Thursday, September 27, 2007

spiritual violence / spiritual integrity

Today in CPE we had a fascinating conversation about spiritual integrity. One student brought up their objection to praying in a non-Christian tradition. They said that it would feel like a [sinful] betrayal of their faith to pray to a God that is not their own. Their theology does not see [the "one, Christian, Father/Son/Holy Spirit] God in the gods of other traditions, except for the big three monotheistic religions...and even then this student could not call that God any name other than God. Our supervisor pointed out that we are interfaith chaplains, and that it is one thing to have this perspective in the abstract, but what does a person do when someone is dying in your arms, begging you to pray them through death in their tradition's language? Another student pulled out a book of prayers from other traditions, from Christian to Islam to Wiccan prayers and Buddhist chants. This person had used them before and come under fire from their own tradition's leaders and had nothing to say. I argued that this is not an adequate solution because the integrity of the prayer depends on meaning and not just going through the words. If I were dying, I would not find comfort in the words alone but in the intention and feeling of the words. So unless a person has room in their theology for other Gods, and defends it even to their own tradition's leaders, then the integrity of the prayer is broken. To say those prayers without an intent to pray would be to violate the patient's spirituality as well as the chaplain's spirituality. I don't know what the solution is exactly. I tend to be in the trend of seeing God [seeking God] in everything, from the highest Mass to the empty plastic water bottle on the table. Metaphors and movements of God are literally everywhere to me. But then from my angle, can I pray to "the Lord Jesus Christ my Savior"? Yes, but I'm not sure I could with integrity at this point. Since I don't see the figure of Jesus as singularly divine, as an intercessor [frankly, I don't see God as one who intercedes or who can be interceded to], and thus I don't see Jesus as a Lord & Savior but rather as an example, an enlightened one, a marker of the wholeness of body and spirit. I see Jesus as a mythological figure and not as a personal friend. So I don't know. If the first student prayed for me in my dying moments, appealing to the Blood of Christ, I wouldn't head out on the happiest of notes. At the same time, if that student prayed for me in my language but I knew that student didn't believe it (or worse, felt that it was sinful), I also wouldn't head out on the happiest of notes. At the end of the conversation, our supervisor pointed out that there are no answers.
That's my kinda religion.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

a few things...

1. i love "from high mass to the empty water bottle."
--eloquently stated, really.

2. i think intercession is an interesting thing for you to both look at and dismiss. Are you taking a stance against omnipotence, a unilaterally acting G*d? If so, I agree with you. However I do think G*d moves, act and behaves in the world. Using prayer is one way of channeling (or perhaps interceding??) in the hope of G*d's presence.

I don't know...I've never been a chaplain and I think you're supervisor is right: there are no Answers. There are though answers to be seen, understood and lived into when the molecules and elements align just so. It's a discovery in the moment, i think. No guarantee we will have the answer going in or perceive we knew the answer (when it mattered) on our way out.

Messy and uncomfortable, yet more accurate somehow than the formulaic scripts about "effectiveness" and "right way of doing things" we feed ourselves and each other.

Love you.
Thanks for this