Why work from within a particular tradition? This is a question that many ask today. Why does one have to root their spiritual life in community?
Richard Rohr, a writer I am particularly fond of, points out that the goal of religion shouldn't be to take claim as the only access to the whole truth, but rather the teaching of religion should be who a particular religion offers access to universal truths (he uses how religion teaches universal wisdom). I think this is right on.
If this is correct, and no one faith tradition offers unique access to God and Truth, then why pick one?
In the end i think this is a question that must be answered by the individual that is asking it, but i offer a few way points for exploring the question.
When we are in the village, on the right handed path, it is clear that the community as a whole reaches towards God, rituals are shared, spiritual questions are asked in the midst of conversations and dialogues. Having a faith tradition grounding all this is key. It is important to point out that each community makes its adjustments to the larger cannon of the faith (and by cannon i am speaking of the entirety of the faith system), but it needs boundaries and guidance from the history of the tradition, from the wisdom of its forefathers and foremothers. There is no reason to recreate the wheel with every new generation.
I can speak for the christian tradition, it took about 200 years for Christianity to emerge as its own tradition, still grounded very much in the much older jewish traditions and also borrowing heavily from greek philosophical thought. In a way Christianity wasn't a new tradition, it was just a kind of Hegelian Dialectic created from Greek thought and Jewish thought. There is in many ways no new religions, each is based on something older. The Christian Old Testament (or the Tanakh) borrows heavily from older traditions, and in some places borrows books nearly word for word (see Old Testament Parallels). Traditions continue to evolve and emerge, but they are always linked (at least the ones that stand the test of time) to older traditions. As they adapt to the community that surrounds them, they speak to the needs and desires and wants and fears of that particular community. It is important to acknowledge that faith traditions can easily get off track and lose sight of their purpose and hurt more than help. Commitment to tradition, while being able to listen also to the community that surrounds that tradition, can help with this, if we learn to remove our ego, we listen better, and are less likely to allow the tradition to become distorted to greed and power.
For those of the left handed path, those out on the journey, it is harder to rationalize a need for a tradition, but grounded oneself in a tradition will get you farther along. The major religions all have mystic traditions that serve those on the journey well. If you have a tradition that you grew up with, you can use the grounding in tradition from an early age as a catapult to spiritual maturity, if you did not grow up with a tradition, find one that speaks well to the environments you know best.
Religion so often because a reason not to engage in spiritual discovery, and often times it can be a huge hurdle to discovery, particularly when it has been distorted by power structures. Religion and tradition are key to greater success, they keep one grounded and rooted in tradition. At some point in the journey you will be able to move past your tradition, but in doing so you will become more rooted in what you already know in your heart. If you have no tradition to move past, you create for yourself a difficult mountain to surmount, one that you may never be able to summit.
Again, the answer for why a religious tradition is so important is really only understood later on, and by the person that is doing the asking, no answer i (or anyone really) can give will be entirely sufficient.
Monday, June 18, 2012
Friday, June 15, 2012
Positive feedback loop
We may be familiar with a negative feedback loop, like feedback from putting a microphone too close to it's PA's speakers. Of course guitarists have learned to use this sort of feedback to their advantage. There are positive feedback loops too, present in many of the crucial life cycles in nature, like the carbon cycle or the nitrogen cycle, it works properly, it is self sustaining.
There is a positive feedback loop in spirituality. The role of a village spiritual center (ie church, mosque, temple) is spiritual care. There are two major types of spiritual care (maybe more), that of the individual and that of the community as a whole (the community can be broken into sub groups like families and meta groups like nations, but they are essentially the same sort of thing). By engaging in individual spiritual care, the individual goes into the community to provide care to the community. When the community is cared for, more individuals seek personal self care.
In our modern Christian church, community care is often defined as Mission or evangelizing, and personal self care is sometimes termed salvation. We are sometimes led to believe that evangelizing is strictly going out to spread the word of God, to talk about Jesus, to turn people into believers, to get them to gain salvation. Salvation is often described as going to heaven.
