 Spiritual: July 04, 2007 Issue [#1808] |
  Spiritual
This week: Edited by: SophyBells  
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Hi, I'm SophyBells ~ your editor for this edition of the Spiritual Newsletter. This week we'll take a look at the power of story and parables within religious/spiritual traditions.
The Rev. Scotty McLennan, author of the book Finding Your Religion, compares humanity's innate need for spiritual searching to climbing a mountain. In his view, we are all endeavoring to climb the same figurative mountain in our search for the divine, we just may take different ways to get there. In other words, there is one "God," but many paths. I honor whatever path or paths you have chosen to climb that mountain in your quest for the Sacred.  |
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The Power of Parable
Storytelling reveals meaning without committing
the error of defining it." Hannah Arendt
Stories and parables have been part of the history of humanity ever since we were first able to speak and communicate with each other. In fact, even before the first language was written down, stories were shared orally from generation to generation, tribe to tribe, in order to maintain the history of the people and their perceptions of and reactions to the world around them (among other functions).
While there is neither the time or space to go into the entire history of story and storytelling here, it is interesting to note (for the purposes of a Spiritual Newsletter) that some of the earliest stories told by ancient peoples were "creation stories." These stories were their attempt at explaining how they, and the rest of the natural world, came into being. Other stories involved how they perceived themselves in relationship to the rest of creation, in terms of animals, trees, and, of course, "gods," as they understood them at the time. So it appears that from the very beginning of "story," there was a spiritual aspect to them.
As spirituality and religion developed, story became an integral part of their history and practice. All religions have "story" as part of their history and theology, and stories were (and remain) powerful tools for interpreting and understanding our faith journey, as they help explain and "bring down to earth" religious and spiritual concepts that might not always be so easy to grasp. Like Aesop's fables, people didn't worry whether or not a story was factual (that it really happened or not). Rather they were most connected to the truth or moral of the story. In other words, a story didn't have to be factual in order for it to be considered "true."
For instance, in the Hindu tradition, there is a well-known story about Lord Krishna when he was a cowherd. As the story goes, every night he invited the milkmaids to dance with him in the forest, and they would come and dance...
The night is dark, the fire in their midst roars and crackles, the beat of the music gets ever faster – the girls dance and dance and dance with their sweet lord, who has made himself so abundant as to be in the arms of each and every girl. But the moment the girls become possessive, the moment each one imagines that Krishna is her partner alone, he vanishes.
What a wonderful story that expresses that we cannot own or possess "god," a universal truth regardless of one's religious background. And here is a great one about "attachment" from the Buddhist tradition:
Once upon a time, there were two monks who went on a pilgrimage across the country together. One day, they came to a river bank and saw a beautiful girl who was unable to cross the river. Seeing her difficulty, the elder monk volunteered to carry her across the river on his back while the younger one looked on in consternation.
When the sun went down, the monks came upon a dilapidated shack and decided to stay there for the night. The elder monk quickly fell asleep while the younger one twisted around, unable to calm his mind. Finally, he woke up the elder monk and reprimanded him for what happened during the day, "As monks, we are supposed to keep away from women. I am really ashamed and troubled by what you did today!"
The elder monk looked at his friend and a smile broke up on his face, "Oh, so that has been bothering you! Brother, I have left the girl behind by the river bank, why are you still carrying her around?"
Parable and story are also an integral part of the Judeo/Christian traditions. "Midrash" is a powerful tool from Judaism, which Rabbi Marc Gellman calls "stories about stories in the Bible," and were a helpful way of sorting through the many layers and interpretations of a story. And of course Jesus often told stories (parables) to explain to his followers what God and the kingdom were meant to be like. He would often begin them with, "the kingdom of God is like ..." and then tell them a story that would bring the truth he was sharing closer to home for his listeners. He told short parables (like the Mustard Seed) and longer ones (the Prodigal Son), attempting to bring a spiritual truth closer to home, and make it easier to understand. Like midrash stories, his parables often were multi-layered and could have more than one meaning.
