Spirituality is important for many reasons. Yet why do so many people assume that spirituality always develops for the better?
I have read many articles lately about the spiritual experience of various people. It usually goes something like this: I was brought up as a catholic/evangelical/methodist/baptist etc., I didn’t like it much and when I went to College I became an atheist/agnostic etc., then I met someone really nice who introduced me to some kind of nondescript faith (based on a corruption of something eastern or old) and now I know the truth and I’ve never been happier. There always seems to be some underlying assumptions: that spirituality always gets better (especially if you believe less), that truth is always found in making up your own religious beliefs, and happiness comes from not belonging to anything established.
Now it may just be that the people I have been reading about were just of a particular type of person but I suspect this way of thinking is pretty common.
I am a great defender of people thinking and believing what they want to but I need to challenge the main underlying assumption that things always get better the longer you develop them.
When I was younger I used to walk a lot. I walked just about everywhere. This activity coupled with a lack of money to spend on chocolate and crisps kept me pretty slim and healthy. Then I got some money and a car.
I discovered that travelling in a car was more enjoyable than walking (e.g. not getting wet or sweaty and it was much quicker).
The end result of all this progress was that I got fatter and less fit. Now I try hard to regain some of what I once had. My point here is that just because time has passed and I believed I was happier (I think mistakenly now) did not mean I had attained some higher level of being (or fitness). The truth is I was worse off.
Spirituality (like nearly everything) can be like this. Don’t assume that just because you are older and believe you are happier that somehow this means your former spirituality/faith was somehow weak and difficient.
Of course people discover new things that can make life more meaningful and if you are someone who has gone on a long journey to discover a new kind of faith I applaud your searching. But please be open to the possibility that perhaps – just perhaps – those who continue to believe and follow a more established traditional kind of religion might just be right.
Perhaps the faith of your fathers and mothers was in fact worth having after all.
