As our Hispanic population has risen, most people have become aware of El Dia de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead. We see how little pastries are made into skeletons, how shots of Tequila are put out for their deceased Tio Juan, and marvel at the cool traditional masks that many take to the streets. But in all this - as usual - pop culture misses the central point. Just as with the original Irish Halloween, the traditional peoples were not/are not just honoring the dead and turning it into a party to boot - but also are showing their very real fear of the dead. This is widely true for traditional cultures the world over. Among the Indians I lived with in tropical South American, entire villages were left or burned on the death of one of its members, especially if he had died prematurely. The fear might come for many reasons - for the Chinese, it might be because someone failed to honor dead relatives properly - but most share this one basic tenet: that the dead might be coming back to take the living with them for company. In this, the dead are supposed to have emotions much like ourselves, with loneliness, and selfishness, thrown in as big motivators. In giving to the dead, or in trying to scare them away with jack-o-lanterns, the hope is that the dead are being sent back to where they belong - to the other side of the curtain that is drawn closed during the rest of the year.
That's real religion, or folk belief, if you prefer. The negative must always be taken into account in spiritual affairs because the world and human nature is filled with the negative, death and ego-drive being foremost among them. If any religion or general belief avoids such things, it is probably not going to last long, no matter how happy its message, because it simply does not reflect how things are experienced.
For a recent example, I will mention a rather remarkable sermon given by our conservative priest. After a long prelude, he got to his desired point - abortion. Everyone knows that this is anathema to the Catholic Church, but we were told for the first time just how strongly this act is spiritually punished. Not only are women who have an abortion in mortal sin, but they will also be excommunicated - that is, closed from the right to receive the blessed soul-saving sacraments - if they know this rule, requiring the forgiveness of a Bishop before they can return to the fold. If that seems sexists, well, at least the Church passes the test here, for anyone, man or woman, who knows of an impending abortion and does not try to stop it will also be in mortal sin (I forget if they, too, will be excommunicated). This goes for those who vote for a politician who is known to favor abortion as well. In our current presidential election, we know to whom he is pointing.
Personally, I take this with a grain of salt, but the Church itself really isn't at the center of my thoughts. Rather, it is that all religions I know of that have stood the test of time have a dark, punitive side. Even with Christians, who believe in a god far more loving than any human can be, the belief is that some sort of really bad punishment awaits the unrepentant sinner. It is not, we are told, God's fault, but the facts of the world as it is, like warm weather and thunder storms. Miracles can happen, of course, but they are rare - that is why they are called miracles. Most religions give us a cure for out bad nature, but that cure must be taken - or else bad spirits take your soul, or off to a bad place you go at death. Life is like a snake in the grass - don't grab it, and if you do, expect the bite, and pray for the antidote to work.
We don't think that way about Halloween anymore, nor do non-Mexicans of certain native decent fear the spirits of the dead on this day, just as Christians don't fear the fires of hell like they used to. We have had a general softening of spiritual beliefs as life has gotten less fearful and more dependable, and our religions in general have suffered for it. They seem too harsh for a world that is not so harsh anymore, and many people are losing their faith, often happily so. I don't blame them one bit: who wants to live with fear and guilt? But the world as such is NOT dependable nor free of suffering - rather, we have lessened such pain for much of our lives, and have hidden death in old folk's homes. Human nature has not changed, either. We are still cheated, perhaps beaten, and war is always a possibility. For better and for worse, if our old religions die, sooner or later we will invent new ones, and they, too, will have a harsh side, for what spiritual world could be real that did not reflect our basic nature here on earth?
There is much about all religions that, on the face of them, are simply made up. Still, in the grain of them is the idea that life reflects the spiritual realm and our place in it, and that life, and we ourselves, are not as it and we should be. There is truth in that, whether it is spun with excommunication or shots of tequila, and in that there is always the sign, the sign that our passages here and to the here-after are strewn with difficulties that must be overcome. Maybe the remedies are silly or too heavy, but they serve as warning: that even a loving god cannot alter what we, one way or the other, have created, without some form of sacrifice. So read the signs that we find just about everywhere and in every time one looks. The details are all metaphor, no doubt, but the essence should not be taken lightly. Someday the pumpkins will soften and rot, the party will be over, and we will be left with nothing but our selves and whatever remedies we have taken to hand - and these must have, have to have the essence of the real. FK
That's real religion, or folk belief, if you prefer. The negative must always be taken into account in spiritual affairs because the world and human nature is filled with the negative, death and ego-drive being foremost among them. If any religion or general belief avoids such things, it is probably not going to last long, no matter how happy its message, because it simply does not reflect how things are experienced.
For a recent example, I will mention a rather remarkable sermon given by our conservative priest. After a long prelude, he got to his desired point - abortion. Everyone knows that this is anathema to the Catholic Church, but we were told for the first time just how strongly this act is spiritually punished. Not only are women who have an abortion in mortal sin, but they will also be excommunicated - that is, closed from the right to receive the blessed soul-saving sacraments - if they know this rule, requiring the forgiveness of a Bishop before they can return to the fold. If that seems sexists, well, at least the Church passes the test here, for anyone, man or woman, who knows of an impending abortion and does not try to stop it will also be in mortal sin (I forget if they, too, will be excommunicated). This goes for those who vote for a politician who is known to favor abortion as well. In our current presidential election, we know to whom he is pointing.
Personally, I take this with a grain of salt, but the Church itself really isn't at the center of my thoughts. Rather, it is that all religions I know of that have stood the test of time have a dark, punitive side. Even with Christians, who believe in a god far more loving than any human can be, the belief is that some sort of really bad punishment awaits the unrepentant sinner. It is not, we are told, God's fault, but the facts of the world as it is, like warm weather and thunder storms. Miracles can happen, of course, but they are rare - that is why they are called miracles. Most religions give us a cure for out bad nature, but that cure must be taken - or else bad spirits take your soul, or off to a bad place you go at death. Life is like a snake in the grass - don't grab it, and if you do, expect the bite, and pray for the antidote to work.
We don't think that way about Halloween anymore, nor do non-Mexicans of certain native decent fear the spirits of the dead on this day, just as Christians don't fear the fires of hell like they used to. We have had a general softening of spiritual beliefs as life has gotten less fearful and more dependable, and our religions in general have suffered for it. They seem too harsh for a world that is not so harsh anymore, and many people are losing their faith, often happily so. I don't blame them one bit: who wants to live with fear and guilt? But the world as such is NOT dependable nor free of suffering - rather, we have lessened such pain for much of our lives, and have hidden death in old folk's homes. Human nature has not changed, either. We are still cheated, perhaps beaten, and war is always a possibility. For better and for worse, if our old religions die, sooner or later we will invent new ones, and they, too, will have a harsh side, for what spiritual world could be real that did not reflect our basic nature here on earth?
There is much about all religions that, on the face of them, are simply made up. Still, in the grain of them is the idea that life reflects the spiritual realm and our place in it, and that life, and we ourselves, are not as it and we should be. There is truth in that, whether it is spun with excommunication or shots of tequila, and in that there is always the sign, the sign that our passages here and to the here-after are strewn with difficulties that must be overcome. Maybe the remedies are silly or too heavy, but they serve as warning: that even a loving god cannot alter what we, one way or the other, have created, without some form of sacrifice. So read the signs that we find just about everywhere and in every time one looks. The details are all metaphor, no doubt, but the essence should not be taken lightly. Someday the pumpkins will soften and rot, the party will be over, and we will be left with nothing but our selves and whatever remedies we have taken to hand - and these must have, have to have the essence of the real. FK
RSS Feed