uudo: religion as quest by rev. dr. todd f. eklof … · uudo: religion as quest by rev. dr. todd...

5

Click here to load reader

Upload: trinhxuyen

Post on 27-Jul-2018

212 views

Category:

Documents


0 download

TRANSCRIPT

Page 1: UUdo: Religion as Quest By Rev. Dr. Todd F. Eklof … · UUdo: Religion as Quest By Rev. Dr. Todd F. Eklof ... Aikido, meaning, “The Way of Harmony,” a war hero ... Morihei, The

UUdo: Religion as Quest By

Rev. Dr. Todd F. Eklof November 1, 2015

2500 years ago, in Feudal Japan, the warrior class began developing and training in various Bujitsu, meaning “fighting techniques” or, what we call, “martial arts.” There were grappling and throwing techniques like, Jujitsu and Kenjutsu, and sword fighting techniques like Aikijitsu and Iaijutsu. When they began, these various techniques, skills, arts, or whatever we might call them in English, were learned for the purpose of defeating an enemy during battle. But as time moved on they became less a means to an end and more a way of life, less about defeating others and more about defeating the enemy within, less about physical training and more about spiritual discipline. This is why the suffix jitsu, technique, was eventually replaced with do, meaning “way.” Jujitsu and Kenjutsu, became Judo and Kendo, and Aikijitsu and Iaijutsu became Aikido and Iaido. Eventually the umbrella term for all these techniques, as well as others, was itself changed from Bujitsu to Budo, the Warrior Way, or, another translation of do, the Warrior Path, because, again, they were no longer a means to a violent end, but a way of living. It may surprise you to hear that the founder of the budo I have practiced, Aikido, meaning, “The Way of Harmony,” a war hero himself, was a man of peace who came to despise violence and war. When the nation’s military asked him to help train its soldiers, Morihei Ueshiba called them a bunch of fools. “The Way of Budo,” he said, “is to put new life into the original universal life force which gives birth to all things. Harmony, love, and courtesy are essential to true Budo, but the people who are in power these days are only interested in playing with weapons. They misrepresent Budo as a tool for power struggles, violence and destruction, and they want to use me toward this end. I’m tired of this stupidity. I have no intention of allowing myself to become their tool. I see no other way but to enter into retreat.”1 So he retreated into nature, the source of his strength and inspiration, to further develop his Way of Harmony. “Warriorship is none other than the vitality that sustains all life,”2 he said, “A warrior is charged with bringing an end to all contention and strife…3 the true meaning of the term samurai is one who serves and sticks to the power of love…”4 So Japan’s shift from Bujitsu to Budo, from “technique” to “way,” and the emergence of Aikido, in particular, the Way of Harmony with nature and with others, reflect a contrasting view of religion in general. More than a century ago, in his classic work, Varieties of Religious Experience, William James made a similar contrast between what he called, “second-hand

1 Saotome, Mitsugi, Aikido and the Harmony of Nature, Sedirep, Courbevoie, France, 1986, p. 29. 2 Ueshiba, Morihei, The Art of Peace, Stevens, John, trans., Shambhala, Boston, MA, 1992p. 24. 3 Ibid. p. 41. 4 Ibid. p. 45.

Page 2: UUdo: Religion as Quest By Rev. Dr. Todd F. Eklof … · UUdo: Religion as Quest By Rev. Dr. Todd F. Eklof ... Aikido, meaning, “The Way of Harmony,” a war hero ... Morihei, The

UUdo: Religion as Quest

2

religious life,”5 speaking of what he considered religion made up by others, communicated by tradition, based on fixed forms of imitation, and retained by habit;6 and religion based upon one’s own personal and authentic experience. Other than mentioning it in his introduction, James said “second-hand” religion isn’t worth talking about. He was only interested in authentic personal religious experiences. Long before James, the Hebrew prophets also contrasted the difference between rote adherence to meaningless traditions and rituals, and getting at the heart of religion, which is supposed to be about justice and compassion. Micah said the whole point of religion is “to do justice, and to love kindness.”7 Ezekiel contrasted between those who follow dead laws engraved in cold stone, and those who have the law of love in their hearts. “I will remove the heart of stone from their flesh and give them a heart of flesh.”8 Isaiah says, “Is not this the fast the I choose: to loose the bonds of injustice, to undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and break every chain?”9 Amos said, “Take away from me the noise of your songs; I will not listen to the melody of your harps. But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.”10 And Jesus often made the distinction between letter of the law Pharisees, whom he called hypocrites, and caring for those in need, as allegorized in his famous story of the religious leaders who passed an injured man on the road and a good Samaritan who helped him out. Philosophers and theologians have also contrasted different ways of being religious throughout the years. 19th century, Dutch existentialist, Soren Kierkegaard distinguished between the aesthetic stage in which we seek only our own interests, an intermediary legalistic stage in which we do what is expected of us by others, and what he considered the genuine religious stage in which service to justice and equality becomes one’s primary purpose. Psychologist, Erich Fromm contrasted between authoritarian and humanistic religion, between, as he said, “surrender to a power transcending [humanity], which “is conceived as being powerless and insignificant, ”11 and “the experience of oneness with the All, based on one’s relatedness to the world as it is grasped with thought and with love.”12 And Dietrich Bonheoffer, the pacifist Christian theologian famous for his involvement in a plot to assassinate Hitler, was, like the prophets of old, so dismayed by traditional religion that he sought to develop a “religionless Christianity” that emphasized the application of Jesus’ teachings without any need to be religious at all.

