Glen -
Works for me, I was thinking "crypto athiest"...
Naa. I don't qualify as any sort of atheist. I have gods, they're just unique
gods.
Understood... "crypto-animist" perhaps? I didn't think much of the
term (animist) until I encountered it in Abram's "Spell of the Sensuous"
which I am now recognizing anew in the "Pan Consciousness" movement.
You may also enjoy, if you haven't read it, Neal Gaiman's "American
Gods"...
Interesting that you didn't believe "a word uttered in Mass" while I, as a young adult
came to believe (or at least a appreciate) a great deal of what was uttered in Mass. […] I
"believed" a great deal of what he offered in those Homilies.
Hm. I suppose we could parse "believe". But I've had way too many arguments
about the difference (or lack thereof) between belief and knowledge. I don't enjoy them
much anymore.
I guess more important to me was that I *liked* and *tended to agree
with* a great deal of what he had to say. His Homilies illuminated my
understanding of the mystery of being human in this world in a new and
larger way than I had before. None of that was, by the way, couched in
the specific dogma of Catholicism or even Christianity. His
conception of "Grace" for example, did not require a literal belief in a
Paternalistic God, or a Forgiving Son, though maybe something like a
mysterious "Holy Spirit", nor a literal Garden of Eden or a Snake or an
Apple, or Satan or .... It might be noted that he had a lot of tussle
with the congregation at-large, partly over his "secular" style.
Selfishly, it "worked for me"!
I lost what little "faith" in Christian Dogma I might have had when during a summer Bible
School teaching (9 years old?). I got really excited by the many "miracles" (manna from
heaven, red sea parting, burning bushes, virgin birth, rising from the dead, etc.) and when I
expressed my enthusiasm, taking these to be literal and true and verifiable stories, my Bible
School teacher became very stern with me, but did not attempt to explain allegory or parable to me,
leaving me to believe that SHE didn't believe those stories either. Kinda undermined the magic of
it all! I got a little back years later when I came to understand allegory and parable.
Heh, I kinda wish I'd had more "people in positions of power" like that. Maybe
I did and just ignored any power they had. My CCD teacher taught us to meditate and
chant. I knew Jesus as Buddha before I learned anything about Buddha.
I wish I had not been so quick to ignore/dismiss those "people in
positions of power" myself. It *did* allow/require me to do a lot more
thinking for myself than if I'd swallowed their hooks, lines and
sinkers, but I think there might have been a finer line to have
appreciated than I did. For example, if I'd recognized those
miraculous stories for what they were, I might have returned for more of
that good 'ole Bible- thumpery-for-children and developed a more astute
understanding/appreciation of Christianity earlier... I feel quite
lucky to have been immersed in Catholicism as much as I was, and only
wish I had had more opportunity to get the same up-close-and-personal
taste of other "foreign" cultures.
I've a very good friend born/raised Muslim but extremely Westernized who
I wish would take me into her family for a year... she lives in
Australia... otherwise I think she would. Her father (now deceased)
was known for his scholarly nature and his affection for "Whiteys" (her
term, not mine) and the class of discourse they offered that was
different from his own peers in Islamic culture... she was raised at his
knee watching John Ford Westerns, many set in our local scenery... She
is a very powerful hybrid of three cultures. I have numerous Native
American friends but they are mostly if not all too "Americanized" to
give me yet more cultural/spiritual parallax, not to mention the clutter
we have loaded on them with ideas like "noble Savage". Even those born
and raised in the relative isolation of a "the Rez"... or more likely,
I'm not listening carefully enough.
- Steve
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