It was late Firiday night and I'd just come home from seeing 300 with a friend. It was a problematic movie, but by not taking it seriously I managed to enjoy it and found my imagination sparked by the imagery of the film. I sat down at my computer and typed out, stream-of-consciousness, the ideas about art that were percipitating in my mind. I was in a creative groove: my mind was like a deep river flowing through the universe. I felt truly connected to myself: thought and expression gelled in a truly marvelous way. Halfway down the page I realized that what I was going through was a kind of spiritual experience.

Weeks later, today, I found myself thinking about the recent contention between atheism and Western religion. That is, the whole debate about whether or not there is a god, and exactly how nice a person he or she is if it actually exists. It really seems beside the point: I see religion as a construct of unconscious metaphor, and taken in that context it has the capability to ground and focus people in a truly wonderful way. However, the debate isn't about how to ground and focus people. It's about the existence of a Magic Man in the sky. Even the religious people seem more concerned about what this Magic Man wants or doesn't want than what is good for the people who fill the pews, and whether or not people had faith in him.

Faith!

It occured to me that was the entire problem. Of course atheists and scientists of Dawkin's ilk don't see any benefits in religion! Whenever we talk about religion or spirituality in the west, it always comes down to faith! We place so much emphasis on believing in things that cannot be seen or confirmed, and believing in them so blindly that the true power of spirituality is lost in a pink sea of credulity.

Now, you're probalby thinking "What the hell lis he talking about? Faith is the definition of the spiritual! How can anything be spiritual if there is no belief in a kind and loving/righteous and vengeful/all-powerful Being that created and watches over it all?" Understandable, given that it is an underpinning of two, possibly three of the world's major religions. But in truth, the imortance of faith to spirituality is a very Christian concept. Though the Jewish ten commands demanded that the Hebrews worship Yahweh over all gods, one's actions were held in higher esteem than one's beliefs. To the ancient Jews, doing good deeds and believing not a whit in Yahweh is much better than being a true believer and sinning 'till your eyes fall out. It was not until Mark, Matthew, Luke and John came around that faith became the only means of salvation.

Not being intimately familiar with them, I cannot say exactly how much faith matters to the other religions of the world. But in no religion is it as prominent as it is in Christianity and Islam. Buddhism demands that we be "[lights] unto [ourselves]," but it requires no belief in any gods or spirits. Along with Taoism, some have conisdered it more philosophy than religion. Shinto acknowledges the existence of spirits, but does not require belief in them as part of dogma. Importance is placed rather on everday rituals and respect for all beings. An Indian co-worker of mine, a Buddhist himself, claims that in India Hinduism is more of a way of life than our western idea of a "religion." Even though it has gods and supernatural beings, more emphasis is placed upon dharma (social duty), karma (accumulation of deeds), and the acheivement of spiritual enlightenment than faith that these things exist.

Indeed, what is very striking about Indian spirituality is its core practice, yoga. "Yoga" means "to yoke," its name paralel to our word relligion ("re ligion"—link again). But despite the similarity of name, Yoga is covers a broader realm of practices. It can include devotion to a sense of God (Bhakti Yoga), but it also includes the commonlly known meditation through action known to the West, devotion to social duty and deeds, practicing a craft. In many of these instances, the key to spiritual enlightenment isn't believing, it is doing, with the goal of achieving being.

On that day, weeks ago, when I came home from 300, that's exactly what was happening with me. I had reached a stead stream in my mind that was always becoming, always changing, and I was one with the change. And in following it came the promise of eternal adventure. I value that connectedness more than all the spiritual pleasures in Yahweh's Heaven. If we were to look inside our own spirit, to explore our own divinity, we will find more than we ever will while seeking, hoping, pining for some kind of purpose without.