Author Karen Armstrong asserts that in the pre-modern world, humans arrived at their understandings of truth in two ways –- through mythos and logos, myth and reason. In their spiritual quest, it was the mythos that gave them meaning, while logos gave them logic or reason –- and for the pre-moderns, leading a meaningful life was based on finding a way to balance the two. It was never a choice between one or the other, but rather a thoughtful blending of both kinds of wisdom. Somehow that balance got lost as humanity moved into the modern age, where logic and reason began to be valued over and above myth and story, which began to be dismissed more and more as untrue, and resulted in a loss of our sense of transcendence and wonder.
Perhaps our post-modern souls would be better off if we could rediscover that balance between logic and myth, reclaiming the religious and spiritual stories of our heritage with 21st century heart as well as minds, and creating some new stories of our own. The human story itself is not over, which means there are many more stories for us to share. As writers, perhaps we can help reclaim the balance we lost and become the keepers and tellers of our modern story.
Until next time! SophyBells |
Here are a few parables from the site. The first one came from a "The Writer's Cramp" prompt where I asked entrants to write their own version of a parable or fable -- this one was chosen as the winner:
And here are several more:
| |  | Fishing (E)
Fable/Realism. On how small lies change everything in the family
#1259546 by mr choo  |
| | | Danza del Milagro (E)
Carmen needs a miracle to dance at the festival. It comes, but not how she expected it.
#997460 by Bonzer |
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#982631 by Not Available. |
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Thank you for the great emails and responses to my last newsletter about the Summer Solstice. Glad so many of you liked it! It helps to hear from so many of you, and I hope if you have an idea for a future issue, you'll feel free to share it with me. 
From salliemoffitt
I agree that we need to reconnect with nature and its cycles. Nothing helps me relax more than a quiet walk through the park. Great newsletter!
Sallie
Thanks Sallie. Since we are part of nature and its cycles, it certainly makes sense for us to be more conscious of that connection.
From animatqua
I am so grateful for the open and intelligent way this issue has dealt with the subject of Summer Solstice.
Thank you!
Thank you for your kind words and thoughtful comments, both publicly here and via private email.
From faithjourney
Thanks Sophy, for great newsletter on the Summer Solstice. I am actually keeping a copy of it for my journal. I agree that we have gotten too removed from the cycles of nature and the world. I am a lifelong Christian and believe that we should have respect not only for one another, but for the world and animals God created as well. I believe everything is alive with His spirit, whether it falls under the definition of "sentient" or not. Thanks for reminding us of our roots, and showing us how the very religion we practice was shaped and influenced by the world we live in!
Glad you liked it so much! And thank you for your thoughtful comments, reminding us that we are all part of a larger Spirit.
From darkin
Happy Summer Solstice to you too, Sophy!!! Having been a celebrator of this for many years, I found your article to be informative and very entertaining. Thank you!!!
Darkin
Thanks Darkin! Guess we'll have to celebrate together next year! 
From PastVoices
Wow Sophy! I knew little about summer solstice until today. Nature and protecting it for the future as well as my personal enjoyment is a top priority with me.
Wonderful newsletter!
PastVoices
Thank you, glad you learned something new!
From qaz4
I thought the way you described peoples withdrawal from nature was really interesting. For me, I often don't realise how closed-off I am until I take the opportunity to get into nature and discover how much I missed it. Thanks for the reminder.
You are most welcome!
From JudithJean France
Was a very informative article. You explained every event clearly, and factually. I have not given the events a lot of thought. Yes God is a God of order and He is the creator of nature. Blessings...
Glad it gave you some new information to ponder.
From: hdelphyne
Hi Sophy, you've pulled together another great collection of writing for this newsletter, including your introduction. A wonderful blend of informative and celebratory writings on the summer solstice. I look forward to the next issue you edit. Thea
Thanks Thea! I hope you enjoy this one as well.
From scarl Thank you for your observations concerning the Summer Solstice, pagan vs. Christian holidays. I have studied a lot about this fact of Christianity adopting pagan beliefs. I do feel people of our century are starting to realize all over again the importance of nature but others are still asleep. Your words will help to wake them up.
Thank you again,
Sabrina
Thank you Sabrina, I hope we all will wake up and begin to acknowledge and respect those tender connections we share with the rest of creation!
Thanks again everyone!
See you next month,
SophyBells |
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