Iāve been loving your recent posts, Fred ā thank you for your really thoughtful perspective and your personal reflections. Looking forward to continuing to read along!
Something about this one that struck me was your description of the inherent strangeness of a bunch of adults at a religious service. Although I donāt belong to any particular faith community at the moment (and totally related to your feelings that doing so would be a valuable addition to my life), I found myself resisting your use of the word āhumiliating.ā I donāt mean to suggest that isnāt a valid emotion to feel in those circumstances, but as I was thinking about it, it seemed like a more positive, generous framingāone that gives more agency to everyone involvedāwould be the idea of āhumility.ā I just Googled to see how closely those words connote (apparently both are rooted in āhumusā meaning earth or ground), and I also found this article on a website that looks like itās a Bhagavad Gita devotional? https://gitadaily.com/the-difference-between-humiliation-and-humility/
That difference between having something imposed on you and choosing it yourself seems absolutely key to breaking down the web of guilt/pressure/obligation/fear that was so drilled into us in conservative Texas childhoods. Yet there is nothing about spirituality or even a specific religion that ties them inextricably to humiliation; to borrow the clumsy formulations that I know we both heard growing up, that tendency seems to be more a āmanā thing than a āGodā thing, which is to say, itās a corruption of whatever the life force is that many of us intuit is surrounding and binding us together.
Logan! I really appreciate this - I also really thought about that humiliation/humility/humbling connection. I like that you saw it too. I think humility is such an interesting feeling because it *does* feature so heavily in almost every religious tradition. Iām excited to read the devotional piece you shared!
Ultimately I think I aspire to a level of comfort with feeling humiliated (cringe) so eventually itās lost its power. Cue the āI am cringe but I am freeā cow.
Iāve been loving your recent posts, Fred ā thank you for your really thoughtful perspective and your personal reflections. Looking forward to continuing to read along!
Something about this one that struck me was your description of the inherent strangeness of a bunch of adults at a religious service. Although I donāt belong to any particular faith community at the moment (and totally related to your feelings that doing so would be a valuable addition to my life), I found myself resisting your use of the word āhumiliating.ā I donāt mean to suggest that isnāt a valid emotion to feel in those circumstances, but as I was thinking about it, it seemed like a more positive, generous framingāone that gives more agency to everyone involvedāwould be the idea of āhumility.ā I just Googled to see how closely those words connote (apparently both are rooted in āhumusā meaning earth or ground), and I also found this article on a website that looks like itās a Bhagavad Gita devotional? https://gitadaily.com/the-difference-between-humiliation-and-humility/
That difference between having something imposed on you and choosing it yourself seems absolutely key to breaking down the web of guilt/pressure/obligation/fear that was so drilled into us in conservative Texas childhoods. Yet there is nothing about spirituality or even a specific religion that ties them inextricably to humiliation; to borrow the clumsy formulations that I know we both heard growing up, that tendency seems to be more a āmanā thing than a āGodā thing, which is to say, itās a corruption of whatever the life force is that many of us intuit is surrounding and binding us together.
Hope youāre well, and happy writing! š
Logan! I really appreciate this - I also really thought about that humiliation/humility/humbling connection. I like that you saw it too. I think humility is such an interesting feeling because it *does* feature so heavily in almost every religious tradition. Iām excited to read the devotional piece you shared!
Ultimately I think I aspire to a level of comfort with feeling humiliated (cringe) so eventually itās lost its power. Cue the āI am cringe but I am freeā cow.
https://knowyourmeme.com/photos/2734530-i-am-cringe-but-i-am-free
That cow is all of us š I hope he finds what heās looking for, or at least enjoys the ride!