Open Table Judaism
By Gregory
I am occasionally accused of being a religious relativist. I see value in many aspects of various religious traditions. I am comfortable talking positively about Jesus or the power of mitzvoth. I see worth in forms of Neo paganismand maintain a healthy respect for several branches of Buddhism. But I’m not a relativist – at least to my way of thinking.
I see common aspects that transcend particular religious traditions and therefore allow us to engage them without having to select one and then reject the beauty and worth of all others. I approach religion as a set of spiritual and moral traditions based around myth, symbol, and ritual that emerged to help various communities make sense of the world and convey what they believed was their particular wisdom for living a good and meaning life. Let me elaborate.
Culture, Wisdom, & Myth
Culture is the outgrowth of humanity’s social nature and is the totality of customs, practices, values, and communal structures that shape a people’s daily life. Culture’s function, in the general sense, is to promote wisdom – knowledge of how to live a full life. Religion tends to be the promoter/keeper of most forms of higher wisdom in any given culture and religion relies on myth to achieve this task.
I believe that there is transformative psychological potential from engaging myth (grand narratives that blend history, truth, fact, and fiction) and ritual – the myths, symbols, narratives, and rituals have real power – there is something about being human that inclines us to engage such things.
The human person is a story-telling, metaphor-loving, symbol-making being for whom myth encapsulates information regarding primal, existential meaning. The human person relates on a psychological-spiritual level to stories, narratives, icons, and parables. Therefore, the language of spirituality is that of myth, metaphor, and symbol. All myths are about the transformation of consciousness.
An authentic spirituality helps us become fully human; it is the transformation of the mind and heart through the engagement of myth, symbol, and ritual with the aim of genuine human growth – from self-centeredness to a sense of one’s self as part of a larger sacred whole and to a deep commitment to others rooted in compassion. Mature humans reach out when the instinct is to pull inward; give when the impulse is to take; and love when we are inclined to hate; to include when are tempted to exclude.
Sacred Texts
Most ancient, sacred texts, the Bible included, combine history remembered with history metaphorized, grand narratives that are also sweeping spiritual statements, providing context for answers (but not necessarily the answers themselves) to life’s existential questions.
Most ancients were not literalists as we tend to be today. Literal readings render the myths irrelevant. Further, the myths were meant to be read with one’s current worldview in mind – we are right to reject the ancient views of sacrifice, patriarchalism, marriage/family structures, and violence that are incompatible with a contemporary understanding of the world. Despite this necessary filtering, many myths contain a core of meaning that may inform contemporary spiritual practice. Personal spirituality requires weaving our own experience into these myths to form a narrative context for our life.
Ritual
Rituals, liturgies, and other spiritual practices allow us structured engagement of myth and symbol. It is in ritual that myth comes alive and is most potent in terms of transformative power. Ritual helps individuals understand their place in the cosmos and in the community.
Universalism & Subjectivity
Are all religions equal in value, worth, and beauty? I’d say, no, at least from my perspective. This is not to dismiss or denigrate any of the world’s great religious traditions.
Rather, it’s to acknowledge that not all religions have developed in accord with human dignity and advances in human knowledge. There may be beauty in some forms of primitive religious expression, but without updating and development, these traditions remain just that, primitive.
Here I also think of many emerging Neopagan and nature-based spiritualties that remain rooted in unreflective forms of polytheism and revolve around approaches to magic and spell work that can be rightly labeled fantasy. Still, there is often pieces of a healthy, positive core of ideas and impulses that if more fully developed can aid the growth of mature individuals.
Other religious traditions have become stuck in phases of development where priorities that don’t align and affirm human life and dignity become prominent. For example, I’d argue that some expressions of Islam have become mired in resentment and nihilism that have made them prone to violence, political manipulation, and fundamentalism.
In less severe ways, elements of Orthodox Judaism and some expressions of Christianity have followed a similar trajectory – too closely aligning themselves to limited political agendas, drifting into decaying forms of fundamentalism, and thus wearing themselves out in various extreme expressions.
Sadly, Orthodox Jews, Fundamentalist Christians, and Radical Muslims too often unite around agendas that seek to reverse the gains of modernity, commit violence in the name of God, and engage the political process to control it for limited and destructive ends.
Finally, it is important to note that not all spiritual traditions speak to all people. Not every path works for every person. There is a legitimate degree of subjectivity to myth, symbol, and ritual that allows room for individual personality and experience.
I find religion fascinating and I respond to the beauty and value in various traditions. Yet at the end of the day, I don’t find all traditions of equal worth or power.
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