The Profits of Sectarianism
Posted: Mon Dec 04, 2017 6:38 am
Where there is faith, there is also sectarianism. Or is there?
If sectarianism is passion about the particularities of one's spiritual nomination, I do not think it is a bad thing at all. And relegious forms can be beautiful just like like natural forms - just as pearls snd flowers or clouds and tigers can be beautiful, so can religuous forms. You do not have to pick a flower, dive a pearl, touch the sky or ride the tiger to appreciate these forms in a profound way. And I personally think that we sometimes should dig deep to find this kind of appreciation, because the prevalent model of baffled disdain under a thin vail of mandatory tolerance is not a sustainable state.
It is generally not hard take joy in the forms of other people's religious form. We can even be uplifted by them, I think, if we are able to allow ourselves to. That does not have to mean that we lose ourselves or the forms we are attached to.
The ills of sectarianism, however, are all too familiar to us. I felt it, for example, after having to go to the city center a day after a terrorist attack had happened there. And even last week when I went to the city, I thought I heard the screams of hurt children and I was alarmed, before I realized that the noise came from the yard of a big school where kids were just having some loud fun.
But though a sectarian bias might not turn to physical violence, it can still shape our souls into monstrous shapes. I remember being thought a queer metaphysical doctrine in school that the christians who go to heaven are changed by God in a way, that they are unable to feel sorry for their loved ones that are sent to Hell for eternity, and whose sufferings the blessed are watching from heaven. I remember that every fiber of my being revolted against this abominable doctrine, that adults saw fit to teach children . So sectarianism can also pervert ones intention into a sort of constant state of cursing.
I know that these downsides are easy to come by, and you can share some if you wish. But most of all I would like to hear about the profits of sectarianism, so please include some upsides in your post also.
If sectarianism is passion about the particularities of one's spiritual nomination, I do not think it is a bad thing at all. And relegious forms can be beautiful just like like natural forms - just as pearls snd flowers or clouds and tigers can be beautiful, so can religuous forms. You do not have to pick a flower, dive a pearl, touch the sky or ride the tiger to appreciate these forms in a profound way. And I personally think that we sometimes should dig deep to find this kind of appreciation, because the prevalent model of baffled disdain under a thin vail of mandatory tolerance is not a sustainable state.
It is generally not hard take joy in the forms of other people's religious form. We can even be uplifted by them, I think, if we are able to allow ourselves to. That does not have to mean that we lose ourselves or the forms we are attached to.
The ills of sectarianism, however, are all too familiar to us. I felt it, for example, after having to go to the city center a day after a terrorist attack had happened there. And even last week when I went to the city, I thought I heard the screams of hurt children and I was alarmed, before I realized that the noise came from the yard of a big school where kids were just having some loud fun.
But though a sectarian bias might not turn to physical violence, it can still shape our souls into monstrous shapes. I remember being thought a queer metaphysical doctrine in school that the christians who go to heaven are changed by God in a way, that they are unable to feel sorry for their loved ones that are sent to Hell for eternity, and whose sufferings the blessed are watching from heaven. I remember that every fiber of my being revolted against this abominable doctrine, that adults saw fit to teach children . So sectarianism can also pervert ones intention into a sort of constant state of cursing.
I know that these downsides are easy to come by, and you can share some if you wish. But most of all I would like to hear about the profits of sectarianism, so please include some upsides in your post also.