From: Kevin Perez (juan825diego@yahoo.com)
Date: Mon Sep 05 2005 - 05:19:53 BST
Please excuse the intrusion. But I couldn't not respond to this.
Ant McWatt wrote in part, "[...] I've never seen any mysticism in any of the
hundreds of Christian services or religious education lessons that I've attended
over the last 30 years."
I would suggest that mysticism's objective nature becomes apparent only during
the experience of it. I believe this is the point Pirsig was making in his
description of DeWeese's approach to anthropology. But I believe I understand
what you mean. The Mystery seems to be absent in too many churches.
As a child I attended a Congregational church (southern New England). After I
became a father, my wife (a cradle Catholic), our two children and I attended
Episcopal churches, first in Connecticut and then in Pennsylvania. It seemed
like a fair middle ground. For the past 12 months, my wife and I (the children
live on their own now) have been attending a Roman Catholic church. I was
confirmed there this past Easter. So, in a sense she's back home and I've found
a new home. I could offer a rational explanation for the many twists and turns
in this labarynth of a spritual path. And it might even make sense. But it
would only be a superficial truth. A much deeper truth would have to include a
lot of seemingly irrational nonsense.
Yesterday my wife and I returned home to Southeastern Pennsylvania from a
two-week vacation in New Mexico. I've wanted to do this for several years. The
desire began shortly before my father died. I simply wanted to walk the ground
that he walked when he was a child...such nonsense.
We flew into Albuquerque and after a few days decompressing from the rat race,
we drove South to Silver City where we located the gravesites of my paternal
grandparents. Last Tuesday, on what felt like a vision quest, I traveled 50
miles North to the Gila Cliff Dwellings
(http://home.earthlink.net/~kjp83/1.jpg). Last Wednesday, during a lunch stop
in Las Cruces, we met a gentleman (91 years young) who reminded me of my
father - more because of his mannerisms than his looks. The encounter
precipitated a train of thought that began with nature vs. nurture questions and
ended with questions about my own personality and whether its connection to
Southern New Mexico was more than simple lineage.
During a stop at the Gran Quivira pueblo I bought a copy of "The Land Looks
After Us: A History of Native American Religion" by Joel W. Martin (2001, ISBN
0195145860). The following is taken from page 137. "[...] to many Native
people such things as eagle feathers, ceremonial masks, and human skeletons are
not "objects" at all, but living spiritual entities." This reminds me of the
way Catholics regard the "real presence" of Christ in the Eucharist. It may not
be an exact comparison but it's close.
Again, please forgive the intrusion.
Kevin Perez
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