I'm Spiritual, But I'm Not Religious!

Have you ever run into a person (of course you have; their name is Legion!) who makes the audacious claim: 

"I'm not religious, but I'm spiritual!"

Since my earliest days as an adult Christian, this has bothered me.  Sometimes it has made me feel as if a person was being lazy, doing the easy part of possessing faith while neglecting works.  Other times, I have thought that such people were only eating dessert (spirituality), while skipping the nutrition-providing meal (religion).

It is open to debate what such people even mean by the statement.  Often, it seems to mean that they hold to some sort of internal, mental faith in a higher power, while eschewing corporate worship with others of faith.  A related saying is:  "I'm a believer, but I have no use for organized religion!"  (Of course, I maintain that as Anglicans we can lay full claim to being members of no organized religion!)

My latest objection is two-fold:  (1) that such a philosophy works and teaches against the incarnation; and (2) that those who hold to it are missing out on most of the fun!

If you imagine a world in which God tried to love us without the Incarnation of His Son Jesus Christ, you may see what I mean by my first objection.  In this gedankenexperiment, God send positive vibes and blessings down from heaven, but He doesn't sully Himself by taking on flesh.  He would still feel kindly towards us, but would be unwilling to do the incredibly difficult work of becoming one of us and living among us.  And that is how it is with the "spiritual but not religious":  they are fine with thinking kindly thoughts toward their higher power throughout the week, but unwilling to sully themselves by attending church cheek-to-jowl with other sinners on Sunday morning.

As to my second objection, what if a man were to tell you:  "Well, yes, I am married.  My wife and I have exchanged rings, and our marriage certificate is legal and all in order.  But we don't believe in physical or emotional intimacy.  We lead separate lives."  Would you not think such a man is crazy?  No matter how much he might object, saying that in the deep, spiritual sense he and his bride were married, you would always think of him as not quite "getting" the concept of marriage.  For he is purposely avoiding the best and most pleasurable part of the thing.  And this is just what I think when I run into yet another "spiritual but not religious" person.

My Top 5 "I Need You" Songs!

The notion "I Need You" is an oft-repeated theme in pop music.  I believe that each of these 5 songs (not covers of the same song; each is unique!) were either in my or my brother's record collection when we were kids.  I happen to like them all, which makes it hard to rate them, but here goes:

Number 5 - The Beatles



Number 4 - America



Number 3 - Paul Revere & the Raiders



Number 2 - Lynyrd Skynyrd



Number 1 - The Who





If any reader cares to make me aware of glaring omissions (perhaps more modern ones?) from this list, please feel free to do so!

One of Those Days?

Did you ever have one of those days when the entire universe seemed to be in harmony? When each breath seemed sacred, and every soul holy? When every moment seemed freighted with meaning? When life became unrushed enough that you were able to slow down and actually smell the goodness of the earth? When compassion for creation gushed out from your heart unbidden, and in the splendid silences, you fancied you could hear angels and mermaids sing?

Me neither.

Dave Ramsey

Man, I am really liking The Dave Ramsey Show.

Too bad that I was not receptive to this type of message 25 years ago. I'd be in a whole different place these days, financially. Now, I'm just in a hole, financially.

God tried to get through to me way earlier, via my wife and a close college buddy.  But I wasn't ready to listen until I had fully ruined my finances.

But it may not be too late for you, dear reader!  Tune into Dave's show, or read his excellent book:  The Total Money Makeover.  Just excellent stuff.  Your bank account will thank you.

The Persistence of Memory (Part 1 - Driving Ace)

It is interesting to me how powerful the human memory is.  The "touch point" might be a remembered image, sound, or smell.  When our senses, even after an interval of decades since the initial encounter, is confronted with one of these touch points, a flood of memories rushes upon us like a tsunami previously held back only by forgetfulness.

I mean to bring you a series, then, on some of my personal touch points: those images, songs, aromas that still move me powerfully, no matter how long ago they were planted within me.

As I was commuting to work this morning, this image came to mind:

It is, of course, one of the "Safety" cards from the popular card game, Mille Bornes.  At least, it was popular with my family back in the 1960s.  The Safety cards were special, and could give you either 100 or 400 extra miles, depending upon the circumstances under which they were played.  There are four Safety cards in Mille Bornes:  Extra Tank, Puncture Proof, Right of Way, and Driving Ace. 

But my favourite was always the Driving Ace.  My heart skipped a beat whenever I was dealt this card.

And, because of the persistence of memory, my heart still skips a beat whenever I see or think about the Driving Ace card.  It seems fraught with possibility.  It is like a superpower, only one that is perhaps humanly achievable ... or, at least, dispensed to a few individuals such as Stirling Moss, Mario Andretti, or John Force.  It is one superpower to which I aspire.

And I needed it this morning.  A seasoned citizen, obliviously ran a red light directly in front of me on my way to work this morning. 

I would have T-boned this frail individual, ending his/her (for with extreme age, sex becomes difficult to determine infallibly) frail existence.  But I did not hit the car, because I played my Driving Ace card.

Coup-fourré!

SHIFT!

I just know this is going to be a great movie.  I mean, there probably isn't any bad movie about drag racing, from my point of view.

But, looking at this teaser video on YouTube, I get the feeling this movie will be something extra special.  I love the slow motion video of the drag cars.



I also love the use of the Foo Fighters' song Wheels in this context.  I'm pretty sure that the song was not written about drag racing.  But what a perfect song for those vintage cars as they come down from wheelstands!



Can't wait to see this one when it comes out! 

Website for the film is here.

1963 Olds F-85 Wagon - After the Muffler Repair.

We are still working on getting this beast roadworthy.  Today we tackled the "holy" muffler.  This photo explains the sound in the last video we posted:

And here is the new, improved sound, thanks to a new Thrush muffler on the passenger side.  The nice sound at idle is partly due to a mild street/strip cam from Iskenderian.