A
Doubter's Faith
“Doubt
is a pain too lonely to know that faith is his twin brother.”
Khalil
Gibran
Scott
Peck, in his book Different Drum, delineated the four stages
of faith. The third stage is made up of individuals who typically
have been brought up in a faith tradition, but who are skeptical of
the teachings. They doubt, they question; they want to understand
what ultimate reality is, but they don't know how to approach it
except through the tradition that they have rejected. Typically, they
search by reading extensively and sampling other traditions. They
sometimes find an eclectic approach to faith that works for them—a
smattering of several different religions pieced together.
Judeo-Christian-Buddhism is an amalgam that has found its way into
many hearts.
Lots
of folks find a home at stage three. They find meaning and purpose in
many diverse spiritual practices, and mostly don't need, or want, a
single organized religion to underpin their faith. Many of our
leading theologians, philosophers and scientists are in this camp,
and they are leaders and teachers of a different way of being in the
world. One that is open and respectful of all traditions, while being
ensconced in none.
It's
been interesting to me to see how people of the third stage are
responding to the Pope's announcement that he will resign. Most are
following it closely, hoping that a new Pope will be more sensitive
to life in the real world, and curtail such dictates as “no birth
control” and “no women priests.” Even some Catholics are hoping
for these changes. What's interesting is that people who aren't, and
have never been Catholic, still place the Pope on a high pedestal.
They care who he is, and what he stands for, and whether or not he
will be severely orthodox or will move the church into the twentieth,
if not the twenty-first century. After all, there are more than a
billion Catholics in the world, most of whom will faithfully follow the dictates of the Pope.
Stage
three people are a growing edge in mainstream America. So many of our
young people see no need for traditional organized religion, but that does not
mean that they have no 'faith'. They believe in the goodness of the
Great Mystery, and they are willing to become humanists, and
activists, and reformers of social injustice because of it. I can't
wait to see the changes that they will bring to our world.
In
the spirit,
Jane
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