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It is now apparent to me after some life experience in college that most of us here are actually more akin to ghosts walking among the living than anything worthy of esteem. Forgive the odd metaphor. I suppose Halloween has an effect on even me.
In any case, I want to focus now on an often left-for-dead topic, if you will. Spiritual death is often thought of as a term for the strictly religious and even then only for the eschatological minded religious folk. I would like to frame this topic in such a way that many of you who care not for religion or end-of-the-world thinking will still perk up your ears.
Spiritual death in an individual (after all it can only occur for the individual even if caused by social factors) is marked by several signs. These signs are all very noticeable to the outside viewer. However, it is important to note that these signs are not solely the composition of spiritual death. There is much more going on beneath the surface.
Some of these signs are a lack of interest in art or the beauty behind objects in the world, trouble interpreting literary themes in popular mediums of expression such as movies, music, and books, an inability to have meaningful relationships with others, knowingly committing self-sabotage through self-destructive behaviors and habits, etc. In our society we begin to see spiritual death manifested through larger trends in behavior.
The rise of internet social networking has actually had an adverse effect for example, on social behavior. We no longer see or talk to people face to face and so we do not develop all the necessary skills to interact with people properly.
Even if we recognize some signs, these are not ever going to point to anything larger until we understand what I mean by spiritual. In a pluralistic context, we can understand spiritual to mean anything that pertains to the question of being.
This question simply put is, “What is the meaning of my existence?” It has been asked and interpreted in many languages, cultures, movements, and religious trends. Even this phrasing of the question implies a certain cultural-linguistic interpretation of the question.
Regardless, this question gets at the deeply spiritual need human beings have had. To deny or set aside the importance of this question is to deny the spiritual.
As fuel for our tank, the exploration of this question keeps us grounded in the first-person perspective. This is important because when we lose our own deep subjectivity, we lose our sense of self. From this loss comes mental anguish and complacency. We become like sleeping ghosts walking around in a world we have no power over. Instead, we are ourselves the victims of its circumstances. To recognize the deep spiritual need is to recognize your own deep perspective and the power you have to manipulate your world.
By “manipulate” I do not mean some philosophy of willing things to occur like in The Secret, but the way in which we recognize the power of our choices and the responsibility we have because of them. With this in hand, we can better face the world around us and its tasks.
Concretely, spiritual death leads to a vicious cycle. Our own spiritual death in America has resulted in a downward spiral in all aspects of life. In education, for example, we have come to see the future generations as merely resources for our use. We have laid on their shoulders the responsibilities of solving all our economic and technological problems. This results in the depreciation of human life. Teaching children then becomes more akin to tweaking a piece of machinery than raising a human being with the freedom to discover itself in all its complexity.
The cycle comes when this view of human life is legitimized by our institutions and our language. Think for a moment about the way we “assess” student development and “evaluate” their performance. In other aspects of society this has already long come to pass. For example, think about the way we view movies, literature, and music as collectively titled the “entertainment industry” rather than a form of artistic expression.
All this can be reversed if we release the restrictions we have placed on the question of being. Instead of making it strictly a question for the pastor, the philosopher, or the guru we need to allow it to flow freely into our discourse. The more that we recognize it the more it becomes a power in our lives. Imagine the tremendous changes that would occur if we would just allow everyone to question us and if we in turn question ourselves.
We can start by simply asking, “Why am I doing this?” Begin here and the spiritual question will begin to make itself known through a long line of inquiry.
6 comments
More spiritual death caused by it are not given a space of spiritual freedom. Modern man more spiritual fetters bound. Shackles were like cobwebs. In this case there are contained two meanings.
First spider web is made of his own feces or products. In other words many people who lead their lives is the product itself. contained the meaning of this fragility. Not bring a strong belief, as always in the corridor without signs, which easily collapse due to changes in the discourse.
The second meaning contained in it is when someone else was trapped by it then the tether will be loose and rolled around with no clear purpose. This person would be hard to break away, and always tied to it, unless there was another party involved releasing
In this case we would have to think back, a progress (modernization) always bring a man out of control and out of real habitats. Of course the right solution for this is again guided by the holy book. Existing guidelines in the bible will always make the human spirit on the path of the sling. The road is a road without a hitch sling always wear signs that must be obeyed. Road which is also free in lemapang meaningful engagement.