Fundy versus New Age

The first chapter of Brian McLaren's Finding Our Way Again, entitled "Searching for an Everyday Sacredness," talks about "the cold war between science and religion," and identifies three categories of spiritual stance:  scientific secularism, "hot and pushy fundamentalism" and "warm but mushy spirituality."  (I like the rhyming of "pushy" and "mushy.")  The spiritual exercises at the end of the chapter ask the readers to identify for themselves what their position has been on this spectrum, and how the conflict between the various camps has affected their lives.

The concept of the "everyday sacred" strongly appeals to me.  Among my many half-read books are Everyday Holiness: The Path of Mussar by Alan Morinis, and Spiritual Fitness: Everyday Exercises for Body and Soul by Doris Donnelly.  I say "half-read," because books like these are not truly read by a quick skim.  They need to be absorbed slowly.  Finding Our Way Again is clearly going to be one of these.

I have often been caught in an approach-avoidance, attraction-repulsion reaction with "hot and pushy fundamentalism."  I am personally unable to accept that any set of answers is ever final;  there are always more questions.  Still, for a person whose primary motto is "Question authority," I am surprisingly drawn to faith traditions like Roman Catholicism, the Baha'i Faith and some forms of evangelical Christianity, including so-called Messianic Judaism.

It would be more expected for me to be comfortable in the neo-pagan movement, or humanistic Judaism, or even a Quaker meeting. I have tried those, and I have found value in them, but not deep emotional satisfaction.

I call myself CatEcumen the Ecumenical Cat because I'm always on the journey from one faith tradition to another, never settling down, never truly "finished."  I hope that's OK with God.  I tell myself that this constantly questioning spirit is how God made me, so it must be OK.