![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
It's funny how many things I was taught in a methodical, uninspired, pro forma way when I was younger, without enough attention being devoted by the teachers to the real meaning and significance and how many of those things are now suddenly seeming...better/more worthwhile/more logical to me.
Many of these are religious things. A nine-year-old, simply because of his/her lack of life experiences and perspective, can't really understand the value in aphorisms like "It is not incumbent upon you to finish the task, but neither are you free to absolve yourself from it" (IMHO a statement about one's life-work on a grand scale) or a prayer expressing gratitude that everything's working O.K. to be recited after going to the bathroom. To be taught those things by rote, to be taught that, say, you need to say a prayer like that because you have to, because it's a rule, a commandment, ruins it. Uttered spontaneously (and I can imagine a mindful adult sort of having that thought, gratitude, spontaneously, each time they use the bathroom), it's a pretty cool thing, (though, granted, I am not into the heavy God- and God-service stuff: "it would be impossible to stand before You, God, if everything wasn't working alright," but put that aside for a minute) but by rote it's meaningless, and for me it's always been anger-inducing ("goddamn someone's screaming at me to make sure I followed the rules again" was a frequent thought when I was living in a religious environment).
Many of these are religious things. A nine-year-old, simply because of his/her lack of life experiences and perspective, can't really understand the value in aphorisms like "It is not incumbent upon you to finish the task, but neither are you free to absolve yourself from it" (IMHO a statement about one's life-work on a grand scale) or a prayer expressing gratitude that everything's working O.K. to be recited after going to the bathroom. To be taught those things by rote, to be taught that, say, you need to say a prayer like that because you have to, because it's a rule, a commandment, ruins it. Uttered spontaneously (and I can imagine a mindful adult sort of having that thought, gratitude, spontaneously, each time they use the bathroom), it's a pretty cool thing, (though, granted, I am not into the heavy God- and God-service stuff: "it would be impossible to stand before You, God, if everything wasn't working alright," but put that aside for a minute) but by rote it's meaningless, and for me it's always been anger-inducing ("goddamn someone's screaming at me to make sure I followed the rules again" was a frequent thought when I was living in a religious environment).
no subject
Date: 2005-09-20 01:21 pm (UTC)Yes, I understand. That remains one of my biggest arguments against much of my religious background.
no subject
Date: 2005-09-20 03:22 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-09-22 04:22 am (UTC)