Gods for the secular
To think of places of recovery as secular temples
(TRANSLATED TEXT, SWEDISH CONTEXTS)
During last summer's Koran burnings, I thought that we/society seems lost in our understanding of religion and spirituality. Here, of course, the widespread polarization and suspicion of one specific religion must be taken into account, because it makes the whole thing even more charged. If we were lost before, now we are afraid of being perceived as positioning in something we are not rooted in. The only one who put her foot down was the heroine who waddled in with a fire extinguisher. Like a strict mother putting her foot down, and I thank her for that. When women has had enough, things will move fast.
I also wondered if our confusion is because we have not defined what religion is to us? It has now been so long since we were full-time Christians that we have forgotten what it feels like to be part of a religious community. Because even if church and state are separated, we - its children of divorce - still have the need to sometimes wander among questions of the common existence without compromising their individuality. I myself experience hints of it during brief moments of the type of mass psychosis at concerts, in deep conversations and support from someone I'm close to when I'm feeling down or when I'm part of positive cross-generational meetings. A shared breathtaking experience of being a human being in the present that slaps me in the face.
I see it a bit like this - as a believer has his temples, the Swede (or a secular person) has nature, the body and art. Feels cute to think about us like that, as if we were living in ancient Greek. Places for physical or mental recovery, community and spiritual health, without having defined it as such. Where, like an old man, you sighed dreamily and uttered the swedish phrase "- It's almost like you become religious".
I then want to define spiritual health as the feeling of being part of something bigger. No wonder music becomes essential to life for teenagers, who often think they are the only ones in the world to experience the emotions they are going through. If we don't feel well, we often have a narrow focus on what hurts, and need to zoom out.
I see all of this as part of the feminine in us - being in touch with one's life energy, inner emotional processes and bodily intelligence. To express oneself artistically or just remember that we have the earth as our common mother. The things that get to take time and grow slowly. I often forget that the ground I walk on is something just as alive as I. And that's the kind of thing I can talk about with my friends, but not something I would bring up on a coffee break at work.
Despite the attention economy - and what we give our focus to is what will grow - I want to highlight diffrent phenomena that I wish had a higher status in the ways I can. Hope you want to join.