spiritually lame independent

My friend’s page posed the question, “why don’t people like the labels ‘independent’ in regard to politics and ‘spiritual’ in regard to religion?” I left an answer that began, “I would call myself an independent but I still have my fingers crossed for that left over Bush twin.” Then I went on and on forever leaving the most incoherent response I could possible spew into her comments and that was very rude.

However, I have decided to answer this question for you here so that you know my ideas on it because this page is dedicated to talking about the most important subjects in the world, namely: Spritopias, what Spritopias thinks, the mischief that Spritopias is getting into with or without Chaos Bean and IKEA. I assert that other people will agree with this because my friend who was on IM with me at the time bought into what I had to say.

The problem with the label, “independent,” when used in regard to a person’s politics or ‘spiritual’ in regard to a person’s religious druthers comes from this word being hijacked and misused. It can be categorized with liberal, conservative, retarded and gay in the Department of Lexical Misappropriation. Most people I encounter who label themselves independent or spiritual are the type of people who don’t look you in the eye when they speak to you, shake your hand like they’re handing you a dead fish and generally avoid firm stances on anything in a manner which lends itself to seeming dishonest.

I think a fair way to put it would be, “they don’t like the stigmas associated with being associated with the Republican or Democratic party,” who have proven themselves to be not terribly republican or democratic respectively and collectively in general and literal senses. For instance, I would go ahead and call myself “Republican” although I do not agree with everything the party stands for or disagree with everything the Democrats believe in. This would be true of most people and my mentor calls me a reluctant republican and a closet democrat, what others might call a ‘moderate.’ Most Americans are political moderate and don’t like to be tied down to a label.

The question of ‘spirituality,’ is more vexing because I think that humans are inherently spiritual beings just as much as we are political. Many people I know that label themselves ‘spiritual’ have had a bad experience with organized religion or people misrepresenting that religion but that is not my problem with the label. Religion and being ‘religious’ often includes a portion of guilt. Religion, by my definition of it, would be a set of guiding principles for a person’s life. Everyone has a ‘set of guiding principles” so if they are calling it a spirituality, a philosophy or a religion doesn’t matter because they are picking a different synonym for a common definition. Conjugating that idea leads us to the concept of being religious.

People like the label ‘spiritual’ because it seems to free them from the consequences of being a part of a group. The world holds you to the standards of what they think a Lutheran is, what a Methodist should do, and condemns you for what Buddhists have done in the name of their faith. I have never heard someone say, “I admire the fact that fully three quarters of AIDS patients and their orphans in Africa are cared for by the Holy See,” or “I’m thankful for Martin Luther popularizing the idea that the motive for an action should be how we judge said action.” A contemporary member or a religious sect is more likely to be held accountable for the crazy things that Martin Luther said while dying a long, painful, literally maddening death; a Catholic will hear about the Spanish Inquisition. This makes as much sense as me holding a contemporary Egyptian responsible for my people’s captivity in their lands during the reign of Ramesses the Great.

It also smacks of a lack of conviction to people who have them. Being spiritual means you can believe in “God,” or ‘whatever’ and free yourself from any of the responsibilities attendant to following that god. When questioned on why they don’t align themselves with one set of beliefs or another they will admit that being a ‘label’ is difficult for them because they would have to give up a socially popular belief or feel guilty for something they are doing, have done or would condone someone else doing.

People do no like to hear that they are wrong or what they’re doing or would like to do are wrong. That isn’t to say there are no grey areas in life but the world is not comprised only of grey areas. As a colorblind person I can assure you that you cannot have shades of grey without black and white. My cousin once told her sister she was leaving their sect to just be spiritual – not because she didn’t believe in what their sect taught but because what their sect taught was ‘hard.’ The sister, who is much younger and infinitely wiser than the rest of our siblings, “something being hard is what lets us know it is the right thing to do.”

I do know many people who are spiritual, using that label or not, who are just and moral people. One of unrequited best friends is a pastor who contends, “Unchurched people are not running around with God-shaped holes in their hearts.” In fact the most moral, upstanding person I know does not go to church and the biggest tool I’ve ever met is a pastor in a very large one. However, if you put the moral person’s beliefs into a database it would spit out a label that you could apply to his belief system, which I have already defined as a religion.

People want to avoid these labels because of the judgment that follows them and in the process present themselves as people interested in bumper sticker, single-issue politics or having a Wikipedia-level understanding of metaphysics. It also allows that person to pass judgment with impunity on those of us who adopt or embrace our labels. I could call myself “independent” and avoid the “I told you so but voted for the war too” rhetoric I hear from people disgusted by the fact that I am a moderate republican – always from less than open-minded people labeling themselves ‘liberal.’ I could just call myself ‘spiritual’ but everyone I know that is actually spiritual believes in something taught by Christ – and are unaware of that because they don’t and apparently cannot read – and I could just generically call myself a ‘Christian’ but I am without doubt a (moderate) Lutheran.

Using the terms ‘spiritual’ and ‘independent’ ultimately allow a person to escape the judgment from society that comes with the labels humans apply while allowing the person to participate in the judgment. However, most of those judgments are based on corny logic that I hope is uniquely American because I would hate to assume the whole world does this – but I bet they probably do. Condemning someone for the sins of their forebears or other members of their group is ludicrous. As a German I do not take credit for Marxism or the Holocaust and I also do not take credit for Bach, Lutheranism, pretzels or printing using movable type.

Ultimately, the only people who are being fooled by the mislabeling are the mislabelers. Humans are many things but if nothing else we are obsessive about categorizing, tribe-ing and grouping ourselves and the other humans.

Comments

[Calulu]

This is why I hate labels, they suck, they never truly sum up what you really are and they are divisive. I refuse to live in a labeled box.