Archive for category Spirituality
I’m Happy About this Blog.
Posted by Dylan in Creativity, Spirituality on January 15th, 2009
I have been a little more motivated concerning my artistic endeavors lately since I started talking to some people about our flamenco group’s upcoming performances. I think I forgot how much I love performing. We haven’t done it in so long. I started spending a little more time in the studio working on SLL(Sounds Like Life) music as well. Rhiannon and I had a good practice session the other night, and I really like her new song. I think we will put it on our first EP. I am looking forward to many more gigs and performances to come with SLL and Reflejos Flamencos.
Performing might be the one thing I enjoy most. Of course a good performance is much more satisfying than a crappy one, but still, I love it. I love preparing for it, setting up the sound equipment, making music on stage, tearing down afterwards, and then going out to Village Inn for some late night dinner to unwind and talk about the show. On top of that, I usually get paid to do this! How cool is that! It is a lot of time and effort but I love it. I can’t say I have any similar feelings towards going to work everyday. Although I do get paid more to do so, so I do it, but should I?
There is a question that I want an answer to concerning this, but I am still trying to wrap my head around what the question should be. What makes one happy? Can everyone be happy? Is the trick to being happy, being happy with what you have, doing what makes you happy, or something completely different? The answers to these questions are dependent on your worldview, and we all have a different worldview, so I hope to get some diverse opinions on the matter. As for me, I have this hope deep down that we all can be happy, but I also think that happiness is something temporary. We do not have complete control of whether or not we are happy, if you do, then you aren’t living in what we call reality.
A common Christian perspective is that joy is something different from happiness and it is not temporary. I more or less agree, but I don’t think that joy and happiness are different. For example, I have joy in my family and friends. They make me happy, and I like to see them and spend time with them. Unfortunately, none of us are permanent, and that joy could be taken away from me. It’s a terrible thought, but it is true. From my Christian perspective, I beleive that God is immortal, unchanging, and loves us unconditionally, so if I have joy in him, that will only leave of my own doing. So that joy is only permanent because God is permanent. Of course this doesn’t take anything away from the happiness that my friends and family give me, as a matter of fact it seems to strengthen it.
Some believers will say that all we need is God and our joy is in him and we need nothing else. I say we need nothing other than what he gives us, but when God made man he said that it is not good for man to be alone. We need each other, and perhaps more than that at times. You don’t need to read that bit about the garden of eden to realize that people need people. We are social creatures. So there’s my take, what do you have to say about it?
Spirituality
Posted by Dylan in Spirituality on November 10th, 2008
So my blog is suppose to be about Creativity, Culture, and Spirituality as the description in the upper right corner indicates. I have a couple posts on creativity, a couple on culture, and one on food which is rather random, but I have none on spirituality. So here it goes, and please don’t hate me for it.
I thought this was funny... and true
I have avoided this up to now because this is the subject I am least likely to bring up in a conversation. I really don’t like to bring it up because some people are violently intolerant to other peoples beliefs and perspectives, and I really hate to be in those situations. It is much easier if you can start with something easy to talk about, find some common ground, and learn a little about the other person before you test the dangerous waters of spirituality. In the interest of clarity, I will now define spirituality as I intend it to be understood by the reader(you). I will also define other necessary terms.
Spirit ~ an animating or vital principle held to give life to physical organisms
Spiritual ~ of, relating to, consisting of, or affecting the spirit
Spirituality ~ The quality or state of being spiritual
So to cram it all together, spirituality is the quality or state of relating to, consisting of, or affecting the animating or vital principle held to give life to physical organisms. Yeah, that’s why I broke it down into three definitions. Here goes one disclaimer, I know that the definition of spiritual leaves it open to all physical organisms, but I don’t really care to discuss the spirituality of dogs and such. I love dogs, but I don’t see our conversation going anywhere if we take that route, as I am totally unqualified for such debate.
My intention is that this post will act as a foundation for future discussion on the subject. I have been in too many discussions where each side is arguing off of a completely different foundation and both act as though the other’s arguments are wrong for not starting in the same place yet the foundations that cause the conflict are never addressed. So on the subject of spirituality, here is where I want to start.
I believe that there is more to the human existence than what we see and experience in our lifetime. There is a long trail of beliefs that follow that and end at my belief that Jesus Christ is the son of God. This is the scope of what I would like to discuss on this blog in regards to spirituality. If you don’t agree with me, great, let me know how you feel about it, but lets keep it clean. I don’t want to argue, I want to talk.
So back to my foundation. I believe that there is something greater to our existence than just the expected 75 years or so and then a nice funeral service. I can’t give you physical proof that we have spirits or souls that are something more than our physical bodies, and I think it might be a little contradictory if you could. Maybe you have proof that they exist, and that’s great, but I currently have nothing and am just fine with that. The idea that this is all there is would be very depressing to me. Not that life sucks, but I just feel like there has to be more. We humans are never satisfied. We always long for more. That’s why we get so messed up. We look for satisfaction in any of a number of damaging activities, but we never find it, we always need more. My hypothesis (and I am stealing this from C.S. Lewis) is that we long for more because we were made for something more. Now don’t get me wrong, I am not a crying at the alter, just can’t wait to “go home” type of guy. Life is great, and it is a gift. It just sucks a lot at times. I think that our spirit is always longing for something more, and I think that something more is within reach.