It seems as if yesterday's weights post was a minor public service, if people are encouraged to do resistance strength training. Today the Freecycled small weights are already outside awaiting pickup, so there's another person onto it. And I continue with my own practice, always working to do the moves slowly, since I tend to rush. My besetting sin in many contexts.
Moving from body to the spirit, I've been reading Pema Chodron and today there was an oddly related article in Aeon online magazine..
Written by Mette Leonard Hoeg, it discusses her own aphantasia and relates it to philosophies of life. We talked about aphantasia a while back in here, with that mind's eye test of visualizing, where people ranged from not much to very much, in terms of visualizing an object or visualizing remembering an event.
She makes the interesting point that to her, with no visualization capacity, the Buddhist notion of meditating is rather easy, since she has no images floating in her mind's eye to distract. She also has little attachment to places and objects, so Buddhist detachment comes rather naturally.
This made me wonder to what extent religious following in general is governed by brain function. I also wonder if those of us with a different brain function are being asked to fit into an ill-fitting religious or spiritual framework. Just wondering here.
I know that I'm not an extroverted working in groups person, and much of religion and spiritual practice insists on group and community activity. Professed religious, monks and nuns, are powerful in insistence on the value of community.
I was taught, by professed nuns in the community that housed my high school (!) that hermits and mystics, lone rangers, were weak. Yet so many of us don't thrive in groups. We learn to cope and manage, but that's not the same as getting the right fit.
Just wondering here, and considering the possibility that our place on the autistic spectrum is significant in spiritual terms.
Anyway on to other important matters, soup and soda bread. I made celery soup, not one of my more successful, a bit low in flavor, but I also made a lovely loaf of soda bread, crunchy crust and buttery crumb.
And since spring can't seem to get here, despite the equinox as of early evening, 5.24 EST, Sandra Boynton sums it up
Happy day everyone, in reality rather than theory, and please weigh in on my rambling and somewhat disconnected musing about personality, brain function and spiritual practice!
I am a loner who can function well in a group, but prefers not to, at least not often. I had no religion in my life as a child. I am an atheist, I have no idea where I would be if I had religious training. As art is, my brain just doesn't go there. I am picking up my weights again after you brought it up, thank you. I think I will make soda bread, it's been a long time. Keep on rambling, please.
ReplyDeleteAges since I made soda bread too. But it's not just for St Patrick, so we're allowed.
DeleteI don't know what I was trying to write but is wasn't 'art'. Probably as it is....
DeleteI studied it and decided, oh, she's saying as it is, because that flows from her previous thought. only a moment of puzzlement.
DeleteReally interesting thoughts on the shape of religions and their relation to brain function . That has got me thinking.
ReplyDeleteCelery soup.... do you use the leaves as well? We put a bit of grated mature cheddar in ours.
I usually use the leaves, but this time I ate them as salad. Maybe that was the missing flavor.
DeleteWhen you think about the brain function idea, let us know.
I have always thought that some people had the religion gene and some did not. Now you have made me wonder if it's not actually a gene that has to do with other, seemingly unrelated things. A big part of religion IS community. I've never even liked being a member of a club. The visualization thing- I do not know. There are many mysteries left to figure out about the brain and how many ways our genes affect us in ways we would never expect.
ReplyDeleteThe word religion means tied together! Not for me. The more we learn about the brain the more sceptical I become about our written and unwritten rules. They seem to be created and enforced by the aggressive to suit their brain needs.
DeleteReligion has a base of survival that I believe all religions have. Community/human contact is a base key to survival of our species. Alone versus in the group, farther away doesn't mean further away.
ReplyDeleteInteresting. Where do you see spirituality in this picture?
Delete"Spring begins! Theoretically" sums up the situation perfectly here in Canada. We've got 4-6 weeks or more to go before Spring is "really" here.
ReplyDeleteIt's when the snow's gone and stuff starts growing! I was thinking about you and other snow covered friends when I posted this.
DeleteInteresting musing. I'm not good at community activity in general. The smaller the group the better.
ReplyDeleteI notice your religious observance is nontraditional!
DeleteI don’t mind being in a group but it does have to be the right group for me.
ReplyDeleteIf that makes sense.
I find using a vegetable stock improves the flavour of celery soup.
I buy it reqdy made in cartons. Yeah I know cheating but it’s quick and easy
I always use a vegetable stock which I make at home. I think the texture, since I had no potatoes, usually dice and add a couple, might be the issue as much as flavor this time.
DeleteYes, about the right group. A friend of mine, living alone, used to say when choosing her social life: I want company but not just any old company!
Happy spring, Boud. Many we have a wonderful season ahead!
