Fredrick, you have written a very needed piece. Governments, big or small, cannot provide the community that the church once provided, although that often led to a separation by religion, and still does. As we retire, which the Baby Boom is now, we leave behind the community of our work and have to fall back on our families. But as families become smaller and fewer couples have children that enhances the need for community. Private clubs can help—some. When entering a church or synagogue we recognize a sense of a covenant. We do that also when entering a private club. We need to develop community.
I once went to a lecture at Trinity Church in Boston on its architecture. The speaker began by lamenting that fewer people were coming to church; they were visiting museums. In the Q&A I asked, if that should be a puzzle. After all we think of the church as the House of the Lord; why shouldn’t we think of the museum as the House of the Muses? He agreed. But the museum, while providing a covenant of proper comportment, doesn’t provide real community. I think that non-profits are missing a chance to do a better job at proving community. They don’t embrace fully the Role of Reciprocity. Instead, they hold galas, expecting us to contribute to attend—and even sign pledge cards before leaving. I like to joke that the closest thing to a free lunch is an invitation not accepted: you get credit for asking without having to pay, and, properly invited, the recipient senses a duty to respond.
Below is a link to a modern Quaker meeting house in Houston. The ceiling slopes to a knife-edged opening that, weather permitting, shifts from the real world of the building to an infinite sky. I was once in it and was so moved that if living in Houston I would have converted. It is quite awesome.
Hi Arthur, thank your for your comments. Yes, perhaps we'll get to spend time on a Stocherkahn one day. I agree that clubs/associations filled that space though that's declined. Urbanization, smaller families (/collapse in birth rates), more time online -- all connected.
I don't think museums offer much here except for the experience of awe (only a few people are organized in the work behind the scenes and experience the community of organizing events).
I had no idea Turrell had designed a church. Very interesting. It's worth thinking about what kind of architecture creates awe. Around the world, it's often places of worship seeking to evoke the divine mystery. Catholic and Orthodox churches, mosques, temples all over Asia etc. To me, protestant churches typically send a different message. These societies got rich but it seems they did it at the cost of spiritual beauty. Now, I believe this is all coming full circle.
Two quotes from intellectual titan G.K. Chesterton come to mind here. His Orthodoxy (indeed, his entire corpus) is a must-read on this front:
“When men choose not to believe in God, they do not thereafter believe in nothing, they then become capable of believing in anything.”
“Hence the difficulty which besets "undenominational religions." They profess to include what is beautiful in all creeds, but they appear to many to have collected all that is dull in them. All the colours mixed together in purity ought to make a perfect white. Mixed together on any human paint-box, they make a thing like mud, and a thing very like many new religions. Such a blend is often something much worse than any one creed taken separately, even the creed of the Thugs.“
Love Chesterton and Orthodoxy is a wild read. His point about the perennial philosophy is what makes it so difficult: there is a shared thread among the great religions and myths. But that smallest common denominator is just an abstraction, it's not alive as a faith or community. That is in my experience the issue with any 'spiritual but not religious space'. It's trying to appeal to all and no longer deeply resonates.
It would be very difficult to be more in disagreement with those GK Chesterton quotes than I am. IMO it is the belief in a supernatural God that enables humans to believe in practically anything else. Superstitions make us less discerning, not more.
(1) Have recently been toying with the idea that subscribing to a “old” religion — even if it means living with its faults — is better than trying to concoct your own Frankenstein spirituality.
(2) This desire for a religion/faith/community only grows when you have children. You want to point somewhere and say, “There, those are your values, community, etc.” You want something you can hang your hat on, rather than assembling it yourself. The latter seems to lack cohesiveness and a sound foundation.
You might enjoy Paul Kingsnorth's substack (his old popular pieces about society and his journey to orthodox Christianity).
I think the Frankenstein spirituality is what most end up with and it's near impossible to get this right. Nobody has the time + paradox of choice. I didn't add it to this piece but it's a separate rabbit hole.
I didn't even think about children. Thank you for sharing that. I think that conversation never explicitly happened in my family "go here for values/philosophy of life".
It's worth going at least once to experience. And for an active investor it might in fact be a valuable and fruitful community. But also it's good to not take it too seriously.
Thanks for the thoughtful writing as usual. I am deeply religious and as society gets more self-oriented, I’m grateful for the existential grounding my faith and religious participation provides — particularly when I don’t WANT to follow some of the tenets or do boring jobs like cleaning the church or gross jobs like helping an impoverished congregation member clean and move. I appreciate how thoughtfully and thoroughly you wrote about all this from a non-religious perspective. And Haidt’s book is on my to-real list. I’ve enjoyed some interviews about it.
Thank you, Emily. Yes, I didn't appreciate what religious community did, why it worked, and how it's an antidote to the obsession with self that we are encouraged to indulge in.
Checking Paul’s Substack out now. Thanks for the rec!
I grew up non-denominational Christian. And although it caused a lot of dissonance in my late teens, it clearly laid (what I think is) a solid foundation of values. But now I’m left trying to instill those second-hand without the underlying structure. As with anything, copying the results without the system is obviously flawed.
Fredrick, you have written a very needed piece. Governments, big or small, cannot provide the community that the church once provided, although that often led to a separation by religion, and still does. As we retire, which the Baby Boom is now, we leave behind the community of our work and have to fall back on our families. But as families become smaller and fewer couples have children that enhances the need for community. Private clubs can help—some. When entering a church or synagogue we recognize a sense of a covenant. We do that also when entering a private club. We need to develop community.