Jesus often talked about the Kingdom of Heaven as being here on earth, we hear it in the Lord's prayer, "thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven". Salvation is recognizing that and caring for earth here, salvation comes in service to others, and its not necessarily about going to heaven, but in making heaven here. If we work to make our communities healthier, with better schools, better hospitals, better public safety, we are doing the work of God, we are in fact saving souls, saving them not only from poverty and the cycles that exist there, but we are saving the rich from the cycles of greed and corruption that can easily occur. The more people are comfortable in their communities, the more likely they are to have better personal spiritual health, it is a positive feedback loop. We get "saved" and help others, and others get "saved" and they help others and your return is a community that furthers your personal spiritual health. We may become "saved" by having someone help us, we may become "saved" through the act of helping others, we may become "saved" through putting in the work, or the necessary suffering that often needs to occur.
This is not a perfect explanation, but it gets at a central theme.
We have allowed our definitions of salvation and heaven to become things that are so unearthly that we can't relate to them any more -- except through disconnected models that close off the rest of the world. So many ask why our churches are shrinking, its because so many can see the detachment from anything real.
If one is on the right handed path, get out into your community and serve! If one is on the left handed path, get out and serve where ever you are. Its so easy for a community to become disconnected, but through the basic act of helping someone, you may offer that needed "salvation". It is not about what you say, it doesn't matter what you say, it matters what you do. Christ wasn't calling us to be "Christians". Christ was calling us to Love.
This is at its center a Christian understanding, using Christian words and theology, but it resonates at some level through all religions. There is a central message that Religions form around, they each make up there words for it, their terms their definitions, their rituals, but the central message is still there, somewhere, but it is so easy to lose track, to lose the central message, what it is God is telling us. If you are not christian, fill in the terms that make sense to you, if you are atheist, you can't deny that at some level this still makes sense, love the community and individuals benefit, love individuals and the community can benefit.
Lets get over the religious rhetoric about salvation and heaven, lets just get out there and do what we know is in our hearts, to spread love, whether that love is food or books or medicine or a listening ear or whatever it is, we have to spread Love, it is what we are called to do.
There is a positive feedback loop in spirituality. The role of a village spiritual center (ie church, mosque, temple) is spiritual care. There are two major types of spiritual care (maybe more), that of the individual and that of the community as a whole (the community can be broken into sub groups like families and meta groups like nations, but they are essentially the same sort of thing). By engaging in individual spiritual care, the individual goes into the community to provide care to the community. When the community is cared for, more individuals seek personal self care.
In our modern Christian church, community care is often defined as Mission or evangelizing, and personal self care is sometimes termed salvation. We are sometimes led to believe that evangelizing is strictly going out to spread the word of God, to talk about Jesus, to turn people into believers, to get them to gain salvation. Salvation is often described as going to heaven.
Jesus often talked about the Kingdom of Heaven as being here on earth, we hear it in the Lord's prayer, "thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven". Salvation is recognizing that and caring for earth here, salvation comes in service to others, and its not necessarily about going to heaven, but in making heaven here. If we work to make our communities healthier, with better schools, better hospitals, better public safety, we are doing the work of God, we are in fact saving souls, saving them not only from poverty and the cycles that exist there, but we are saving the rich from the cycles of greed and corruption that can easily occur. The more people are comfortable in their communities, the more likely they are to have better personal spiritual health, it is a positive feedback loop. We get "saved" and help others, and others get "saved" and they help others and your return is a community that furthers your personal spiritual health. We may become "saved" by having someone help us, we may become "saved" through the act of helping others, we may become "saved" through putting in the work, or the necessary suffering that often needs to occur.
This is not a perfect explanation, but it gets at a central theme.
We have allowed our definitions of salvation and heaven to become things that are so unearthly that we can't relate to them any more -- except through disconnected models that close off the rest of the world. So many ask why our churches are shrinking, its because so many can see the detachment from anything real.
If one is on the right handed path, get out into your community and serve! If one is on the left handed path, get out and serve where ever you are. Its so easy for a community to become disconnected, but through the basic act of helping someone, you may offer that needed "salvation". It is not about what you say, it doesn't matter what you say, it matters what you do. Christ wasn't calling us to be "Christians". Christ was calling us to Love.
This is at its center a Christian understanding, using Christian words and theology, but it resonates at some level through all religions. There is a central message that Religions form around, they each make up there words for it, their terms their definitions, their rituals, but the central message is still there, somewhere, but it is so easy to lose track, to lose the central message, what it is God is telling us. If you are not christian, fill in the terms that make sense to you, if you are atheist, you can't deny that at some level this still makes sense, love the community and individuals benefit, love individuals and the community can benefit.
