There was a great post on the FACEBOOK PAGE, “I feel so affirmed by your philosophy, theology, or whatever, however you want to think it as. I have been following you for several years now in one format or another. I find your thoughts and meditations to be an important part of my life.”
I am grateful. And honored. But it made me wonder. . .what do I practice?
It reminded me of a great story from the book Power of Myth, and a dialogue between Joseph Campbell and journalist Bill Moyers.
In the introduction to the book, Moyers recalls Campbell telling of an American delegate at an international conference on religion, enamored with the ceremonial elegance of the Shinto rituals and liturgies, but still trying to figure out what a Japanse Shinto priest believed.
The American spoke with the priest, “We’ve been now to a good many ceremonies and have seen quite a few of your shrines. But I don’t get your ideology. I don’t get your theology.’ The Japanese paused as though in deep thought, and then slowly shook his head. ‘I think we don’t have ideology,’ he said. ‘We don’t have theology. We dance.”
I have studied theology.
I have two degrees in theology.
And this much I now know: Any connection to God or the sacred, must be relational before it is creedal. The dance precedes the creed.
What does this all look like. . .specifically? I’ll keep blogging about it. . and would love your input. Here’s the deal: we do ourselves a disservice when we capitulate to the cerebral mode, you know, we can’t experience life unless we can first, fully explain it.
But don’t we need to explain it? Perhaps. . .but first things first. . .
“I won’t take no for an answer,”God began to sayto mewhen He opened His arms each nightwanting us todance.
St. Catherine of Siena
2 Comments
Beautiful way to end my day! Thanks for sending me to my dreams with such thoughts.
The reference to the dance in your post today reminded me of a song that I heard in the early sixties entitle Lord of the Dance written by Sydney Carter I was in my teens and thought that this idea very revolutionary and it has stuck with me all these years even though I was more apt to call it silliness. I have also thought about life as a journey but in some way DANCE seems right. There are several great versions of this song on You tube, especially the one by the Dubliners.