The Mission
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To explore, investigate, and meditate upon communities and individuals who are innovating in young American spiritual practice. This will begin as a three month road trip to intentional communities, eco-villages, artist communes, and other fringe areas across the states to find thoughtful people living, physically and/or mentally, outside the traditional institutions of religion. I'll be asking them to talk with me about the intersection of God, religion, ritual, thought, and spirituality among, particularly, the Millennial generation in America.
This project, in effect a cross between journalism and essay writing, is partially inspired by the recent Pew Research Study on American religion that found the numbers of people affiliated with traditional institutions sharply declining. My interest in this phenomenon is furthered by many conversations with people of my generation who feel generally dissatisfied both with the old institutions (this for a variety of reasons), and with the seemingly dominant trend of pitching spirituality entirely for pure materialism and atheism, which, whatever their deep logical appeal, leave many (myself included) feeling hollow. Many of the communities and individuals that I will be visiting are finding conscious spiritual fulfillment in practices that are innovative, energizing, and, perhaps most importantly, consciously searching for new interpretations of meaning in the contemporary world. I'm going to be asking basic questions about God, meaning, and the making of community.
A short anecdote: After James Madison wrote the Constitution, with all it's brilliant intricacies, Thomas Jefferson was said to have remarked that if God or the Devil was in the details, then James Madison was certainly there to meet them. In my exploration into the details of fringe religious practice in this country I expect I might find God, the Devil, and James Madison waiting around to tell me what's what.
This project, in effect a cross between journalism and essay writing, is partially inspired by the recent Pew Research Study on American religion that found the numbers of people affiliated with traditional institutions sharply declining. My interest in this phenomenon is furthered by many conversations with people of my generation who feel generally dissatisfied both with the old institutions (this for a variety of reasons), and with the seemingly dominant trend of pitching spirituality entirely for pure materialism and atheism, which, whatever their deep logical appeal, leave many (myself included) feeling hollow. Many of the communities and individuals that I will be visiting are finding conscious spiritual fulfillment in practices that are innovative, energizing, and, perhaps most importantly, consciously searching for new interpretations of meaning in the contemporary world. I'm going to be asking basic questions about God, meaning, and the making of community.
A short anecdote: After James Madison wrote the Constitution, with all it's brilliant intricacies, Thomas Jefferson was said to have remarked that if God or the Devil was in the details, then James Madison was certainly there to meet them. In my exploration into the details of fringe religious practice in this country I expect I might find God, the Devil, and James Madison waiting around to tell me what's what.