A favorite blog reader sent me a gentle, unhappy message after I wrote a political thing that made her uneasy, as all political things do now.
She said plaintively that she would prefer to see me write only about my flowers, as they bring her peace and comfort.
I said I couldn’t oblige; I am not just a flower photographer; I will occasionally write about things that will make at least somebody uncomfortable.
She said she would prefer that I only write about my spiritual work. But wait, I said, my flowers are all about my spiritual work, but not only that, spirituality speaks to my life and my desires to be a better human—not just one thing, but many things.
This got me thinking.
I have been doing much spiritual work lately, both online and in books.
I know that our media will be the last to notice. Still, I see a spiritual explosion online that far surpasses the hysteria and political confusion of the Washington world. People despair about what is happening in our country. They want something better, something kinder.
Still, if they check their history, it tells us that ages of darkness are always – always – followed by times of light, by spiritual revolutions. I sense one is coming. It’s out there to see if anyone wants to look for it. Nobody told me where to look.
I went and found it. It has to come from inside. It’s hard work, it’s not easy.
Spiritual books, blogs, and new podcasts. Blogs and social media groups related to spirituality are popping up faster than I can find them, and they are all crowded with people. We don’t hear much about them because the journalists in Washington can’t get their heads out of the politicians’ butts long enough to look around and listen, which is now a familiar story.
I told my friend that spirituality was not about being quiet but about fighting for good differently and more softly, which taught me patience, calm, faith, strength, and hope. It replaced fear with meaning. I can practice in a car, on a walk, in bed, or at a hardware store. Spirituality is all about helping people at the Cambridge Pantry get food.
I am a fighter, not a monk, but I am learning to fight in a quieter and more empathetic way. Spirituality is not about surrender; it is about strength and authenticity, some of the most powerful tools a human being can have.
I don’t need to label myself red or blue. I just need to label my self me.
There is a great misunderstanding about spirituality in our disintegrating media and divided country.
I told my blog friend that my spirituality is not about silencing me. It is about knowing myself and understanding who I am and want to be. Spirituality is a powerful force, at least as much if not more powerful than politics, which is dusty with old age and reeking with grievance, power, money, cruelty, and dishonestly.
That is the opposite of what spirituality is about.
Spirituality outside of organized religion is relatively new. I see it as the new religion, supplanting the paralyzed and outdated reach of the major faiths, who seem lost and overwhelmed by the onset of hatred and anger. Until recently, spirituality was about finding a dog. Now, my spirituality is about my seeing me.
I owe the idea to organized religion and the great minds who created it. But it isn’t any longer just about what Jesus or Moses said; it’s about what we say inside ourselves, where we want to go in this changing new world, what we want to be, and what good we can do for our battered planet.
Spiritual, not political, solutions make more sense by the day. Spirituality has guided me to better solutions than hatred and rage. Spirituality is the light side of humanity, the one people always turn to when things get cold and dark, as they inevitably do. Spirituality brought me inside of myself to find the smothering artist in me.
Spirituality doesn’t silence me; I don’t need to go to a temple, wear a robe, sing chants at night, or kneel to someone else’s God. My faith is inward, inside of me. You won’t see it on the news or in Congress, but you will, and I have already seen it in me and people like me who seek to find ourselves and give meaning to our lives. We are not political, but we desire a kindlier and gentler country and world.
Doing good also brings us justice and relief. It gives us meaning that we didn’t have before.
So no, I told my friend I couldn’t promise to write only about flowers. I want to do that and be more significant than that. Spirituality is flowers. But spirituality isn’t about surrender; it’s about fighting for a world in small ways, one at a time, not hating everyone at once.
This new chapel is not downtown in a gorgeous marble building but inside, deep in our hearts. I promised my friend I would continue to annoy her occasionally. Spirituality is about making me a better human, not just an angry and aggrieved one. Spirituality is about helping me, not frightening me. If history tells us anything, it tells us we will come to hate the people who frighten us and bring them down. It’s not where I wish to go.
