Contemporary Spirituality

By Andreas Mamet
© 2007

There exists a profound need for the arising and expansion of a Contemporary Spirituality that includes addressing our human reality in ways that includes our psychological, emotional, sexual and soul realities in a way that is illumined and does not insult our intelligence.

If you step into a building that has not been taken care of for 800, 1,200 or more years, you would see immediately that the roof is leaking and you can see through the walls. You instantly discover this is no abode for you to put your foot in.

If, however, we shift from our western religions in which we were brought up in to exotic-looking Asian religions, we do not immediately see the insufficiencies and do not immediately recognize that the same disease that negates the material, separates the body from spirit, is alive there. We are too blinded by the exotic presentation that looks so different and promises us the liberation we did not find in our western religions.

Yet those insufficiencies exist in Asian religions just as well as they do in Western religions.

For that reason … look deeply into what is offered. Especially, take note if the East supports the division and negation of body and spirit. If it does, it is just more of the same old dysfunctional, neurotic, pseudo-religious attitudes we grew up with and that brought so much havoc to our planet. There is just no graceful way to express this.

I do not mean to negate those Asian traditions that train in meditation techniques and prayer. I have personally benefited in that context greatly. But I am expressing dismay at a psychological climate wherein such a training can take place if is supports the simultaneous presentation as the bodily existence as “defiled” and therefore causes a split.

It does correlate to the New Age attitude of wanting to ascend because we are miserable down here and want to get the heck out of here.

We need a spirituality that is focused on descending, of coming into our bodies, of coming into the planet, of spiritualizing every single aspect of our lives, including business and the exchange between nations. Spirituality needs to be a platform for the expression of the greatest modality of intelligence possible. Intelligence needs to dance with compassion and kindness. If we invoke intelligence, common sense, along with compassion and kindness, then we will be able to create a new approach that transcends the limitations of old, outdated religious structures and build a spirituality that truly feeds us on every level of our human existence.

So, if your religious and spiritual choices leave you unfed, take a deep look and dare to articulate what is insufficient. To take care of your remaining hunger, you may have to slaughter a holy cow. Perhaps it just was not holy after all.