5 James, William, The Varieties of Religious Experience, forward by Jacques Barzun, A Mentor Book, New American Library, New York, NY, 1958, p. 24. 6 James, ibid., p. 24. 7 Micah 6:8 8 Ezekiel 36:26 9 Isaiah 58:6 10 Amos 5:23-24. 11 Fromm, Erich, You Shall Be as Gods, Fawcett Premier, New York, NY, 1966, p. 35. 12 Ibid., p. 37.

Page 3: UUdo: Religion as Quest By Rev. Dr. Todd F. Eklof … · UUdo: Religion as Quest By Rev. Dr. Todd F. Eklof ... Aikido, meaning, “The Way of Harmony,” a war hero ... Morihei, The

UUdo: Religion as Quest

3

Today, many get at this same historic contrast by referring to themselves as “spiritual but not religious.” In fact, 72 percent of Millennials, today’s younger generation, describe themselves in this way. According to the research, however, most of them consider themselves Christians who just don’t like going to church, because, as one millennial explains, “organized religion inevitably degenerates into tussles over power, ego and money…”13 Today, just as people have been doing throughout history, we wrestle with two different understandings of religion; one based upon doing what is expected of us according to impersonal and, often, arbitrary, traditions, and one that requires religion to be personally meaningful and a force for justice and compassion in the world. One that is merely technical, jitsu, and one that is a way of life, do. In recent history social psychologists have also noticed these different ways of being religious, and have tried to classify them in ways they can more easily identify and research. This is important because it may help us better understand how and why some people use religion as an excuse to oppress and even harm others, while others use it only as a means of helping others, or of finding inner peace. In Theodor Adorno’s post World War II research into the Authoritarian Personality, for example, he determined that that authoritarianism and ethnocentrism, in particular, coincide with what he named “neutralized” religion. “Neutralized religion,” was defined as, “an emasculation of the more profound claims of religion while preserving the doctrinal shell in a rather rigid and haphazard way.”14 Neutralized religion is empty religion. Adorno also noted that those with a neutralized religion, tend to use it to achieve their own self-interests, “to make use of religious ideas in order to gain some immediate practical advantage or to aid in the manipulation of other people.”15 Later in the 20th century, behavioral psychologist, Gordon Allport came up with the distinction between extrinsic religion and intrinsic religion. The extrinsic orientation, he said, points “to a type of religion that is strictly utilitarian: useful for granting safety, social standing, solace, and the endorsements of one’s chosen way of life… By contrast the intrinsic form of the religious sentiment regards faith as a supreme value in it’s own right… A religious sentiment of this sort floods the whole life with motivation and meaning.”16 Or, as he more succinctly explained, “the extrinsically motivated individual uses [one’s religion], whereas the intrinsically motivated lives [one’s religion].”17 Allport further suggested the extrinsic, means to an end, orientation is an immature kind of religion, and the intrinsic, way of life, orientation is a mature kind of religion. Religious immaturity manifests itself through a rigid, authoritarian, uncritical

13 http://schott.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/06/16/sbnr/ 14 Batson, C. Daniel, and Ventis, Larry, The Religious Experience, Oxford University Press, 1982, p. 141. 15 Ibid. 16 Ibid., p. 140. 17 Ibid., p. 143.

Page 4: UUdo: Religion as Quest By Rev. Dr. Todd F. Eklof … · UUdo: Religion as Quest By Rev. Dr. Todd F. Eklof ... Aikido, meaning, “The Way of Harmony,” a war hero ... Morihei, The

