Iâve been loving your recent posts, Fred â 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 donât 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 âhumiliating.â I donât mean to suggest that isnât a valid emotion to feel in those circumstances, but as I was thinking about it, it seemed like a more positive, generous framingâone that gives more agency to everyone involvedâwould be the idea of âhumility.â I just Googled to see how closely those words connote (apparently both are rooted in âhumusâ meaning earth or ground), and I also found this article on a website that looks like itâs 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 âmanâ thing than a âGodâ thing, which is to say, itâs 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. Iâm excited to read the devotional piece you shared!
Ultimately I think I aspire to a level of comfort with feeling humiliated (cringe) so eventually itâs lost its power. Cue the âI am cringe but I am freeâ cow.
Iâve been loving your recent posts, Fred â 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 donât 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 âhumiliating.â I donât mean to suggest that isnât a valid emotion to feel in those circumstances, but as I was thinking about it, it seemed like a more positive, generous framingâone that gives more agency to everyone involvedâwould be the idea of âhumility.â I just Googled to see how closely those words connote (apparently both are rooted in âhumusâ meaning earth or ground), and I also found this article on a website that looks like itâs 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 âmanâ thing than a âGodâ thing, which is to say, itâs a corruption of whatever the life force is that many of us intuit is surrounding and binding us together.
Hope youâre well, and happy writing! đ
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. Iâm excited to read the devotional piece you shared!
Ultimately I think I aspire to a level of comfort with feeling humiliated (cringe) so eventually itâs lost its power. Cue the âI am cringe but I am freeâ cow.
https://knowyourmeme.com/photos/2734530-i-am-cringe-but-i-am-free
That cow is all of us đ I hope he finds what heâs looking for, or at least enjoys the ride!