From Generation X by Douglas Coupland:
Me-Ism: a search by an individual, in the absence of training in traditional religious tenets, to formulate a personally tailored religion by himself. Most frequently a mishmash of reincarnation, personal dialogue with a nebulously defined god figure, naturalism, and karmic eye-for-eye attitudes. (page 126)
Years ago, while an undergraduate studying for a BA in Religion, my girlfriend suggested that I was ‘shopping for a religion’ by picking that major. She was possibly the smartest person I’ve ever known, so I never forgot her suggestion.
I grew up Catholic and in my 30-some years, I’ve had a chance to meet people who claimed themselves everything from Southern Baptists to pagans/wiccans to Buddhists to atheists to people who just didn’t know. They were mostly good people who cared about others, shared the same concerns about treating other people with care, and wondered how they could help make the world a better place.
The thing that stood out to me among the people who were rolling their own religion is summed up with a question: did they really believe they were prophets? Did they think that they understood something that the rest of us had missed? Could they really hear the voice of the divine better than the rest of us?
Tradition answers most of the tough questions for us, letting us lead our lives and think about groceries. It doesn’t matter if it’s a tradition that is already embedded in the culture (Christianity) or one that is new to us but has existed for centuries (Buddhism, Islam, or Hinduism).
Unfortunately, each tradition has shown the tendency to rely on rules at some point, rules that are time bound, place bound and situational. We can easily feel as if the tradition doesn’t really apply to us in some situation. When that happens, we could shop for a new tradition or we could stay with the old. Complicating things further, numerous variations exist within each tradition: Zen or Tibetan? Southern Baptist, Catholic or Unitarian? But all are traditions with answers and rules. Am I shopping? Maybe.
…but a completely new direction? Who knows themselves a prophet? (Not I.)
Related posts:
Comments on this entry are closed.