Pathways to the SpiritPage: 1/2 (2214 total words in this text) (774 Reads)  Pathways
to the Spirit – Part 1
by Christine Hall During the late sixties and early
seventies, many Americans abandoned the churches that had been
guiding our spiritual lives since this nation began. Mainstream
Christianity, they felt, had grown out-of-touch with the needs of
modern men and women. Although many became materialist (or what the
religious right refers to as “secular humanist”) and
abandoned any spiritual beliefs, others still felt the need for
spiritual expression.
In those days, the dawning of the “age
of Aquarius,” there weren’t many options outside the
Judeo-Christian monopoly. Then Tim Leary’s friend, Richard
Alpert, made his pilgrimage to India, quit dropping acid to take up
meditation, changed his name Ram Das and extolled the virtues of
meditation. With the publication of his book “Be Here Now.”
America was off and running and Christianity was no longer the only
game in town. The church finally had competition.
Since then, a broad range of spiritual
practices has been brought under the broad umbrella of “the new
age,” and anyone setting out on the journey of personal
spiritual discovery has a kaleidoscope of beliefs and practices from
which to borrow and choose. For the next couple of weeks we will be
looking at some of these in an attempt to help sort out any confusion
about what’s available for anyone attempting to choose a
spiritual path.
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Wicca - Every year around Halloween the media becomes fascinated with the Wiccans. These are our modern day witches who celebrate life
with rituals performed, usually outdoors, beneath the moon. But while
the lore of Wiccanism may be witchy and evoke images of the dark
ages, the practice these days has been somewhat adapted to fit into
the modern world and to address modern issues like feminism and the
ecology.
Wicca is probably the most well known
of a variety of spiritual practices that fit into a broad category
known as Neo-Paganism. In all cases, these are attempts to revise the
nearly lost wisdom of pre-Christian European religious beliefs - with
varying degrees of success.
Neo-Paganism, in general, is a goddess
based religion. Here is a world where the creative principle is seen
as being both male and female, with the god and the goddess both
being necessary to maintain the balance of nature. It is the goddess
that prevails, however, because her nurturing is seen as having the
most profound influence upon us humans. It’s also an earth based
religion, with rituals celebrating the cycles of life through
honoring the effects the changing of the seasons has upon us.
Because of this, Wicca has been
particularly attractive among those feminist who are disdainful of
male-based Christianity but who, nevertheless, feel the need for a
spiritual outlet. There are many all-female covens, where women come
to celebrate the goddess (and their own sense of womanhood) without
male influence. Wicca has also come to be practiced among a segment
of the gay male population, whose covens are called “fairie
circles.”
Although Wiccanism is often associated
with devil worship, nothing could be further from the truth. To the
Wiccan there is no devil, only the polarities of life. Light and
darkness, male and female, winter and summer - all of the forces of
nature are deified and animated with life.
For more on Neo-Paganism and Wicca
read “Drawing Down the Moon,” by Margot Adler, “The
Spiral Dance” by Starhawk or “Wicca” by
Vivian Crowley.
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Native American Spirituality -
There are very few within the New Age community who don’t at
least pretend to pay homage to Native American beliefs. There is a
rich lode to be mined here, but the path can be confusing for
westerners - especially for those of us who believe that we should be
working toward equality of the sexes.
Because each tribe (or nation) has its
own beliefs, any summary of native spirit will be necessarily
misleading. Like the neo-pagans, native spirituality is an earth
honoring religion. Unlike neo-paganism, native beliefs at least seem
to be male-dominated, a situation that many try to explain away and
others attempt to rectify.
There are a couple of native rituals
that non-natives regularly take part in. One is the pipe ceremony,
the passing of a pipe around a circle while honoring all of God’s
creations. The other is the sweat lodge, a ritualized cleansing of
the body, mind and soul in sort of a primitive sauna. Both of these
practices are extremely powerful and moving and are highly
recommended for anyone whose mind open to experiencing a different
culture on a very deep level. Women should be aware that many native
groups will not allow them into a sweat lodge if they are in “moon
time.”
For more information on Native
American spiritual beliefs read “The Teachings of Don Juan”
by Carlos Castaneda or “The Hopi Survival Kit”
by Thomas E. Mails.
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Mahayana Buddhism - The Tibetan
form of Buddhism is not so much a religion as it is a system of
psychology. There is no god here, nor any concrete beliefs on the
nature of the spirit. Buddhism is primarily concerned with healing
the troubled mind and offers workable practices to accomplish this
goal, all of which fit neatly into a Jungian scheme.
The Buddha was a man who was born with
all of the difficulties that plague us all. After renouncing his
birthright as a ruler (he was a prince), he spent years meditating on
the nature of life and the mind before achieving enlightenment, which
is seen as being the state of human perfection. According to the
Buddhist, anyone can achieve enlightenment by following the examples
set forth by the Buddha and those who followed him.
At this time, Tibetan Buddhism is
still steeped in the culture and traditions of Tibet. For this
reasons, many Americans find the system to be alien and a little
difficult to grasp. But the tactics used are universal in scope and
therefore highly adaptable, and many Tibetans are working on the
problem of tailoring the practices to accommodate the western
mind-set. Buddhism requires great patience. Healing a lifetime of
destructive patterns can’t be accomplished in a single
meditation session.
To learn more about Tibetan Buddhism
read “How to Meditate” by Kathleen McDonald,
“Essence of Refined Gold” by the third Dali Lama or
“The Way to Shambhala” by Edwin Bernbaum.
NEXT: OTHER
PATHS AND HOW TO CHOOSE ONE
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