Lets get over the religious rhetoric about salvation and heaven, lets just get out there and do what we know is in our hearts, to spread love, whether that love is food or books or medicine or a listening ear or whatever it is, we have to spread Love, it is what we are called to do.
Wednesday, June 6, 2012
Surrender
The goal of religion is in many ways to get us to get over ourselves and get over are own ego and put our trust in something bigger than ourselves. It's been said that in the west our egos are too big, too tough, too hard to break though, like the rich man who turned away from Christ. The wealth we accumulate only pads our ego, making it harder to break.
For those on the right handed path, living in community, being humble with others, leads to diminishing ego, caring about others in the village leads to God in many ways.
For those of us on the left handed path our egos are broken in travel, during lonely nights during hard times, yet also when things work out when we never expected them to. Look back at your own journey so far, can't it be miraculous sometimes, doesn't it speak to something larger, whether it was the kindness of strangers or luck in stumbling across something immensely beautiful?
I think of the man who picked me up hitch hiking in the middle of no where Ireland and brought me all the way to Galway, at least at hour's drive. Or a jazz club in the basement of a bar in Paris that I stumbled across while following folks from the hostel I was staying in, where Parisians sang jazz standards at an open mic, or the sunset over the bayous of Louisiana, a place I never expected to live. In our journeys, if we don't let them lead us someplace we weren't expecting, someplace we never planning, often in absolute contrast to our best plans, then we never get to truly experience, we never get to be led, we spend our lives in our heads, and not out in the world. We have to overcome ourselves almost before we can do anything.
For those on the right handed path, living in community, being humble with others, leads to diminishing ego, caring about others in the village leads to God in many ways.
For those of us on the left handed path our egos are broken in travel, during lonely nights during hard times, yet also when things work out when we never expected them to. Look back at your own journey so far, can't it be miraculous sometimes, doesn't it speak to something larger, whether it was the kindness of strangers or luck in stumbling across something immensely beautiful?
I think of the man who picked me up hitch hiking in the middle of no where Ireland and brought me all the way to Galway, at least at hour's drive. Or a jazz club in the basement of a bar in Paris that I stumbled across while following folks from the hostel I was staying in, where Parisians sang jazz standards at an open mic, or the sunset over the bayous of Louisiana, a place I never expected to live. In our journeys, if we don't let them lead us someplace we weren't expecting, someplace we never planning, often in absolute contrast to our best plans, then we never get to truly experience, we never get to be led, we spend our lives in our heads, and not out in the world. We have to overcome ourselves almost before we can do anything.
Friday, June 1, 2012
holding on
we can't hold on to tightly to the path we are on. If we hold on too tightly to the right handed path, for those in the village, we close off to those that come from the outside and might have something useful to say. At the same time, those on the left handed path are challenged in the same way. If those on the left handed path hold on too tightly to the journey, and are unwilling to live within villages from time to time, to share our stories, then we fail to make the journey valuable, it becomes a selfish endeavor, in the same way villages wall themselves off.
We must constantly strive to share and to welcome others, particularly those we are not used to.
This does not mean we should try and convert the other, or to hold no respect for the other's view, even when we don't agree, we must move to something deeper, a place where sharing can occur, where both feel closer to wholeness as a result of the encounter, pride and self preservation must be set aside.
Only when we can allow ourselves to be removed can we truly begin to share and welcome.
We must constantly strive to share and to welcome others, particularly those we are not used to.
This does not mean we should try and convert the other, or to hold no respect for the other's view, even when we don't agree, we must move to something deeper, a place where sharing can occur, where both feel closer to wholeness as a result of the encounter, pride and self preservation must be set aside.
Only when we can allow ourselves to be removed can we truly begin to share and welcome.
Monday, May 28, 2012
Conflict
In our modern Christian Church we are experiencing schism over issues that tend to center around the notions of Gay Ordination and Gay Marriage. Those on the affirming side, which i consider myself to be on, there is the notion that the church's call to radical inclusiveness overarches the few places in the bible where male homosexuality is condemned (only male homosexuality is condemned). On the other side, there is strong feeling that affirming homosexuality in the way that allowing gay ordination, and even more so gay marriage, weaken the church and pull it away from the bible. There is very much a hate the sin, but love the sinner approach to many on this side, but they are unable to affirm homosexuality in a way that counters their interpretation of the bible, in other words, the church must keep standards even if it is not always pleasant.
