Lenten Journey: Aspects of Spirituality – Beliefs

Prescript: My apologies for length between posts. We were in the mountains for a long weekend and I didn't have the ability to post much other than a few sentences about where we were.

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When someone is asked to describe their “spirituality,” they most often think that spirituality is about what they BELIEVE. Especially in the western world, we tend to equate spirituality with religion and religion with beliefs. That may not be true worldwide but that doesn’t mean beliefs are wrongly placed in this discussion. What you believe IS a part of your spirituality but I encourage you to broaden the concept of “belief” so that it is not exclusively about theologies and dogmas. For some people, those ARE a part of their beliefs but, even for the more conventionally religious, “belief” is much more than theologies and dogmas.

I love language and there may not be a more interesting word to me than “belief.” In English, “belief” has the same root as the word “beloved.” So, “belief” is etymologically connected to that which you love. I find that fascinating because there is a similar parallel to “belief” in Latin even though they are completely different words.

“Belief” comes from the Germanic side of the English language. For the Latin-based word for “belief,” we turn to “creed.” In Latin, the word for “I believe” is “Credo” (rhymes with Playdough) which is where the English word “creed” originates.  “Credo” is a Latin word with two different root words. “Do” is the first-person present tense of “daré” which means “to give.” “Donate” is related to this Latin root word. The “cre” part of “credo” comes from the Latin “cordis” which means “heart.” This root shows up in other English words such as “coronary” and “courage.” So, “I believe” in Latin literally means “I give my heart.”

So, instead of thinking about what you believe as “what do you THINK is true,” ask “What do you give your heart to?”

I have a love/hate relationship with metaphysics. On the one hand, it is a study of the meaning that goes beyond the natural world, the deep existential questions of purpose and consciousness. On the other hand, BECAUSE it transcends natural science, metaphysics moves toward trying to prove the unprovable. As both theists and atheists, when we start talking about beliefs as logical or provable truths, we have missed the point. A belief is not about logic or truth. A belief is about love and the heart.

What do you give your heart to? What do you believe so much that it shows up in your actions? Because both positively and negatively, what we DO is informed by how we feel. (I’ll go into that in greater depth in a later post.)

And as you consider what you believe in this sense, ask yourself about your stance on particular subjects. What do you believe about… the world we live in. Is it beautiful and good, worthy of your efforts to preserve it or ugly and depraved, not worth any effort? What do you believe about people? Are they generally trustworthy and safe or untrustworthy and deserving of suspicion? What do you believe about yourself? Are you worthy of love or worthy of loathing? What do you believe about God or Spirit? Not does God exist but how do you feel about God or Spirit? And how do any of those beliefs inform your actions?

Of course, I have offered extremes in my examples (either this or that) but the feelings are probably more complex than that. Where are your feelings? Where is your heart? On those subjects and any more than you can imagine. Your family members, your parents, your friends, your mentors, your bosses, your co-workers, your clients, your job, your interests, your purpose?

Theologian Paul Tillich suggested that God is that which we devote our greatest attention to… whatever that may be.  

In that sense, we are all multi-tasking polytheists. We give our heart to any number of things which draw our attention. Some fully worthy of that attention, some not so, some more neglected than we might otherwise choose if we were more conscientious of how we give our heart.

What do you give your heart to?

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You are welcome to take this journey in solitude in your own personal journal or share your reflections. If anything that you do makes you think you might want to continue a journey using Spiritual Direction, now or in the future, you can make an appointment with me through my website: 

www.RedRocksSDC.com 

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