UUdo: Religion as Quest

4

mindset dependent upon uncompromising dogma. His definition of religious maturity, on the other hand, might not at all describe what many of us think of these days when we hear the word, “religion.” In their book, The Religious Experience, social psychologists Daniel Batson and Larry Ventis (whose excellent work I’ve relied heavily upon for much of today’s talk) list several of the qualities Allport used in reference to mature religion; Firstly, a critical, open-ended approach to existential questions… [that] encourages the individual to face complex problems like ethical responsibility and evil without reducing their complexity. Secondly, a readiness to doubt and to be self-critical. As Allport put it, “That mature religious sentiment is ordinarily fashioned in the workshop of doubt.” Thirdly, there is an emphasis on incompleteness and tentativeness; the mature religious orientation involves a continual search for more light on religious questions.18 Allport’s vision of what a mature religious orientation ought to look like is pretty encouraging, at least form a Unitarian Universalist perspective. We value critical thinking and open-mindedness, cherish our doubts and self-examination, and understand that we can know little, if anything, with absolute certainty. Nevertheless, Batson and Ventis don’t think his distinction between extrinsic and intrinsic orientations is adequate to make a link between his definitions of immature and mature religious expression. There are plenty of people, for example, whose religion gives their lives deep personal meaning, but are, nonetheless, rigid and fanatical in their beliefs. So Batson and Ventis have proposed a third orientation they call, “Religion as Quest.” As a quest, religion is more than a means to achieve our own self-interests, like going to church just to network; and more than just a belief system that gives our lives personal meaning, feeling like we have found the answers to life’s perennial questions. Religion as a quest makes the devotee a seeker on a continuing journey for meaning and wisdom, even while feeling content and satisfied with having fully discovered neither. Quest oriented religion isn’t a means or the end; it is the journey itself. It’s not what we end up with, or where we end up, it’s how we’re getting there. As a quest, religion isn’t a jitsu, a technique for achieving our personal interests or for coping with life’s harsh realities, it is a do, a way of living in the everyday struggle to survive in the wake of the unknown. Religion as Quest, according to Batson and Ventis, suggests, “an approach that involves honestly facing existential questions in all their complexity, while resisting clear-cut, pat answers. An individual who approaches religion in this way recognizes that he or she does not know, and probably never will know, the final truth in such matters. But still the questions are deemed important, and however tentative and subject to change, answers are sought.”19 They also cite philosopher Peter Bertocci’s 1958 book, Religion as Creative Insecurity, in which he said, “to flee from insecurity

18 Ibid., p. 149. 19 Ibid., p. 150.

Page 5: UUdo: Religion as Quest By Rev. Dr. Todd F. Eklof … · UUdo: Religion as Quest By Rev. Dr. Todd F. Eklof ... Aikido, meaning, “The Way of Harmony,” a war hero ... Morihei, The

UUdo: Religion as Quest

5

is to miss… the whole point of religion…”20 That’s Religion as Quest, the ability to abide, even thrive, while remaining within our insecurities. But if this is so, which religions could they possibly have been speaking of? For many, it may seem the existence of religions that embrace such insecurity are the stuff of pure imagination. But they we’re speaking of every religion. Remember, these categories—means, end, and quest—are general orientations that depend upon an individual’s perspective, not upon an individual’s religion. The Christian St. Denis said, “The most divine knowledge of God is that which is known by not-knowing,”21 and the anonymous author of The Cloud of Unknowing said, “When I speak of darkness, I mean the absence of knowledge22… [you must] learn to be at home in this darkness.”23 The Tao te Ching says, “The Way that can be spoken of is not the real Way. The name that can be named is not the real Name… Mystery within Mystery is the gateway to all understanding.”24 Hinduism says, “one can only say, ‘not… not’ [neti… neti]. [It] is ungraspable, for [it] cannot be grasped.25” And the Kabbalah says, “Every definition of God leads to heresy; definition is spiritual idolatry.”26 Perhaps philosopher, James Carse sums it up best in his book, The Religious Case Against Belief, “not knowing is the path. Knowing that we don’t know is not only a higher ignorance, it is the basis for all our hope.27 It is in understanding this distinction, though I hold few traditional religious beliefs, not even belief in a Supreme Being, nor engage in old religious rituals or even a regular spiritual discipline, that I consider myself a deeply religious person. It is also why I am a Unitarian Universalist, a practitioner of UUdo, the Way of Unitarian Universalism, because, unlike the Southern Baptist faith in which I began, with it’s promise of Heaven in the afterlife, or those faiths preaching a prosperity gospel of self-interest, or even the physical discipline of Aikido I used to engage in, I need a way of being religious that satisfies my need for complexity, doubt, and open-mindedness, while, even amidst the insecurities of life, I am able to be a force for justice, compassion, and equality. My faith, my religion, isn’t a means of knowing we’re I’m going, but, wherever I end up, it’s the way I’ll get there.

20 Ibid. 21 Johnston, William, ed., The Cloud of Unknowing & Book of Privy Council, Doubleday, Random House, Inc., 1973, 1996., p. 127. 22 Ibid. p. 44. 23 Ibid. p. 41. 24 #1 [my own translation] 25 Brhadaranyaka Upanishad 4.5.15. 26 Matt, Daniel C., The Essential Kabbalah, Quality Paper Back Book Club, New York, NY, 1995, p. 32. 27 Carse, James, P., Breakfast at the Victory, (Harper Collins, New York, NY, 1994) p. 185.