Dismantling the Sacred

I was re-reading some old copies of Kindred Spirit recently, and in the Jan/Feb 2007 issue there is an interview with Caroline Myss, the American medical intuitive and mystic. In particular, one quote caught my eye:

“We’ve got too familiar, we’ve dismantled the sacred. Instead of a serious spiritual practice, we’ve got trinkets. People wear crystals — for protection, from what? Negativity. Is negativity afraid of crystals? All of this is mythic nonsense, fantasies that require no maintenance, they require no interior practice. Believing in trinkets doesn’t require devotion or discipline, it doesn’t require anything but jewellery! What is this superstitious nonsense in lieu of a serious soul theology?”

Now, to some degree I agree with her — a lot of us have “dismantled the sacred”. I think a lot of people today want a “quick fix” spirituality, one which requires very little work from themselves. This is particularly evident with the number of “instant” spell books available in bookstores, such as the ones which say “light this candle, say these words, and your prince will come!”. Bah. How many times, as people, are we taught “you only get out of this what you put in”, in so many areas of our lives? Why should our spiritualities be any different?

I, for one, do not want a “quick-fix spirituality”. If I did, I wouldn’t be a Witch. I want (and have) a spirituality that challenges me, that fills me up to the brim, that makes me feel at home within myself and my surroundings. I like to invest myself in my spirituality, and feel something come out of it in return — whether it be circumstances falling into place just so, or a welcome visit from a robin or some other unexpected, but welcome, guest. I like the idea that, as Witches, we can apply our will upon the structure of the universe, thus causing an effect to manifest which alters the state of reality. I like that — not for reasons of control or ego, but for the reason that I like to manifest my own world. I like to have a say in all this.

However, I only partially agree with what Myss says about “trinkets”. While I understand, and agree with, her point about “no interior practice”, I do feel that she cuts the line too finely, too sharply, here. Yes, just buying a crystal and wearing it for the sake that it will “protect” you will do very little in its claim. However, I believe that linking the crystal with your own abilities — psychic, magical, spiritual, whatever you want to call it — will reap some form of result. This is the kind of “interior practice” that I believe Myss to be intimating — a practice initiated by some kind of spiritual/magical spark within, one that challenges and intrigues us and leads us onto the pathway of self-seeking, and one which is further nourished through disciplines such as meditation, creative visualisation, and other spiritual or personal development practices.

Myss talks about “superstitious nonsense in lieu of a serious soul theology”. I believe that a “serious soul theology” is lacking for a lot of people; even, at times, those who feel safe and solid in their spiritualities and religions (like me). After all, if we were to feel safe and solid all the time, how would we know true connection with the Divine, the true touch of Mystery? If, from time to time, we were to lose that connection, doubt it or just plain take it for granted, it will then mean all the more to us when we do re-experience it. After all, we don’t want to become too complacent in our beliefs, do we?

With complacency comes the desire to make things easy, and the lack of intent to rise to the challenges that appear before us. If one becomes too complacent, then they do not feel themselves stretched or fulfilled by their spirituality/religion — in time, one would face one of two choices: to “put up and shut up” with it (that is, just accepting that said compl
acency is the norm, and thus falling into a rut which does nothing to nourish or expand us on a spiritual level, eventually bubbling over to affect us on mental/emotional/physical levels); or — in the words of Rascal Flatts — for you to “get mad you get strong, wipe your hands, shake it off, then you stand”.

The only person who can take responsibility for your spirituality is yourself. Your parents, siblings, best friends, priests, spiritual leaders, self-help authors — none of them are going to do it. And sure as hell, $Deity ain’t gonna do it — sure, They may have a hand in it, but without you reaching towards Them in return it’s going to mean diddly-squat. You are the only person who can make a difference, but it’s up to you whether that be taking an active grasp of your beliefs, and working out what works for you and then walking that talk, or if it be following a fantasy “that requires no maintenance”, or even — to some degree — accepting a religion on a silver platter. It’s your life, your spirituality: no one can take that from you, except yourself. If you don’t take a stand for yourself and your own beliefs, no one else will. And then you’ll only have one person to blame: yourself. So, ask yourself — are you going to “dismantle the sacred”?