North Carolina Society for Ethical Culture

Ethics As Spiritual Practice

For some reason, I woke up at dawn on Friday morning. I heard what sounded to me like a mockingbird teaching it¹s song to it¹s offspring.

I heard three strong notes followed by fainter imperfect imitations. This repeated several times until the repetition got somewhat better ­ then a fourth note was added. This was repeated until eventually a fifth note was addedŠ then I drifted off to sleep.

Beauty surrounds us, if we are open to it.

³Anyone who has begun to think places some portion of the world in jeopardy.² -- John Dewey

I would add that anyone who has begun to feel compassion for others places some portion of themselves in jeopardy.

What is Spirituality?

At one time I considered myself to be myself as ³Spiritually Challenged². I am biased. I am grounded in my experience of the world. This has made me look toward the use of reason as a basis for knowledge.

The best way to find out about the world around us is through science ­ the scientific method. The best way to find out about ourselves is also through science (human physiology and evolutionary biology); however, there are other important ways of finding out about ourselves. Psychology, philosophy, art, history, religion, literature, music and contemporary culture are other important expressions of human experience that reveal much about the human condition and help us understand the complex animals that we are.

Spirituality is an expression of Human Experience.

Bad reaction to Weird Stuff claiming to be Spiritual - past lives - channeling - séances I associated spirituality with these beliefs.

Belief in the supernatural ­ gods, an afterlife, powers beyond our knowing.

For me to be open to Spirituality I needed to Separate Experience from Belief.

Spiritual Experience is a natural phenomenon that many people experience.

It is part of human possibility.

Yet each of us experiences life somewhat differently. Although we share the same species, each of us is biologically unique. We don't think alike and we process our experience in different ways.

For some of us Spirituality may simply not be relevant.

Story of Spiritual Zen Master and Disciple:

Every month the disciple faithfully sent his master an account of his spiritual progress.

In the first month he wrote, "I feel an expansion of consciousness and experience my oneness with the universe." The master glanced at the note and threw it away.

The following month this is what he had to say: "I have finally discovered that the divine is present in all things." The master seemed disappointed.

In his third letter the disciple enthusiastically explained, "The mystery of the One and the Many has been revealed to my wondering gaze." The master yawned.

His next letter said, "No one is born, no one lives, and no one dies, for the self is not." The master threw his hands up in despair.

After that a month passed by, then two, then five; then a whole year. The master thought it was time to remind his disciple of his duty to keep him informed of his spiritual progress. The disciple wrote back, "Who cares?"

When the master read those words, a look of satisifaction spread over his face. He said, "At last he's got it!"

Certainly ³Who cares?² is a legitimate reaction to talking about Spirituality.

My experience has shown me that there is something to be gained from taking a look at Spirituality.

Felix Adler, who founded the Ethical Culture Movement, said that:

Spirituality is consciousness of infinite interrelatedness.

Adler believed that we were all spiritually connected to each other.

For me, Spirituality is experience and Spirituality is mystery.

Yet I believe that Spiritual Experience is part of my life.

It is a biological expression of my human capacity.

Have you ever experienced a profound feeling of transcendence when everything seems to fall perfectly into place? - a transforming moment of empathy and connection to someone or a blissful apprehension of nature, music, or art?

I know that, on rare occasions, I have experienced such transcendent moments.

Albert Einstein said:

The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead, his eyes are closed.

After a meeting of Ethical Culture Leaders two years ago that included a mini-workshop on spirituality, I came up with the following definition of Humanist Spirituality:

A feeling of inter-connectedness in which we transcend ourselves and experience a profound connection to Nature, the Human Community, or the Universe.

Spirituality is mystery. Spirituality is experience.

I have experienced this feeling of interconnectedness and transcendence.

The first time that I remember experiencing this feeling I was about five or six years old. I was playing in my father¹s car, an ancient 50¹s Plymouth, with a neighbor boy my age. He was driving and suddenly, for no apparent reason, I felt connected to everyone and everything in the world. Everything was perfectŠ and then, the moment was past. I was puzzled - but it felt really good so I had no complaints. I wondered if I could make it happen again.

I now know that I had experienced a moment of transcendent bliss. I have had similar experiences, infrequently, over the years.

For me, this spiritual experience is profound and powerful. I know that if I could flip a switch and make this experience happen, I would probably flip it too often to be a productive member of society.

King Kong on the Empire State Building

William Maslow and Peak Experience

- transcendent experiences occur universally, and they can be characterized as being of a theistic, supernatural, or non-theistic content
- the experience is as unique as the person experiencing it.
- "peak-experiences," a term which encompasses the spectrum of mystical states of consciousness, one that is natural and available without an organized religious context.

Maslow believes that since the peak-experience can be stimulated by non-religious settings and activities, the framework by which we interpret our experience must encompass everyday life - beyond the realm of "religion."

"(Spirituality) becomes...a state of mind achievable in almost any activity of life..."

Maslow characterizes varieties of peak-experience, whatever the context. Peak experiences tend to be unifying, noetic, and ego-transcending; it gives a sense of purpose to the individual, a sense of integration. He feels that peak-experiences can be therapeutic, as they tend to increase free will, self-determination, creativity, and empathy.

