Sustaining the [something] Centre

I have been away for part of the week at a training event for us Baby Vicars and part of that, to use the Diocese of Oxford sloganography, was to look at how we 'sustain the Sacred Centre'. It forms the first 'stage' in the Diocese's process for engaging with Living Faith, and whilst it is tickety-boo for me and those like me, has given rise to a question in my own mind about others who perhaps are not like me.

'How do non-religious, atheist, humanist, agnostic etc etc people sustain their ....! 

...and that is where I have hit a wall. Language, words, value-laden constructs ...

In order to try to attend to the 'blank' in this, I have to make some assumptions, as I see them (all flawed, all value laden, all my best try).

1. All people, whether of a faith or not, must have a sense of themselves as more than just tissue, bones and synapses.

2. Whether chemical or innate, that sense of themselves that goes beyond the fleshly aspect of our human existence is intangible and is unique to each person

3. Like all parts of the human body, this innate facet of our being is apt to depletion like all parts are if not sustained (in the same way that not eating or drinking depletes our physical characteristics)

4. As a human being who has a care for others, I long to know how people without a faith sustain that part of their being so that I can learn about humanity and not just Christians

5. Words like 'sacred' or 'centre' may not be applicable, or even terms like 'inner' or 'heart' in the sense of it being the root of the emotional sense.

This post is as a preamble to a thought that I will try to unpack in the Heathen Hub, a place of significant (and good) learning for me about what it is to be a human. I have written it here partly because I would love all Christians (my main audience here is Christian) to have a care and to learn how it is to live life outside of our own circle. I think a world where Christians only know about the internal cares of Christians is not within our mandate to love the world. We must learn to understand and appreciate those who are different from us, and even to learn from them - and then to have a due care for them as equals in our humanity. 

I want to learn how people such as atheists 'tick'. I have the God stuff, the Jesus stuff, and a whole array of historically tested meditative practices that attends to an inner life that I believe for myself is rooted in a relationship with God. I have wondered how, for people who have no sense of 'other' in the deistic sense and no sense that there is anything external to the existence of being a human, how it is possible to energise the interior places, or simply energise the energies. In a sense, it feels easy to be religious. There are extra factors for us, and implicit activities and behaviours that are concomitant with them. 

I think, in short, I am interested to know how people without a god sustain their 'sacred centres'.

Why I Couldn't Be a Humanist

I have a paper to write on the subject of funerals, so like all diligent writers, obtained some material from other sources in order to make an honest and informed comparison. I bought and paid for the Humanist Association book on 'how to do a funeral', and the title on the cover typifies the very reason why I have something of an issue with them as an organisation:

'Funerals Without God' - it is called. Now, I can accept that some people cannot confess a faith in a deity, and as such I am at peace with that. This title, though, is odd. I am guessing that most Humanists don't believe in Flying Green Elephants or tooth-fairies (one assumes), so a book entitled 'Funerals Without Toothfairies' or 'Funerals Without Flying Green Elephants' would seem equally odd to me.

I took a toddle throught the pages of this noble work, whose strapline is 'A practical guide to humanist and non-religious funeral celebrations' (I am also a little flummoxed as to why 'non-religious' automatically translates into 'humanist' which is, after all, a belief-structure with texts and dogmas, like a religion); anyway ... some quotes for you.

"In circumstances rather less extreme that a climber's death [high up on a Himalayan mountainside] there may be no Humanist officiant conveniently available" (p3) - just us Christians, then, who are available at all times and in all weather

"There is an intimacy about a ceremony that is organised by those immediately involved, which cannot be achieved when it is conducted by an outsider" (p3) - not true, according to the mourners whose loved-ones I have despatched to Heaven

"Perhaps after the success of your 'Do It Yourself' ceremony ... you'll decide to join our ranks" (p4) - join us, the B&Q of funerals - here is your orange apron - anyway, all dignity and class flew away with 'Do It Yourself' ceremony

"Five or six minutes is perhaps the minimum time for a meaningful and dignified ceremony" (p4) - especially if ...

"...on the rare occasions when the relatives are quite unable to come up with any pleasant memories at all, because there was no loved lost between them, or because your subject was clearly a bad-tempered, selfish, unkind or thoroughly unpleasant person!" (p17) - sorry aunty, but you had a beard too, and your kisses were all slobbery. 

"There might be a cross and candles up in front and also prayer or hymn books set out on the pews. These are inappropriate for Humanist ceremonies, as indeed they are out of place for many other funerals. Crematoria are public buildings and do not belong to the churches, so we have a right to ask that the cross be removed by the staff before the ceremony starts" (p13) - welcome to the world where most people don't seek a DIY funeral

"Where there is no cemetary chapel in use ... there are a number of alternatives:

...a church hall ... ...a hotel..." (p14) ...though only the bravest would make those phone calls to book them

 "At the graveside ... if an aeroplane or some other outrageous noise drowns your voice, simply wait until the sound subsides" (p15) - I am wondering where outrageous planes fly too, making their outrageous noise, outrageously [speak up, love, they are 30-odd thousand feet up]

I could carry on. My beef is not  that they are Humanists, but that as Humanists they are not being humanists, but rather an anti-religion lobby. Their agenda seems to be set purely to counter us faithful folk and what we believe in, and even as an expression of atheism, it seems odd. I chose the picture above because it seems to illustrate well what I mean here. As a person with a belief in God, and in the context of that diagram, I would argue that I have faith (and largely no proof) that a white triangle is at the centre of the picture. I claim this because I can see its effects on other things. Humanists would spend all their efforts telling me that there is no triangle and, actually, they will spend all their time devoting effort to telling you not to believe in the triangle that isn't there. If I were an atheist, I think I would be focussed on the things that are there, the circles and the lines. The end result is this: if you have Christians, Humanists and other non-Humanist Society atheists, you would have two of the three groups talking about God. The third is just isn't interested in the subject matter.