It is not uncommon for the church to be divided on issues, dating from at least the second century there is clear evidence of schisms and strong handing by those in position of authority and influence. Even in the letters of Paul (dating from as early as 40 AD) we see obvious signs of differing opinions on how to interpret chrisitainity.
Most schisms have occurred over purely theological concerns, where the arguments never leave the discussions of academics and church leaders, rarely affecting the day to day life of most believers. There have been other times though when people were unduly affected by the controversies. Notably, in paul we see discussions of the way to include gentiles, eventually including gentiles. The arguments over abolition caused schisms, eventually sided with abolitionists. I have to believe that the church will eventually side with gay rights, as it has in the past with other civil rights. If we are truly a church that is reformed and always reforming, then we will gather a common understanding of the full inclusion of gay members.
That being said, schism and controversy are a central element of the christian church, and maybe all faith traditions. We have to learn to be at peace with that schism. When it comes to people's lives, i believe that the christian idea of inclusion will prevail, but when it comes to theological concerns, we will never all fully agree.
Christianity is really a collection of churches or villages, that each exist in a different set of realities. A small rural church exists in a different world than a large urban church. This is OK. We as christians are allowed to disagree, we as different faith traditions throughout the world are also allow to disagree. How to we truly draw lines in the sand, each village(church) must exist with itself, with all the diversity and all the reality it faces.
If we are on the left handed path we have to remember this, we have to remember that there is no one absolute way that will work for everyone. There are archetypal similarities that exist amongst religions, and there are broad stroke themes that are crucial, but the specifics vary, regardless of denomination, culture or religion. Our job becomes to listen and to discover, not so much as a complete outsider, but as a welcomed visitor, to discover what it is that is unique about that village(church) and why they believe what they believe. Questions help people better understand their own traditions, the answers may not come easily, but if they are asked out of love, they can only help. Asking questions though that lead a person to think a certain way are useless, they can only come from a genuine place of curiosity and love. When we can gain a greater understanding of traditions, and why they exist, then we grow stronger in faith.
It is not uncommon for the church to be divided on issues, dating from at least the second century there is clear evidence of schisms and strong handing by those in position of authority and influence. Even in the letters of Paul (dating from as early as 40 AD) we see obvious signs of differing opinions on how to interpret chrisitainity.
Most schisms have occurred over purely theological concerns, where the arguments never leave the discussions of academics and church leaders, rarely affecting the day to day life of most believers. There have been other times though when people were unduly affected by the controversies. Notably, in paul we see discussions of the way to include gentiles, eventually including gentiles. The arguments over abolition caused schisms, eventually sided with abolitionists. I have to believe that the church will eventually side with gay rights, as it has in the past with other civil rights. If we are truly a church that is reformed and always reforming, then we will gather a common understanding of the full inclusion of gay members.
That being said, schism and controversy are a central element of the christian church, and maybe all faith traditions. We have to learn to be at peace with that schism. When it comes to people's lives, i believe that the christian idea of inclusion will prevail, but when it comes to theological concerns, we will never all fully agree.
Christianity is really a collection of churches or villages, that each exist in a different set of realities. A small rural church exists in a different world than a large urban church. This is OK. We as christians are allowed to disagree, we as different faith traditions throughout the world are also allow to disagree. How to we truly draw lines in the sand, each village(church) must exist with itself, with all the diversity and all the reality it faces.
If we are on the left handed path we have to remember this, we have to remember that there is no one absolute way that will work for everyone. There are archetypal similarities that exist amongst religions, and there are broad stroke themes that are crucial, but the specifics vary, regardless of denomination, culture or religion. Our job becomes to listen and to discover, not so much as a complete outsider, but as a welcomed visitor, to discover what it is that is unique about that village(church) and why they believe what they believe. Questions help people better understand their own traditions, the answers may not come easily, but if they are asked out of love, they can only help. Asking questions though that lead a person to think a certain way are useless, they can only come from a genuine place of curiosity and love. When we can gain a greater understanding of traditions, and why they exist, then we grow stronger in faith.
Sunday, May 27, 2012
Dangers
Any faith tradition that feels it can't let people experience the fullness of the world is destined to fail. We can not protect people from the world, we have to be able to live in it fully, to engage in mysteries, not to try and avoid answers.
If a religion feels like it needs to hide things, to keep things from its members to proclaim nessecary rituals for existence, then it is failing.
Religion must be able to confront all the harsh realities of the world. It does not need to have answers to those mysteries, but it should not shy away from them.
