Good God: Faith for the Rest of Us

Radbam December 14th, 2009

The forecast was bleak.  Most of us would welcome dodging the bullet of a surprise snowstorm, with its traction trials, fender benders and chiropractic-evoking shoveling.  But not kids.  Not with prospects for play, of the hooky and sledding variety especially.  My son is no different.  There wasn’t a snowball’s chance in the place where snowball’s don’t have a chance that it would snow.  But he set himself to will it so, against God, nature and Steve Pool (local weatherman).

But force of will wasn’t enough.  He had heard from friends about a ritual, a bit of sympathetic magic straight from the Margaret Meads and Joseph Campbells of the schoolyard: Turn your pajamas inside out the night before and place a spoon under your pillow.  I didn’t check in with him this morning when confronted with the faith-busting warmth and rain-slicked streets.  And I sense that, at his core, he didn’t really believe this little foray into the black arts would effect the change he wanted.  But as the old yiddish-inflected axiom encourages:  It couldn’t hurt.

I thought of my son’s straddling between the real and the wished-for as I read a recent Pew poll cited by the Times resident purveyor of surveys, Charles Blow.  I assume that the respondents were all reasonable adults, and thus exempt from the benefit of the doubt extended to children, the reality television-addicted and adherents of intelligent design.  While citing emerging trends on the blending of Eastern and Western traditions, a well-documented and theologically viable phenomenon, the more shocking statistics concerned belief in what is euphemistically termed the “paranormal” (less euphemistically the “bat-shit crazy”). Significant numbers believe in ghosts, the evil eye, astrology and the “spiritual energy” exuding from inanimate objects.  The outrageous success of the low-budget Paranormal Activity and the basic cable bonanza of shows recounting the literal moon-lighting, ghost-busting escapades of suburban plumbers supports the credibility of these stats.  And perhaps not surprisingly, more of the religiously affiliated embraced these delusions than the unaffiliated (who embrace other delusions, like well-functioning government or the moral integrity of free markets).

And while the sharp increase amongst those who have had mystical awakenings or epiphanies seems hopeful of some impending evolution of consciousness a la the more positive, less dramatic takes on 2012, it probably has more to do with the inflated sense of self reflective of the Oprah Era than a bearing out of Jung’s collective unconscious.

And speaking of Jung, perhaps this trend, or more precisely this seemingly universal need for magic, mystery and mindlessness encompasses more than the unsophisticated and gullible fans of Jersey Shore and Biggest Loser.  The recent publication of Jung’s in/famous Red Book, withheld by the family until 50 years after his death for fear of damaging his reputation, demonstrates that even genius endowed with sensitivity to delusion and dysfunction is vulnerable to the seductions of the supernatural.  Jung himself was unsure whether his documented dreams, visions and messages reflected divine prophecy or descent into psychosis. He valiantly, and at times painfully, plunged into the void to attain self-knowledge as a means to better understand his patients and life’s work.  But his abrupt cessation of the project and discomfort in publishing the tome speaks for itself.

Jung’s journey is a cautionary tale, providing insight into the human condition from one who could self-consciously interpret and forge a theoretical structure upon which others can build, discount and synthesize.  Polls, public opinion and rantings on Facebook do not provide the same level of thoughtful deliberation.  But the questions remain:  Are the fantasies and worldview of childhood something we thankfully grow out of with increased knowledge and experience?  Or do we lose something essential, a unique insight into the multi-dimensional nature of reality, as we become more distracted, disillusioned and constrained by pressures to conform, to concretize, and to basically “grow up” and “out” of  the follies of youth?  Is this new facet of the new spirituality a superstitious concession to trying times and bleak prospects, or an authentic sign of evolving consciousness?  What do you think?

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