The Displacement of Spiritual Impulses
...and some of the possible consequences
In some ways, though we tend to focus a lot on differences, human cultures are pretty much the same the world over and across time. There’s art. There’s language. There’s mating and childrearing. There’s technology. There’s music. There’s food and medicine. And there’s rites and ceremonies, including those connected with some kind of religious or spiritual impulse, which is also universal. These impulses find different forms and avenues of expression, but they are always present.
Interesting thing is, these fundamental impulses seem to be so deeply grounded in what it is to be human that, when deprived of one avenue of expression, they tend to find another. I heard a report years ago on the origins of rap music that suggested that rap originated in prisons where, in the absence of musical instruments, vocals took the place of percussion to create a musical form emphasizing variations in rhythm punctuated by an overlay of artful rhymes. Distilled from this extreme deprivation, rap music soon nonetheless took the music world by storm, such that today it’s not at all uncommon to have rap-influenced motifs and interludes in diverse genres including pop, folk and even country.
Something similar is probably at work when we see graffiti-covered boxcars roll by. The human artistic impulse will find a pathway for expression, it’s just a question of where it goes and how it shows up in the world. If a local culture does not provide a “legitimate” outlet, people will make their mark in the world one way or another.
Authoritarian systems will seek to channel all of these basic human impulses into expressions that support the power structure. Either that or they will send these impulses down a cultural rathole, either by punishing expression, rewarding mediocrity or celebrating irrelevance. That’s how such systems operate: they commandeer, colonize, subordinate, subvert. It’s all about control, and it doesn’t much matter if it happens under one flag, religious iconography, corporate logo or another one.
So, what about the spiritual or religious impulse, the desire to connect with the divine? I think it moves toward its expression, too, but it differs from other common impulses listed in that it does not necessarily have an immediately sensible product to tag as its expression, be it a piece of music, a painting, a newborn baby or a burger in a paper bag. Sure, if you see someone in a place of worship, yep, that might, just might be the spiritual/religious impulse expressing itself. But with the increasing secularization of life and compartmentalizing of such expressions, the question becomes: Is the spiritual impulse really expressing where we think it is, or not? And if it’s not, where is it going instead?
Such questions are worth considering because many in our culture feel they have outgrown or evolved past this spiritual and religious impulse, conflating it with hokey institutionalized superstition and hogwash. Problem with that is, it doesn’t make the impulse go away. Like art, music, food, and healing, what we’re talking about here is a human capacity, a function. Deny its existence, deny its relevance, deny its expression… sure, go ahead and try. Whole freight trains go by decorated with artwork and messaging and calligraphy that found no better place for expression. So too with the spiritual/religious impulse of our current society. It can be denied, and the environment can become hostile to its fullest expressions, but really, it just gets displaced. In fact, it can be so fully denied and get so completely displaced that people don’t even know that they are expressing it when they are. But it happens. People gather in cult-like devotion to particular broadcast networks, make primitive fetishes out of their mobile phones, perform commercial ritual at their favorite stores or shopping websites, or attach their adoration, devotion and desire for salvation to demigod celebrities, political parties and “isms” of whatever stripe.
Imagine for example the boxcar called “science” parked on a siding in some nearby neighborhood. It would not be surprising to see many of the neighborhood’s residents spray-painting this thing we call science with all the lurid intensity of their spiritual longings. Science is a perfectly fine boxcar, of course, but it’s really not the place for this kind of expression. This could rightfully be construed as vandalism. Others in the same neighborhood, driven by much the same impulse, might shoot heroin in alleyways or construct altars for their collections of Star Wars action figures in their homes.
I know I’m not the first to wonder if such radical displacements of the spiritual impulse are at least in part by design. It’s pretty easy to see the advantages to the well-placed few when the spiritual capacities of the disorganized many are shunted onto paths like idolatry of institutions or excessive devotion to “brands,” ideologies, political leaders and other destructive surrogates. And even among those paths that started out with real spiritual goals, my observation is, particularly among those hoodwinked by the cloak of materialistic modes of thought that now prevail, the hallowed and the hollowed-out can and do trade places in the blink of an eye. Next thing you know we’ve got self-identified Christians whose main spiritual practice seems to be hatred or judgment, and yoga students who mostly just want to look good in Spandex. Some people may catch the contradictions in these patterns, but generally not those whose livelihood involves taking their followers’ money.
Of course all this has been going on forever. And granted, in any age it’s easy to lose sight of spirituality, which by its nature cannot be seen as we conventionally think of “seeing,” but this presents particular problems in an age like ours where our concept of vision itself has been so radically limited and artificially constrained. The good news about the hallowed trading places with the hollowed-out is, the process is entirely reversible. Seriously, you name it, from pushing a broom to making a latte, anything done with reverence, care and deep connection can become a path, a true yoga. And at least in my view, that’s the whole point: to sacralize one’s entire existence. By their fruits ye shall know them. Or, in the more recent take from Charlie Parker: “If you don’t live it, it won’t come out of your horn.”
And by the way, just a quick side note here: Vision is never just an attribute of the eyes.
So, how can we tell where our spiritual impulse is really going and whether it is indeed suffusing our lives with divine connection or merely being projected like spray paint onto inappropriate objects? Well for starters we can form the intent to at least see which way we’re going. We can start with ourselves. We can notice at which altar we most frequently lay our offerings of attention, feelings, our tokens of value. Are the places to which we carry our devotion worthy ones, really? We can start to pay attention to our daily practices, both of mind and of body, and be honest about what motivates them and where they seem to be taking us. And we can start to course-correct if it seems any of these things is missing the mark.
After that, we might turn our attention more outwardly. We can wake up to the ritualized elements of culture hidden everywhere in plain sight, often unconsciously engaging our spiritual capacities. These show up in the ways that we’re conditioned to wait, to move, to stand, to sit, the words we must use and how, the times of day and the symbols that are structured to command our focus, acceptance, acquiescence, or reverence. As a longtime schoolteacher, I am well positioned to observe that schools incorporate all these mechanisms of ritual, but if we’re gonna get real about things, it’s everywhere. I’m not saying it’s always bad, but I am saying this kind of thing needs to be subjected to scrutiny in terms of the fruits of the practices.
For the same reasons, I suggest caution around speakers from pulpits (even desk- or podium-shaped ones), likewise voices emanating from devices, and around those who invest a lot of themselves in special clothing or hats. Beware of identifying anyone by color or color-affiliation aside from goldfinches and indigo buntings. And be particularly watchful for any rites of humiliation, physical abuses, pressure to conform or exhortations to fear or despise others that seem to come down from on high. The overall strategy is to break down people’s shells (or worse, get to people before their shells are even fully formed), and then encourage the new hatchlings to imprint on pre-determined persons, symbols, ideas of normalcy, beliefs, or things. Oldest trick in the book.
We do well to be aware of what’s at stake in these scenarios. In my view, they may be best understood as attempts to commandeer and redirect our desire for connection with the divine. Of course that’s easiest to accomplish when we forget that this is even a possibility, when we unconsciously accept cheap substitutes when offered, and when have no real idea of what we’re giving up.