- Fingers Pointing Toward the Moon by Wei Wu Wei
So I'm reading just the first few pages of Ed Groff's thesis entitled "Laban Movement Analysis: An Historical, Philosophical, and Theoretical Perspective" and an issue that's been knocking around in my head lately resurfaced (probably because as I was reading, a Pentecostal work-study student was listening to a religious radio show on his computer). Somewhere between reading about objectivist and constructivist philosophies and listening to the faint whisper of bible verses in my ear this idea came back to me. I'm thinking of this notion of faith and fear. . . how religious conservatives can speak about faith and yet have such an intense fear of the world falling apart if things aren't maintained to their standards.
Consider these two world views (only two of many of course but go with me for a moment here): 1) A world of absolute and static reality and ultimate truth. A world where the religious factions tell us that a father god created all things and the scientific factions tell us that nothing exists until it is officially proven to exist. 2)A second version of the world where the world is only what you make of it. Any person's reality of the world is based on personal perception, cultural background that is ever-shifting. This is a world of uncertainty where your understanding of the world is understood to be different than that of your neighbor and even possibly different than it was just a moment ago. It is a dynamic world of uncertainty, change, and infinite possibilities.
Now to my point. In a religious world where faith is the order of the day, how is it that fear dictates so much of the culture? There is fear of those who don't believe in the same religion. There is fear of the government. There is fear of having your money taken away to go to those less fortunate. There is a fear of people who don't look or act like you. There is a fear of stepping outside of the bounds that your religion has established. There is a fear of war (let me be more specific here. It's only scary if your country isn't the one perpetrating the war right?). There is a fear of those who don't believe the same things or live the same type of life as you. There is fear of those who don't look like you or think like you. I say all of this to say, what ever happened to faith? Whatever happened to faith squelching the fears and doubts of the believers? How is it that faith only counts if it is faith that what your religious, political, and media celebrity leaders are telling you is accurate? How is it that faith is not for those who have faith that all people have the potential for goodness and humanity? How is it that faith isn't for trusting that giving to those less fortunate will generate at least a minute but certainly worthy positive effect even if you think the majority will squander it? How is it that faith isn't for believing that the president that may not look like you or have a familiar name is somehow connected to that oh so important divine order of things whether you agree with his political decisions or not? How is it that faith isn't for trusting that the religious beliefs of others may actually be a positive and productive part of their culture as yours is for you? How is it in general that those that so vehemently believe in God don't trust that he knows what he's doing even if you aren't as knowledgeable about all the aspects of the situation as maybe you should be. And most of all, why is faith not used in oneself to believe that attaining knowledge on your own and from opposing sides of an argument won't give you an incite into a situation that brings you piece of mind and an understanding of balance? If the faithful truly believe that God is the God of all things, why is it that the faithful only have faith in the "divine" role such a minute population of God's creations?
