Spirituality
Well known Fransican priest Richard Rohr suggests that religion in the early days of Christianity was a nurturing space for the healthy growth of spirituality and spiritual inquiry. My experience of Christian religion has rarely fostered that idea but in general it has been around protecting tribal belief systems rather than a very broad and non dualistic spiritual safe place. It could be said that religion looked at from the outside seems exclusive and hardly nurturing though initiatlly welcoming. It seems light on love and listening – particularly the monotheistic religions: Christianity, Judaism and Isalm – and strong on proclamation. However, a place and space – as an individual or in a group – where spirituality can be experienced, fostered, explained and shared and has not become cultic I am convinced is possible.
Deciding to write on spirituality on this page as part of my A.L.S.O. acrostic is daunting but spirituality or spiritual inquiry is of the essence in being human, being alive and being part of a living planet. As holocaust survivor and logotherapy founder Viktor Frankl says we need to and want to make some kind of sense and meaning of our lives. He infers that spirituality is part of that. I want to write about how my understanding and experience of spirit/spirituality continues to evolve and hope that in that writing there will be some resonance with readers.
Having been a preacher for 20 years of my life, megaphone style, I realise that declarations are part of the persona. I relished the trust given to me to unpack life, scipture and story but in reflection the spiritual experience of mine and of parishoners was probably best described as light on. And I am not really sure of what it could have become given where I was at when I began my life as a pastor. Intense and determined I was. But being part of a tribe for those years I was obliged to perform and believe while all the time battling with questions of meaning and spiritual reality.
This drawing of mine represesents dissonant tensions. Proclomation, indoctrination, time management and apparent insurmountable blockages in the search for certainty.
I have concluded that certainty is not attainable while mystery and the unknown are safe realms.
How do we live with mystery and the unknown and make sense of them if only for a moment in time?
Is this all in our spiritual wondering? I have no definitive final answers.
Stories including art and film from multiple sources are becoming the frameworks of my endless spiritual inquiry.
Viktor Frankl “Man’s Search for Meaning.”
Peter Breen March 18, 2025.
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