This was the situation of Men in Classical and Medieval times - the times when institutional and formal religions emerged and dominated spiritual life.
But since around the advent of modernity - perhaps starting some 5000 years ago, but becoming dominant something like 2000 years ago in the Industrial Revolution era; we have been incrementally coming-into a situation when the spiritual systems with their symbols, rituals, texts etc are no longer able to evoke that latent enchantment (hence mass atheism) - or only weakly so (hence the feebleness of current religions - see 2020 for confirmation of this feebleness).
Because formal religions and spiritual systems really did work in the past; then it is usually assumed that they are the only and proper way of evoking enchantment here-and-now...
And then it turns out that they actually don't release our latent capacity for enchantment because that latent capacity to become enchanted by symbol and ritual has dwindled, often to the point of disappearance...
And Here We Are.
The usual inferences are:
1. Give up on religion because it doesn't work.
2. Hold fast to religion, even-though it doesn't work.
But my inference is that religion - no matter how effective it really was at eliciting the experience of enchantment, in some places and times - was itself only ever a spiritual system, and religion never-was the spirit itself.
Our task is to go behind religion and seek the spirit directly - with the expectation that strong, convincing, and motivating enchantment - shall reliably arise from such an encounter.
And this requires faith that personal seeking of direct spiritual experience is indeed what God wants from each of us, here-and-now.
@NLR - Thanks for reporting the typos.
ReplyDeleteNo Long Reading, but Still Proofreading.
DeleteThis has been a very important theme for me personally.
ReplyDeleteI get the sense that the objective, determinate, and external world is and always has been secondary to the inner, subjective, personal realm of spirit, freedom, and creativity.
The external religious systems of the past appear to have worked because, as you note, the symbols and rituals were still able to bridge that gap in man's consciousness. The systems served as bridges connecting the internal and the external. That is clearly no longer then case. Symbol and ritual have essentially become bridges to nowhere.
Personal spiritual experience and the ultimate value of the individual over external systems, society, or even the so-called objective nature of being is the way forward. Unfortunately, few appear interested in taking that step, leaving us with the two options you note: 1) leaving religion behind or 2) staying within a religious framework that no longer works.
The majority have opted for the first choice. The minority appear to be stuck on bridges going nowhere. At least, that's how I see it.