If a religion feels like it needs to hide things, to keep things from its members to proclaim nessecary rituals for existence, then it is failing.
Religion must be able to confront all the harsh realities of the world. It does not need to have answers to those mysteries, but it should not shy away from them.
Saturday, May 26, 2012
importance of language
Each village has its own "language", even when villages share a common tongue. When we venture outside our village, we must be open to learning new languages, new ways of speaking, new terms. Language holds the central key for narrative. Each language offers us a new path to expression to understanding, to be being human. Sometimes it is the subtle differences that can throw us off the most. We are required to undo ourselves, to learn a new language, we have to be immensely familiar with our own. Even when we leave the village, we have to be acutely aware of what we learned in our village, we have to be willing to accept that it is not common everywhere, we need to be sensitive to the differences of othere village, even when it appears exactly the same.
Sometimes studying other cultures and distant religions appear to yeild more information, we fail to acknowledge what we can learn from the village next door or even our own. Studying a faith tradition very similar to our own is more difficult than studying distant religions, but can yeild information that is just as meaningful and enlightening. When we study far different traditions we come into closer accord with our own, when we study similar faith traditions, we challenge our own faith tradition in ways we never would be able to in distant religions. Study distant religions, but dont' miss the ones that are close by, for they offer the same wealth of information.
Sometimes studying other cultures and distant religions appear to yeild more information, we fail to acknowledge what we can learn from the village next door or even our own. Studying a faith tradition very similar to our own is more difficult than studying distant religions, but can yeild information that is just as meaningful and enlightening. When we study far different traditions we come into closer accord with our own, when we study similar faith traditions, we challenge our own faith tradition in ways we never would be able to in distant religions. Study distant religions, but dont' miss the ones that are close by, for they offer the same wealth of information.
Friday, May 25, 2012
What is the role of two paths
Why do people leave the safety of the village and go on the left handed path? I have to imagine that when people leave for the left handed path, it has a grounding ability to those in the village. Any group of people has the tendency to run away on its own, lose sight of what is important, lose focus. Having people go out, learn and discover on their own, and come back and tell the story can help focus that community, help it remember what is important. These are all euphemisms, but they get to a kernel of the truth. In Christianity, we see in Christ a figure that came to liberate his people from the oppression of the roman, but not only the romans, but those in power within the jewish community that had focused so much on the law and the specifics of the ritual that the true power of religion was being lost. Religion was becoming a club of the powerful instead of a balm to those in need of help. Since religion is a human endeavor, it is prone to having this happen, and those that journey outside the village are the best suited to come back and correct the path of the village. Remembering that the path of the village should be spiritual support, not oppression.
Each time in human history has had to have had its fair share of left handed sojourners, but we see many today, fleeing from organized religion, traveling away from home. If all these that leave the village fail to ground themselves into a faith tradition, the sojourners run the risk of fail to teach their village anything. If those that leave can not come back at some point, whether they speak to their specific village or not, and tell their journey narrative, even in mythical proportions, then nothing is gained, and villages will continue to slide into oppression and the paler side of human experience. And the villages need to stay in tact to some extent, even if they are imperfect, because when folks have no village to leave from, and no village to tell a story too, then we start to enter into a real heap of trouble.
For those in the villages, listen to those who journey outside your comfort zones, for those on the left handed path, don't be afraid to talk about what it is you see, whatever it has been. For both routing ourselves in tradition, ritual along with the history and context of a faith tradition helps, willing to always ask why we have those traditions and rituals, and maintaining the narratives and the myths that exist around them.
Each time in human history has had to have had its fair share of left handed sojourners, but we see many today, fleeing from organized religion, traveling away from home. If all these that leave the village fail to ground themselves into a faith tradition, the sojourners run the risk of fail to teach their village anything. If those that leave can not come back at some point, whether they speak to their specific village or not, and tell their journey narrative, even in mythical proportions, then nothing is gained, and villages will continue to slide into oppression and the paler side of human experience. And the villages need to stay in tact to some extent, even if they are imperfect, because when folks have no village to leave from, and no village to tell a story too, then we start to enter into a real heap of trouble.
For those in the villages, listen to those who journey outside your comfort zones, for those on the left handed path, don't be afraid to talk about what it is you see, whatever it has been. For both routing ourselves in tradition, ritual along with the history and context of a faith tradition helps, willing to always ask why we have those traditions and rituals, and maintaining the narratives and the myths that exist around them.