ReplyDeleteThank you. It will get here. Sooner or later.
DeleteYou made soda bread, wow, we had our St. Patrick's day feast and I bought soda bread from a bakery. This was the first time we ate soda bread and it was delicious. Nice to have home made I am sure. My tradition is Christian and there is plenty of encouragement for quiet times alone for prayer and reading the Bible in addition to fellowship. So there is room for every one.
ReplyDeleteThat sounds like a balanced approach. And soda bread is not difficult to make. The crust is lovely.
DeleteI get along well enough in life, but the way my brian works, I do wonder if I am somewhat closer to autistic than the average person.
ReplyDeleteIt's an interesting realization. If true, then self acceptance is next. I think you're pretty happy in your skin, though.
Deleteso much there. I'm a loner but not sure if it is inherent or learned behavior from my upbringing, never quite fitting in to any group, and get along fine with little social interaction. definitely not a joiner, hated Camp Fire Girls and attempts at high school social clubs also failed. as for religious tendency, it never grabbed me, even young I had a hard time with many of the teachings. rejected christianity in my early 20s, rejected all religion in my 30s. (note here that I separate religion from spiritual leanings). though I relate to Buddhism a lot and Taoism I never could get into meditation (for more than the occasional need to de-stress). It seemed to me to be counterintuitive. if we are here to experience the physical and mortal state of being, to learn how to be compassionate beings, then spending much of your time meditating struck me as an escape, an attempt to rise above the physical state and the reason for falling to earth in the first place. that doesn't mean I don't believe in a spiritual state of elevation. I have had that experience 3 times where I 'saw god' so to speak, experiencing being one with the universe. I still consider myself to be a loner though at this point in my life I have learned to enjoy some social groups...I was a river guide, I volunteer once a week at the local food pantry, I go to yoga classes regularly. As an artist I can visualize things though many of my clients couldn't. whether being able to visualize in your mind is a prerequisite for or against artistic or religious activity I don't know. I don't think I fall anywhere on the autism spectrum but I still don't enjoy large parties or gatherings where I have to socialize with people I don't know. I guess you could define me as an extroverted introvert. I tell people I am basically anti-social but I can be extroverted in small groups in which I am comfortable. now that I've written that I wonder if that's a defense mechanism of some sort.
ReplyDeleteanyway, the above is where your musings took me.
That's a terrific essay on where you are, and now you've given us even more to think about. Thank you.
DeleteI entered a house for a weavers' club meeting on Saturday. No one said a word to me -- like in church, long ago. An hour later everyone smiled at me and said hello. Huh? I think I don't trust these folks!
ReplyDeleteHappy spring! I'm very much a lone wolf and fitting into a specific group doesn't come easy. I like to move along from place to place.
ReplyDeleteI think the issue is when social pressure tries to force people into groups. I understand groups for a purpose, like unions, specific, limited purposes and activities.
DeleteI consider myself a Christian even though I haven't been a church goer per se. We watch a half-hour sermon on tv every week and I read my bible every night. My parents weren't chuch goers as I was growing up, although they supported the church as they could financially. As for groups, I'm really not comfortable with them and would class myself as a loner. Nothing makes me happier than having days at home without any social engagements. I do have two really close friends that I see pretty much every week which is quite enough 'social' for me. I do belong to the local quilt guild but haven't been to any meetings since they opened them up after the covid restrictions lifted. I now pay for membership simply to get the newsletter. I was their librarian for several years and that pretty much was enough for me. Now I'm dodging phone calls as they try to get me to volunteer for helping at their quilt show that's upcoming. Not my idea of what/where I want to be with so many people milling about and probably only a tiny few masking. Thanks, but no thanks.
ReplyDeleteInteresting responses. I wonder if people routinely posting on the internet are by definition not keen group members?
ReplyDeleteLate to the party again. Belated happy spring! And happy Persian New Year!
ReplyDeleteI was wondering the same thing, Boud. Another introvert here, for whom the pandemic social distancing was not a problem. As far as aphantasia and spirituality, that's a fascinating question that I am finding difficult to speculate on. My parents were atheists, my brothers are atheists, my husband (brought up Catholic) is an atheist, and I'm a firm agnostic. I tried the Unitarian church a few years ago and enjoyed the spiritual part, but not the joining part. And being indoors on Sunday when I could be outdoors in my Church of Nature - after a few months I headed back outdoors.
We're opposites. I use celery leaves in soup and celery stalks in salad.
Chris from Boise
I use celery both ways. Like a crunchy stalk in my salad. And I'm not a big fan of fellowship in any context.
Delete