Spiritual Experience is outside of religious context

Dali Lama:

I believe there is an important distinction to be made between religion and spirituality. Religion I take to be concerned with faith in the claims to salvation of one faith tradition or another, an aspect of which is acceptance of some form of metaphysical or supernatural reality, including perhaps an idea of heaven or nirvana. Connected with this are religious teachings or dogma, ritual, prayer, and so on. Spirituality I take to be concerned with those qualities of the human spirit - such as love and compassion, patience, tolerance, forgiveness, contentment, a sense of responsibility, a sense of harmony-which bring happiness to both self and others. While ritual and prayer, along with the questions of nirvana and salvation, are directly connected to religious faith, these inner qualities need not be, however. There is thus no reason why the individual should not develop them, even to a high degree, without recourse to any religious or metaphysical belief system. This is why I sometimes say that religion is something we can perhaps do without. What we cannot do without are these basic spiritual qualities.

Spiritual Experience is accessible.

It is part of our psychological experience.

Where does it come from?
What does it Mean?
Our understanding of Spirituality comes from our understanding of our fundamental nature, our philosophy of life.

Are people good or bad

Some religions see people as born bad, having original sin - requiring redemption.

Psychotherapy - trauma and brokenness

Spiritual Pain, Spiritual Longing

Felix Adler existential anxiety as the root of our Spiritual Longing:

- our insignificance in the universe
- the futility of confronting too much suffering
- the dilemma arising from our actions not being in concordance with our values
Spiritual Pain can motivate change

So can Joy.

Life can be viewed as coming form sin and brokenness or joy, relationship and wholeness.

Study of Mexican Village:

What do they suffer from?

Where do they find joy?

How is our experience of life formed by the fundamental questions that we ask ourselves?

Do our questions see us as bad and broken? Or are we whole and connected?

People are not sinful by nature requiring redemption.

We are neither bad nor good but have the potential for both.

I place my faith in the human capacity to use reason and choose the good.

The normal process of life is not a series of trauma requiring resolution and healing.

The normal course of life is lived in relationship with others. We are sustained through caring relationships.

We can find meaning in Spiritual Experience through both pain and joy - but I prefer joy.

Life is connection and wholeness.

Spiritual Experience is part of life.

What does our Spiritual Experience motivate us to do?

Like most experiences in life, spiritual peak experiences do not come with a fixed meaning.

We create the meaning of our peak experiences, provide the context.

After all, it is up to us to provide meaning to our lives.

Some current academics consider that this is what makes us different from other animals - Human Beings are the "meaning makers".

What is behind this human urge to separate ourselves from the rest of nature?

Historically, the idea of human specialness was grounded in:

Special creation
Darwin
Language - Dolphins
Tool making - Chimps
Tool Carrying
- Chimps teach
- Chimps war
Now Meaning-Making

William James talked about mystical states in his book The Varieties of Religious Experience. He wrote:

To the medical mind these ecstasies signify nothing but suggested and imitated hypnoid states, on an intellectual basis of superstition, and a corporeal one of degeneration and hysteria. Undoubtedly these pathological conditions have existed in many and perhaps all the cases, but that fact tells us nothing about the value for knowledge of the consciousness which they induce. To pass a spiritual judgment on these states, we must not content ourselves with superficial medical talk, but inquire into their fruits for life.

So what meaning do we make of spiritual experience?

What are the fruits for life inspired by Spiritual Experience?

Buddhism - Role of enlightenment and the Bodhisatva - Duty of the Bodhisatva to remain connected, to relieve suffering.

Buddhism as "rational" religion

Buddha, unlike almost every other founder of a religion in human history, does not claim to have 'received' his teaching from a god. The Buddha went on a 6 year quest investigating the religious traditions of his day and found them all lacking, in the end he sat down and thought about his experience under the Bo tree and found rational answers to the human dilemma of suffering and delusion within his own mind as a result of his meditations on his experiences.

He established a religion that requires that every person: "Work out their own religion with diligence."

Writing on Spirituality, the Dali Lama wrote:

The unifying characteristic of the qualities I have described as "spiritual" may be said to be some level of concern for others' well-being. And when we think about them, we see that each of the qualities noted is defined by an implicit concern for others' well-being. Moreover, the one who is compassionate, loving, patient, tolerant, forgiving, and so on to some extent recognizes the potential impact of their actions on others and orders their conduct accordingly. Thus spiritual practice according to this description involves, on the one hand, acting out of concern for others' well-being. On the other, it entails transforming ourselves so that we become more readily disposed to do so. To speak of spiritual practice in any terms other than these is meaningless. ­ Dali Lama, ³Ethics for a New Millenium².

Spiritual progress in Buddhism involves cultivating Compassion. Buddhism sees everyone as interconnected, and the suffering of the world is our own suffering.

Ethics are relational

Through our ethical relationships we connect with others

This connection inspires us to act in the world

Deepen our relationships

Develop compassion

Work to decrease the experience of suffering

"I simply cannot understand how somebody can be a spiritual being and not be actively involved in transforming the world," says Rabbi Michael Lerner.

This acting to transform the world is self transforming

"It is one of the most beautiful compensations of this life that no man can sincerely try to help another without helping himself." --Ralph Waldo Emerson

Adler: Act so as to Elicit the Best in Others and thereby elicit the best that is in yourself.

Only through connections with others can we develop into our best selves.

Ethical relations are required for personal transformation

Caring for others is a Spirtual Practice.

Deepening our Relations with each other is a Spiritual practice.

Practicing Ethics is Spiritual Practice.

I do not deny the existence or power of mystical, spiritual experience. However, in my mind it is less important than a spirituality based on caring and interaction with others.

For me, this is how I practice Ethical Culture.

Last Modified: Sunday, October 23, 2005
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