborhood shrine to pay respects to the local spirits. Opps! That’s right we do not have such public, physical summons to prayer here, in our Western society. That’s a memory of my life in Japan.
I remain intrigued by the frequent practice of prayer, of articulated invocation to Being, appeal to the source of everything that exists — which occurs in the arts. How many works of poetry, of rhymed verse put to music, of sculpture even, — that seem to be a ritual of appeal, a plea to “something” bigger than ourselves, something enveloping our successes and failures?
I feel, have often felt while listening and contemplating such works, than our failures are at least partially redeemed, repaired in the fashioning, and in the appreciation of such work.
Well, how about a song, an example of my point. As is always the case, the meaning, the truth of the matter does not lay upon the surface. This is not about a strenuous climb up the side of any mountain, or about turning to see one’s shadow… I’ve said enough. Stevie Nicks performs her great song Landslide.
Landslide
By Fleetwood Mac
I took my love, I took it down
I climbed a mountain and I turned around
And I saw my reflection in the snow-covered hills
‘Till the landslide brought me down
Oh, mirror in the sky, what is love?
Can the child within my heart rise above?
Can I sail through the changing ocean tides?
Can I handle the seasons of my life?
Well, I’ve been afraid of changing
‘Cause I’ve built my life around you
But time makes you bolder
Even children get older
And I’m getting older too
Well, I’ve been afraid of changing
‘Cause I’ve built my life around you
But time makes you bolder
Even children get older
And I’m getting older too
Oh, I’m getting older too
Oh, take my love, take it down
Oh, climb a mountain and turn around
And if you see my reflection in the snow-covered hills
Well the landslide will bring it down
And if you see my reflection in the snow-covered hills
Well the landslide will bring it down, oh oh
The landslide will bring it down
Lyrics by Stevie Nicks
6 thoughts on “Plague Journal, Prayer”
Not that I have any basis for commenting on religious doctrine or prayer, having been raised an atheist, continuing to adhere to that philosophy my entire life. But with that said, something in your words today gave me pause to wonder about the word “failure” within a Biblical context. Was it not the “failure” of Adam and Eve to heed God’s words, eating the apple from the tree of knowledge, therefore leading to original sin. From that perspective, is not all sin ostensibly based on our moral shortcomings, our potential failure to either accept Jesus or to praise an omniscient deity. As you have noted above, our “failures” can be redeemed, much as we are supposedly redeemed through having faith in a religion.
What is evident is that in some fashion we are all failures, at least to a degree. This is not to say that everything we do is doomed to be a failed attempt, but at some points in our lives, we are bound to fail. Failure is not optional. It is an integral part of life and ultimately, death is the failure to continue to live. If we take that failure into our hearts and realize that it is unavoidable, we can find that redemption within ourselves, without the aid of a church. In fact, the acceptance of failure is an incredibly important part of finding success, of finding fulfillment along our path.
Your disclaimer introduction to your comments prompts me to think that someone with an outsiders viewpoint is more likely to have a helpful assessment of religion than that of a “believer.” Belief carries the liability of blinders, externalized factors that never show up from that vantage point…
Your comments on the prevalence of failure seem correct to me. To be human is to be finite, to have a limit to our knowledge, to our ability to respond appropriately to life situations. Speaking for myself, I am particularly adverse to failure, with a tendency to “overdo.” That is another form taken by failure.
You mentioned the Adam and Eve story. There are alternative ways of understanding the meaning of the tale. To be human is to test the stipulated boundaries. That is precisely what the two, male and female did, and as a consequence learned the meaning of independence and freedom. Freedom is the right to be wrong. Is it worth it to be judged “wrong” by the powers that be? Often it is.
Learning to live with our failures is an important aspect of adulthood. I think the arts are an indispensable aid to that end.
We were so happy to find our Unitarian Universalist “church” where you are free to believe whatever when it comes to a higher power. It is important to reach out to help those less fortunate…social justice is a huge component in this unique religion….and we honor the best of other religions as well believing in science. Truly a special place for me.
Your endorsement seems well placed. Belief/Faith is something that ought not to be coerced. Orthodoxy, or an idea of one-true-belief, has to be enforced by various means — foreclosing an un-coerced buy-in.
And as you say, engagement with those of us who are victims of injustice is on it’s face, the right thing to do. No argument is needed.
First, with regard to the variant perspective of Genesis; if one takes the tale literally, then I would wholeheartedly agree that ingesting the apple was by far a preferable path for humanity. Curiosity along with an understanding of ourselves and our universe are the pillars of life and without those characteristics, we are but bumbling beasts in the wild, even if that wilderness were to have been Eden. And here’s where it really gets goofy: So this so-called God gave Adam and Eve the choice to either succumb to the serpent’s wiles or follow his edict of not eating ripe fruit. And once that apple was bitten, all of mankind for eternity shall be punished for desiring knowledge unless we somehow buy into the resurrection of God’s son who, ostensibly, gave his life for our original sin of gaining knowledge. In addition, if we choose not to acquiesce to this belief system (but live a life of kindness and inclusion) then we are relegate to an eternity of burning flesh, while those who commit heinous crimes against humanity, but take Jesus into their hearts at the steps of the gallows will live in the kingdom of heaven forever and ever. Sorry, but that’s just nuts.
On the other hand, this is not what many true Christians believe. Those who take the teachings of Christ to heart and truly listen and incorporate the tenets of Christ’s philosophy into their daily lives are not standing on a street corner spewing fire and brimstone. I think that this is what the administrator of this blog means when he calls himself a Christian. My sense is that he is embracing of the morals as set forth in the New Testament, which has little or nothing to do with eternal salvation, or resurrection, or using the words of the Bible as a weapon. These teachings of tolerance, of charity, of kindness and inclusion are what the vast majority of evangelicals tend to forget (though certainly not all of them). Please correct me if I’m wrong.
Second, to Gail’s note, my parents, the ardent atheists, were married in the First Unitarian Church of Berkeley back in 1950. At that time it was indeed considered a progressive sanctuary where those with varying degrees of faith (or non-faith) could gather for wide ranging discussions about life and belief. My sense is that the Unitarian Church is still such a place and it is good to have that thought corroborated by Gail’s note. YAY!
A couple of things.
The Genesis story is a myth, not a recipe for creation, or anything of the like. The fundamentalists made a massive mistake to interpret the details literally. The Genesis story was not taken as a literal account until about the middle of the 18th century if my memory is correct. Before then, it was widely understood allegorically. It is quite unnecessary for Adam and Eve to have lived somewhere in Eden for the story to convey universal insight about our condition as a species. Of course you know this. Many Americans are embedded within their bubble of ignorance and piety and will never think anything other than what their religious leaders want them to think about the collection of stories in the Bible.
As you point out, regarding the Bible literally leads to all manner of absurd conclusions, too many to list here.
And no, Jesus is no one’s “get of hell free” card. Those who believe so are busy creating hell on earth.
Kindness is always a humanizing move, no matter the source of one’s inspiration: the sermon on the mount, or the Tao Te Ching, or a poem of T. S. Eliot, or memory of one’s mother.