Thursday, May 24, 2012
The Role of Narrative
Narrative is something that defines us as humans. Telling our story is elemental to our being, if we do not speak in narrative, we can not get to understanding what it means to be human, what it means to live.
Science is not narrative. Science is important for understanding our universe, and is infinitely valuable, but it can not replace narrative and myth, which does a better job of discussing our humanness.
Those of us on any spiritual journey are well served studying myth and narratives. This includes scripture, whether it's the Bible or the Tao or the Koran, these are ancient texts that have lasted for good reason. Even when we commit ourselves to one faith tradition, we gain knowledge from other texts.
Committing to a tradition is good, we gain more when we are committed to one tradition and can live inside it, if we are lucky enough to grow up in a tradition, we can gain value through those rituals in ways we can almost never gain from a "new" religion.
But it's not just about scripture, every story has something to teach us about being human.
Science is not narrative. Science is important for understanding our universe, and is infinitely valuable, but it can not replace narrative and myth, which does a better job of discussing our humanness.
Those of us on any spiritual journey are well served studying myth and narratives. This includes scripture, whether it's the Bible or the Tao or the Koran, these are ancient texts that have lasted for good reason. Even when we commit ourselves to one faith tradition, we gain knowledge from other texts.
Committing to a tradition is good, we gain more when we are committed to one tradition and can live inside it, if we are lucky enough to grow up in a tradition, we can gain value through those rituals in ways we can almost never gain from a "new" religion.
But it's not just about scripture, every story has something to teach us about being human.
Wednesday, May 23, 2012
differing paths
The right handed path happens in community. There are standards, there are common achievements, there are ways to measure yourself against others. On the left handed path you are very much alone. On the left handed path each individual's development is different, it is unique, based on the experiences that one encounters, which will always be unique when one leaves the village. On the right handed path there are rituals to mark important moments, there is a sense of collective experience, a way in which people can share in their spiritual growth. This is not to say that the left handed path can't be routed in a faith tradition, mystics have been attached to faith traditions for ions, but the left handed path offers a different way of experiencing a faith tradition
I was asked not too long ago if i thought i was more spiritual than the person asking this question. I answered of course not, but this was not to imply that this person was more spiritual advanced than I was. As a pastor, i can only take people where i have gone, but at the same time i have to be willing to let people take me where they have gone. If i fail to acknowledge the spiritual wealth of another person, then i cease to grow. It is of course a major aspect of my job to develop my own spiritual wealth, but i am not better or higher or more advanced than anyone i meet, regardless of what path they are on.
Even though i am a represenative of religion, some times i am very uncomfortable with aspects of church that work in the right handed path. I sometimes see this in my congregants. The rituals of the right handed path can appear to us outside the village as confining, as a hinderance, as a barrier. This may be because we are often deemed dangerous by the village, our very existance leads so often to change, testing the foundations of the village. These rituals have a way of making us feel uncomfortable, often forcing us to move along.
Sometimes we can become attached to a particular village though, and even though there is tension it can be a valuable experience. What is interesting is that each village has a different right handed path, so even though i was nutured within a village, a church to be more specific, one that was full of people on the right handed path, i can not recoginize that path in another village. They can be similar, but they are never identical, and it is hard to become a part of a village when you are an outsider.
On the left handed path, you can converse with a village, you will never be a full member of the village (other than the one that nurtured you, or if you decide to end your left handed path and join the right handed path, but i don't think that those on the left-handed path always have a choice), but you can learn from the village. Engaging with the villages that let us in can be insightful and instructive, it teaches us, we can see a particular faith tradition in action. As an outsider you can challenge the village, and help to ensure that its traditions and rituals are healthy. I think that the more spiritually healthy the village, the more accepting they will be of the outsider, the left handed journeyman.
Christianity allows for this duality, i believe the Islam does too -- possibly buddhism, the duality of being able to encompass the left handed path of the mystic or the artist, and the right handed path of the village. Having never truly encountered a religious tradition that is truly unique to a village, like i hear they have in India, or native american religion where there were commonalities, but it changed between tribes, i wonder if the mystic had its place. Or did the mystic exist completely outside the village, making it up as they went along. Can the mystical elements of christianity be a complete path to discovery within the left handed tradition. Religion must be able to capture this duality for the left handed path is as central to the human experience as the right handed path.
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