Dogma

[flexibeast]

As i've indicated in earlier posts (e.g. here), i don't like dogma. By 'dogma' i mean "belief or beliefs which are not permitted to be challenged by evidence, experience etc." Dogma can involve the belief that history took place thus, or that a book has only one interpretation, that a particular person is above critique or criticism, and so on. So it was refreshing to read Kabbalist Sanford Drob's essay "The Only God Who Can Save Us (From Ourselves):" Kabbalah, Dogmatism, and the Open Economy of Thought. In it, he writes that:

One should, in my view, sooner adopt atheism or agnosticism as a system of belief than a religion of dogmatism. Indeed if atheism or agnosticism is an individual’s route to an open economy of thought, emotion and action, than becoming such an atheist leads one far closer to the infinite, Ein-sof, than aligning oneself with those who proclaim the absolute truth of their so-called piety and faith. Unfortunately atheists can be equally dogmatic (if one doubts this one need simply recall the communist regimes of the last century). Nevertheless, there is need for a healthy dose of atheism at the heart of our conception of Ein-sof

Sadly, Drob fails to avoid the frequent error made by many spiritual people, and makes some false claims about atheists and atheism:

In many if not most (but not all) cases atheism or agnosticism blinds one to the spiritual dimension in life, inhibits one from experiencing and expressing awe, reverence, and gratitude for one’s life and world, and cuts one off from the possibility of participating in the forms of spiritual life offered by the great religions.

On the contrary, i've observed many atheists to have more "awe, reverence, and gratitude for one’s life and world" than a number of supposedly spiritual people. In my experience - and having previously been an atheist myself - atheists are often awed by how natural forces have created the amazing diversity of lifeforms on this planet, and can show more reverence for life since they don't assume that an individual will have another life after this one, or that our planet will be miraculously restored to a pristine state by God at some point in the near future. (The "gratitude" part i haven't had experience of; but it's not at all difficult for me to imagine an atheist being grateful for their life and the opportunities the world has provided hir.)

But this is a small blight on a marvellous essay. Drob's conclusion is one i wholeheartedly agree with:

It is such an open, tolerant, infinitely interpretable, transforming God that, to my mind, is the only God who can save us from ourselves. All other so-called "Gods;" national Gods, Gods of certain religions and peoples, are in danger of becoming idols. This is the simple message of Abraham, but it must be repeated with great force today. The idol Gods of tribes, nations, and religions are divisive and potentially destructive, unless they are seen as manifestations of a single essentially unknowable God, a God who is subject to interpretation, transformation and emendation; who is the province of all and who embraces all peoples, cultures, species, and ideas.

Comments

[sunflowerp]

Sadly, Drob fails to avoid the frequent error made by many spiritual people, and makes some false claims about atheists and atheism:

In many if not most (but not all) cases atheism or agnosticism blinds one to the spiritual dimension in life, inhibits one from experiencing and expressing awe, reverence, and gratitude for one’s life and world, and cuts one off from the possibility of participating in the forms of spiritual life offered by the great religions.

On the contrary, i've observed many atheists to have more "awe, reverence, and gratitude for one’s life and world" than a number of supposedly spiritual people. In my experience - and having previously been an atheist myself - atheists are often awed by how natural forces have created the amazing diversity of lifeforms on this planet, and can show more reverence for life since they don't assume that an individual will have another life after this one, or that our planet will be miraculously restored to a pristine state by God at some point in the near future.

I'm infinitely frustrated by the common assumption that "a-theist" is synonymous with "a-religious" (the obvious counter-example being Theravada Buddhism) and/or "a-spiritual".

I don't think I've ever known, or read the writings of, an atheist who was "blind to the spiritual dimension" because of their atheism. Folks whose apparent "spiritual blindness" was causal to their atheism, yes. Folks who assumed that being atheist meant they had to dissociate from the spiritual whether they wanted to or not, yes. Folks who were both atheistic and deeply spiritual, yes.

Sunflower