Category: Star Wars

Another Q&A via the tinyblog

1. Do you believe in God? I mean like…a being that embodies all goodness that one can relate to personally, not some amorphous ‘jedi force’ principle.

Yup.

2. If you have some other conception of God then as a being, then what does it look like? How do you interface with it? Do you have some kind of persistant connection to it?

Hmmm. Wouldn’t a being be looked at?

I don’t think it’s possible to relate to God as a Great, Omnipotent, Amorphous, Being-Beyond-All-Being. That’s why, for example, God shows up in the Bible in a variety of odd forms, be it Burning Bush or Strange Visitors (or, if you will, a carpenter’s son).

By the same token, thinking of God as just a Burning Bush or a Golden Calf or an old man sitting on a park bench has its own perils. God is beyond gender, to take a basic example, so once you start labeling God as male, you run the risks of (a) placing limits on God’s nature, and (b) making assumptions about God based on those limits.

So it’s tough for humans to have a personal relationship without, let’s say, gender being involved, because gender is a fundamental element of so many of our relationships. We just have to be careful not to let an image of God as Stern, White-Bearded Father make us think that’s all God is.

Frankly, when I have conversations with God, She looks a lot like Mother Nature from the old Parkay commercials. I don’t for a second think that’s all She is, but it gives me some personal hooks to relate to her.

3. What (if any) established faiths do you participate in, or have dabbled in, or have observed enough to get some insight into?

Well, various branches of Christianity, of course, particularly on the Catholic/Episcopal end of things. I know a bit about Judaism, but not enough about Islam to make any but the broadest and benign of generalizations. My knowledge of Hinduism, Buddhism, and Shinto is pretty artificial. I have a passing knowledge, mostly through reading, and partly from acquaintances and friends, of various branches of neo-paganism.

4. What is your view on religious traditions?

Traditions give us continuity and structure. They help us be something bigger than we, individually, are. They give us guidance and order.

Hey, whaddya expect? I’m a Catholic-turned-Episcoapalian. We’re all hot on tradition.

Traditions, though, can also be straitjacket and blinders.

Discard traditions with care. They are precious. But don’t let tradition do all your thinking for you.

5. What do you make of John 14:6? ‘Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.’ (NIV)

I don’t think it means that if you aren’t a card-carrying Christian that you are trapped on a life-bus straight to the Fiery Furnace.

If you look in context, I think the emphasis is on I, not on the. Jesus is the one who’s there, talking to the Apostles. He is their way to access God and to know what God wants. They are called upon to follow him, to do what he does, to live as he preaches.

That doesn’t mean that Jesus is the only way, in my book. This particular passage has been used far too much as a club, rather than an inspiration.

6. Either inside or outside these traditions, what can one do to deepen their connection to their life or spirituality?

I’ve found that the way to deepen one’s spiritual life is to be spiritual. We are what we do (and we do what we are). That doesn’t necessarily mean going to church every Sunday, though that can be an element of it. It does mean that if you don’t think about the spiritual side of life, you’re not likely to have much of one.

7. Do you believe that there is some stream of conciousness that continues after your biological body becomes a corpse, or do you believe that conciousness is an illusion generated by biological processes that will stop when those processes stop? Feel free to elaborate. (Simple version: do you die completely or continue on?)

I believe the soul/self continues its existence after this life here. We get to find out what our grade was, if we have to take the class over, or if we can move on to the next lesson.

8. How (if at all) do your spiritual beliefs alter or influence your behavior?

I have a hard time thinking of how spiritual beliefs would not influence one’s behavior.

I try to comport myself with others in accord with my beliefs. I try to be virtuous, not because it puts me at some sort of practical advantage, but because my spiritual beliefs inform me that I should be virtuous.

9. How do you think spirituality relates to sexual conduct? What is the highest purpose of sex?

What is the highest purpose of eating? Of laughing? Of playing the violin?

Sex is part of what we are. Sex is. It’s not, per se, evil or good. That’s determined by what we do with it and through it. My spirituality affects my sexual behavior to the extent that it tells me what is good and what is evil behavior. Intentionally and meaningfully hurting someone is evil. Betraying a trust is evil. Not taking responsibility for my actions is evil. Nurturing my relationship with my spouse is good. Making my spouse happy is good. Responsibly and consensually procreating is good.

10. What do you think is the purpose of a human life? How do you think you are fulfilling it?

To learn how to be what God intends us to be. I strongly suspect it takes us more than “three-score years and ten” to do so.

I think I’m doing okay. I also think I’m still in kindergarten, if that far along.

11. What makes you get up and keep doing it every day? Are there any circumstances under which you would want to stop doing so?

I have a responsibility to my wife and child.

I enjoy life.

I can do good to others.

If those conditions — all those conditions — change, then I don’t know as I wouldn’t be ready for the end of the term.

12. What is the most important thing life has taught you? (Please no platitudes…I’d rather hear something very small and personal life has taught you than a rehash of The Golden Rule.)

The most important?

We cannot control life. The most we can try to control — and what we have a responsibility to control — is our reaction to it.