I once went to a lecture at Trinity Church in Boston on its architecture. The speaker began by lamenting that fewer people were coming to church; they were visiting museums. In the Q&A I asked, if that should be a puzzle. After all we think of the church as the House of the Lord; why shouldn’t we think of the museum as the House of the Muses? He agreed. But the museum, while providing a covenant of proper comportment, doesn’t provide real community. I think that non-profits are missing a chance to do a better job at proving community. They don’t embrace fully the Role of Reciprocity. Instead, they hold galas, expecting us to contribute to attend—and even sign pledge cards before leaving. I like to joke that the closest thing to a free lunch is an invitation not accepted: you get credit for asking without having to pay, and, properly invited, the recipient senses a duty to respond.
Below is a link to a modern Quaker meeting house in Houston. The ceiling slopes to a knife-edged opening that, weather permitting, shifts from the real world of the building to an infinite sky. I was once in it and was so moved that if living in Houston I would have converted. It is quite awesome.
https://art21.org/read/james-turrell-live-oak-friends-meeting-house/
Keep writing fine articles! Maybe one day we can go boating on the Neckar!
Hi Arthur, thank your for your comments. Yes, perhaps we'll get to spend time on a Stocherkahn one day. I agree that clubs/associations filled that space though that's declined. Urbanization, smaller families (/collapse in birth rates), more time online -- all connected.
I don't think museums offer much here except for the experience of awe (only a few people are organized in the work behind the scenes and experience the community of organizing events).
I had no idea Turrell had designed a church. Very interesting. It's worth thinking about what kind of architecture creates awe. Around the world, it's often places of worship seeking to evoke the divine mystery. Catholic and Orthodox churches, mosques, temples all over Asia etc. To me, protestant churches typically send a different message. These societies got rich but it seems they did it at the cost of spiritual beauty. Now, I believe this is all coming full circle.
Two quotes from intellectual titan G.K. Chesterton come to mind here. His Orthodoxy (indeed, his entire corpus) is a must-read on this front:
“When men choose not to believe in God, they do not thereafter believe in nothing, they then become capable of believing in anything.”
“Hence the difficulty which besets "undenominational religions." They profess to include what is beautiful in all creeds, but they appear to many to have collected all that is dull in them. All the colours mixed together in purity ought to make a perfect white. Mixed together on any human paint-box, they make a thing like mud, and a thing very like many new religions. Such a blend is often something much worse than any one creed taken separately, even the creed of the Thugs.“
Love Chesterton and Orthodoxy is a wild read. His point about the perennial philosophy is what makes it so difficult: there is a shared thread among the great religions and myths. But that smallest common denominator is just an abstraction, it's not alive as a faith or community. That is in my experience the issue with any 'spiritual but not religious space'. It's trying to appeal to all and no longer deeply resonates.
It would be very difficult to be more in disagreement with those GK Chesterton quotes than I am. IMO it is the belief in a supernatural God that enables humans to believe in practically anything else. Superstitions make us less discerning, not more.
Respectfully disagree :)
Two thoughts:
(1) Have recently been toying with the idea that subscribing to a “old” religion — even if it means living with its faults — is better than trying to concoct your own Frankenstein spirituality.
(2) This desire for a religion/faith/community only grows when you have children. You want to point somewhere and say, “There, those are your values, community, etc.” You want something you can hang your hat on, rather than assembling it yourself. The latter seems to lack cohesiveness and a sound foundation.
You might enjoy Paul Kingsnorth's substack (his old popular pieces about society and his journey to orthodox Christianity).
I think the Frankenstein spirituality is what most end up with and it's near impossible to get this right. Nobody has the time + paradox of choice. I didn't add it to this piece but it's a separate rabbit hole.
I didn't even think about children. Thank you for sharing that. I think that conversation never explicitly happened in my family "go here for values/philosophy of life".
This is probably the reason why I still haven’t been to Omaha.
It's worth going at least once to experience. And for an active investor it might in fact be a valuable and fruitful community. But also it's good to not take it too seriously.
Sounds like Freemasonry may be what you look for. Look for a Lodge near you and try to meet the people.
Thoughtful article. I find most people are tired of "religion" Yet desire to have a relationship with God the Father.
That is why Jesus came, to give us the free gift of salvation through grace.
The greatest question of life is to decide who Jesus was, yet most people avoid it and look elsewhere......just like the He said they would.
Thank you, Randy.
Thanks for the thoughtful writing as usual. I am deeply religious and as society gets more self-oriented, I’m grateful for the existential grounding my faith and religious participation provides — particularly when I don’t WANT to follow some of the tenets or do boring jobs like cleaning the church or gross jobs like helping an impoverished congregation member clean and move. I appreciate how thoughtfully and thoroughly you wrote about all this from a non-religious perspective. And Haidt’s book is on my to-real list. I’ve enjoyed some interviews about it.
Thank you, Emily. Yes, I didn't appreciate what religious community did, why it worked, and how it's an antidote to the obsession with self that we are encouraged to indulge in.
Checking Paul’s Substack out now. Thanks for the rec!
I grew up non-denominational Christian. And although it caused a lot of dissonance in my late teens, it clearly laid (what I think is) a solid foundation of values. But now I’m left trying to instill those second-hand without the underlying structure. As with anything, copying the results without the system is obviously flawed.