Nostalgia forms when we long for a place and time created in our young minds, which may or may not have a basis in reality. What we are really mourning is not the loss of a better time, but the loss of our childhood.
I tend to see a lot of nostalgic obsession in religious practice.
A lot of believers want a "better world" while craving a slice of the "good ol' days."
Failure to acknowledge this tension creates camps focused on fighting each other. Rather than take responsibility to live out their religious callings in the reality of the societies they live in.
That fantastic state of future idealism or past romance creates what others have called "the opium of the masses."
In the Christian Tradition, a morbid obsession with a future 'heavenly home' can get in the way of practical usefulness on earth. Christ the founder addressed this conundrum by saying "if salt has lost its flavour it should be thrown outside" (I paraphrase).
Religions that grow up to embrace the complexity of adulthood in a less than perfect world can become powerful sources of the change we all yearn for: Universal Love, Social Justice, & the upholding of personal freedoms.
Like Paul, author of numerous books in the Christian Scripture said: "When I was a child I thought like one and spoke like one but now that I'm grown up I've put away childish feelings for the uncertainty and reality that accompanies adult freedom." (Paraphrase)
So well said, Jimmy! Thank you for this. You're spot on. If our concept of God is the same today as when we were children, then we haven't grown up. The same is true for how we see and understand our parents. When we were young, they were gods. As we got older, we realized they were human and flawed. Older still, and we can celebrate the fullness of who they are as whole people and not just parents.
We must continue to evolve and grow or we become stuck and regress.
Thank you again for contributing. I always look forward to your responses.
I tend to see a lot of nostalgic obsession in religious practice.
A lot of believers want a "better world" while craving a slice of the "good ol' days."
Failure to acknowledge this tension creates camps focused on fighting each other. Rather than take responsibility to live out their religious callings in the reality of the societies they live in.
That fantastic state of future idealism or past romance creates what others have called "the opium of the masses."
In the Christian Tradition, a morbid obsession with a future 'heavenly home' can get in the way of practical usefulness on earth. Christ the founder addressed this conundrum by saying "if salt has lost its flavour it should be thrown outside" (I paraphrase).
Religions that grow up to embrace the complexity of adulthood in a less than perfect world can become powerful sources of the change we all yearn for: Universal Love, Social Justice, & the upholding of personal freedoms.
Like Paul, author of numerous books in the Christian Scripture said: "When I was a child I thought like one and spoke like one but now that I'm grown up I've put away childish feelings for the uncertainty and reality that accompanies adult freedom." (Paraphrase)
So well said, Jimmy! Thank you for this. You're spot on. If our concept of God is the same today as when we were children, then we haven't grown up. The same is true for how we see and understand our parents. When we were young, they were gods. As we got older, we realized they were human and flawed. Older still, and we can celebrate the fullness of who they are as whole people and not just parents.
We must continue to evolve and grow or we become stuck and regress.
Thank you again for contributing. I always look forward to your responses.