wtf?

[arethinn]

I am not believing what I'm reading here. As far as I can tell, plutoinlove is saying that a study of history has no relevance to practicing or constructing a spiritual tradition, and that she feels her time spent thus was wasted. I agree that details of civil wars, succession of government leaders, etc. is probably not directly meaningful, but I find myself just flabbergasted at the suggestion that studying the history of a people is irrelevant to practicing a spirituality that you claim takes elements from their cultural milieu. Note that I am not saying you must justify your religion's existence (as she seems to think I am), but that I flat disagree that there is no connection and that time so spent was ill-used.

Comments

[chryssaliss.livejournal.com]

and that she feels her time spent thus was wasted

I think it is very hard to argue with someone about what they feel or to discount a statement based on an individual's personal experience.

Similarly, I can't always convince a student that studying the events leading to, the events of, and the events after the American Civil War might be useful in understanding the Civil Rights Movement as well as the state of race relations in the here and now....studying history often doesn't become relevant until much later when a person has need of the knowledge and connections that were planted years before.

Understanding the history of religions and of people has been very helpful to me in figuring out what I do NOT believe, but to be honest, it really hasn't done much for helping me figure out what I do believe. The things I choose to believe come from a deeper, more primal instinct and intuition. History and Science and Literature can help me confirm that in my own mind or speak it more eloquently when I am sharing it with others.

Of course, I don't claim to be making any effort to reconstruct the religion of any other group of people, although I readily enough borrow symbols and stories that are of interest and have meaning to me.