Celebrating

Recently I read an article by about ‘The wine o'clock Myth' by Mrs D, who is well known for her blog, 'Mrs. D is going without'. The article was about alcohol consumption. More precisely how we drink as a nation and how that impacts on our habits. Drinking is a 'social' activity. We hang out with friends, and drink one or two too many…. And oh well, such is life. Drinking alcohol is normalised in our day-to-day living; it is no longer something we do on special occasions.

 

Drinking alcohol is not a taboo; drinking too much alcohol on a regular basis, is. You may wonder what drinking alcohol has to do with 'entering the stillness'. At a first glance, there is no comparison. I am not suggesting for you to drink alcohol or take any other drug to 'enter the stillness'.

 

I do wonder if living a spiritual life has any similarities with our social habits. I do wonder how it is that people are uncomfortable to address the drinking, and in a similar vein, also seem uncomfortable to engage with spiritual matters. I hear people say that Church, and going to church, is no longer relevant in their lives. 

'Church' has a lot of negative connotations for people. They might have been hurt by what has been said, or they might not relate to the person' upfront'. The generation of young professionals, or young people in general, have access to an enormous amount of information at their fingertips. They are not waiting around for someone to tell them what to do or what to believe. After all, Dr Google has all the answers.

 

Faith and alcohol are two aspects of daily life that have been reversed. Not that long ago, religion was part of almost every body's everyday life, and drinking alcohol was a way of celebrating special occasions. It seems this has reversed. People have 'a drink' almost every day, especially at the end of a busy or challenging day. They believe they have earned a wine or maybe something more substantial, – after all, it was a hard day.

 

Faith and spiritual practice is now reserved for special occasions. The Church of England is known as the 'C of E', – Christmas and Easter. The unusual occurrences when the churches are full is limited to these two Celebrations in a year. And maybe, added to that is a funeral or a baptism. Is that enough to give meaning to daily life? Is that enough of a foundation to live our lives? Is living 'mindfully' the answer to all spiritual questions?

 

In my experience, people are uncomfortable with spiritual practices. The general conversation becomes stilted when they ask me: "What do you do to fill the day?" My response that my health practice, is to walk 8 km a day combined with my spiritual practice takes at least half the morning, – this is often greeted with surprise. And a change of subject. 

 

Talking about faith and having a spiritual practice is uncomfortable. Uncomfortable for others, and not easy for myself. How do you explain the why and how, if people have no shared 'language', or appear no longer to be engaged with the spiritual side of life?

 

I too, have struggled with 'Power and Control' of church life; however, I think God is bigger than that. God is not going to be caught in a web of ideas that people over the ages have put together. 

 

I still think that 'entering the stillness' through silence or another practise may give us a glimpse of God, and a stream of inspiration of love and hope to live by. What do you think?